PAGE 10 Q-Notes ■ February 1990
By Nancy Campbell
Q-Notes StaflF
AIDS Cases Total 200,000
The number of reported AIDS cases
worldwide passed the 200,000 mark in 1989,
a year in which 36,942 new victims of the
deadly disease were registered.
Newark, N.J. —■ Episcopal Bishop John
Spong last month ordained an openly gay
man to run a ministry to homosexuals in
nearby Hoboken. The priest’s male partner
read the litany as picketers protested. And
last week, two San Erancisco congregations
ordained a lesbian couple and a gay seminary
student as pastors. Church documents forbid
this action. The ELCA has already initiated
disciplinary procedures against the two con
gregations, said Bishop Herbert Chilstrom,
the leader of the 5.3-million member de
nomination. His wife, Corinne, is also an
ordained minister.
Penalties could range from a reprimand to
excommunication.
“It’s a divisive issue,” the bishop said.
“There is a rather vocal minority that feels
this ought to be done. But I’d say the over
whelming majority is opposed.
“We want to be an understanding church
(about the needs of homosexuals)... On the
other hand, we are talking about the ordained
ministry, an office that sets the example for
the church and the community.”
Bishop Spong, a Charlotte native, called
the ordination, “a step into honesty and integ
rity” for the church.
Washington, D.C. — The official count
of healthcare workers accidentally infected
with the AIDS virus is far below the real
number, health officials say, but they have no
idea what the real number is.
Last week, the Center for Disease Control
in Atlanta told reporters it knew of 19 U.S.
cases, and a total of 27 cases worldwide in
medical literature. - ■ ' ■ ■ - ■ :*
Two major reasons for underreporting are
that doctors or nurses who become infected
fear losing their jobs, and hospitals fear that
patients will go elsewhere if they know a
staff member is infected.
Critics say the Center for Disease Control
also contributes to the low total by using
reporting guidelines that are too narrow and
by moving too slowly to investigate case
reports.
Critics of the agency say that underre
porting is dangerous because it encourages
healthcare workers and hospital officials to
underestimate risks. Nationwide, accidental
needle sticks occur more than 2,000 times a
day, according to one study.
Charlotte, N.C. — Charlotteans were
saddened to hear of the death in mid-January
of Samuel Clay Taylor, who followed his
father. Dr. Andrew Taylor, to death from
AIDS. The younger Taylor had leukemia in
1984t he contracted the disease from a blood
transfusion. The elder Taylor contracted the
disease tending his sick son.
But the family and friends of the two men
have banded together to leave a memorial.
The Brothers Foundation, which hopes to
open a group home for low-income AIDS
patients, perhaps as early as summer of 1990.
The Brothers Foundation needs money,
volunteers, everything from voluntary relief
for the resident manager to haircutters, and
prayers. Send contributions to: The Brothers
Foundation, P.O. Box 36512, Charlotte, NC
28236. Or call 358-0411 for more informa
tion.
Greensboro, N.C. — In a move that the
Greensboro News and Record blasted in an
editorial, Greensboro city council voted 5-4
to remove the words “sexual preference”
from its newly passed (October 2, 1989)
personnel policy. The paper printed a
strongly-worded critical editorial on Decem
ber 29, the next day, that suggested that the
council should reconsider both their decision
and the conspiratorial way they reached it.
There was no notice to the press, the gay
alliance, or the public that the policy was
going to be considered. It was not listed on
the agenda.
“All of our people were out of town for the
holidays,” Mamie Thompson of the Guilford
Alliance lamented. “I’m sure the city man
ager banked on that.”
Charlotte, N.C. — The reduction of the
recommended dosage of the AIDS dmg AZT
will make the medicine more affordable and
less toxic, said Les Kooyman, executive
director of the Metrolina AIDS Project. Since
the cost will be cut from an average of $700
to $350 per patient, perhaps federal and state
governments will consider assisting those
who are unable to pay the monthly bills, he
added.
Some 200 people in Mecklenburg County
have AIDS. An additional 1,000 who are
HIV positive are eligible for the drag. Doc
tors believe that early use of the drag may
prevent the onset of AIDS symptoms. AZT is
produced by Burroughs Wellcome Co. of
Research Triangle Park, NC.
Some local physicians cut the dosage in
half about a year ago on their own because
patients were having severe side effects on
the full dosage. The highly toxic drag can
inhibit the production of red blood cells,
causing anemia.
Atlanta, GA — The Center for Disease
Control (CDC) says the spread of AIDS has
slowed among homosexual men, and the
agency has lowered its projection of AIDS
cases among aU Americans this year from
65,(XX) to under 57,000.
But AIDS is increasing among drag users,
heterosexuals and newborns. And now data
show that the prognosis for AIDS patients
without treatment is worse than medical
experts had thought. Some health officials
say a General Accounting Office report shows
there has been a substantial undercounting of
AIDS cases, perhaps by as much as 33%.
CDC disputes that, saying 80% to 90% of all
AIDS cases are being reported to health
officials.
Credit for the slowing of AIDS among
gay men must be given to the aggressive
education programs about AIDS that gay
men have instituted in their communities.
Washington, DC — The government is
easing, but not eliminating, restrictions on
the freedom of people infected with the AIDS
virus to enter the United States.
It will no longer use a stamp on passports
to indicate that the holderis infected with the
virus, federal officials said recently. Infected
people will still have to declare their condi
tion when they apply for a visa and seek a
waiver of rales barring them from the coun
try. But they can make the declaration in
confidence, and the waiver will be granted
quickly, officials said.
The action came in response to the pro
tests of numerous organizations, including
the National Commission on AIDS, the World
Health Organization, the International Red
Cross, and others.
At least 16 organizations had announced
that they would boycott international meet
ings in the United States, including the huge
Sixth International Conference on AIDS,
until the policy was changed.
French reaction to the old policy was a
disgusted, “To us Europeans, this seems a
profoundly shocking policy, especially in
light of America’s well-publicized belief in
freedom and respect for human rights.”
Under the new regulations, PWAs would
be required to carry a separate document
with the waiver stamp, rather than having the
stamp on the passport itself.
California — AIDS patient Ryan White
spent New Year’s resting and watching
movies at Michael Jackson’ s California ranch.
Jeanne White says the trip took her son’s
mind off his most recent physical ailments.
Ryan White, who turned 18 last month, has
recently suffered staph infections, a low-
platelet count, a hernia, a protein deficiency,
and fluid retention. A hemophiliac. White
contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion.
“The Ryan White Story,” filmed in Statesville,
aired in January of 1989 on ABC.
Winston-Salem, N.C.—Clark Thompson,
a former chaplain and chairman of the de
partment of religion and philosophy at Salem
College, has died at age 54. He died of
complications from the AIDS virus. He joined
the Salem faculty in 1964 and twice served as
acting dean of the college.
Previously, Thompson, a native of Utica,
N.Y., had been the minister of Christian
Education of Home Moravian Church. For
three years he had been an instructor of
religion at Salem Academy.
He was instrumental in helping set up the
AIDS Task Force of Winston-Salem.
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Columbia, S.C. — A female Marine who
went to military prison for having sex with
another women at the Corps’ Parris Island
training center may get a new hearing fol
lowing a government admission that she
didn’t get a fair trial.
Former Marine Barbara Baum, who is
already out of prison and manages a conven
ience store in West Palm Beach, Florida,
could get a new trial of the charges dropped
because of mistakes make during her court-
martial, said Susan Masling, an attorney for
Baum. One of the jurors who heard testi
mony at Baum’s preliminary hearing and
had testified as a prosecution witness at
another woman’s preliminary hearing, should
not have been allowed on the panel, a spokes
person from the judge advocate general’s
office acknowledged.
“This calls into question the integrity of
the whole military justice system,” the offi
cial stated. Masling has asked the court to
dismiss all charges against her client.
Baum was the first of three Marines at
Parris Island sent to prison in 1988 for les
bian activities. Under the Uniform Code of
Military Justice, homosexual activity is ille
gal in dl of the armed services.