This Way Out; 82

My question why, when I saw a prescription down the street for this file of contaminants, the price is $125. When I saw the same prescription at a pharmacy in London, the price is $26. On how to recognize a bisexual man, it gives this hint. Be cautious of men in certain careers. Bisexuals and gays are prevalent in such narcissistic businesses as the theater, fashion, and fitness. Reminia is very homophobic in South Africa. When people die of AIDS, it's always having a big article that another queer has died of AIDS. Welcome to This Way Out, the International lesbian and gay radio magazine. I'm Greg Gordon. And I'm Lucia Chappelle. Australia's largest gay lesbian demonstration counters conservative Christian attacks. South African press implies only whites get AIDS. And Dites of a Feather flock together. All that and more, because you've discovered this way out.

I'm Sandy Dwight. I'm Dime and Real Nunez. With NewsRap, a summary of some of the news in and affecting the gay and lesbian community for the weekend in October 22nd, 1989. In the largest political protest ever held by gay men and lesbians in Australia, over 8 ,000 participated in a counter -demonstration against the cleansing march of witness staged by homophobic Christian groups in Sydney on October 2nd. The Christian groups, led by Reverend Fred Nile, carried signs reading what's so gay about AIDS, and AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality. Outnumbered four to one, Nile and his followers were met by booze and hisses. And at the rally, which followed, one activist grabbed the microphone away from Nile, repeating gay love his best until he was carried away by seven state police officers. An anti -discrimination complaint

filed under the State of Wisconsin's Fair Employment Act by an open gay man against a retail paper company has been settled. The Chicago Illinois -based Brander Smith & Company, which has a branch office in Wisconsin, has agreed to include sexual orientation in its anti -discrimination policy in both states. In addition, the company agreed to a $15 ,000 settlement. The former paper company employee, Keith LaBreg, had been given a promotion and transferred from Chicago to the Brookfield Wisconsin office in June of 1986. He only spent eight weeks at the new office, for after his co -workers and supervisor learned he was gay, he was demoted and transferred back to Chicago. The case is believed to be the first in the United States in which the Wisconsin law, the only statewide law in the country to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination, was used to affect an employer based in another state. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, has been rocked by scandal involving kickbacks and favoritism in

funding low -income housing projects. Now they've also been slapped with a major precedent -setting lawsuit. Mary Van Clay, from AIDS & Focus, reports. In California, the National Gay Rights Advocates filed an unprecedented lawsuit against HUD, charging the agency with breaking the law by refusing to fund a housing complex for people with AIDS and ARC. A non -profit San Jose Agency called HIP, or Housing for Independent People, applied to HUD for the funding under a program that develops housing for people with handicaps or long -term illnesses. But HUD turned the group down. Benjamin Schatz, the attorney filing the lawsuit, says he can only think of one reason why the agency acted this way. I thought about this and I thought about this, and the best I can come up with is that HUD really believes that people with AIDS are all going to die very, very quickly and that what's the point. I think that they think that the situation is hopeless for people with AIDS. I think

that they fundamentally share much of the prejudice that people in our society have about people with AIDS. And I think that it just doesn't, it's just not important to them. In fact, medical evidence proves that many people with AIDS or ARC live productive lives for years after their diagnosis. If the National Gay Rights Advocates wins this lawsuit, their success could help people with AIDS in all parts of the country to get into government -sponsored housing. In San Francisco, I'm Mary Van Clay. HUD officials in Washington declined a comment on the lawsuit which they said they had not seen. According to Passport Magazine, the last gay disco in Singapore named Shadows was close last July. The Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew reportedly ordered the closure of all gay disco in Singapore in an effort to prevent AIDS. A U .S. Court of Appeals ruled September 29th that Congress cannot force Washington, D .C. council members to pass a law permitting religious educational institutions to discriminate against gay men and lesbians. Activists

had legally challenged an amendment introduced in September 1988 by Republican Senator William Armstrong, which was attached to Washington, D .C.'s 1989 appropriations bill. Washington, D .C.'s anti -discrimination law, which includes sexual orientation, applies to Georgetown University, which is affiliated with the Catholic Church. In 1988, Georgetown lost a discrimination lawsuit brought against them by a gay and lesbian student group, and when university officials decided not to appeal the ruling, Armstrong introduced his amendment. In anticipation of the appeals court ruling this year, Armstrong introduced a similar amendment to D .C.'s 1990 appropriations bill in September, which calls on Congress, rather than the D .C. city council, to allow discrimination by religious educational institutions. Anticipating that many HIV -positive four nationals will want to attend the 1990

International AIDS Conference in San Francisco, California, the National Gay Rights Advocates has published an informational booklet, Visiting the USA, Legal Guide for Persons with HIV. It contains step -by -step guidelines for visa applications, as well as copies of forms, legal cases, and strategic pointers. And finally, the fact that homosexual pairs of birds, particularly female pairs, exist in nature, has been documented for years. Behavioral scientists have theorized that female birds came together as a pair because there was a scarcity of males. That theory was generally accepted because there were fewer males in those species of gulls and turns they had been observing. However, an article in the magazine Nature reveals that female pairs occur in lesser snow geese, where there is no scarcity of males. The female pairs, who are fertilized by what the writer calls, nominally monogamous males,

lay, hatch, and raise gosslings with as much success as opposite sex pairs. At the close of the article, the writer concludes, quote, In species whose males are much bigger than females, males are useful for protecting the young. Yet other males themselves are one of the main threats in the first place. Further study of homosexually paired female birds may help clarify what, if anything, males are good for. In an evolutionary sense, of course, unquote. Well, that's News Wrap for the Week ending October 22, 1989, written by Sandy Dwyer of the News, serving the Greater Los Angeles area, with contributions from other gay and lesbian publications and broadcasts throughout the world. Remember, an informed community is a strong community. Find out what's happening in your area by monitoring your local gay and lesbian media. For this way out, I'm Sandy Dwyer and Dom Manuel Núñez. People with AIDS

in the United States have been bypassing their corner pharmacy, and shopping for lower -price drugs in other countries. From AIDS and Focus, here's Mike Elcule. And AIDS activist group in New York is bucking the Food and Drug Administration. The people with AIDS or PWA health group say a life -saving drug that holds off a common AIDS -connected pneumonia costs five times as much in the U .S. as it does abroad. So, they're going to import it. Michael Albert has the story. The PWA health group was established in 1987 as an underground buyer's group to assist people with AIDS in importing not yet approved drugs. Derek Hodell, executive director of the organization, announced it is importing pentamidine from England where it's available at a fraction of the U .S. cost. I question why when I fill a prescription down the street for this file of pentamidine, the price is $125. When I fill the same prescription for this

file at a pharmacy in London, the price is $26 for the same drug. Exactly the same drug, exactly the same form manufactured for the same purpose by two different companies. In the United States, depending on where they live and what the market will bear, people pay anywhere from $105 to $300 for this file of medicine. Medicine that may well save their lives. It is inexcusable that people who need this treatment should be denied access because they are unable to afford it. This is health care for the privileged few. Pentamidine is approved for use in the U .S. to prevent pneumocystis pneumonia, the leading cause of death among people with AIDS. In 1984, the price of intravenous pentamidine was about $25 a mile in both Europe and the United States. But at that time, the FDA felt the French manufacturer could not produce enough for the drug. The FDA then granted the U .S. Drug Company lifeamad a seven -year exclusive license to produce pentamidine in its aerosol form, which allows more of the drug to reach the lungs. This aerosol version went on the market in June and its price quadrupled.

Stewart Fisher, a lifeamad spokesperson, says the company must be compensated for research and development. Lifeamad received approval in 1984 to manufacture and sell injectable pentamidine, which was used to treat people who had pneumocystis carina in pneumonia, which is a leading killer of people with AIDS. And lifeamad expended tens of millions of dollars to basically invent a breakthrough therapy, which prevents this pneumonia. Under FDA rules, people may import drugs for life threatening illnesses for their personal use. Lifeamad says the PWA health group is infringing on its FDA -granted monopoly, but has not yet filed charges. In England, aerosol pentamidine remained at $26 a vial. I'm waiting for my man. $26 in my hand. He's never leaving.

He's always leaving. First thing in life is that you always gotta leave. I'm waiting for my man. I'll work on it. I'm waiting for my man. I'm waiting for my man. I'm waiting for my man. Should women fear bisexual men? The editors of Cosmopolitan Magazine apparently think so. Stay tuned and I'll explain. You were listening to naming names, a regular broadcast of the gay and lesbian alliance against defamation, that alerts listeners to anti -gay and lesbian bigotry in the media. You might want to have a pen and paper handy, because in a moment I'll tell you where you can write to register your concern about the items mentioned here.

You may remember the flap Cosmopolitan caused over a year ago, when the magazine published an article telling women they had little or nothing to fear from AIDS. Many groups fought back against this unsafe sex advice with demonstrations and letter writing campaigns. While this month, Cosmopolitan tells women that they have everything to fear from bisexual men, from marriage infidelity to, you guessed it, catching AIDS. We don't dispute the fact that in any relationship where the parties are not honest with each other, problems may arise, and sexually transmitted diseases may be one of them. We do however dispute the false information and stereotypes about bisexuals, the form the basis for Cosmopolitan's article. For their information, the writers relied heavily on information provided by doctors, whose only contact is with bisexuals in crisis. That is, those who were in the closet have been found out and are now trying to save their heterosexual marriages. The writers don't mention bisexuals who live openly and happily as such. As if to excuse themselves for this one

-sidedness, the authors assert that difficulty of finding information about bisexuals, stating that there is no organized national group for them. But in fact, there is the North American bisexual network, which holds yearly conferences that draw hundreds of participants. The article is guilty of more than just sloppy research. It also indulges in stereotypes. On how to recognize a bisexual man that gives this hint, be cautious of men in certain careers. Bisexuals and gays are prevalent in such narcissistic businesses as the theater, fashion, the beauty industry, art and design, and fitness. Write to Cosmopolitan and demand that they do another story on bisexuals, one that's informed and unbiased. One angle, why not suggest an article on those Cosmopolitan women who are attracted to both men and women. Write to Helen Gurley -Brown, Editor -in -Chief, Cosmopolitan, 224 West 57th Street,

New York, New York, 10019. Bigoted lyrics in rock and rap music have been getting a lot of press attention lately, Rolling Stone magazine in the New York Times have carried articles on the subject, and while the Rolling Stone and Times pieces talked about racist, anti -Semitic, and anti -gay lyrics, a report on entertainment tonight left out any mention of the gay issue. This is dangerous, suggesting that bigotry and violence against gays and lesbians are somehow of secondary importance. The Simon Weasenthal Center and their national organization that promotes peace and justice has done the same thing. The Center recently published an ad in the Entertainment Industry Media under the headline, The New Sound in Music, Bigotry. In the accompanying text, the racist and anti -Semitic lyrics of groups like Guns and Roses and Public Enemy were discussed. Left out, however, was any reference to these groups equally offensive treatment of gays and lesbians. In instances such as these, it is not enough for the person or group that has ignored homophobia to shrug and say that they can't include

everybody. Studies show that gays are one of the least understood minorities and most likely to be the victims of hate -motivated violence. We don't get left out of entertainment tonight reports or Weasenthal Center ads inadvertently. Somebody has made a conscious decision not to mention us, and that's prejudice. The last line of the Weasenthal Center ad says, If we all work together, we shall overcome once again. That's right, but all includes gays and lesbians, and we urge you to write to the Weasenthal Center and say so. Write to Dr. Gerald Margolis, Director. Simon Weasenthal Center, 9760 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 9035. Naming names is a regular program of GLAAD, the gay and lesbian alliance against defamation. If you write a letter in response to what you've heard here, please send us a copy at GLAAD 80 Varick Street, number 3E,

New York, New York, 10013. To report anti -gay or lesbian defamation, please call us at 212 -966 -1700. This is Craig Davidson for naming names. This is Charles Pierce as Eleanor Roosevelt here to remind you that you're listening to this way out. The international lesbian and gay radio magazine. Hey! Discord Discord! Yeah! Yeah! Discord! Can't get away! Can't get away! Can't get away! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord!

Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Nures, one, one, one, fear, shuffling, Discord grows. And so after that, when you don't need a reason to oppress you, set a color of your skin, runs black. So you're African and banded, haus -as -spirited, except it's your country, and that's where you're gonna die anyway. And then fill it in your dairy, as they psychopathically write your history. You feel your back, rap, rap, rap, rap, rap, rap! Your arms and legs and spirits grow strong! Discord! Discord! Yeah! Can't get away! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord!

Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Discord! Psycho Simon and Coley, best known abroad for his role in South Africa's Delmos Trees and Trial, is also known at home for his work in the Township AIDS Project. As his interview with Keith Brown continues, the Black Gay Anti -Apparitate activist discusses attitudes toward the epidemic in his country, and the struggle to get government

funding for AIDS education in the Black community. Are people very much afraid of AIDS in South Africa? What are they saying in the press about the disease? Well, the press have really said the so many white people who have died of AIDS since 1982. Until last December, I think the statistics was about 103 people who have died of AIDS. And the press did not mention any single black person who had died of such disease. Is it a disease? It's a white disease in South Africa. Yeah, well, you know, it's sort of a racial and sex discrimination disease. You know, like people use AIDS to discriminate against other people because of their sexual orientation and because of their race. But I think we should really blame on the media. The media is very homophobic in South Africa, you know. When people died

of AIDS, if that person was a gay person, it's always having a big article that another queer has died of AIDS. And I mean gay people are not really regarded as people by the media and we really feel that we've been attacked. You know, since it comes in South Africa, gay people found themselves involved in another struggle of trying to educate the people about AIDS. And also, you know, I think where the media is putting gay and lesbian, mainly gay men. Let me say that in a very defensive mood to say, you know, like, this is not our disease or people trying to justify that it is not. And then I think it's also trying to put people back into the closet because nobody now wants to be known as a

gay person. Because people will think that as a gay person, he is spreading AIDS, as it is said, instead of being homosexuals, AIDS carriers. But they don't really do anything in South Africa so much about AIDS, you know. Well, you are trying to do something about the Zulu AIDS project. Yeah, but the Zulu AIDS project, you know, well, we call it Township AIDS project, you know. I think the New York people decided to call it Zulu AIDS. Oh, okay. You're speaking of townships outside Johannesburg. Well, we're speaking about Township in Johannesburg and Township surrounding the Johannesburg. And if we really can have enough funds, we'll have to spread our wings to other townships outside the transverse. So you've got to have funding to be able to give information to the black population. Exactly, yeah. Because in the black community, the

whole issue of AIDS has not really been highlighted. There is no educational facilities, no resource, no educators, no counselors, nothing. You know, like in the black community, it's AIDS is just something people talk about. And it is regarded as a very distant plight to some people, you know. In the black community, because they take it very rationally that it is a white, only disease or a disease that is imported, brought by the people from the Western countries. It cannot happen in a black township. People argue that we have never had a single black person dying of AIDS. And that is a true in a sense, because no paper, no press relief, and sort of you have to really mention. And I don't believe it. I don't believe that till today, no black person in sort of you can have AIDS. You know, it's just because they are not diagonalized of

AIDS. They don't go for cursing. The government don't make it possible for everyone. You know, by everyone now implying even the white community that the government don't do much. You know, it's not like here the government at least is giving some money to the AIDS project. It's not Africa now, you know. I don't know when will they start doing so. I think I guess they will start doing so when AIDS goes to everybody in South Africa. And I don't really want to take that chance. I don't want people to take that chance to wait until the situation is worse in our country. And then we will start doing something. In South Africa, they don't need a reason to oppress you. It's a diamond goal, a greed, super exploitation of perpetrators and racism,

capitalism, imperialism, and an unnerving fear of the spirit of the people standing on 60 million feet. I lie, defiant, and swelling in resistance. I lie, defiant, and swelling in resistance. I lie, defiant, and swelling in resistance. I lie, defiant, and swelling in resistance. Freedom is a union. Freedom is a union. Freedom is a union. I'm not like I'm not like a game. You're the shit. That's right. Of course, freedom is the last thing that's going on. Freedom is the same. You're the only one. A part that I love, I'm so tired of. Please, no, no, no. Freedom is the same. Freedom is the last thing that's going on. Freedom is the same. Friko Simon and Coley talk about gaze and lesbians in other parts of Africa,

about his difficulties in leaving South Africa for his tour through Europe, the U .S. and Canada, and what he expects to happen when he returns home in the conclusion of Keith Brown's interview next time on This Way Out. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. Freedom is freedom. If they can kill the spirit Thanks for choosing this way out, the International

Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. This week, Sandy Dwyer and Manuel Munoz, Terry Bell, Mary Van Clay, Craig Davidson, Mike Alculey, and Michael Albert, and Keith Brown contributed program material. The velvet underground and Lillian Allen performed some of the music you heard and Kim Wilson composed and performed rock -themed music. Sound -like distribution of this way out is made possible through a grant from the Chicago Resource Center. As always, we would like to hear from you with any comments, suggestions or questions you might have. Addressed to this way out, post office box, 3 -8 -327, Los Angeles, California, 9 -0 -0 -38. This way out is produced by Lucic Japan, and Greg Gordon, and we thank you for listening on KBOO Portland, CKCU Ottawa, and W -OBC Oberlin, among others, and for supporting this local community radio station. As we always say, stay tuned.