JUNE 10, 1994

COMMUNITY FORUM

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

Mr. Personality

To the Editors:

In a recent issue of the Chronicle, Vera Carp wrote a very nice article about the positive people in the gay-lesbian Cleveland community. In a society that seems to be always complaining about something, it was nice to read the positive side of Cleveland. However, Ms./Mr. Carp missed one person, Zak Haley. It seems like Zak has been smiling around Cleveland forever. If he is not busy with ACT UP or Dancin' in the Streets, he's at the Garden Party shaking hands, or at some other function lending his time and efforts. If there were a Mr. Cleveland Award based on personality instead of body parts, Zak would be my nomination.

Paul Zeitzew

HIV+ people on board

To the Editors:

It was with great interest and much remorse that I read the letter to the editors written by Mr. Michael Philp in the May 6 edition of the Chronicle. There are some grave misconceptions Mr. Philp perpetuated in his letter regarding the Health Issues Taskforce, and specifically the agency's Board of Trustees which I feel obligated to correct.

Health Issues Taskforce is an agency which can best be described at present as one that is in transition. With the departure of our executive director, Dr. Joseph Interrante, and several other key staff members we have been intensively searching to fill these staff vacancies with the most qualified professionals who best exemplify the mission of our agency: "to promote a comprehensive and compassionate response to AIDS and HIV infection in Greater Cleveland through education and prevention, advocacy and supportive services." Happily, I am proud to say that we are coming to the end of our searching. Many of the staff vacancies have been filled with excellent and enthusiastic individuals who we, board, staff, and volunteers, are confident will lead this agency through this transitional period and enable HIT to better serve an ever-increasing number of clients in a professional manner, and yet with empathy, compassion and love.

In addition, the general membership has voted to change the name of the agency to the "AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland" to more accurately describe our mission to the general public. We will be moving our offices this summer to a larger, more

modern facility a few blocks away that can better accommodate a growing staff and client base. We are committed to further diversification of the agency within the staff, board, and volunteers to better reflect a rapidly diversifying client base. And always, we are struggling to procure more funds to support our agency in light of evershrinking funding sources. HIT is excited about this transitional period because it has enabled us to make many drastic changes which will prove to be for the better of the agency and the community.

Regarding Mr. Philp's letter specifically, he stated that there is no HIV-positive representation on the board because of a recently adopted board policy that precludes an active client's eligibility for board membership. First, the board currently does have HIV-positive representation. Additionally, many other board members have personally experienced the ravages of HIV through the loss of family members, friends, and loved ones, or they work with HIV daily in their professional lives as social workers, health care providers, clergy or lawyers. Second, the board did adopt a policy one and a half years ago that precluded an active client's eligibility for board membership because in the past there proved to be significant conflicts of interest among clients who were also board members. However, the board is constantly seeking HIV-infected individuals who are willing to actively serve on our board. Any interested

people can send their name and a résumé to Sister Marian Durkin, Chair of Nominations, c/o Health Issues Taskforce, 2250 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland 44115.

Mr. Philp further stated that clients' concerns and needs are not the concern of HIT. To the contrary, client input and feedback is of paramount importance. A Client Satisfaction Survey has been instituted, widely distributed, and favorably received. Board meetings are always open, and many active clients are currently invaluable volunteers for the agency. Further volunteer participation among active clients has always been encouraged and needed. The first edition of a new publication by the Taskforce, in conjunction with the Living Room of the Lesbian and Gay Community Service Center, entitled "Positive Cleveland", has been distributed. This publication is a forum for individuals within the HIV spectrum to voice their ideas, concerns, experiences and hopes. Active clients are always welcome to become voting members of the agency (the $15 annual membership fee can be waived for clients experiencing financial hardship). In addition to voting privileges at the Annual Meeting, each member then receives the monthly Taskforce Newsletter which outlines all activities of the agency and many other services within the community. In the past, clients have not automatically been placed on the Newsletter mailing list because of concerns about confidentiality when the newsletter was sent to a client's home or work address.

In summary, HIT does have HIV representation on its board, and is constantly seeking more HIV representation from qualified individuals who can commit to serve; client feedback is encouraged through the Client Satisfaction Surveys, the publication "Positive Cleveland", volunteering within the agency and becoming a voting member of the organization. I hope this helps clarify any misconceptions rendered by Mr. Philp's letter of May 6. As our agency continues to grow and diversify, more changes and improvements will be implemented so we can continually strive to better serve the entire community.

Stephen A. Weirich, M.D. President, Board of Trustees Health Issues Taskforce

This letter was written before the announcement of HIT's name change.

Eds.

Cutting-edge AIDS research in Cleveland

The following letter was sent to the Plain Dealer.

I was very disturbed at the recent advertisement (Sunday Plain Dealer, May 22) listing places that HIV/AIDS infected and affected Clevelanders can go for help, support, care, etc, which failed to mention the cornerstone of Cleveland's effort in our fight against AIDS. The AIDS Clinical Trials Unit at Case Western Reserve University Hospitals. As one of 35 adult units of this type in the United States doing research co-coordinated by the National Institutes of Health, the unit here is noted among the top five. When you consider the reputation of the facilities where the other units are located, Sloan-Kettering, Harvard University, and Duke University, this recognition of our unit should be a source of great pride.

While we must continue to provide support and care we will never be able to provide support and care for all those in need now and in the future as the infection rate continues to soar. As those agencies mentioned are providing care, researchers at the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit toil onward in out-of-the-way, under-funded laboratories searching for answers to combat this devastating epidemic.

Without the tireless commitment from the likes of Dr. Michael Lederman, Dr. John Carey, Dr. Brook Jackson and the support staff who are searching for the cure, where

would the care providers be? Trying to deal with an ever increasing case load that will be so large and so needy that enough care will never be able to be provided.

The most obvious and despicable reason these important scientists and their life saving research is hidden away is plainly and simply University Hospitals' unwillingness to be labeled as the AIDS hospital. Have you ever seen an ad on the television or heard an ad on the radio that lets the public know they can be part of the most innovative, cutting edge research for AIDS available anywhere in the world, as you see with breast cancer and Alzheimer's, heart disease and other mainstream illnesses?

So while the bigwigs at University Hospitals talk the good talk about how people with AIDS and their families need to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion provided to those with any other terminal illness, behind closed doors at their corporate board meetings they still buy into the homophobia and racism that has fueled this epidemic from its beginning.

To the CEOs at University Hospitals I would like to say, all hospitals are AIDS hospitals, just as all hospitals are cancer hospitals. And while you might not want to be known as the AIDS hospital I'd bet you wouldn't mind one bit being known as the hospital at which the cure for AIDS was found.

To the citizens of Northeast Ohio let me remind you, you have one of the finest facilities in the country if you are dealing with this horrible illness. Yes, there is support and care but there is much more than that, there is cutting edge research being done right here in our own back yard by some of the best and brightest minds in the field of immunology has to offer.

While ACT UP Cleveland doesn't necessarily agree with the National Institutes of Health's research agenda in regards to AIDS, University Hospitals needs to take the high moral ground and do as much to support and encourage research on AIDS as aggressively as they do for other illnesses. Come on, it's 1994 and AIDS is just a disease. Let's deal with it like adults. Too many Clevelanders, Americans, human beings are hurting too much for the well to argue about reputations.

Joe Carroccio co-founder ACT UP Cleveland

Billy Graham is in bed with the radical right

The following letter was sent to the Plain Dealer.

On Sunday evening [June 12], James C. Dobson of Colorado Springs will be speaking at the final event of the Billy Graham Cleveland Crusade. Your readers should be made aware that Dr. Dobson, respected as an advocate of families, is also a major political organizer of the new Radical Right.

Founder of "Focus on the Family," several of his executives at that $75 million-ayear lobbying organization direct "Coloradans for Family Values." CFV organized,

COMMITMENT Vows

I perform ceremonies outside the traditional fold with sincere respect for each couple who love, honor & cherish each other.

Please call Rev. Renee Goodman 216/247-2772

trained and directed the anti-human rights ballot initiative last November in Cincinnati! The CFV campaign was successful, but federal court, thankfully, has ruled its effect is likely to be unconstitutional, and therefore the initiative has not been put into effect. CFV is also being investigated for campaign funding violations, violations of Ohio election laws and possible "laundering" of Ohioans' political donations.

We respect Dr. Dobson's right to express his religious and political views, and welcome him to Cleveland, a city that opposes discrimination based on race, sex, creed, or sexual orientation. But readers should be aware that once again Billy Graham is being surrounded by idealogues with unconstitional goals.

Charles W. Henderson Vicechair Out Voice

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