November, 1991
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
Page 9
Inventory of AIDS
A "Report on the State of AIDS/HIV in Greater Cleveland" was issued October 15 at a breakfast meeting given by the AIDS Commission of Greater Cleveland (ACGC). The report provides a comprehensive look at the community's fight against the disease and offers recommendations on how to improve this
effort.
The report notes that, as of June 30, 1991, AIDS had claimed the lives of 417 persons in Cuyahoga, Lake, and Lorain counties. The City of Cleveland has a cumulative total of 463 AIDS cases, Cuyahoga County ranks highest among Ohio's 88 counties with 621 cases, and the State of Ohio ranks 13th in the nation with 2,607 cases.
The report recommend the establishment of a new leadership group to guide and coordinate the community's response to the AIDS epidemic.
In addition, the report recommends the development of educational programs and materials providing specific information about risk behaviors for women, adolescents, racial and ethnic minorities, gay and bisexual men, and IV-drug users. It further
recommends expansion of quality HIV ́ testing and counseling services, as well as, medical and non-medical services available to persons with AIDS (PWAS).
Among the trends identified in the report are increases in incidence of AIDS/HIV among blacks and Hispanics, adolescents, women of childbearing age, and babies born of infected mothers; a return to high risk behaviors by homosexual and bisexual males; and longer lifespans for PWAS.
"This report chronicles where we--the Greater Cleveland community--have been and where we are currently, regarding the AIDS/HIV epidemic," explains Leonard Calabrese, D.O., chairman of the ACGC and head of the Section of Clinical Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
The ACGC is a public-private partnership between the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, the Federation for Community Planning, and other nonprofit organizations. Formed in the fall of 1987 as a part of a coordinated, broad-based response to the AIDS problem, one of its goals has been to develop policy recommendations and to plan for care needs of PWAS.▼
National Notes
Campaign Fund Encourages Lesbian Candidate Training
Washington, D.C. -The Human Rights Campaign Fund is encouraging lesbian elected officials and lesbians considering a run for elective office to participate in a candidate training program given by the National Women's Political Caucus. The training, titled, "Political Campaigning: A New Decade," will provide information on how to develop a campaign plan, target and cultivate voters, raise money, and handle media coverage.
Most of the training took place in October. Women of Color Candidate Training, designed to specially address the particular needs of women of color running for political office, will be held in New York City, January 24-26, 1992.
Women interested in the training
should contact Anne Theisen at the Human Rights Campaign Fund, 1012 14th St. N.W., Suite 607, Washington, D.C. 20005 or call 202-628-4160. For those unable to attend the training sessions, "Political Campaigning -A New Decade: The NWPC Guide to Winning in the 90's" is available for purchase from the National Women's Political Caucus.
Gay health activist to chair ACLU
Milton Estes, a family physician in Marin County with a long history of activism on women's health and AIDS issues, was elected chair of the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Estes, the first openly gay person to be elected to this post, has been on the ACLU-NCboard since 1985 and had served as the vice-chair.
Damaging arrest
by Kimberly Taylor
If truth is stranger than fiction, then it is a given that it may be both more tragic and more farcical. What else can it be called when a person is wrongly accused, cleared by a hostile system and still pays a heavy price to society.
In April, Jeffrey A. Clavell went into Spangler Park in Wooster to gather moss for floral arrangements he was to do. His store, Blinky the Clown, formerly in Best Western's plaza in Wooster, was a floral, balloon and gift shop. He also dressed up as a clown and performed at children's parties.
In the park, Clavell noticed a man "noticing" him. Later, while answering a call to nature in a park restroom, Clavell saw the man again.
The man turned out to be Wooster Police detective Neil Jones. Clavell was questioned by Jones and his partner detective Steve Glick. He was then asked to join them at the police station, where he was questioned
Gay to represent San Diego Civil Service unit
Dr. Al Best, the only openly gay Civil Service Commissioner in the United States, represented the San Diego Civil Service Commission and hosted a breakfast for the National Association of Civil Service Commissioners (NACSC) October 8.
Human Rights Project forms PAC
Kansas City, MO--After several weeks of hammering out details for a political action committee (PAC) to work on behalf of the Human Rights Project (HRP), the formation of HRPac was approved in September by the HRP Board of Directors.
The purpose of the PAC will be to carry out the political missions of HRP. The Human Rights Project was formed nearly two years ago to lobby elected officials and educate the public on issues concerning lesbian and gay civil rights.▼
further. At no time was he placed under
arrest.
It was only at the station that Clavell was told he was being questioned in connection with public indecency in the form of masturbation, which he vehemently denied.
He was let go, but three months later he was charged. And ten days after that, on August 26, he was arraigned. The first story on the case greeted him when he left the courthouse.
At his October 10 trial, the jury took 90 minutes to clear him of all charges.
"I want people to know you don't have to just plead guilty. Look, I won," Clavell said. This sounds like a success story, except...
A man who was cleared of a fourth degree misdemeanor, the least serious crime on the books, has lost both his business and his reputation because of media sensationalism and perpetuation of anti-gay stereotypes.
"A month after he was charged, he lost his business, said Clavell's lawyer, Bonnie Drushell. "Immediately after this hit the papers he was getting cancellations on parties. He was no longer getting any business as Blinky
66
From falsely reporting that he was arrested to playing up that he was both gay and made his living playing a clown at children's parties to outright asking parents
was hounded by the media.
Drushell cites The Wooster Daily Record, Akron Beacon Journal and WMQX as being among the offenders.
During jury selection, Clavell claims that one prospective juror said that Clavell was persecuted in the papers before he ever got to
court.
Drushell and Clavell will be entering into negotiations soon with representatives of the various newspapers and radio stations to see what can be reclaimed for this man's future.
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