October 1st, 1997 to October 7th, 1997

National Roundup

by P.J. Engelbrecht

Clinton may tap lesbian for senior staff
Bill Clinton may name Virginia Apuzzo, former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, to a senior White House staff post as "assistant to the President for management and administration," the Washington Blade reported Sept. 25.

If inside-the-Beltway rumors are correct, Apuzzo will become the highest-ranking gay person ever to serve in a federal government position, The Blade said.

Currently an administrator in the Labor Dept., Apuzzo has confirmed engaging in "conversations" with the White House about a potential new post.

Clinton's liaison to the gay community, Richard Socarides, said gay appointments to "very senior posts" would be announced soon.

Socarides and Bruce Lehman (assistant secretary in the Commerce Dept. and acting chair, National Endowment for the Humanities) are currently the top gays in federal government.

As assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Clinton's first term, Roberta Achtenberg has been the highest ranking gay ever.

Apuzzo has been active in lesbigay and Democratic politics for more than 20 years, nationally and in New York state.

Hawaii decision limits reciprocal benefits
Federal judge David Ezra ruled Sept. 26 that Hawaii's new "reciprocal beneficiaries" law will not require all employers to offer medical coverage to unmarried partners of employees, according to the Honolulu Advertiser. In a federal lawsuit filed July 11, the Bank of Hawaii, C. Brewer & Co., Hawai'ian Electric Industries, Theo H. Davies &Co. and Outrigger Hotels and Resorts contended that federal law barred the state from deciding who was eligible.

The new legislation extended many rights and benefits gained through marriage to couples who cannot at present legally marry, particularly gays and lesbians. The judge agreed with Hawaii Attorney General Margery Bronster's earlier interpretation of the new law and affirmed that "only private insurance companies are required to offer medical coverage for reciprocal beneficiaries." The HMOs covering the majority of Hawaiian workers are now exempt, though two major HMOs said they would provide reciprocal coverage for employers requesting it. Some of the corporate litigants may still develop company policies offering benefits.

But Dan Foley, the lawyer for three same-sex couples suing Hawaii for the right to marry, said that Ezra's decision will help the marriage case by demonstrating the unfair advantages heterosexuals gain through marriage.

Live virus AIDS vaccine study criticized
Last week, Outlines reported on a proposal to test a weakened-live-virus vaccine that the study's sponsors, the Chicago-based International Association of Physicians in AIDSCare, hope to test on 50 volunteer study participants drawn from their own ranks--including three Chicagoans. Now, Barry Bloom, head of UN AIDS, the United Nations AIDS research body, has warned that the plan arouses "serious safety concerns." Bloom thinks that exposing healthy study participants to HIV, even in weakened form, is "premature," AFP reported Sept. 25, though he called the volunteers' willingness to face risk of infection "noble and courageous."

Clinton at HRC gala Nov. 8
President Clinton is scheduled to speak at the Human Rights Campaign's national gala dinner on Nov. 8 in Washington.

"The President's attendance will mark the first time a sitting president has participated at a gay and lesbian civil-rights event," said Elizabeth Birch, HRC executive director.

Washington ACT UP members have denounced the selection of Clinton as speaker, citing his poor record on AIDS. ACT-UP has vowed to "use the event as a forum to expose the Clinton legacy."

Ellen DeGeneres and her partner Anne Heche, will also attend the dinner; DeGeneres will be presented an HRC National Civil Rights Award for her television coming-out last spring. In early September, DeGeneres' mother, Betty, was named the HRC National Coming Out Project spokesperson.

Occurring two days before the first White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the sold-out HRC dinner will be attended by 1,500 guests at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in D.C.

Navy clemency hearings set for Schindler murderer
Routine sentencing review hearings get underway Oct. 8 for Terry Helvey, convicted of the 1992 murder of his shipmate, Seaman Allen Schindler. Although Helvey will not be eligible for parole until 2002, Navy law requires that the five-officer Clemency Board annually review all sentences of more than one year.

Dorothy Hajdys-Holman, Schindler's mother, will be represented at the the proceeding by attorney Kirk Childress of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Childress "will stress that Helvey brutally murdered Allen Schindler because he was gay and ... the members of the clemency board must send a strong message that anti-gay violence will not be tolerated by the Navy," according to SLDN.

Meanwhile, Hajdys-Holman is collecting signatures on a petition urging the Board to make Helvey serve his full life sentence. "I do not want any other mother to live through what I have," she said. A copy of the petition appears on the SLDN website, <www.sldn.org>. Write to SLDN at P.O. Box 53D13, Washington D.C. 20009, or call (202) 328-3244.

Army admits lesbian-baiting
The Army's Senior Review Panel on Sexual Harassment released a report Sept. 11 admitting that the Army has permitted women to be threatened with accusations of lesbians or actually called lesbians "in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment, rape or for rebuffing sexual advances," reported the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

The Panel acknowledged that focus groups revealed women are being harassed by accusations of homosexuality, which is problematic under the current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy President Clinton supports.

SLDN co-executive director Michelle Benecke said, "the Army's recognition of the depth of the sexual harassment within its ranks is ground-breaking. ... Army leaders must end retaliatory lesbian-baiting and instead investigate the perpetrators of sexual harassment."

Youth activist Orosco honored by Memorial Fund
The National Youth Advocacy Coalition has established a Memorial Fund to Remember Jacob Orosco, following the Salt Lake City teen activist's Sept. 3 suicide. Money given to the Memorial Fund will be directed to Gay-Straight Alliances around the nation, the NYAC announced Sept. 22, and awards will recognize youth leaders, as well as representatives of national organizations "addressing the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth."

NYAC Director Rae Carey was named fund advisor and awards committee chair; Tzabaco Catalog's Safe Schools Initiative is supporting the initiative. "Through the Memorial fund, we look forward to channeling the grief, anger, and compassion expressed over Jacob's death into tangible systems of support for other students facing discrimination based on their sexual orientation," Carey said.

Tax-deductible contributions to the Fund may be made by calling 1-800-856-1667 (reference: Jacob), or send a check payable to the Tides Foundation, Memorial Fund, c/o TCLGCF, P.O. Box 460607, San Francisco, CA 94146.

S.F. domestic-partnership law overwhelming bureaucrats
Three San Francisco city supervisors have proposed amending the city's domestic-partnership legislation "to allow individual departments to issue waivers," the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sept. 23. The law demands that domestic partners be offered the same rights and benefits as married partners by all entities doing business with the city.

The law took effect in June, and officials believed that one-third of the 12,000 city businesses it covers have complied with the law or sought information on doing so. The problem is, the city bureaucracy can't handle the attendant workload. The new compliance waivers are intended to ease the redtape, although officials do not expect many waivers to be issued. So far, none have been.

Homosexuality not just genetic, says new twins study
A joint U.S.-Australian research study has concluded that "homosexuality is as much a product of society and the environment as it is of genetics." The AFP reported Sept. 25 on research completed by Dr. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University in Evanston and Dr. Michael Dunne of the Queensland University of Technology, who have studied 4,900 sets of Australian twins.

Preliminary findings suggest that "sexual orientation in men was mostly determined by genetics but expression of sexuality depended on the [males'] environment. The evidence about sexuality in women was far less certain but nature as well as nurture was a factor with both sexes." Dunne said that the historical times in which one lives also affect the expression of an individual's "genetic predisposition to homosexuality." The findings may calm fears that genetic manipulation would enable potential parents to "select against" having gay babies.

Nebraska woman wins custody
Despite having had a "one-time" affair with another woman two years ago, Carol Hassenstab retained custody of her 11-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, when the Nebraska Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in her favor Sept. 23, according to NewsPlanet. Hassenstab denies being a lesbian, and "two members of the three-judge panel saw no evidence of harmful effects" on the child, who said she wished to remain with her mother.

The third judge, Edward Hannon, disagreed. Citing the family's Catholicism, Hannon criticized the mother for "conduct [that] will necessarily impair Jacqueline's moral training."

Hassenstab has had custody since her 1990 divorce, when the child was six months old.

Rhode Island gay groups sue police for records
The Rhode Island ACLU and the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders filed suit Sept. 16 against the Providence, RI, police department because for a year, the Providence police have refused to make public records on "an alleged anti-gay sweep operation in the Blackstone Park area," according to a GLAD press release. The complainants believe the records will expose police entrapment and harassment of gay-and straight-men who frequent the park.

No. Carolina sheriff still under fire for harassment
The Charlotte, North Carolina Observer reports that the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and others are criticizing the recent legal compromise which allowed Mitchell County Sheriff Vernon Bishop to keep his job. Bishop "admitted taping conversations" of the local high school football coach whom he thought was gay "to investigate whether the coach was conspiring to commit illegal sex acts."

After school officials heard the tape, the coach resigned, and no charges were ever filed. To avoid an "abuse of power" probe by the district attorney, Bishop offered a vague public apology in court and forfeited a half-month's pay (about $1,600). "How could someone who's supposed to uphold the law break it and keep his job?" asked Mark Johnson, NGLTF spokesperson.

Intersex groups demonstrate against Dr. Jocelyn Elders
When former Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders gave the keynote address at a Mautner Lesbians With Cancer Project fundraiser in Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, activists from Hermaphrodites With Attitude and the Transexual Menace demonstrated outside because Elders "is an outspoken advocate of Intersex Genital Mutilation, a cosmetic surgery performed on the genitals of intersexed infants so they will look like 'normal' males and females," stated an HWA press release.

The statement explains that although "intersexuality was once considered rare ... about 8 intersex children are genitally cut in U.S. hospitals every working day for cosmetic reasons." HWA founder Cheryl Chase says that "IGM is a queer issue" not least because it is sometimes performed to reduce clitoral size in hopes of preventing lesbianism.

New AIDS drug combo shows promise
A Science magazine article Sept. 26 said that a novel combination of the anti-viral drugs hydroxyurea, didanosine and the protease inhibitor indinavir induced "early remission of HIV in a patient who had been infected with the virus for seven weeks," reported PR Newswire.

The remission occurred during a six-month treatment regime, and nine months after he stopped taking the drugs, he remains in remission. The drug combo was first used in a 1996 Berlin study; 20 study participants are being monitored. Hydroxyurea has been used since the 1960s to treat such diseases as sickle cell anemia and chronic leukemia, but it is not yet an FDA-approved AIDS drug.

Religious right facing counter-ralliesin D.C.
The rightwing men's religious group, the Promise Keepers, will hold a rally Oct. 3-4 in Washington, D.C., and the Equal Partners in Faith are planning a countervailing "Week of Witness" Sept. 28-Oct. 4. EPF spokesperson and openly lesbian Rev. Meg Riley noted that Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney has worked against gay rights in Colorado and "denounced us publicly as 'abominations.' ... We need to be in the vanguard of waking up other people of faith about [him]," she concluded. For EPF info: Michael Kusek, pager (202) 886-7354.

Similarly, a variety of activities "designed to expose radical religious attacks on lesbians and gay men, freedom and religion" were planned to counteract the Christian Coalition national convention in Atlanta Sept. 11-14. Co-founder of the rightist group Focus on the Family, Gil Alexander-Moegerle, was expected to speak out against the group's current anti-gay agenda.

Gay and lesbian Mormons celebrate
In Salt Lake City, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons celebrated its 20th anniversary conference Aug. 21-24 at the University of Utah, with about 200 participants. With chapters in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and other major cities, Affirmation has aided many lesbigay Mormons in coming out and in reconciling their sexuality and their beliefs, rather than focusing on confrontations with the generally anti-gay LDS Church.

Affirmation leaders report that although Mormon homophobia is diminishing on the personal, local level, the Mormon church "is doing the most to oppose legal gay marriage in Hawaii."

Nevertheless, among the 60+ Mormon sects, some are gay. For Chicago gay Mormon options call Dave Kettley at (630) 844-1884, website <http://www.affirmation.org/~affadmin>.

ACLU expands staff
The Washington, D.C.-based national office of the American Civil Liberties Union has added two legislative staff members: Christopher E. Anders, legislative counsel for gay and lesbian rights and the rights of people with HIV/AIDS; and Terri Ann Schroeder, legislative representative tackling First Amendment rights to religious liberty.

Black gay group seeks E.D.
Keith Boykin, executive director of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, has announced he will leave the organization when his contract expires Feb. 18, 1998, as the group's 11th Annual Conference concludes in Washington, D.C. NBLGLF is beginning a search for Boykin's successor: NBLGLF, Executive Director Search Committee, 1436 U St., NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20009. Call (202) 483-6786; email <CEO Search@col.com>.

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