September 1991 ■ PAGE 9 Q-Notes
AIDS Update
National Health Conference shares
knowledge, exchanges ideas
by Frank M. Mondimore, M.D.
Special to Q-Notes
The thirteenth annual National Lesbian
and Gay Health Conference and the ninth
National AIDS/HIV Forum took place in
New Orleans, July 24-28, attended by del
egates from throughout the United States and
the world. In over 200 meetings and work
shops, gay and lesbian physicians, nurses,
psychologists, social workers, educators and
activists presented and attended symposia
and worlahops designed to “share knowl
edge and exchange ideas” on everything from
new AIDS treatments to domestic violence in
gay and lesbian relationships to gay parenting
workshops. Sponsored by the National Les
bian and Gay Health Foundation and the
George Washington University Medical Cen
ter, the conference also received a grant from
the Centers for Disease Control for a program
entitled “New Methods and Ideas in HIV
Prevention.”
The opening plenary session featured no
less than four executive directors from na
tional gay and lesbian organizations: Dan
Bross of the AIDS Action Council, Tim
McFeeley from the Human Rights Campaign
Fund, Reggie Williams of the National Task
Force on AIDS Prevention, and Urvashi Vaid
of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
In an address more reminiscent of a political
rally than a health conference, Vaid charac
terized the Congress as “a bunch of cowards”
who repeatedly cave-in to conservative lob
bying groups and went on to remind the
audience that President Bush has never used
the words “gay” or “lesbian” in public. Re
peatedly interrupted by wild applause, she
closed by promising to keep working for a
“thoroughly queer” future.
While the national media used the grisly
discoveries of the victims of the Milwaukee
serial killer to reinforce the bogus stereotype
of gays as child molesters, workshops were
presented on recovery counseling for gay and
lesbians sexually abused as children, on “com
ing-out” counseling for youth, chemical de
pendency recovery and organizing volun
teers.
Jeffrey S. Akman, M.D., Dean of the
George Washington School of Medicine, in
troduced a day-long AIDS medical update in
which highlights of the International AIDS
Conference just ended in Florence, Italy, were
presented. In addition to several new drugs
with modes of action similar to AZT, new
drugs with completely new mechanisms are
being developed. Immunity to SI V, an animal
virus similar to HIV, has been successfully
developed in chimps and the safety of several
HIV vaccines has been demonstrated, paving
the way to efficacy studies. The Jonas Salk
Institute is exploring the concept of adminis
tering an HIV vaccine to persons infected
with the virus but not yet showing signs of
disease. Modeled after the current treatment
strategy for persons infected with the rabies
virus, this approach theorizes that in an in
fected but immunologically intact individual,
an HIV vaccine would cause the body to raise
immunity to, and wipe out, all HIV present in
the body—basically eradicating the infec
tion.
Dr. Gilbert Herdt, a professor of anthro
pology at the University of Chicago reported
preliminary data from a study of gay youth
which examined the “coming out” process
and suggests that gay adolescents are accept
ing and acknowledging their sexual orienta
tion and joining an enlarging gay culture at
progressively earlier ages. He predicted that
“within our lifetimes” it will be quite ordinary
for the “coming out” process to occur at
puberty—hot, as is so common today, in late
adolescence, often after years of confusion,
secrecy and shame.
Dr. Richard Isay, on the faculty of the
Department of Psychiatry of the Cornell Uni
versity Medical Center and author of Being
Homosexual. Gav Men and Their Develon-
ment. moderated a session entitled “Homo
phobia: The Hate Within, The Hate With
out.” Speakers including Dr. Hilda Hidalgo,
a professor of Public Administration and
Social Work at Rutgers University, spoke to
the debilitating effect internalized homopho
bia has on the ability of gays and lesbians to
work effectively for change.
Despite increasing homophobic crime sta
tistics and reports on substance abuse preva
lence indicating significantly higher rates of
addiction to alcohol and drugs of abuse than
is found in the general population, optimism
and self-affirmation were constantly in evi
dence during the five day conference. The
American gay and lesbian community is
clearly being served by a huge number of
passionately dedicated gay health profession
als—from front line staff of agencies serving
the HIV-infected homeless to officials and
faculty in the highest levels of major univer
sities and private and government health agen
cies.
The 14th national conference will be held
in Los Angeles next summer.
Dr. Mondimore is a staff member of the
Carolinas Medical Center.
Eight groups to benefit from evening
of gay^esbian entertainment
The net proceeds of Our Family Celebra
tion, an evening of entertainment by the gay
and lesbian community, will benefit eight
groups in the Charlotte area. The production,
part of the PFLAG Convention’s weekend
festivities, will be held on Saturday, October
12 at 8:30 pm at Dana Auditorium on the
Queens College Campus.
According to Dan Kirsch and Tonda Tay
lor, co-producers of the event, all eight groups
who applied for monies will receive funds
after the event is complete. Dollar amounts
will be decided after the event. Groups who
will benefit are: The Brothers Foundation, to
provide housing at the Carmel House and the
Taylor Home to persons living with AIDS;
First Tuesday Association for Gay and Les
bian Equality, for a phone line to document
incidents of violence and harassment; Metro-
lina Community Service Project (MCSP), to
help the Switchboard purchase additional
computer software; and the Metropolitan
Community Church of Charlotte (MCC), to
stock a Food Pantry for needy community
members.
Other groups include the North Carolina
Royal Court/Mecklenburg County, to pro
vide financial assistance to individuals expe
riencing hardship; ONE VOICE, to sing in the
GALA (Gay and Lesbian Association of Cho
ruses) Festival in Denver in July 1992; Q-
Notes, to increase distribution of monthly
newspaper to additional communities in the
Carolinas; and Time Out, to purchase gay-
affirming educational materials for gay/les
bian/bisexual youth support group.
The evening’s entertainers will include
members of the Charlotte Symphony Orches
tra; the Capital Cowboys from Raleigh in
their first Charlotte appearance; the new dance
troupe The Choreographer’s Boyfriend; J.
Breat Roland & Samis Rose; and many other
community actors, singers, dancers and musi
cians.
Tickets for the event are $10-$20 on a
sliding scale (patron tickets: $40, $70 and
$100), and the ticket order form includes a
place for the purchaser to indicate which
group(s) they want their donation to go to.
Tickets are available from Metro,
Bloomingdeal’s or by mail from O.F.C./
PFLAG, 5815 Charing Place, Charlotte NC
28211. All checks should be made to PFLAG,
allowing all donations to be tax-deductible to
the extent allowed by law.
In addition to Kirsch and Taylor, other
O.F.C. Steering Committee Members are
Darryl Logsdon, Leah Solomon and Liz
Tumas. Contact Kirsch (704/536-1372) or
Taylor (704/377-3399) for a ticket brochure
or to sign up to be a singer or dancer in the
community chorus/Broadway group. Rehears
als begin on Sunday, September 8. Other
persons are needed for technical crews.
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