December, 1991

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Page 11

recognizes lesbian and gay relationships as families.

In an eight-page opinion, hearing officer Margot Jones ruled that the agency had violated its four-year-old anti-discrimination policy, which prohibits it from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Denver city officials said they would appeal the decision.

AmFAR director resigns

Robert H. Brown, the executive director of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR), announced he is resigning effective Nov. 15. Brown's announcement follows reports that AmFAR staffers and AIDS activists had criticized his management style.

One knowledgeable source familiar with the organization, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the resignation came at the request of the executive committee.

Said the AmFAR press release: "Brown I will leave the national AIDS research organization because news reports, fueled by speculation that AmFAR leaders and staff were unhappy with his management, had begun to interfere with the group's operations."

The Los Angeles Times reported in early October that Brown's critics claimed he had made homophobic and sexist comments and sought to distance AmFAR from its strong ties to the Gay community. The newspaper said other critics, whom it did not name, viewed Brown as having a "bottom line mentality" with little or no understanding of AIDS.

P-FLAG leaves conference steeled by fundamentalists' tactics

Charlotte, N.C.--Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gavs left their tenth annual

efforts to advocate for their lesbian, gay and bisexual family members.

So-called Christians claiming to promote "traditional family values" harassed convention organizers for months preceding the convention, picketed outside the hotel, and invaded the privacy of one family by pressuring their teenaged lesbian daughter to use prayer to change her sexual orientation. They also used Parents FLAG envelopes to slip religious tracts and literature under the door of her hotel room.

Fired by their indignation, members enthusiastically raised $10,000 to finance the Federation's PSA project which will saturate 150 television markets across the country with public service announcements developed to promote P-FLAG's message and mission.

The exasperation of parent AIDS activists Amy Ashworth and Joyce Rankin spurred members of the group who wrote 600 letters to President Bush and Senator Jesse Helms exhorting them to "Stop killing our children; stop AIDS; stop teen suicide; stop violence against lesbian and gay men." The letters were sent from Charlotte by certified mail along with information about the convention and organization.

Stars and Stripes on a rubber? Immoral!

Referring to condoms as "immoral or scandalous matter," the United States Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office has denied Old Glory Condom Corporation trademark protection for its corporate name and logo. The safer sex/AIDS activist company, which utilizes an unfurled condom imprinted with an American flag-inspired image to promote HIV and STD prevention and unwanted pregnancies, will appeal the decision.

""This obvious political and 'moral' ruling

Although trademark protection has been granted Gillette and other businesses to sell clothing, furniture, and razor blades, the Trademark Office chastised Old Glory for using a "sacrosanct symbol to promote items associated with sex... bringing contempt to this reference." The ruling also believes corporate protection would "likely give offense to the conscience or moral feelings or shock the sense of decency or propriety in a substantial composite of the general public."

Lawyers and lesbians of color

San Francisco--The National Center for Lesbian Rights, a San Francisco-based public interest legal organization, released preliminary findings from a community speak-out that focused on barriers that exist between lesbians of color and community assistance for their legal needs. Forty-five lesbians of color, activists and professionals, attended the July 14 forum, with greatest representation by African-American, Asian/ Pacific Islander, Latina, and Native American lesbians.

"Historically, the unique experiences and needs of lesbians of color have been invisible to most service providers. This has certainly held true within the legal profession; even

retention of lesbian of color in key board and staff positions; 2) to provide services that accurately reflect the existence of lesbian of color; 3) to create and distribute printed materials that reflect increased sensitivity to culture, class, language, and sexual orientation; and 4) to concentrate outreach to lesbians of color through community education efforts.

One of the concerns most frequently raised was the lack of sensitivity to race, class, culture, language, immigration status, and sexual orientation that exists in information about their rights currently available to lesbian of color.

Future efforts of the Lesbians of Color project include an NCLR-sponsored series of community workshops and clinics addressing issues raised by lesbians of color in the speak-out, and the creation of a series of informational brochures that will be available in several languages and widely distributed among the lesbian of color community.

Copies of the preliminary report are available from NCLR upon request. Call 415-621-0674, or write to NCLR at 1663 Mission Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. ▼

those within the civil rights movement have March

been slow to recognize and respond to our differences from white lesbians and gay men, and from straight people of color," noted Maria Gil de Lamadrid, director of NCLR's Expanding Legal Resources for Lesbians of Color project.

The preliminary report includes an extensive narrative about the legal issues seen as priorities by lesbians of color, a detailed account of NCLR's internal process of increasing representation and visibility of lesbians of color, and the process by which a model for the speak-out was developed.

Continued fron page 9

board meetings are planned per year, and meetings are planned for various sections of the country.

Ohio is included in region 10, which includes Kentucky. A regional meeting has been established for those interested in either being on the board or in participating in the decision-making process on Saturday, December 14, for 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Stonewall Union office, 47 W. 5th Ave.,

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