GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE NOVEMBER 12, 1993

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Two new discoveries about HIV

Sydney, Australia-Australian scientists have cloned the gene that makes a molecule that serves as the gateway for the AIDS virus' invasion of healthy cells.

The October 27 announcement came only two days after French researchers at the Pasteur Institute disclosed that they had discovered the "gateway" molecule, named CD26, used by all strains of the AIDS virus to gain entry.

The Australian team that cloned the gene for the receptor which lets HIV into cells has invited the Pasteur Institute to share the clones, scientist Dr. Geoff McCaughan said.

The cloning could help speed efforts to develop a drug to stop HIV, using the CD26 receptor molecule.

The French discovery that HIV needs CD26 molecules to enter cells was a real breakthrough, according to McCaughan.

"The presence and functioning of the CD26 molecule are indispensable for the infection and spread of the virus in the CD4 cells," said a statement from the Pasteur Institute. "In viral infections, the CD4 serves as the contact point for viral particles, while CD26 serves as the main door."

McCaughan and his team have been working on the CD26 molecule for five years. Just last month, research scientist Cathy Abbott cloned the gene which codes for CD26.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the French discovery was that the CD26 receptor hooks onto a non-variable region of the HIV cell, he said.

This opened possibilities for drugs which worked no matter which variant of HIV a person was infected with.

It might allow a vaccine to be developed that stimulated the body to produce antibodies to the area of the HIV cell which links to the CD26, he said.

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Dismissal of Pridgen suit sought

Wilmington, N.C.-A lawyer for three Camp Lejeune Marines sued by a patron of a gay bar after a brawl that attracted national attention plans to ask a judge to dismiss the

case.

Barring a dismissal, attorney Clay Collier said he would argue that the lawsuit be narrowed to exclude references to the Marines' action as a hate crime.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Crae Pridgen by the Southern Poverty Law Center, accuses the three Marines of being out to hurt gays when they walked into Mickey Ratz, a Wilmington gay bar, the night of January 29. The incident drew national publicity because of its timing, coming on the heels of President Clinton's proposal to lift the ban on gays in the military.

The suit asks for damages in excess of $10,000.

Richard Cohen, who represents Pridgen on behalf of the law center, a civil rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama, had said his organization might drop the suit in part because Pridgen and his family had been subjected to emotional stress during the April criminal trial in which the marines were found not guilty of assault.

Apple Computer's gay families not welcome in Texas

Cupertino, Calif.-Apple Computer says it will continue to plan for an office complex in Texas, despite local officials who said the company is "destroying families" by providing domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees.

Apple's employees are now spread out in three leased buildings in Austin, and the company wants to move them to a permanent, company-owned site in rural Williamson County, Texas, near Austin.

But two Williamson county commissioners say they'll oppose any tax break for Apple's planned complex because of the domestic partners policy.

Gay groups plan to try to enlist the help of Texas Governor Ann Richards. Asked by a reporter if she would intervene to save tax breaks for a company whose she presence helped lure to Texas, Richards said: “If I

need to I will, but no one's called me about that or asked me to do anything."

Richards, supports gay rights and has aggressively sought to attract high-tech industry to her state.

A vote on the issue isn't expected until Apple submits its formal proposal late this month. The company hopes to break ground in the spring.

Apple doesn't intend to change its policy or pull out of the project, spokesman Bill Keegan said. "Given all the resources dedicated to building the facility, I think we would find some middle ground."

Princeton faculty: ROTC out

Princeton, N.J.-The faculty of Princeton University passed a resolution recommending that the school end its ROTC program unless the military liberalizes its policy on gays.

The resolution calls on Princeton to notify the Army that unless "all regulations restricting the speech of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals are repealed by June 30, 1994, the university will no longer permit a Reserve Officer Training Corps program to exist on its campus."

It passed November 1 by a vote of 42-33 held at the faculty's monthly meeting.

However, the university's president and board of trustees have the final say in determining the status of the ROTC program, said a university spokesman. The board of trustees has not set a date on when to make a decision on the program's fate.

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An Episcopal Church AIDS information pamphlet lists an outdated AIDS crisis hotline phone number that instead offers a gay male phone-sex line.

The pamphlet, distributed by the Episcopal Church Center's Youth Ministries Office distributed lists a telephone number for Manfinder 800.

Diane Porter, a program director at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, said the church became aware of the discrepancy on November 2.

The church will not ship copies of the brochure until the issue is resolved, she said.

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