6
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
OCTOBER 29, 1993
Greater HIV risk for lesbians?
San Francisco-Some women who identify as lesbians still have sex with men, and that puts them at risk for HIV infection, two studies showed.
One of the studies, by the San Francisco Department of Health, showed that onequarter of the women who identified themselves as lesbians had had sex with men in the past three years.
Researchers said that the HIV-infection rate among the two groups surveyed was 1.2 percent, or three times the rate for all San Francisco women. The surveys included both lesbian and bisexual women.
Said Judith Cohen of the San Franciscobased Lesbian Avengers: "We need to stop the denial and apathy, and start paying attention. Lesbian women are not immune. This is our wake-up call—and we, and the federal government, should take notice."
Frank: OK reps are not OK
Three Oklahoma representatives drew criticism on the House floor from one of their peers for saying they would not hire openly gay men and women to their staffs.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. criticized Reps. Bill Brewster, Jim Inhofe and Ernest Istook on the House floor during a fiveminute speech October 19.
In his House speech, Frank said the three would be in violation of anti-discrimination laws in the District of Columbia if those laws covered Congress.
Also October 20, the Gay and Lesbian Americans said it urged House Speaker Tom Foley to condemn the Oklahomans' hiring policies and asked for their censure by the House.
Frank urged the House leadership to distance itself from such policies but stopped short of asking for censure.
NEWS BRIEFS
No bridges in our church
Detroit-Organizers of a seminar on gays and lesbians moved the program to a hospital after Detroit Archbishop Adam Maida refused to let them conduct it in a church.
The Rev. Robert Nugent and Sister Jeannine Gramick planned to hold the seminar entitled "Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Christians and the Church" October 20 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Nugent and Gramick criticized Maida's decision, saying the Roman Catholic leader never discussed the seminar with them and has misinterpreted its purpose. Maida has agreed to meet with the Baltimore-based priest and nun and would send representatives to the seminar, a spokesman said October 19.
Lutherans loosen up a bit
Masturbation is healthy, the Bible supports gay unions, and teaching teens how to use condoms to prevent disease is a moral
Moot Oregon referenda are OK
Salem, Ore.-Local elections on antigay initiatives may proceed despite a law passed last summer preventing their enactment, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled October 19.
The court's decision came on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against elections officials in Oregon City.
The ACLU said the law, which prevents local governments from enacting anti-gay rights measures, should force cancellation of the anti-gay civil rights initiative elections scheduled for November 9 in Oregon City and Keizer.
But the Appeals Court, without issuing an opinion explaining why, sided with state lawyers, who argued that the legislature did not mean to interfere with people's right to vote, only to prevent the enforcement of any laws singling out people based on sexual orientation.
imperative, says a task force leading the Gay youth benefit from smoking
nation's largest Lutheran body into the sex
wars.
Four years in the making, a draft statement going before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America declares that the core of human sexuality should be loving, committed relationships and not limited to heterosexual marriages.
The 21-page report-"The Church and Human Sexuality: A Lutheran Perspective," is to be sent to 19,000 pastors and other church leaders in the 5.2 million-member denomination.
Local churches have until next June to respond. A second draft, taking the response into account, will be prepared for a churchwide assembly of lay and clergy delegates in 1995.
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Boston-The state of Massachusetts plans to divert $450,000 in cigarette tax money to programs aimed at stopping harassment of gay teenagers in school.
The $450,000 will be used toward implementing recommendations of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, which the state Board of Education adopted. The commission urged schools to develop anti-harassment policies, create support groups for gay teen-agers, train teachers to prevent suicides and violence against gays and provide family counseling. The Education Department plans allday workshops around the state for teachers on the problem of harassment of gays at school.
Stockholders can vote on bias
New York-A federal judge has ruled that shareholders of Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores must be allowed to vote on of defusing to hire
1991
estaurant chain ould only hire
I workers were
The New York City Employees Retirement System, a pension fund that holds stock in Cracker Barrel, sponsored a shareholder proposal prohibiting discrimination at the company.
But Cracker Barrel claimed that it could simply ignore the proposal on the grounds that the company's anti-gay policy was "ordinary business." The federal Securities and Exchange Commission agreed.
California court says HIV+ man grow his own weed
can
San Diego-A man with AIDS was found innocent of drug charges October 15 when a jury determined that he cultivated marijuana for medicinal purposes.
With the ruling, Samuel Skipper, 39, of La Mesa, was told by the jury that he can the drug at his home to combat AIDSgrow related symptoms.
The case is thought to be the first in California where a defendant claimed to use marijuana to ease symptoms of AIDS.
Maybe size is important
London-When it comes to safe sex, size may matter. A British survey found that almost one in five men complain that condoms are too tight. And too-tight condoms paradoxically — tend to slide
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off, said researcher Dr. Stuart J. Tovey.
The findings suggest that condoms should be made in a variety of sizes, Tovey said. In many countries, only one-size-fits-all versions are available.
Of 281 men surveyed at a London clinic, 19 percent said condoms were too snug. Of those complaining, three-quarters said condoms slipped off frequently and twothirds said condoms ripped.
Dr. Richard McDonald of the Physicians Association for AIDS Care in Chicago was more skeptical about the problem.
"A huge number of men" complain about too tight condoms, he said. "The problem is not the condom is too small for the vast majority of men that complain, but their egos are too large."
A 65-millimeter (2.6-inch) wide condom is available in the United States, but McDonald said just as many men complain that it is too tight.
Condom trees aren't in season in New Hampshire
Nashua, N.H.-While trees elsewhere in the state were dropping leaves, some in Nashua were sprouting condoms.
The condoms were inside packets containing information about AIDS testing, and were placed on trees in Greeley Park by the city's Community Health Department.
Some residents were offended, causing removal of the condoms by park workers. Health officials apologized, but said their intentions were good.
The condoms were placed in the park by two new health department workers who were hired with a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The strategy was an effort to get to drug users and people looking for public sex.
The cards attached to the condoms give the address and phone number of the city health department, where AIDS testing is offered.
Yale staff gets partner benefits
New Haven, Conn.-Yale University is extending full health benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian faculty members, administrators and managers.
Yale joins other leading universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago that recently have extended coverage to lesbian, gay, and heterosexual domestic partners.
Yale's decision, announced Thursday, followed two years of discussion and reports. The move had a strong faculty recommendation, said Ann Ameling, an associate provost who helped to draft the benefits plan.
Yale had previously extended a number of privileges to gay and lesbian partners, including identification cards and passes to the campus gym and libraries
If they were, would they be here?
-
Tupelo, Miss. With a performance of Sesame Street Live planned for Nov. 12-14, Tupelo Coliseum officials say they've been bombarded with calls from people wanting to know if two of the fictional characters are gay. Officials say rumors that Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie characters are supposedly portraying a gay couple have circulated across the country.
"There is no truth whatsoever to the rumors that Bert and Ernie are married," said a spokesperson with Jim Henson Productions, the company started by Jim Henson who created the muppet characters more than 20 years ago.
Tupelo Coliseum Manager Mike Marion said callers have even gone so far as to ask if the two characters would have a wedding ceremony during the 90-minute musical.
Marion said at least one caller said they didn't want to come to the show if the rumors were untrue.
Tupelo is the home of the American Family Assn., an anti-gay group headed by the Rev. Don Wildmon that often tries to have positive gay references removed from films and TV shows.