This Way Out; 83

Life a Med said it will make pentamidine available free to those without insurance. 20 ,000 sports competitors, artists, performers and visitors from all over the world will be in the city. I think age is just one symptom of a basic fundamental problem with the healthcare system. I may be arrested, I may be getting my passport taken away or something, but I don't really want to foresee what may happen, you know, and try to frighten myself. Welcome to this way up, the International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. I'm Mushachapel and I'm Greg Gordon. Mother Earth beats her drummer a little too hard. U .S. health pros ponder on American healthcare systems. And does another jail sale await Seiko Simon and Kohli? All that and even more, because you've discovered this way out. I'm Sandy Dwyer and I'm Unwell Nunez. With Newswrap,

a summary of some of the news in and affecting the Gay and Lesbian community for the weekend in October 29, 1989. Despite claims by some right -wing fundamentalist Christian groups that the San Francisco earthquake was comparable to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the city's high number of gay men and lesbians, the heavily gay and lesbian Castro districts suffered relatively light damage compared to other areas of the city. Only one gay bar, the Lone Star, will have to close because of structural damage to the building where the bar was located. Drummer Magazine, which owned their own building, was hit the hardest with the building jolted off the foundation. It will have to be demolished. Volunteer community organizations continued to provide services. One group, Project Open Hand, which provides hundreds of hot meals to people with AIDS or ARC, not only continued through the quake, but was delivering over 1 ,000 more meals to earthquake relief shelters. The manufacturer of a lifesaving AIDS drug has announced plans to give away the drug for free, at least to some patients. For Mades and

Focus, Mary Van Clay has the story. Leifamad, a Chicago -based pharmaceutical company, manufactures a drug that can keep away the most common pneumonia that kills people with AIDS. The drug is called Pantamidine, and it's highly effective in preventing pneumocystus pneumonia when inhaled directly into the lungs once a month. Three years ago, the wholesale cost of the drug was $25 a vial. One vial now retails for up to $200. AIDS activists have been protesting what they call the company's price gouging, and last week, Leifamad said it will make Pantamidine available free to those without insurance. Derek Hodel is director of the People with AIDS Health Group. The New York AIDS Health Group began importing the drug from England at a fraction of what Leifamad charges. Hodel says the company has a public relations job to do if they really want to help lots of AIDS patients. I think the potential is for thousands or even tens of thousands, depending on how widely the information becomes available. People who are indigent, who don't have health insurance, who don't have

access to the same healthcare programs that the well -to -do have in this country, sometimes don't even have access to the information that will lead them to a program like this. So it's incumbent upon Leifamad to widely publicize the program and to make it accessible. If all of that happens, it could very well be thousands and thousands of people. Hodel says that at present, the general public is paying for the high price of Pantamidine through Medicaid and private health insurance. Both Leifamad and the Food and Drug Administration say this is the first time a company is given away an approved drug for free to needy people. In San Francisco, I'm Mary Van Clay. In the United States, residents of the District of Columbia are confronting the issue of Home Rule again. And this time, the local ordinance against anti -homosexual discrimination is a pivotal factor. Washington, D .C. is not a state or an autonomous city, but is under the legal jurisdiction of the U .S. Congress. The old conflict over whether the predominantly Black District City Council or the U .S. Congress should make the laws governing the district was

rekindled when Congress approved an amendment to the D .C. 1990 Appropriations Bill on October 11th. Introduced by Colorado Republican Senator William Armstrong, the amendment permits religious educational institutions within the district to discriminate against gay men and lesbians. Openly gay U .S. Representative Gary Studs of Massachusetts denounced the amendment as unconscionable attacks on the district's power to govern as it sees fit and on gay and lesbian civil rights. Roger Dowty, executive director of the D .C. gay and lesbian alliance said that Congress was treating the district like a colony and using the gay and lesbian community as a punching bag for bigotry. Activist Dow to continue to fight the amendment. Steve Smith, a lobbyist for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, said that they would be exploring every possible way to prevent the amendment from going into effect. Efforts to revoke the charters of the law cabin Republican clubs of California, whose membership is made up primarily of gay men and lesbians, have failed again. During the Republican State Convention last

month and then during the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee meeting last week, motions were introduced to revoke the charters of Republican clubs which base their membership on sexual orientation. In both cases, the motions never reached the floor for debate. Jim Baird, president of the Los Angeles Log Cabin Club, said that the people attempting to eject the clubs were out of step with a leadership and membership. Baird added that being gay or lesbian was not a criteria for membership in the law cabin clubs. During the state convention, Governor George Duke Majin supported the clubs, saying that they were welcomed. And U .S. Senator Pete Wilson said that gay men and lesbians, quote, have the right to political participation and the party that seeks to exclude them is making a mistake. And finally, one particular hot air balloon was refused entry into the International Balloon Fiesta recently held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Fiesta official said it was because the entry papers were submitted late,

but the balloon's owners said it was because it offended the event's main sponsor, the United New Mexico Bank. Whatever the reason, the only condom to hold a certificate of airworthiness didn't fly. The 12th story high, 40 -foot wide balloon, with a 10 -foot nipple at the top, was made of Camerie Yellow Polyester and sported a banner that read, I Save Lives. Since the profound prophylactic is intended to encourage donations to age groups, hopefully it will not be too long before the flying condom makes its maiden flight. That's News Wrap for the Weekending October 29, 1989, written by Sandy Dwyer of the News, serving me 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 I'm Manuel Núñez.

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We are strong, proud to raise our voices to the sky. We are strong, proud to be a boy. I'm Rob Atkinson in Vancouver, BC. In a little under a year from now, Celebration 90, Gay Games 3 and Cultural Festival will take place here in Vancouver. Enthusiasm is building, and so is the workload for planners and organizers. Registration for sporting and cultural events has already begun. It's now anticipated that 20 ,000 sports competitors, artists, performers, and visitors from all over the world will be in the city between August 4 and 11, 1990. An obvious question facing Celebration 90 officials is how and where to accommodate all these people. Kathy Musum from Vancouver's Gay and Lesbian Radio Program, the coming out show, asked Mark McClennigan, the chairperson of the Celebration

90s housing committee, what kind of assistance the organization can offer to visitors seeking accommodation next summer? We are trying to range building, which is hosted housing for anybody requesting that, as well as possible dormitory space for certain teams that might be applying for that. I feel that that's like a spare bed in somebody's house or sleeping bag on the floor. Absolutely. We're looking for all kinds of things in that area. Hoping to have spare bedrooms, basements, even floor space, chester fields, backyard tents, mobile homes, you name it. Do you think all these people will want to stay in someone's home or what if they want to stay in a hotel? Right. We have accommodation information available. Should anybody request that? It's based on information that we've gotten compiled from the Vancouver tourist bureau. You mentioned dormitories.

Where are you finding dormitory space? We have some rooms at the universities, UBC and SFU, and we're hoping to get rooms at other colleges around town. Are you getting a good favorable response from the colleges? Some yes, and some no. I wouldn't say there's any prejudice in the area of not being able to get any rooms at this point. How do you determine who gets these housing spaces? Our priorities are first come first serve basically. Outside of that, it will be people who have to travel the furthest distance we see that it'll be of most expense to them in traveling. So we'll try and find them hosted housing. If you are going to be a participant in gay gains three in cultural festival and desire hosted housing, your registration confirmation form will instruct you what to do. If you need more information about accommodation, more information about the types of

sports events that will be held or to get your registration process started, you can contact your local celebration 90 representative or directly contact celebration 90 in Vancouver. The address is 1170, 1170, butte street, Vancouver, DC, Canada, V6E, 116. You can phone them at area code 604 -684 -3303. You can also fax your registration request. The area code is again is 604 -683 -2276. From Vancouver, DC, this is Rob Atkinson for this way out. This is Rob

Atkinson for this way out. This is Rob Atkinson for this way out. Rob Atkinson

for this way out. To most people, Chikovsky's music is typically this sweet syrupy kind of thing. Chikovsky's sixth symphony is commonly called the pateteek. Next week, on this way out, we'll tell you why it should rather be called the passionate and just how and for whom Chikovsky expressed his passion. With a report on a recent healthcare conference, here's Mike Alkuley of AIDS and Focus. The

nation's foremost AIDS experts and government officials came to San Francisco last week. And for the first time, the discussion centered on the major flaws in the U .S. healthcare system. Flaws that the AIDS epidemic, they say, is making even more apparent. Heidi Zemock files this report. Over 2 ,000 healthcare workers from around the country convened to talk about AIDS in the 90s. The conference's recurrent theme was a need for an overhaul of the American healthcare system. Even a top government official like assistant health secretary James Mason was convinced of the need for a comprehensive national health policy. I think AIDS is just one symptom of a basic fundamental problem with the healthcare system. We have over 32 million people that on a daily basis, whether they have HIV infection or not, do not have primary care services and drugs. We have high infant mortality in the nation where women either don't have access or the outreach programs

aren't in place. My own feeling is, is let's solve the problem so that everyone who does not have access to prevention or primary care services or early interventions are brought into the system. Jonathan Mann heads the World Health Organization and is the country's chief expert on the AIDS epidemic globally. He says most of the world's wealthy nations have some kind of a national healthcare system, so to many developing nations. Mann suggests that perhaps the U .S. can learn something from their examples. The French have a good system of outpatient hospital and outpatient services well linked together. It's a nice design, how well it works isn't yet completely clear. The Ugandans have a good system in some parts of the country to set up for community -based care, so to the Zambians in some parts of the country. You may not think that the U .S. can learn something from Uganda or Zambia, but that would be a mistake.

One of the problems Mann raises is there are very few AIDS drugs available on a worldwide basis. The World Health Organization predicts that two to three times as many people will become infected with HIV during the 90s as were infected during the 80s, and nine times as many, possibly five million or more, will develop full -blown AIDS. The need for cheap available AIDS drug therapies and strategies to prevent it spread will become even more critical in the decade ahead according to Mann. The only approved AIDS -fighting drug is manufactured in the U .S., but says Mann, AZT is too expensive for much of the world to afford. It's available, I believe, just about worldwide in theory, but you have to pay for it. And so we're talking, you're talking in Africa about countries with an annual per capita expenditure for health that might be $10, $20 per person. And you're talking about a drug that costs even if reduced dosages and cost cuts is still several

thousand dollars a year, that's completely out of the question. Many people in the U .S., the WHO leader reminds us, can't pay for AZT either. In San Francisco, I'm Heidi Zemak. We look at a little money, money, money, I'm a guy, get up, fuck off, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting, I'm acting,

I'm acting cause to went. It gets now my frustrating. At first I wanted to cry. What's my sexual orientation got to do with my being a good customer? Then I got a gay Malokan Express card. Now I use it everywhere. From quapes and France, to tropical fruits and hanoi woo -woo, my gay Malokan Express card does it all. Gay Malokan Express. Don't be homo without it. Accent Till you buy a place to meet! South Africa. Because, every dream come upon time And for precious

people's lives All time is here, move on forward Got to rehearse it out My power can see it's nothing without power And the people demand, free South Africa Free South Africa now So call upon time Got to call down In the conclusion of Keith Brown's four -part interview with acquitted, Dalma's treason trial defendant, Seco Simon and Coley The block gay, anti -apartheid activist, discusses his difficulties in securing a passport for his speaking tour And speculates about his imminent return to South Africa Consider what an embarrassment you must be to the South African government You're not only a radical black man, you're a homosexual as well Why did the government allow you to speak about repression in South

Africa We let you out of the country And they must have known that you would speak about these things Well, I don't really know I cannot say there is an evidence that they knew But I will presume that they knew that I am always talking about things And when they asked me to Why I am going to America I told them I'm coming on AIDS education That is the reason I gave them in there They didn't ask any other reasons But people have been denied a passport because of going to a study They want to know people Why the people are going to study abroad That they can't study in South Africa So there are reasons why the people have been refused a passport Myself, it was not really easy to get a passport But a strike of 18 weeks to get it I was supposed to get it in four weeks But because 18 weeks and it was after I had bailed out After my lawyers had intervened on my behalf

At the end when I have gone to the United States Embassy And to the Canadian Embassy as well To other embassies like Swedish and British Embassy It was when those people intervened on my behalf I was granted a passport What does South African law say about homosexual acts? The South African law don't say much about homosexuals Act actually they don't have a very concrete law They've got a certain law that comes under immorality And that I think they were supposed to persecute people Who commit suddenly Where they can be men and women But every year more than 300 people appear in court But for Suddhemi And we don't have a straight Suddhemi Or we happen to appear on that

I'm all male, mainly homosexual people And many we have been arrested and have such laws Enough, unfortunate And those people who really don't come out as gay people And the people who mainly married men Who go to pangs and creasing places Are there gay bars and that sort of thing And say in Central Africa Well I haven't been there personally I haven't been in Central Africa I've been in South Africa for the rest of my life And it's the first time that I moved out But according to information that I get from newspapers And press, cutting, gay, literature I've never had anything about gay bars Or gay people in Central Africa But that doesn't really make me believe that there are no gays there We cannot really say there are no gays So there's got to be a gay scene in Kinshasa But it's got to be And maybe people there, they don't come

out But homosexual practices You know, like going on everywhere People still deny that there are gay people inside Africa When I was in Washington now Somebody phone when I was doing telephone phoning over the radio Another guy phone and he said I am from South Africa And I'm disgusted to hear your speaker saying that He is from South Africa and his gay And he is anti -aparctate activist I don't think that person is from South Africa He put him in me Because as far as I know There are no gay people in South Africa They are not such people like homosexual in our country I suppose I shouldn't ask you this But I want to try to ask anyway You will be going back to South Africa Yes, when I lived in South Africa Actually they knew me going away for three weeks In South Africa And I've been away now for more than two months

What do you suppose will happen to you there Well, I don't know in terms of what In terms of being the government Suspecting that I've been talking a lot and things like that Well, I just have to wait and see what happened There are lots of things that may happen And maybe I rest it I may be getting my past But taking away or something Or a restriction posed on me I don't know But I don't really want to say I don't want to talk about that I don't really want to foresee what may happen And try to And frighten myself But I shouldn't go back home And as far as I'm concerned I've never done anything illegal on my trip So I must be confident to go back home as I left What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me

What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What

do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me What do you suppose will happen to me Box 38327 Los Angeles, California 900038 This way out is produced by Great Goodman And Lucia Chappelle And we thank you for listening on W -E -V -L Memphis C -K -L and Toronto And K -R -C -L Salt Lake City Among others And for supporting this local community radio station Now we always tell you to stay tuned