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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE AUGUST 19, 1994

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Issue 3 struck down

Continued from page 1

Karl Kadon, Cincinnati's deputy city solicitor, said the city will appeal Spiegel's ruling. The city is legally required to defend initiatives passed by voters.

The ballot measure, which amended the city's charter, would have prohibited the city from adopting or enforcing any law or policy "which provides that homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, status, conduct, or relationship" enables a person to make “any claim of minority or protected status."

Had it gone into effect, the measure would have repealed an existing Cincinnati law which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Witnesses on both sides of the issue argued the pros and cons of the anti-gay measure during a five-day trial in June.

"This ruling provides a critical boost to our challenges to anti-gay measures across the country." said Suzanne Goldberg, a staff attorney with Lambda.

"It shores up the other court decisions that have found these ballot initiatives to be bla-

tantly discriminatory and offensive to our Constitution."

Goldberg noted that recent court decisions in California, Florida, and Oregon have rejected similar anti-gay measures.

In his decision in the Cincinnati case, Spiegel took the unusual step of commenting on the concerns of Cincinnati voters who supported the anti-gay ballot measure.

"In voiding this Issue 3 Amendment,” he wrote, "this court is in no way giving any group any rights above and beyond those enjoyed by all citizens...

"Furthermore," Spiegel stated, "nothing in this order should be construed in any way as impugning the integrity or motives of those who voted in favor of the passage of the Issue 3 Amendment. Rather, this order merely explores the permissible scope of governmental legislation under the Constitution. While at times this may seem unfair, especially when deeply emotional issues are involved, indeed it is the fairest, the most deeply rooted, of all of this nation's rich traditions."

-Washington Blade

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10th AIDS conference

Continued from page 1

But scientists have been gathering this kind of information since the epidemic began. Two of the most talked about subjects at the conference long-term survivors and gene therapy-build on the encyclopedic store of basic knowledge already assembled about HIV virology and immunology.

While almost everyone who has HIV eventually gets sick and dies, about 5 percent are still perfectly healthy 12 years to 15 years after their infection. Researchers believe that if they figure out how these people's immune systems tame HIV, maybe they could turn it into a treatment for those less fortunate.

"This is obviously a hot topic," said Dr. David Ho, head of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City.

His preliminary study, presented at the meeting, offers hints of unique immune system responses in people who carry HIV without harm.

Other researchers said their decade of basic research into HIV's origins, structure and life cycle is about to result in human experiments in gene therapy, the most exotic AIDS treatment yet. The idea is to insert HIV-killing genes into people's blood cells so they will be able to protect themselves from the virus.

No one knows whether this will produce a practical AIDS therapy. Time and again, the virus has proven to be more clever than the scientists. Its principal tactic is to evolve

mutant genes that make it impervious to new drugs.

During treatment, HIV quickly becomes resistant to AZT and all the other drugs developed so far. No clearly effective new ones were introduced at the meeting. Doctors still hope that mixing the drugs together will improve their potency.

"We will combine them in as many different ways as we can imagine," said Dr. Paul Volberding of the University of California at San Francisco.

However, researchers showed little of the bravura that reigned early in the epidemic, when many were convinced victory over AIDS was inevitable.

"It has outsmarted us so far, and most of us would predict it will continue to," said Dr. Mark Wainberg of McGill University in Montreal.

For now, many believe that keeping people from becoming infected, largely through condom use, is the only practical way to control the epidemic, which continues to spread with alarming speed.

According to the World Health Organization, about 17 million people have been infected with HIV-three million in the last year alone. Africa is hardest hit, but the virus is starting to spread in Asia, the world's most populous continent.

Clearly AIDS will be a deadly foe for a long time. The International AIDS Society is planning more meetings like this one through the end of the century.

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