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GAY PEOPle's ChronICLE SEPTEMBER 26, 1997
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Gays disparaged at conference
Continued from page 1
you could have heard a pin drop.
He brought the crowd back to life by calling for a reform of the legal system, and a school prayer amendment, and a "Christian Nation" amendment. He went on to say that the issue of school vouchers was "almost a done deal." He then asked the crowd for their support in challenging corporate welfare, saying, "We've got to get that on Pat Robertson's agenda."
Bob Barr, primary sponsor of last year's Defense of Marriage Act, spoke of the need to "protect traditional marriages."
"If you can have Heather Has Two Mommies and the rainbow curriculum, you're not going to do much damage with the Ten Commandments," said Oklahoma Rep. Ernest Istook, sponsor of a "Religious Freedom" amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece Alveda King, known for her recent public condemnation of gay civil rights as "destroying" civil rights, spoke on a panel for the Samaritan Project, the Coalition's outreach program to inner city families. Critics call the project an attempt to lure African-Americans away from the Democratic Party.
"We need to take the boxes for race off every document in America," King said, “and certainly not elevate certain behaviors to the status of civil rights."
Materials in the Christian Coalition's exhibit booths were more directly anti-gay. Among the popular bumper stickers for sale were AIDS, ABORTION, EUTHANASIA: DON'T LIBERALS JUST KILL YA? and REPUBLICAN WOMEN LIKE MEN, alongside patriotic and Republican party memorabilia.
By Saturday afternoon, the Family Research Council had run out of copies of their pamphlet, "The Other Side of Tolerance: Victims of Homosexual Activism."
"The advancement of 'gay rights' depends on intimidation and coercion," the booklet states, before recounting anecdotal tales of victims of "politically-charged homosexual activism" in the workplace, academia and "through the suppression of truth."
The FRC pamphlet contains dire warnings about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill to forbid job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation that failed passage by one vote last year.
"If enacted, ENDA would place outside of the law those citizens who view homosexuality as wrong and harmful," it concluded. "In effect, ENDA turns common citizens into outlaws for their beliefs about a profound moral issue."
"We're involved in public policy, not min-
istry, but we support ministries that would help heal the homosexual community," FRC representative Craig Smith said.
The 1997 Christian Coalition national conference came as the organization struggles to define itself after the surprise departure of Ralph Reed, the baby-faced political strategist who led the group since its founding in the wake of Pat Robertson's failed 1988 presidential bid.
Reed, a graduate of Atlanta's Emory University, has returned there to form Century Strategies, a political consulting firm, and is being courted by a number of potential presidential candidates.
New Coalition president Don Hodel and executive director Randy Tate said they will continue distributing "voter guides" through churches, and ranking candidates on a scorecard of hot-button conservative issues.
More than 100 representatives of different religious faiths gathered outside the Marriot on September 12, voicing their opposition to the Coalition's "extremist right-wing agenda" through prayer vigils, press conferences and picketing.
Sean Sasser, manager of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's Atlanta media resource center, read a joint statement signed by 37 Georgia gay and lesbian, feminist, pro-choice, AIDS, religious freedom and religious organizations.
"While the Christian Coalition publicly denounce violence," Sasser read, "the inflammatory rhetoric of some of their leaders has contributed to a climate [where] violence is directed at women's health clinics at an alarming rate, gay people are the victims of vicious hate crimes, predominately gay nightclubs are bombed and churches are burned."
Other critics of the Christian Coalition took their protest to the streets. About 20 to 30 picketers marched, carried signs, chanted and sang outside of the Marriott Marquis throughout most of the conference's Friday and Saturday sessions.
istress?” quipped
The protests grew heated Friday night, as the demonstrators confronted guests arriving for the swank Reed dinner. "Is that his wife or his one protester as Republican gubernatorial candidate and admitted adulterer Michael Bowers and his date hurried down the sidewalk to the hotel entrance.
"Knowing what they're saying inside there," said protester Tamara Haywood, "there's no way I could stay at home." ♡
Chris Crain contributed to this story, which was written for Southern Voice, an Atlanta gay and lesbian newspaper.
ACT UP protests Shalala speech
Continued from page 1
as they spoke. One pictured Jesus holding a needle with the words: "Secretary Shalala, as you speak in Harkness Chapel today, keep this in mind: Jesus was an outreach worker and if he were alive today he would be doing needle exchange. Lift the ban."
The other sign was a picture of a human spine, and a message that Cleveland Mayor Michael White supports needle exchange to curb the spread of HIV. "Here's a nice strong spine for you," the sign said. "Please use it to lift the ban on federal funding for needle exchange."
Before Shalala could respond, Willis and Vail slowly left the chapel, chanting "How many more have to die before you lift the ban?"
U.S. Representative Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, has been successful in amending the House's version of the Health and Human Services funding bill to require congressional action before needle exchanges could be funded. At present, Shalala could lift the federal funding ban with an executive order.
Coburn is also the sponsor of an "HIV Prevention Act" which would create a national registry of names of all people with HIV.
A demonstration and lobby day was held by members of ACT UP Pittsburgh in Washington, D.C. on September 17, hoping to encourage Senate members to oppose the Coburn amendment. The Senate version of the appro-
priations bill does not include any restrictions on Shalala's authority to lift the ban. When House and Senate versions of a bill differ, they must go to a conference committee, where members of the House and Senate work out their disagreements.
WJW-TV Channel 8 covered the event and later reported that Shalala said there is no issue that the administration cares more deeply about than AIDS and that needle exchange is an issue that needs to be settled.
Commenting on the protest, she said, "While I can't do precisely what our young friends would like us to do at this moment, I do share their concern about the death, destruction and discrimination with AIDS in this country."
While attending the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Miami Beach, Julie Scofield, executive director of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors said, "We have to continue our effort at the national level to educate legislators on the value of needle exchange and sterile syringe programs. But we can't wait while thousands of lives are at stake in communities across the country."
Public health officials and policy experts from several states met in Miami on September 18 to discuss a growing trend towards states developing their own needle exchange programs to slow HIV transmission. The group asserted that growing evidence shows the programs reduce HIV transmission without increasing drug use.