| Transcript |
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1989 / MONTROSE VOICE
Activists say crackdown in Argentina intensifies
by HEX WOCKNER
Harassment of gay men and lesbians in the South American nation of Argentina has worsened to
such an extent in recent months
that the _!6(. delegates to July's International Lesbian and Gay Association Uth World Conference
in Vienna staged a colorful, noisy
and multi lingual demonstration
outside the Argentine embassy in
downtown Vienna.
According to activists with the
Com tin id ad Homosexual Argentina (CHA) police now routinely
back paddy wagons up to the
frontm doors of gay bars and discos and haul away the patrons,
holding them for up to 72 hours.
Gay men face additional harassment in the streets, where authorities charge that they are
"poblicly soliciting for the purpose of sex."
"All it takes," said CHA's Emmanuel Valido, "is to be standing
on the corner with your hands in
your pockets. The police will say
you were playing with yourself
and inviting sex. Or, if you scratch
your ear. they say it was a signal chanted pro-gay slogans in Eng-
to another man. lish, Spanish and German.
The Vienna protest began on a "Gays y lesbianas, unidos,
small side street one half block jamas seran vencidos" (Gays and
from the central plaza. Activists lesbians united will never be
carried signs in their own Ian- beaten") they yelled. The chant
guages denouncing the Argentine was a slight alteration of the slo-
laws used to harass gays and gan of the Latin American peo
ple's revolutions.
The protest then moved to Vienna's central square surrounding St. Stephen's Cathedral. Activists linked hanmds and
formed a large circle some 35 meters in circumference. Passers-by
were perplexed by the multi-lingual protest signs, but realized
that gays were upset about something, since "homosexual" looks
the same in most Roman-alphabet languages.
The police harassment of gays
and lesbians in Argentine cities
has has only complicated the severe economic and social prolems
facing CHA and the country's homosexual movement. CHA in
$600 (U.S.) behind on its rent,
electricity and taxes; and a dramatically soaring inflation rate
has placed condoms out of reach
for more than 99 percent of the
country's citizens.
We would like to keep our correspondence up" said Valido, "but
the financial crisis can make us
unable to answer because of the
high price ot postage. We've discontinued our magazine, Vamos
A Andar.'
CHA made an emergency plea
in Vienna for international assistance and support. Financial donations should be in the form of
American Express international
money order made out to CHA
president Alejandro Zalazar. The
address is: Casilla de Correeo 45,
Sucursal 37, C.P. 1437, Buenos
Aires, Argentina. CHA's name
must not be on the address or the
envelope.
CHA also requested protest letters to Argentine President Carlos
Saul Menem at Balcarce 50, C.P.
1064, Buenos Aires; and to local
Argentine embassies, with photocopies to CHA. Writers should demand the abolition of the fifth article, first paragraph of Law 333/
58, the "law on access to personal
data" and its amendment concerning "publicly soliciting for the
purpose of sex."
Our situation is desperate,"
Valido said. "We're frightened to
go in the streets, the bars and discos are being permanently closed
and it's not safe for u.n to protest on
our own behalf
Our classifieds
are growing. To
advertise your
service, garage
sale, house for
rent or just
about
anything, call
529-8490.
The
Montrose
Voice
eiH.i-_g.M-wS
_,
$2
f
i
W%:r.
|
-5
W_W_\ x'
__t__£_$&B
-W
£■■*_£ ■
",,
*
WAVMJE. Models His New
steAltm Bomber jacket.
George Leland: They called him Mickey
Commentary by LEON DANIEL
UPI Senior Editor
Gary gives himself over to Ihe entertainment aspects of his local news.
WASHINGTON-A name like
George can take a man all the way
to the White House, but it never
really fit the Democratic congressman from Houston.
George T. Leland was a Mickey
if there ever was one. Nobody
called him George, although it
The Mickeys of the world are
fun-loving, hell-raising, boat-rocking types. They're vital, emotional, likeable.
All Mickeys aren't Irish. They
can be Jewish or, like this one,
black Americans. They often are
Such a man wasMickey Leland,
a charismatic man who once described himself as "an activist for
humanity"
If that seems grandiose, it also
is precisely what he was.
Mickey mattered.
He spent hie life improving the
lives of others. And even his tragic
death served as a needed reminder—at a time when the ethics of
our leaders are under a Hack—that
there still are in Congress men
and women of honor.
In death, a man is judged one
last time on Earth by the quality
of those who mourn him.
"Mickey was a fighter and a
friend of those who've been left out
and left behind," said Rep. John
Lewis, the Georgia Democrat and
authentic American hero.
Lewis, a man of singular courage who often shed his blood in
the struggle for civil rights, said,
"Mickey represented the very best
in all of us."
That was high praise indeed
from a man who was brutally
beaten in places like Selma, Ala.,
as he led marches for the right to
Born in Lubbock in 1944, Leland grew up poor, abandoned by
his father and raised by his mother, a short-order cook. He became a
teacher and then a pharmacist.
Elected in 1972 as one ofthe few
blacks in the Texas Legislature,
he appeared on the floor in a
dashiki robe, shocking his colleagues and firmly establishing
his political identity. But, as he
matured politically, Leland
worked successfully within the
system for a better world.
When he died inaplanecrashin
Ethiopia two weeks ago, he was
one of the most influential members ofthe Democratic majnriu in
Congress.
This was a man who persuaded
the House leadership to establish
the Select Committee on Hunger
and let him chair it.
As chairman, he traveled often
to Africa—before famine became
a popular issue and after it had
faded from the news.
Leland made us care about hungry people. He did that by describing to us how a 14-year-old Sudanese girl died of starvation hefore
his eyes.
His critics claimed that even after his move toward the political
center Iceland was too far to the
left. He counted Cuban leader
Fidel Castro among his friends.
But he had the political courage
in 1984 to support Walter Mondale
over Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination,
thus antagonizing many blacks.
Leland was a militant who
learned that he could make more
of a difference by working pragmatically from inside the tent.
This kind of adept politicking in
the mainstream helped him win
$800 million in aid for sub-Sahara
Africa in 1985 and major funding
for food for homeless Americans
the following year.
At his death, Leland had moved
closer to the center in his struggle
against hunger, but nobody was
calling him George, He was a
Mickey, for sure.
11 I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ART, BUT I KNOW WHAT I LIKE.' "
AIDS doctors develop fund for emergency financial nelp
The Chicago-baaed Physicians Association for AIDS Care (PAAC) ia
developing a national "superfund"
for emergency financial assistance The fund, called Project Lifeline , will be used in part to provide
assistance to patients of PAAC physicians. PAAC currently has 460
members nationally, who together
have cared for more than 40,000
people with AIDS and ABC.
The Project lifeline fund la managed by the AIDS Medical resource
Center of Chicago, a non-profit national patient advocacy group. The
project has one of the lowest overhead expense factors of any charitable organi__ation In the United
States, according to the PAAC.
According to Gordon Naiy,
PAAC's executive director, PAAC a
goal Is to raise 82 million during
Its current fiscal year. The organization has asked each of its 28 associate pharmaceutical manufacturer members to contribute to the
fund and Is relying on member
physicians to help raise funds in
their local communities through
corporate fund raising programs.
—Southeastern
Conference
Tbe board of directors ofthe Southeastern Conference of Lesbians
and Gay Men Inc. will meet In Raleigh, N.C., site of the 1990 conference, Sept. 29, 30 and Oct. 1.
The hoard meets twice yearly, Blte *or ft*ure conferences should
during the annual conference and approach the board before this
in the fell before the next confer- meeting. Further details can be ob-
ence. This meeting will be the first talned from 1990 conference
time board members have had the headquarters.
opportunity to visit a hoat site be- —aids employment
fore to the actual conference.
For the first time, the California
Court of Appeal has
National
Gay
Community
Notes
ruled that discrimination against employees with AIDS is
illegal in California.
The court upheld an
earlier decision won
by National Gay
Rights Advocates
The region consists of 14
southeastern states, from
Maiyland to Florida and
Texas to West Virginia.
Board members hail from
all areas of the region.
Meetings will be held at
the Episcopal Diocese of
North Carolina Center. Persons interested in attending meet- a^a _^ Employment Law Center
lngs or becoming involved with on __jg g against Raytheon Corpo-
She conference are encouraged to ration for discriminating against
call or write the 1990 conference an employee with AIDS.
Headquarters, PO Box 28863, Ra- Jean0T^,NGRAexecutivedl-
lelgh. N.C. 27611.(919) 833-1209. ^^ commellted, ~No one shouId
Discussions during the meeting fear losing a job because of their
will include election of new board HIV or AIDS status. A healthy
members and advisory board economy needs the talents of all its
members, as additional planning citizens in the work place and that
for the conference and site selec- includes people withAIDS who are
Uon for the 1991 conference, as healthy and able to work''
well as regular business. Ignoring the opinions of its own
Willie D. PIDdngton and Sharon medical staff, Raytheon refused to
Worthtngton, co-chairs for the allow John Chadbourne, a quality
.990 conference, will become i
year board members at the meeting. Tliery will serve during the conference.
Anyone wishing to have their
City considered as a potential hoat
control analyst, to work after he
was diagnosed with AIDS.
Chadbourne died In January of
198S.
In February of 1987, NGRA won
a landmark victory when Califor
nia's Fair Employment and Housing Commission ruled that AIDS is
a handicap. The ruling made it illegal for employers to discriminate
against persons wltli the Illness.
After appealing this decision,
Raytheon was ordered by the Santa Barbara Superior Court to pay
back wages to Chadbourne's estate, all attorney's fees, and to begin an "att... in the work place"
training program for all employ-
NGRAs legal director Leonard
Graff said, "The Appellate Court's
decision confirms that Raytheon
was out of step with the rest of corporate America and will be held liable for Its discrimination against
John Chadbourne. This Is a far
reaching ruling that bars all employers in California from discriminating against people with AIDS!'
National Gay Rights Advocates
and the Employment Uw Center
of San Francisco are co-counsel on
the case. Peter Laura from the law
office of Leroy Walker in las Angeles was the trial lawyer
—HRCF interns
The Human Rights Campaign
Fund Is looking for interns for its
office In Washington, D.C. Interns
work In all program areas, including legislative, political, fleld, lesbian Issues, administration and public relations.
"This is a great opportunity for
someone Interested In lesbian and
gay Issues, or Just In learning how
government and politics work;'
said Eric Rosenthal, HRCF political director. Rosenthal coordinates
the intern program.
"Interns (can) make a contribution to the lesbian and gay movement as they work on important
Congressional issues"
Interns receive a stipend from
HRCF and must work at least 20
hours per week for three months.
Interns work under the direction
of an HRCF staff member.
People who have questions or
who are interested in applying for
Internships should contact Eric
Rosenthal at (202)628-4160 or at
the Human Rights Campaign
Fund, 1012 14th Street, N.W., 6th
Floor, Washington, DC. 20005. The
application should include a resume, writing sample and a letter
discussing why you want to work
at HRCF
HRCF is the largest national
AIDS and gay and lesbian advocacy
organization and political action
committee. HRCF lobbies, educates
and helps elect members of the U.S.
Congress. HRCF also organizes
and mobilizes gays and lesbians
and their supporters in the field.
and influences public opinion
through national and local media.
We're working
to bring you a
real
newspaper
The
Montrose
Voice.
We cover the News of
Montrose
The Montrose
Voice
|
