This Way Out; 53

Over 3 ,000 protesters illustrates the growing strength of AIDS activism. Many of them are strong, assertive, competent women who don't act in traditionally feminine ways or limit themselves to typing in shorthand the way men believe they're supposed to. It's a very important role for artists to play to help empower people with AIDS and I think people with AIDS should also be hurt, they should be making their own statements. Whenever I get the business from a queer, well, gee, I get so uptight, I don't know whether to ignore it or belt it. Welcome to this way out, the International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. I'm Moushichapel. And I'm Greg Gordon, a disease that doesn't discriminate stymies local governments that do. Be all that you can be is just a figure of speech in the army and straight talk from dad on the fictions of life. All that and even more because you've discovered this way out.

I'm Sandy Dwyer and I'm Tony Sullivan with NewsRap, a summary of some of the news in and affecting the gay and lesbian community. A massive civil disobedience action is being planned to protest the state of South Carolina's AIDS law, which bans anonymous HIV testing, establishes quarantine provisions for people testing HIV positive and requires disclosure of antibody status. Organized by members of the Atlanta Georgia chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, ACT UP members from across the nation plan to protest the law on April 20th, taking over South Carolina's capital building in Columbia. Due to protests by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Lesbian Rights Project and other groups, the New York Times has printed a lengthy editor's note admitting that negative

paragraphs in a feature article about lesbian parenting published on January 20th were added by the editorial staff without consulting the writer and without checking the truth of the statements. They also admitted the paragraphs were rearranged, which gave prominence to the anti -gay views of a sociologist at a Catholic college and misquoted a psychiatrist. In a separate letter of apology to the groups, managing editor Alan Siegel wrote, I think we have a great deal of educating to do about the process in this office. Thousands of AIDS activists in New York City protested at City Hall at the end of March, charging Mayor Ed Koch with blatant negligence and mismanagement in dealing with the AIDS crisis. Mary Van Clay, from AIDS and Focus, reports on this latest in the series of New York City Street Heat Demonstrations. The city has an estimated 11 ,000 homeless people with AIDS and only 44 beds for them. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power or Act Up organized the

demonstration. Protesters carried posters saying, health care is a right. Murl Jowicz was there and she files this report. Mayor Ed would cut release the statement blaming the federal government for not doing enough for people with AIDS. He called on Washington to provide housing, more reimbursement for long -term care and funding for treatment with AZT. He said the city is doing more than any other in the nation to deal with the crisis. But Act Up activists say it's not enough. They have been close to 19 ,000 reported AIDS cases in New York City and just over 10 ,000 people have died. With over 3 ,000 protesters illustrates the growing strength of AIDS activism. But there was little representation from those communities increasingly affected by the AIDS crisis. The city's poor Latino and African American neighborhoods. In New York's minority communities, the AIDS virus is spreading fastest among IV drug users, their sexual partners and their children. 58 % of AIDS cases in New York City are people of color. 80 % of women who have AIDS are African American or

Latina. Why AIDS? The Republic of China has fired Ye -Zing from his government job after learning that he married another man, Lee Lingsing, a farmer in the rural Fugian province. Approximately 100 friends and relatives attended the traditional ceremony. Although homosexuality is not illegal in the Republic of China, it is regarded by many Chinese as immoral and as a mental disturbance. One of the largest private hospitals in the United States, Cedar's Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is debating whether to accept a $2 .5 million donation for the establishment of an AIDS unit and a 24 -hour AIDS outpatient clinic. Sources who asked to remain anonymous for fear reprisal said that some surgeons have objected to having an AIDS unit because of their fear of getting the disease. Even though the surgical panel rejected the proposal, citing administrative difficulties, the Medical Executive Committee recommended approval. It now goes

before the Center's Board of Directors for consideration. And finally, the controversy concerning Radio Disk Jockey Perry Stone of Station KSGO in San Jose, California is over. The station had vigorously defended Stone last January when over 20 community organizations, including the City's Human Relations Commission, filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that his statements regarding people of color, women, gay men and lesbians constituted fighting words and fostered hatred, discrimination and violence. Stone has a history of radio gay bashing, having been fired from a radio station in Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1987 because of his so -called jokes about gay men and lesbians. But finally, he went too far, even for KSGO, when he bullied, cursed and ridiculed his on air guests, two nine -year -old girl scouts. As a result, Stone finally received his termination notice, which here in the U

.S. is rather ironically and in this case appropriately called a pink slip. That's Newswrap for this week. Remember, an informed community is a strong community. Find out what's happening in your area by monitoring your local gay and lesbian media. Newswrap was written by Sandy Dwyer of the News, serving the greater Los Angeles area with contributions from other gay and lesbian publications throughout the world. For this way out, I'm Sandy Dwyer, and I'm Tony Sullivan. Be all that you can be, says the United States military, but not if you're gay and especially not if you're lesbian. America's armed forces are stepping up there which hunts against homosexuals in the service. You're listening to naming names, a regular broadcast of the gay and lesbian alliance against defamation, alluring you to dangerous media

images which misrepresent the lives of lesbians and gay men. Keep paper and mental handy, and a few minutes I'll be giving the names and addresses the way to write and fight back. In the latest episode of the ongoing military crackdown on lesbians, as reported in gay community news of Boston, 11 women were recently expelled from the Marine Corps's Paris Island boot camp due to alleged or admitted homosexual activities. Two other women have been sentenced to time in the Quantico Marine Corps, Brigham, Virginia on charges stemming from allegations about their sexuality. The current massive homosexual witch hunt seems particularly aimed at lesbians. According to defense department statistics, women are 10 times more likely to be discharged for homosexuals than men, even though men outnumber women in the service by a margin of 20 to 1. Now, why do you suppose the military is going after women? First off, women are often targeted because they spur in the sexual advances of military men. You know the sick reasoning that goes, you don't want to go to bed with me so you must be a dyke.

Furthermore, very often women in the service challenge the demeaning stereotypes about women. Many of them are strong, assertive, competent women who don't act in traditionally feminine ways or limit themselves to typing in shorthand the way men believe they're supposed to. Indeed, many of these women have superior, absolutely unblemished military records. Now, not only is lesbians baiting in the military the grossest form of sexual harassment, but it deprives the armed forces of some of their very best personnel. Why not let our brand new Secretary of Defense know what you think about this? And drop a line to the Honorable Dick Cheney, CHENYY, Secretary of Department of Defense, the Pentagon, Washington DC -20301. Naming names is a regular project with a gay and lesbian alliance against defamation. If you see or hear any anti -lesbian or anti -gate defamation, please let us know. And also, would you send us copies of any letters you

write or receive in connection with naming names? Write to GLAAD, 99 Hudson Street, 14th floor, New York, New York, 1013. Or give us a call at area code 212 -966 -1700. This is Dr. Henry Yeager for GLAAD and we'll talk to you later. So don't nobody bring me no bad news, cause I wake up all red and innocent and I'm fired up my views. So don't nobody bring me no bad news. Now if we're gonna be buddies that I put my own rules, cause don't nobody bring me no bad news. I'm Sandy Dwyer and I'm Tony Sullivan with News Bar, April

Fool's Edition, from the desert to the sea, all the news that will never be. In the US, in an unprecedented action, the legislatures of 49 states have voted unanimously to include sexual orientation in their existing civil rights codes. Prior to that action, Wisconsin was the only state with such a law. In another surprise move, the bills were immediately signed into law by the state's governors. In a simultaneous action, the US Congress unanimously passed a similar measure, which President George Bush hailed as a milestone in the struggle for human rights. This is just another step forward in making this a kinder, gentler, and gayer nation, Bush said. Russia has given 1 ,000 square miles of prime agricultural land to their large population of gay men and lesbians, which will be developed as a separate homeland. The new country will be autonomous, with its inhabitants forming their own government through free elections. The Australian Parliament voted to recognize gay and lesbian relationships as equal to non -gay marriages at

the urging of the Queen. Just because a person happens to be a queen doesn't mean that they can't form meaningful love relationships, she said. In a related move, the Queen also did a way with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and clause 28. Leaders of the various religious groups that had condemned gay men and lesbians announced that they had been visited by God's spirit. The Reverend Big Art of the Revivalist 3rd Baptist Church of Missouri tells of his experience. As I lay sleeping, I was suddenly awakened by a bright light. They are sitting on the end of my bed with Jesus. At first I thought I must be dreaming. Then he spoke saying, listen unto me, your judgment of people as being sinful because they are lesbian or gay is in itself a sin. Go forth and embrace all people as brothers and sisters for all other children of God. Similar messages from God were also received by non -Christian religious groups, relayed by the recognized spiritual messenger

of their particular religion. A spokesperson for the gay atheists of America declined to comment. The People's Republic of China has ordered gay men and lesbians to come out of the closet, pretending to be non -gay by marrying and having children as counterproductive to the country's birth control program, a spokesperson said. A dramatic drop in their birth rate is expected as a result of the new law. Black gay anti -apartheid activist Simon Incoli has been elected president of South Africa. With 92 percent of the vote, he was hailed as the light of the future. And finally, members of the Catholic clergy in Mexico, Central America and South America broke away from the Vatican, informing their parishioners that the church's thought concerning homosexuals was based on personal bigotry, not on true Christian tenants. The Pope, reportedly avoiding the media by hiding in a Vatican closet, could not be reached for comment. And that's news

warp for this April Fool's Day 1989, written by Sandy Dwyer. I'm Tony Sullivan and I'm Sandy Dwyer. You're listening to this way out. The international gay and lesbians radio magazine with Greg Gordon, I'm Lucia Chappelle, and now from AIDS and Focus, here's Mike Alcalay.

The AIDS epidemic has stimulated a growing response from members of the artistic communities. Recently, a major conference of artists involved in AIDS activism took place at Ohio State University in Columbus. Coleman Jones was there and files this report. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, art was used to express the sense of loss and grief brought on by the deaths of people with AIDS. While this will likely remain a function of AIDS -inspired art, more recently, artists have begun to use their work to connect some of the underlying social and political problems surrounding the crisis. The three -day conference focused on the different ways artists and cultural producers in general can harness their skills to fight AIDS. Among those who attended was art critic and activist Douglas Crimp, who edited a special issue of the journal October that explored how AIDS has been represented.

I was interested in a kind of very special kind of response that had taken place in the art world, which was limited generally to fundraising and to kind of allegeic reflections on the loss of generally lives of artists. And yet I had seen a few works that took a much more radical and activist perspective. And I basically wanted to make an argument for that as a kind of cultural production around AIDS to make a kind of claim that this was what we should be doing in the art world. The gallery exhibition called AIDS, the artist's response, represented a diverse array of both individual and collective artwork from all disciplines, including painting, photography, film and video, slides, music, and even performance art. Lynette Mulnar teaches

photography at Ohio State and help assemble the show. The video is able to do something that the photography and the paintings aren't able to do. And the computer installation does another thing. And also we really see all of the other programs as an integral part of the exhibition. So the four theater performance pieces that we're presenting are as much a part of the exhibition as the photographs that are in the gallery. Among those photographs are the controversial somber, Nicholas Nixon photos of emaciated people with AIDS lying in hospital beds. These images, almost like old concentration camp photos hung directly beside fiery images of AIDS activists taking to the streets. The curator of the exhibition, San Francisco writer and activist Jan Grover, was quick to point out that this wasn't merely a collection of favorites. I was not looking for the rarest work or the work that was technically necessarily the most proficient. What I was looking for instead was

a representative sampling of the variety of kinds of works that did emerge because there were certain patterns that were visible. And what I wanted to do was to see that we had samplings of all of those. And I think it's real important to not only show what is, quote, quote, politically correct, but also to show what you most violently object to. Participants at the conference shared strategies for the production and distribution of activist media. And discussed the ways art can counter the mass media's representations of people with AIDS is helpless, dying victims. Instead, as much of the exhibition showed, art has the power to portray people living with AIDS as strong, taking control, fighting back, surviving, and even thriving with the illness. This is British filmmaker Stuart Marshall. It's a very important role for artists to

play to help empower people with AIDS. And I think people with AIDS should also be heard. They should be making their own statements about their hope for the future and that those voices should be heard alongside those other voices which are quite legitimately grieving and mourning the loss of those who have died. AIDS, the artist's response, runs until April 16th at Ohio State University. In Columbus, I'm Coleman Jones. And we

are in our heart. Unfortunately, some homosexuals may make you feel uncomfortable in their presence. Many are social misfits because they are often psychologically unstable. In my practice, I rarely treated a satisfied or happy homosexual man or woman. Although one may occasionally come across some who seem to have adjusted into this type of life and make the best of it. Dad, is there anything that can be done for a homosexual? You know, I mean, one wants to go straight. Sometimes he can be helped. If he sincerely wants to confer a therapist who treats homosexuality, he can often assist him to attain heterosexual life, where he does have more of a chance for happiness and emotional maturity. Where do lesbians fit in? They are the female

counterpart of the male homosexual who abhor sexual involvement with men and turn to their own kind for intimacy. Boy, you know, whenever I get the business from a queer, well, gee, I get so uptight, I don't know whether to ignore or belt him. You've got to be taught to hate and fear. You've got to be taught from year to year. It's got to be drummed in your delet to ear. You've got to be carefully taught. And now, here's the gay gorilla theater. Dad, you know, I've heard that heterosexuals are born that way and can't help

themselves. Is that the right on truth? The heterosexual usually comes from a home and which there is a dominant, aggressive father and a weak, passive mother, a very sadistic environment. The heterosexual boy learns early in life to use his aggressive behavior to get his way. It's quite common for the father to take the young heterosexual aside and educate him on how to treat women. For instance, he teaches him never to let a woman dominate him and to keep her under control. What about the daughter, daddy? Well, the mother educates the daughter and the art of manipulation. The heterosexual mother teaches her daughter how to make the husband feel superior and dominant. Her intelligence is tested according to how dumb and helpless she can appear to the male. The male, on the other hand, is denied his sensitivity and is not allowed to feel weak. It's quite clear that the heterosexuals, males and females are not brought up to be friends, but rather they grow up with hidden feelings of mistrust and hostility toward each other.

How sad. I feel sorry for them. Well, of course you do, sweetheart. Another outstanding peculiarity of the heterosexual male is that he often bases his self -worth on his virility. The medical and psychiatric files are filled with cases of these poor misfits becoming temporarily or permanently important due to the experience of not being able to perform sexually. That really gives me the creeps. Sometimes, and I see two heads walking down the street, flying their sickness around. I don't know. I feel like bashing their heads together. But you know, you can't always tell a heterosexual by the way he looks. You're kidding. It's sometimes very difficult to spot a heterosexual by simple observation. Even the stereotype he -man may not be a heterosexual but a normal, sensitive gay male. The females, perhaps a little easier to observe on -site since most lesbians find it hard to feign helplessness. Well, I should hope so. Statistics show that heterosexuals are dangerous.

According to the Kinsey report, 85 % of all sex offenses are committed by heterosexual males. Also, they are extremely dangerous to the gay community since they seem to find enjoyment in a sport that they call queer bashing. Another example of their severe anti -social behavior. Dad, can heterosexuals be cured? Yes. However, this is difficult. Since most heterosexuals do not realize that they're sick and they do not seek treatment. To wait before you are sick or seven or eight. To hate all the people your relatives hate. You've got to be carefully taught. You've got to be carefully taught. Thanks for choosing this way out, the International

Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. This week, Sandy Dwyer, Tony Sullivan, Mary Van Clay, Merrill Jawerts, Dr. Henry Yeager, Mike Alkale, Coleman Jones, and Lynn Richmond, contributed program material. Mabel King from the Broadway cast of the Wiz, Roman Opsky and Phillips, and Myron McCormick from the Broadway cast of South Pacific performed to the music you heard, and Kim Wilson composed and performed our theme music. Satellite distribution of this way out is made possible through a grant from the Chicago Resource Center. We would like to hear from you with any comments, suggestions or questions you might have. Address to this way out post office box 38327 Los Angeles, California 900038. That's this way out post office box 38327 Los Angeles, California 900038 USA. This way out is produced by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle and we thank you for listening on WYEP Pittsburgh KZUM Lincoln and CFRO Vancouver among others and for supporting this local community radio station. Now y 'all stay tuned.

I'm gonna take that again because I forgot who we were.