December 1, 2006 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
Event marks victories and defeats on AIDS and rights
by Tim Marshall
Cleveland-The LGBT Community Center of Cleveland is marking World AIDS Day with a community-wide meeting on Friday, December 1, 6-8 pm at Bounce nightclub, 2814 Detroit Ave. The free event is open to all and will feature a range of speakers on HIV and AIDS, local and regional politics and upcoming programs at the center.
"We want to open up our annual meeting to the public and address a wide range of current issues confronting the LGBT and ally communities," Executive Director Sue Doerfer said. "The past year was full of victories and defeats and also marked 25 years of AIDS. We want to show how multiple issues both affect and empower our community."
The event will feature a keynote speech by Russell Rich, who brought a muchpublicized civil suit against fast food giant McDonald's. While an employee of a McDonald's franchise, Rich, who was awarded "Outstanding Store Manager of the Year" three times, faced discrimination in the company's insurance and hiring practices.
Although a unanimous júry found McDonald's Corp. guilty of discrimination in October 2001, the company has since challenged that verdict. Rich has gone on to share his inspirational, David-versusGoliath story at colleges and universities across the country and is currently writing a book detailing his experiences with McDonald's.
Lynne Bowman, executive director of Equality Ohio, the statewide LGBT advocacy and education organization, will speak on personal rights across the state and will also present ways all Ohioans can get involved in the equality movement.
Doerfer will round out the evening's agenda with the annual State-of-the-Center address as well as an overview of local policy initiatives. In addition to its ongoing advocacy work, the center will soon unveil a campaign to get members of the LGBT community more engaged at the civic level by regularly contacting elected officials and educating others on LGBT issues.
"We cannot take our recent victories for granted and must continue moving forward," Doerfer said. There are many victories we have yet to earn."
Also during the event, center members in
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good standing-individuals and families that have paid membership dues in the past year will have the opportunity to vote on proposed by-law changes to the organization's charter.
For more information, call 216-651-5428
(651-LGBT) or visit cleveland.org.
www.lgbt
Tim Marshall is the director of development for the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
Getting through disbelief, denial to deal with meth
by Don Hill
The gay community has two reactions to education about crystal methamphetamine: disbelief and denial. Everyone seems to know someone who has tried the drug, but people still would not say that it is a problem in our local community. Many assume that most cities in Ohio do not have large enough gay scenes, or a huge experimental collegeaged demographic-like in Columbus-to cause such an epidemic.
Another attitude is denial. People hide their recreational crystal meth use, sometimes doing it at home on a Saturday night, instead of the middle of a dance floor filled with shirtless men, where one might suspect.
Doing the drug, known as crystal or meth or Tina, seems to almost be an underground phenomenon in conservative Ohio. Its abusers are not always the stereotypical "tweaker" club kids. Many LGBT Ohioans may have friends that use the drug and they do not even know it.
It is is the second most popular illegal drug in the United States. Last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 percent of all gay men used meth at some point in their lives.
The most detrimental effect of using crys-
tal meth is the correlation with HIV infec-
tion. The more meth users binge, the less likely they are to eat and sleep right. With these simple daily health necessities ignored, it's unfathomable to think about resonating safe sex information.
Men who commonly use meth often use the drug specifically for the intense sexual experience that comes with the high. They will meet multiple partners in a bathhouse or online. These men have the information about HIV and they know the risks involved with unprotected sex. Unfortunately, being high on crystal is enough to make them not care about reducing their risks of HIV infection.
This lack of concern to protect oneself sexually when under meth's influence is the main focus of an upcoming social marketing campaign that the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland is currently developing on the dangers of HIV and crystal. The project will consist of educational materials and posters in participating community bars and bathhouses.
This campaign will hopefully help turn gay Clevelanders' reactions towards local crystal meth use from disbelief and denial into education, awareness and support for those in the community who need it.
Don Hill is the ManHealth coordinator for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.
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Twelve blocks of the AIDS Quilt to be shown in Elyria
by Daniel Spitzer
Elyria, Ohio-A dozen sections of the world-renowned AIDS Memorial Quilt are coming to the area for viewing from December 7 through December 10.
The Quilt display is sponsored by PRIDE, People Respecting Individual Diversity Everywhere, and Lorain County Community College's HIV and AIDS class. The display will be in the Patsie C. Campana building on the college's Elyria campus, 1005 North Abbe Road.
Begun by San Francisco activist Cleve Jones in 1987, the Quilt is made up of about 46,000 three-by-six-foot cloth panels, made by family or friends to memorialize someone who has died of AIDS. Eight of these panels make up one of the "block" sections that will be displayed in Elyria.
Because of its size-30 acres with aisles-the entire Quilt has not been shown in one place since a 1996 display on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
Benefit dinner December 9
Along with the viewings, there will be an AIDS Quilt Dinner on Saturday, December 9 that will benefit the Lorain County AIDS Task Force. The task force is a non-profit organization that helps families in Lorain County that are living with AIDS.
The dinner will include a silent auction, speeches by local people affected by AIDS, and a candlelight vigil walk from the dinner at the John A. Spitzer Conference Center to the Campana building to view the AIDS Quilt.
Tickets for the dinner are $20 a plate, with the majority of the ticket price going directly to the task force.
To purchase tickets or for more information, contact Daniel Spitzer at SpitzerDW@comcast.net.
The Quilt will be on display Thursday, December 7 from 5 to 8 pm; Saturday, December 9 from 10 am to 4 pm; and on Friday and Sunday, 10 am to 2 pm and 5 to 8 pm both days.
All viewing times are open to the public, free of charge, donations welcome.
Daniel Spitzer is the student co-ordinator for the event.
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In loving memory
of those whom we have lost
And in heartfelt tribute to the living