Q-NOTES
November 1989
PRIDE IN PRINT
Switchboard, Charlotte (704) 525-6128
AIDS Hotline, Charlotte (704) 333-AIDS
PFLAG Hotline, Charlotte (704) 364-1474
AIDS Hotline, Columbia (803) 779-PALS
Call Line, Wilmington (919) 675-9222
(704) 338-1138
BEST BETS
Nov. 1 7:30 pm Hearing on
Anonymous HIV Testing,
Town Hall, Matthews
Nov. 3-5 GLAD District Confer
ence in Winston-Salem
(Rev. Troy Perry to speak)
Nov. 4 Flea Market for MAP at
Freedom Mall
(Every SaL in Nov.)
4 pm Gay/Lesbian
Overeaters Anonymous
Nov. 7 VOTE!!!!!!
(or you deserve who you get!)
Nov. 9 Gay Parents, PFLAG
Nov. 10 10 PM Qosetbusters on
Cablevision Ch. 33
Nov. 12 Integrity
Nov. 18 Fun and Games Night
Nov. 23 2PM Thanksgiving
Pot Luck Supper,
MCC Charlotte
HAPPY
TURKEY
mu
INDEX
Business Cards
Page 8
Calendar
Page 2
Readers Respond
Page 4
Organizations
Page!
Soft Spot
Page 5
Troy Perry To Speak In Winston-Salem
By Nancy Campbell
Q-Notes Staff
Rev. Elder Troy Perry, the Founder and
Moderator of the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches
(UFMCC), will be the featured speaker at the
Gulf Lower Atlantic District (GLAD) Fall
Conference Nov. 3-5, 1989, at the Hyatt-
Winston-Salem Hotel.
Rev. Perry will conduct a workshop Sat
urday morning (9 am) on the conference
theme, "The Priesthood of All Believers: The
Moderator's Perspective." He will also preach
at the worship service Saturday night (7-9
pm).
The UFMCC is a denomination with 249
churches in 12 countries, and a confirmed
membership of 11,806 (with average atten
dance of 22,296).
The Fellowship was bom Oct. 6,1968, in
Rev. Perry's home in Los Angeles, CA. There
were 12 persons in attendance that first
Sunday service.
Rev. Perry tells his story: "The Lord was
dealing with me. I had been taught by my
previous church that you couldn't be a Chris
tian and a gay person, too. I kept this up until
one day God got a word in edgewise and said,
'Don't tell me what I can do. I love you, Troy,
and I don't have any stepsons or stepdaugh
ters. Reread My Word.'" And reread God's
Word I did."
Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, GLAD's Liai
son Elder,will also attend the conference.
She will be conducting a workshop on "The
Priesthood of All Believers: Biblical Chal
lenges." This will be a study of the Scrip
tures, its words and phrases, that speak to the
topic of the conference.
Other workshops will address "Caring for
Children with the HIV Viras," "Human Spiri
tual Interaction as a Factor in Health," and
"Clergy Taxes and Church Finances."
The Conference will also feature elec
tions for a new District Coordinator and 10
other district positions, three worship serv
ices and the ordination of the Rev. Christine
Oscar from St. Mary's MCC in Greensboro,
NC.
Other North Carolina churches represented
will be St. John's MCC (Raleigh), and MCC
Charlotte and New Life MCC from Char
lotte, NC. There will be delegates from
churches in South Carolina, Georgia, Ala
bama, Mississippi, and Tennessee as well.
Military Brass Rejects Report
By Elaine Sciolino
New York Times
WASHINGTON — A draft report by a
Pentagon research center — but rejected by
military officials — concludes that the mili
tary should allow homosexuals into the serv
ices.
Calling it biased, flawed, offensive and
wasteful, a senior official said in internal
Pentagon correspondence that the report went
far beyond its task. Instead of determining
security risks posed by homosexuals in the
military, it examined the broader question of
the suitability of homosexuals for military
duty.
The unclassified report and the Pentagon
correspondence were made available by
members of Congress who believe that
homosexuals should be permitted to serve in
the military.
The report, "Non-Conforming Sexual
Orientations and Military Suitability," was
completed 10 months ago by the Defense
Department's Personnel Security Research
and Education Center in Monterey, Calif.
The Pentagon created the center in 1987
after a spy network was discovered operating
in the Navy. The center's purpose is to study
behavioral aspects of personnel security and
analyze what kind of people make good
custodians of classified information. It has
no authority to make policy recommenda
tions.
The report states that the Pentagon should
rethink its policy of barring homosexuals
from military service. The Pentagon has long
held that the presence of those who engage in
homosexual conduct in the military under
mine "discipline, good order and morale." In
1982, that policy was broadened to include
men and women who demonstrate a "pro
pensity" to engage in homosexual activity.
The report dealt only briefly with the
security issue, concluding that there was no
evidence that homosexuals were any greater
security risk than heterosexuals and no more
likely to be liable to blackmail.
The Pentagon said in a written statement
Friday after being asked about the study:
"The report was merely a draft recommenda
tion, which was not accepted by the Depart
ment of Defense because it was not respon
sive to the original research request."
Reprinted from The Charlotte Observer,
Sunday, Oct. 22,1989
Readers Respond to AIDS Article
by Linda A. Berne, Ed.D.
Professor, Health Education
University of North Carolina at
Charlotte
As one not intimately familiar with the
gay community, my perspective on "AIDS
As Apocalypse" may be different from other
responses. However, as a health professional,
I am concerned with the health and quality of
life for aU persons, and from this perspective,
I make the following observations.
It is not surprising to find the gay commu
nity obsessed with AIDS. Moving from the
newly charted territory of the "out of closet"
Stonewall years to the ecstasy of uninhibited
sex of the late 70's only to be plunged into the
deadly burden of AIDS in the early 80's could
have produced little other response. The
mobilization of the entire subculture to AIDS
in the face of nonresponse from government,
medicine and media was nothing short of
remarkable, but it has taken a heavy toll on
energies and psyches, personally and collec
tively. I have seen the reaction in the health
care professionals who have worked close to
the epidemic as well.
Recent developments, however, should
begin to mitigate this fatalism. Gays have
been more effective in prevention through
lifestyle modification than other risk groups,
and the percentage of new cases continues to
decline. For those who are HIV positive, the
success of AZT as a reverse transcriptase
inhibitor, although expensive, holds great
promise. Advances in treatment such as aero
sol jjentamidine for PCP have continued to
reduce the case-fatality ratio from 100% in
1981 to 29% in 1989. Most clinicians believe
that AIDS is rapidly becoming more like a
manageable chronic disease such as diabetes
than a deadly infectious disease.
I believe AIDS has been a double edged
sword for the gay and lesbian community.
both internally and externally. AIDS rapidly
forced fragmented groups into a cohesive
unit with a common mission. The years spent
working together on the AIDS battlefront
have forged relationships useful in fighting
for other mutually beneficial goals.
AIDS forced the taboo topic of homo
sexuality out in the open, for better or worse.
Families and friends have had to face the
reality of their loved one's "other" life as well
as their death. The society in dealing with
AIDS also has had to rub elbows with homo
sexuality on a personal basis for the first
time. Rather than a great naive and apathetic
middle, AIDS forced us into a bimodal distri
bution, some moving toward greater toler
ance and empathy while others toward a
greater and more overt bigotry.
Since promiscuity and high risk sexual
behaviors are not exclusive to gays, the fear
of AIDS grips gays, bisexuals and straights
alike. Although media and the government
feigns modesty in their reluctance to address
promiscuity and high risk behavior (even
reluct^ce to survey a sample of American
adults to determine the prevalence of spe
cific sexual behaviors!), individuals know
their own behaviors, and the potential behav
iors of their adolescent children. When the
call came for AIDS education, gays could
have easily adopted a "kiss off attitude
toward heterosexuals and their risks to AIDS.
Instead, gays volunteered their expertise
developing AIDS education curricula, com
munity education projects, care giving, re
source acquisition and support groups which
did not discriminate.
Darrell Yates Rist suggests that the time
has come for the gay community to catch its
breath and re-evaluate the broader context of
dying and living. I agree. If I were homosex
ual, I believe the following issues would be
equally as important to me as coping with
AIDS:
1. The right to be understood. Homosexu
als should be more persistent for the inclu
sion of homosexuality as a topic of empirical
study in public education than homophobics
are to have it excluded.
2. The right to legitimize committed rela-
Continued on page 4
Be There or Be Square
A new law has been passed in North
Carolina making HIV reportable. This means
test sites will become confidential rather
than anonymous, as they are now. That means
that the names of those who get tested can be
kept.
The Legislature is considering designat
ing 9 to 15 sites in North Carolina for anony
mous testing. We need to let them know that
we support keeping anonymous testing; that
many people simply will not go for testing
under circumstances of "confidentiality"
rather than anonymity.
YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT
THIS!!! TTiere will be a public hearing
Wednesday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the
Matthews Town Hall, 224 North Trade Street
in Matthews. It is extremely important that
we show up. We need speakers as well as an
audience. There is no need to pre-register.
Just show up. The opposition is really gear
ing up for this one. We MUST be there and
hoot when the crazies make homophobic
statements.
If you are reading this after November 1,
please take the time to write to your state
legislator and insist on anonymous test sites.
The lives of those you love — and maybe
even your own life — depend on it!