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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

National Notes

December 18, 1992

Fremont hospital sued for kicking out PWA

Toledo--The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in late November against a Fremont, Ohio hospital for refusing to admit a man with AIDS for emergency care.

In a complaint filed with the federal district court in Toledo, the ACLU's national AIDS Project and the ACLU of Ohio say that Memorial Hospital in Fremont, about 30 miles southeast of Toledo, improperly refused treatment to Fred Charon, a 29-year-old man who lives in Maine. One of the central claims in the case is that the hospital and its doctors violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal statute that recently became effective to bar exclusion from hospitals and other places of public accommodation based on AIDS or any other disability.

While driving on the Ohio Turnpike to Wisconsin from Maine, Charon had a severe allergic reaction to a drug, including a temperature of 103 degrees and severe diarrhea. After consulting by telephone with his doctor, Charon rushed to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital. The emergency room staff immediately started an IV and other initial care, while the doctor who first examined Charon assured him that he would be admitted for additional care.

But a more senior doctor on duty at Memorial, Dr. Charles Hull, upon learning of Charon's AIDS diagnosis, refused to admit him to the hospital, instead ordering him sent a long distance by ambulance--at Charon's expense--to another hospital. During this transfer, Charon's condition deteriorated to the point where he said he feared he would not overcome his high fever, total inflammation of his skin and difficulty with breathing.

"Being denied medical care was a terrifying experience that I still live with," Charon said. "I am standing up for my rights because I want to help others who may not have the power or the strength to fight this kind of discrimination against people with HIV disease."

Enacted in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was designed, in part, to address the problem of doctors and other health-care providers choosing not to treat those infected or believed infected with HIV. HIV-positive people have long had trouble getting dental care, doctor's appointments and hospital treatment because of irrational fears of HIV, the shunning of people with AIDS and, more recently, concerns about the cost of AIDS care.

The Charon suit is one of three recently filed under the ADA by the ACLU to attack AIDS discrimination in health care. Others have been filed in California and Georgia.

Studds urges immediate halt of gay military discharges

Washington, D.C.--Noting that President-elect Bill Clinton has publicly stated his opposition to the present discriminatory policy, Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., urged Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney to immediately suspend enforcement of the current ban on lesbian and gay service personnel in pending discharge or disciplinary proceedings. Rep. Studds also asked the Pentagon to refrain from initiating any new investigations or proceedings. Studds was joined by 23 of his congressional colleagues in the November 13 letter to Cheney.

Studds, who has long led the fight to end the discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the military, argued it would be manifestly unfair to pursue pending cases-with the obvious permanent impact upon

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the individuals involved--when a revision of the policy appears imminent.

"Those persons subject to discharge or disciplinary proceedings for reasons of homosexuality suffer unnecessary disruption of their careers and serious permanent damage to their ability to obtain future employment," said Studds.

"For much too long, this has been an unfair policy, unfairly applied," concluded Studds. "There exists no reason to prolong this injustice. An immediate suspension is required."

A number of personnel are currently the subject of discharge or disciplinary action because of the policy. The joint Congressional letter simply suggested to Cheney that no further action be taken on these pending cases.

Further information regarding the current military policy may be obtained from Congressman Studds' Washington office.

Black forum conference receives CDC grant

The Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum has been awarded a $32,140 grant from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Monies from the grant will be used to offset the cost of the 5th Annual AIDS Institute at the Sixth National Black Gay and Lesbian Conference. The conference will be held February 11-15 at the Hilton Hotel in Long Beach, California. The conference will focus on the inherent need to bridge gaps that separate us around issues of gender,

race and sexual orientation.

"This is a significant contribution from the CDC because it will cover many of the upfront costs of the AIDS institute, which will allow the Steering Committee to focus on other aspects of the conference," said Vallerie Wagner, conference co-chair.

Speakers scheduled for the conference include Essex Hemphill, E. Lynn Harris, Tera Bates, Dr. Patrick Bellgarde Smith, Cary Alan Johnson, and Randall Keenan.

Gays can march in New York's St. Patrick parade

The New York City Human Rights Commission ruled October 28 that the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization must be allowed to take part in that city's St. Patrick's Day Parade. Administrative Law Judge Rosemarie Maldonado said that religiousfreedom constitutional protections did not apply to the parade, which she said is made up "without regard to sex, race, color or creed to celebrate Irish heritage." The parade's sponsor, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, says that the gay and lesbian Irish group is an affront to the Roman Catholic Church and its opposition to gay rights.

Officials of the India Day Parade in New York City also tried to prevent members of the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA) from taking part in their parade. SALGA triumphed, however, and more than fifty lesbian and gay Indians marched as part of the India Day Parade. Joining SALGA was Urvashi Vaid, executive director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who was born and raised in New Delhi.

Foreign gays being murdered in Rio de Janeiro

People planning vacations in Rio de Janeiro may want to keep a recent report published in the daily O Globo newspaper in mind. In a study conducted by the Bay Gay Group, a Rio gay organization, at least 50 gays were killed between January and September of this year in Brazil's popular tourist city. The group suspects the actual figure to be much higher because of familes' reluctance to report the real circumstances behind the murders.

The study, published on November 22, came from police records, newspaper reports, and interviews with families. It is generally agreed that the groups most at risk in Rio are gays from abroad and transvestites. Most of the bodies show evidence of a violent death. The group's vice president reported that about 10 percent of these crimes are given serious attention by the police, usually only bothering with cases involving rich or famous gays. The police usually prefer to record the crimes as robberies resulting in death rather than murders.

NEA nixes gay film grants

National Endowment for the Arts acting director Anne Imelda Radice denied fund-

ing on November 20 for three lesbian and gay film festivals. The decision affects the Pittsburgh Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, the New Festival of New York, and the Gay and Lesbian Media Coalition of Los Angeles. Radice, who has been identified in the gay press as a lesbian, stated that the three festivals "do not demonstrate artistic expression and artistic merit worthy of support by this agency." These were the only grant proposals recommended by the National Alliance of Media Arts and Cultures to the NEA that were denied.

After 13 years, grove in Israel finally gets gay marker

San Francisco--After a 13-year dispute, the Jewish National Fund recently announced that it will commemorate a grove of trees in Israel donated by 11 gay and lesbian Jewish groups in 1979 to aid the country's land reclamation and reforesta-

tion effort.

JNF Director of Communications Stewart Paskow made the statement at the annual board meeting of the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Organizations. The plaque will bear the inscription, "Fourth International Conference of Gay and Lesbian Jews." The JNF originally nixed the plaque under pressure from an American fundamentalist minister and ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbis.

(San Francisco Bay Times)

Lesbian denied state trooper job

Baltimore--In a case with strong similarities to the ongoing debate over lesbians and gay men in the military, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of

Maryland in November sued the Maryland Continued on next page

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