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43 -year -old Kevin Thomas is lived with his male companion for 25 years, but his sexual orientation never became an issue in this case. We were given an early warning by the gay community that we failed to take a notice of. That was a terrible, tragic historic mistake, and if we keep on making it, we will perpetuate this epidemic into the next century. We came to this area to live in peace and to live in some kind of harmony with nature. And then all of a sudden, we began to be picked on and set apart. I said, I am the director for Josephine County, OCA, and I smiled at her and I said, you don't see any swastikas tattooed on me, do you? Welcome to this way out, the International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. I'm Greg Gordon. And I'm Lucia Chappelle, sanitized homophobia hits home in Oregon, behavior beats biology in child custody case. And commissions final volley leaves AIDS ball in Clinton's court. All that and more because you've discovered this way out.
I'm Brian Nunes and I'm Cindy Friedman with News Wrap, a summary of some of the news in or affecting the lesbian and gay community for the week ending July 3rd, 1993. In Canada, the Saskatchewan legislature has amended the province's human rights code to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, contracts, and access to public services. Six other Canadian provinces and the Yukon territory had previously legislated protections for gay and lesbian civil rights, but a national measure was tabled until the Parliament reconvenes. The Saskatchewan rights bill was sponsored by the majority new Democratic Party government and strenuously opposed by both the opposition conservative party and a coalition of reactionary evangelical Christian groups. Hawaii's Attorney General has publicly expressed his own views about the same
gender marriage case in which his office acts for the state. A letter from Attorney General Robert Marks appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper this week. Saying, we are embarked upon an uncharted sea, Marks proposed that the legislature adopt a Denmark -style domestic partnership for same gender couples as a win -win solution for both gays and lesbians and the larger community. Marks also wrote, the case which the State Supreme Court has remanded has, strictly speaking, ceased to be the gay marriage case that was filed by plaintiffs, and has become a gender discrimination case in which his office acts. Which sexual orientation is completely irrelevant. What the court may be contemplating for purposes of this case is marriage as a kind of partnership in which sexuality is wholly irrelevant. Warner Brothers announced this week that it would extend a benefit including health insurance to its employees, same gender partners and their children. Warner Brothers is the second major studio to recognize domestic partners following MCA, and
the second subsidiary of Corporate Media Giant Time Warner to do so following the HBO cable television channel. Employees will be required to present a notarized affidavit that they are financially interrelated with their partners, as well as proof that they are living together. However, since the U .S. Internal Revenue Service does not recognize domestic partners, participating employees will be taxed for the value of the additional benefits as if they were wages. A Los Angeles judge has awarded primary custody of a five -year -old girl to a gay man who is not her biological father, but has helped raise her since she was born. Frank Stoltz reports. 43 -year -old Kevin Thomas is lived with his male companion for 25 years, but his sexual orientation never became an issue in this case. In giving primary custody of the five -year -old girl to Thomas, Superior Court Judge Martha Golden instead focused on his relationship with the girl. She agreed with Thomas' contention that he has always been
the main caregiver for the girl, spending every weekend with her and many weeknights with her. Thomas had even legally changed his last name to that of the girls to confirm his closeness to her. The legal battle over custody arose after the girl's mother, Catherine Thomas, had a falling out with Kevin Thomas and barred him from seeing her. When that happened, he went to court and won visitation rights. Catherine Thomas later fled with the child to Canada, but was taken into custody and returned to California. Kevin Thomas then sued and has now won custody on the weekdays. Catherine Thomas will have custody on the week ends. Most custody cases result in the biological parent winning out, but California courts have recently been swayed by legal arguments that behavior may be just as important as biology and determining apparent rights. This case is a good example of that movement in child custody rulings. That report by Frank Stoltz in Los Angeles. In England, on June 19th, 45
,000 gayson lesbians joined London's gay and lesbian pride march and 110 ,000 visited the festival in one of Europe's largest pride celebrations ever. The festival was held in Brockwell Park in South London, a permit having once again been denied for the use of Hyde Park. Brixton Chief Police Inspector Ellen Webb called it one of the best stewarded events of his experience. Contributions appeared to actually exceed the sponsor's expenses in contrast to last year when the sponsoring organization was forced into bankruptcy and was dissolved. For the first time, the event drew major media coverage in England where it had essentially been blacked out in the past. There were also TV cameras there from Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the US ABC network. Apparently, they were drawn by the continuing mystery of the serial killer of five London men, three of whom were known to be gay. Police and volunteers distributed 10 ,000 leaflets picturing the victims and asking for information that might help in the manhunt. In the US, it was the last year that San Francisco and Los Angeles will celebrate gay and lesbian pride on the same date as they did
on June 27th. San Francisco's 24th lesbian gay freedom day parade included 400 ,000 participants, but Mayor Frank Jordan was not among them. He said to have canceled his plans to ride in the parade because of threats of disruption from several groups angered by his proposed cuts to city health programs, including AIDS services. Estimates of the 23rd Christopher Street West Los Angeles gay and lesbian pride parade participation range from 300 ,000 to 400 ,000. Although more gays and lesbians voted for his opponent, newly elected Mayor Richard Reardon did ride in the Los Angeles parade. He also announced on the eve of his inauguration that he intended to appoint his longtime business associate Michael Keely and openly gay man to be deputy mayor for city services. And also on June 27th, New York gays and lesbians celebrated with the 24th annual Heritage of Pride Parade, with the official theme, outlaw, outrage, outright,
outspoken, outrageous, outstanding. 250 ,000 marchers and 30 floats passed by 300 ,000 spectators. A New Orleans judge has found that Louisiana's Sodomy Law violates constitutional rights to privacy. When 85 men were arrested in a police sweep of the French Quarter about a year ago, all but one settled without a trial, and that one went on to win this case. Orleans' parish district attorney, Harry Connick Sr., has promised to appeal the ruling to the State Supreme Court. A North Carolina bill to decriminalize sex acts barred under the state's crimes against nature law was killed in a state house committee, despite lobbying by the American Civil Liberties Union and Gay and Lesbian Rights Organizations. The existing statute carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison plus a fine. And finally, New York City's Boycott Colorado Action Group drew on U .S. history in protesting Colorado's Amendment 2, the measure to prohibit civil rights protections for gays, lesbians, and
bisexuals. Paralleling the 18th century Boston Tea Party protest, they chanted, we are here, we are queer, we won't drink Cours Beer, while dumping 150 cases of the brew and other Colorado products into the Hudson River. This is the 1990s though, they quickly fished the cases out again to avoid violation of anti -pollution laws. That's NewsRap for the Weekending July 3rd, 1993. Follow the news in your area, and informed community is a strong community. NewsRap is compiled and written by Cindy Friedman, for this way out I'm Ryan Eunice, and I'm Cindy Friedman. To protect the guilty,
it takes a chance. What is the difference between the party and the race? I don't know, I don't care. What is the difference between the party and the public? I don't know, and I don't care. Coming on the heels of lesbian and gay pride celebrations, recent dispatches from the AIDS Front and the U .S. ballot box are harsh reminders that many battles have yet to be won. The International AIDS Conference debate over the benefits of AZT has forced the U .S. National Institutes of Health to re -evaluate the world's most prescribed AIDS drug. Meanwhile, the country's ad hoc National AIDS Commission issued its final report this week, including a strong challenge to the Clinton administration. Producer Mike Alkalei of AIDS and Focus brings us these reports by Matt Binder and Mark Beavis. The National
Institutes of Health is about to announce a major shift in drug treatment recommendations for people with HIV. A panel of independent experts has advised the NIH to pull back from its strong endorsement of the antiviral drug AZT and instead let doctors and patients determine for themselves how to use AZT when to start treatment, stop treatment or change drugs. The NIH is expected to quickly adopt the advice of the panel, which in essence declares AZT to be of marginal value. There certainly was a sense of pessimism. Dr. Murrell Sandy, the head of the advisory panel. Everybody had, I think, expectations that the drugs would work better. And I think we are at a time when we are re -evaluating therapeutic approaches. Sandy says after years of testing, AZT has proven to work for some people but not others and tends to lose its effectiveness rather quickly in most people. His committee's new recommendations are a complex set of guide posts and subjective measures of symptoms
that will make AZT treatment more of an art than a science. And indeed, Dr. Mervin Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, says until better drugs come along, the best treatment for HIV disease may be the oldest treatment known to medicine. Try to have the healthiest possible life with a good nutrition, enough rest, exercise, and, of course, the most difficult one to deal with, especially with all this news, is to try to reduce stress as much as possible. That's Dr. Mervin Silverman of Amphar and in San Francisco, I'm Matt Binder. The National Commission on AIDS released its final report this past week, including a critique of President Clinton. They say he hasn't lived up to his campaign promises to provide leadership in the epidemic, although last week, Clinton did appoint an AIDS ZAR. But ultimately, the Commission said that if all their recommended prevention programs were in place right now, new cases of HIV
infections in the U .S. would be cut by 75%. Mark Beavis reports from Washington. The Commission's 15th and final report is the result of four years of work, and it contains no surprises. Commission Member Larry Kessler. It's all in here. I don't think you're going to find anything new that hasn't already been said. We haven't found anything new that we didn't say two years ago. All we found was more of the same and a continued decline. The theme of the report. America suffers from not only a deadly disease, but a clear lack of leadership to combat the epidemic. Commission members Don Desjardins, Eunice Diaz, and Commission Vice Chair David Rogers. Our failure to prevent HIV infections is not a failure of a lack of scientific knowledge of what to do to reduce HIV infections. Rather, it's a failure of political will. We are frustrated at the lack of mobilization that needs to occur in short order in the development of leadership in this country at all levels that has taken too long. The frustration stems obviously from what we have felt has been a singular lack of leadership. The Commission's report claims a new hope surge with
President Clinton's election, and the subsequent proposed 28 % budget increase for AIDS research, treatment, and prevention. Rumors were that Commission members last week were ready to blast the administration for failing to appoint an AIDS czar. The White House preempted that criticism with the appointment of Christine Gabby as AIDS policy coordinator. In the meantime, the Commission did have bad news. As of this past April, the country has suffered a total of 289 ,000 AIDS cases and 179 ,000 AIDS deaths. And a number of people diagnosed with the disease is expected to increase some 70 ,000 a year for the next three years. And while the disease started out in this country affecting mostly the gay community and IV drug users, the infection rate among heterosexuals continues to climb. Let the rest of the world give us a signal. The rest of the world says this is a heterosexual disease. Commission Chair Dr. June Osborne. We were given an early warning by the gay community that we failed to take notice of. We reacted hatefully instead by saying it's just them, not us, so we can turn our backs. That was a terrible tragic historic mistake. And if we keep on making it, we will
perpetuate this epidemic into the next century. The Commission has two major recommendations. The first is that leaders at all levels speak out about AIDS to their constituencies. And the second is the development of a national plan to confront the epidemic. The national plan includes sex education for adolescents on the risks of AIDS, expanded drug treatment and needle exchange programs. If prevention plans were instituted, the Commission estimates new cases of HIV infection could be cut 75%. Commission Member Mary Fisher who carries the AIDS virus hopes someone is paying attention. She just buried the man with whom she said she shared two sons and one virus. The Commission is packing up and going home. And so am I. But I will not go passively or quietly. When next my children stand at a parent's grave, they may be old enough to ask whether the nation cares. God help the person who needs to answer them. This is Mark Beavis in Washington.
This way out has been proud to include reports from the award -winning weekly news program AIDS and Focus produced by Mike Alkalay. We are sorry to announce that because it's funding from the national endowment for the arts was not renewed, AIDS and Focus distributed its last program this week. As these reports from AIDS and Focus so painfully demonstrate what is needed in the fight against this epidemic is more public discussion, more education, not less. Producer Mike Alkalay suggests that if you have any comments about the demise of AIDS and Focus, the person to contact is Brian Doherty at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D .C. at area code 202 -682 -5452. This is Terry Sweeney
and with me is Nancy Reagan. You know, whenever I'm home alone at the ranch and Ronnie's asleep, I listen to this way out. It's the only way out for me. You know that there's a trauma in the direction that is from her shoes and to chew all that to me too long. Yes, but then don't look back at me. You know that we might have watched by you. Ballot initiatives prohibiting anti -discrimination protections for gays and lesbians and barring promotion of homosexuality were passed by the voters in five out of six counties and cities in Oregon last week. And a margin of only three votes requires a recount in the sixth locale, Junction City. The measures effectively deny minority status to gays and lesbians and prohibit government spending of any kind
which could be interpreted as being in support of lesbian and gay rights. The local measures are the work of the Oregon citizens alliance or OCA, the sponsors of last November's failed statewide measure 9. Correspondent Barbara Bernstein has more. All though measure 9 was defeated by a 14 point margin state ride last fall, it passed with significant support in many sparsely populated counties in southern and eastern Oregon. We technically lost measure 9, but we won on so many other fronts. People are far more educated about the homosexual issue today than they were prior to measure 9. Harry Count is the OCA director for Josephine County in southern Oregon. It
caused people to consider an issue that prior to measure 9 they would have just assumed ignored. That is somebody else's problem. That exists in Portland. That exists in San Francisco. It brought it to home. The OCA's strategy is to conquer the state of Oregon by organizing rural communities one by one to fight gay rights. There are hundreds and hundreds of gay people that live in this area, but most people came here because they wanted to be left alone. Kathy is a lesbian who has lived in Josephine County for over 17 years. We came to this area to live in peace and to live in some kind of harmony with nature. And since we've moved here, we've experienced a great deal of that and then all of a sudden things began to change. When we began to be picked on and set apart in some way. Kathy is part of the Josephine County Human Dignity Alliance, with some support from statewide organizations such as the Portland -based political action committee called Support Our Communities or SOCPAC, one of dozens of groups that sprang up in rural communities around Oregon to defeat ballot measure 9. René de lape is a
SOCPAC field organizer. Down here, it's not an organization. It's people and they're up in your face and they're everywhere, every time you turn around. If you're a business person and you come out against an OCA measure, you can expect to be picketed, you can expect, you know, drop off in business, you can expect social sanction on a number of levels. The OCA worked hard to soften their image to appeal to more mainstream Oregonians. I had a very interesting meeting with the lady. We were dealing with business matters. OCA's carry count. We had spoken for about an hour and then she said, well, gee, you don't have problems up here in Josephine County. You don't have those OCA kind of people. And I smiled and I said, well, what do you mean by that? And she said, well, you know, they're real crazy and real wild -eyed. I said, I am the director for Josephine County OCA. And I smiled at her and I said, you don't see any swastik as tattooed on me, do you? And her eyes swelled up. And it was quite amusing, but then she realized that, in fact,
I was reasonable. Another tactic that the OCA has employed is to emphasize their pro -family image and play down some of their more hateful anti -gay rhetoric. The new initiatives no longer declare homosexuality, quote, add normal wrong unnatural and perverse. Instead, the language prohibits, quote, giving minority status to homosexuals and prevents spending public funds to promote or express approval of homosexuality. We re -worded the initiative to focus more on the minority status concept. Juan Mabon is the chairman of the Oregon Citizens Alliance. We do not want behavior, let alone sexual behavior, to be recognized as equal to race, gender, national origin. And that seems to be what the homosexual community wants to accomplish, so that any opposition to their behavior becomes legal discrimination and not just the accusation of discrimination. But not everyone is fooled by the OCA's new face. Recently, two judges and the Oregon Attorney General have upheld the viewpoint that the OCA initiatives
promote discrimination. Judges in New Matilda County and the City of Trautdale have ruled that the ballot titles of the initiatives their citizens will vote on this fall will read, requires County to discriminate based upon sexual orientation. Rather than the OCA's original language, County cannot extend special class status to homosexuals. I make no bones about their way known, so I believe in God. I believe in what everybody kind of knows is the one true God, Jehovah. On La Mabon's desk is a statue of David slaying Goliath and a quote from Isaiah. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. I don't see the homosexuals as Goliath, I see it as. The feminists, the educational elite, the media, we feel we're fighting this establishment that has been there since the 60s. Not only here in Oregon, but across the country. From Washington State to Florida, the Christian right is pushing its agenda at the ballot box. Ultimately, it's a religious war with fundamentalists attempting to turn their morality and cultural values into law. In Oregon, this is Barbara Bernstein. A few days after that initial report, we
contacted Barbara Bernstein with some follow -up questions. How do these latest votes on lesbian and gay rights compare with the votes on measure 9 in those same areas last November? The OCA did not do as well as they thought they were going to do. Particularly in a little town of Kandy, which is about 20 miles south of Portland. And it's a very, very conservative community. And I think the OCA expected to get Kandy to pass their initiative via two or three to one margin. And instead, they passed it by exactly the same margin that they passed measure 9 in Kandy. These measures appeared to violate first amendment protections regarding freedom of speech. It's very clearly curtailment on freedom of expression because these initiatives prohibit any government money from being used to express approval of homosexuality, which means it's going to affect school curricula. It could, in fact, present a lot of aid education that's going on. It would ban any kind of gay rights parades in these towns. It would mean that a meeting cannot be held on government property that expressed even opposition to these initiatives. While the OCA is saying that they are not opposing homosexuality
and they're not trying to discriminate against homosexuals, and that they're just trying to present special rights, which is their language. But in fact, their supporters then start doing in the town meetings that we've been seeing and in the local debates is to start making amazing slurs and flanders about homosexuals. In fact, there was a ad in one of the town papers which talked about swimming in the sewers as an example of what they call the homosexual lifestyle. So I think that the actual impact of these measures is to see a lot of blatant homophobia set loose in a lot of these communities. And these ordinances would allow for that kind of homophobic display to be okay in public. An obvious final question, Barbara, where do gay and lesbian Oregonians go from here? I think the OCA is the lesbian and gay movement, a giant favor, because there are now gay rights organizations and human dignity alliances in every community in Oregon. And they're going to try to do more one -on -one outreach to their neighbors and to put a realistic face on the human beings behind the lesbian and
gay rights issue so that people in their communities will start to see through the lives of the Christian right in the OCA and start to see lesbian and gay as their neighbors and their friends. Reporter Barbara Bernstein in Portland. Speaking personally and editorially, when are the supposed vast majority of people of Goodwill and of all religious faiths going to move beyond Tisk Tisking, the Pat Buchanan's and Luke Sheldon's of this world among themselves, and speak out loudly about thinly veiled calls to genocide? The loudest or sleasiest of these religious extremists continued to benefit from overexposed media coverage based on a misplaced journalistic ethic of balance. How can fundamental human rights even be a debatable question? I'm Greg Gordon. For fun and fun and enjoy the time your children are waiting to see you.
I see this as a watershed issue. Oregon citizens alliance leader Lon Maybun. It's going to escalate even further than it is right now. The fever pitch of it in Oregon I think is going to take on national perspectives. And so for the rest of this decade I see it as a cutting issue that is going to make politicians and break politicians. There are a lot of people out there that do not want gay rights. Tomorrow belongs to me. Thanks for choosing this way out, the International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. This week Cindy Friedman, Brian Noonis, Frank Stoltz, Matt Binder, Mark Beavis, and Barbara Bernstein contributed program material.
Thanks also to Mike Alcalay, Ron Bookmeyer, and Pacifica Network News. World Entertainment War and the cast of a London stage production of Cabaret performed some of the music you heard and Kim Wilson composed and performed our theme music. This way out is brought to you each week by a staff of community volunteers and is sustained by financial support from the community. Audio cassettes of this way out programs are available by mail, individually, or by subscription. Right to us for more information. We'd always like to hear from you with any comments or questions or suggestions you might have or just let us know you're out there listening. Like to this way out, post office box 38327 Los Angeles, California 90038. And please be sure to include the call letters of this station. This way out is produced by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chapelle. And we thank you for listening on WPK and Bridgeport, CFRO van Poover, and KUMD Duluth. Among others, and for supporting your local community radio station. Now you all do stay tuned.
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Series
This Way Out
Producing Organization
This Way Out Radio
Contributing Organization
This Way Out Radio (Los Angeles, California)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-520acec91fa
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Description
Episode Description
audio is 1993-07-05
Series Description
The International Gay And Lesbian Radio Magazine / produced by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle. Ongoing weekly newsmagazine which explores contemporary gay issues, as well as important past events in the gay-rights movement.
Broadcast Date
1993-07-12
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Magazine
Topics
LGBTQ
Journalism
Music
Politics and Government
Social Issues
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:28:54.034
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Credits
Producer: Chappelle, Lucia
Producer: Gordon, Greg
Producing Organization: This Way Out Radio
AAPB Contributor Holdings
This Way Out Radio
Identifier: cpb-aacip-e0c4ea07a12 (Filename)
Format: Audiocassette
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Citations
Chicago: “This Way Out,” 1993-07-12, This Way Out Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed November 17, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-520acec91fa.
MLA: “This Way Out.” 1993-07-12. This Way Out Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. November 17, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-520acec91fa>.
APA: This Way Out. Boston, MA: This Way Out Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-520acec91fa