Vol. 8, No. 10
October 1993
Sex in
uniform
...page 25
AIDS
Agenda
...page 30
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MAP audit reveals serious problems
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—^Metrolina AIDS Project
(MAP), Charlotte’s only AIDS Service Or
ganization, has been at toe center of contro
versy since the forced resignation of its
executive director John Conleyin July 1991.
Prior to that time, the problems faced by the
beleaguered agency remained internal. Fol
lowing Conley’s resignation, the problems
became public.
A large portion of the problems at MAP
have been a result of conflict between the
staffand the board of directors. An attempt
was made to resolve this conflict throu^
mediation, facilitated by the United Way of
Central Carolinas (UWCC). However, the
ensuing months saw five of the nine staff
members, as well as several board mem
bers, resign due to the continuing differ
ences between the two groups.
In November 1992, as part of a routine
agency review, UWCC contracted Char
lotte coimselor Dr. Virginia Lewis to com
pile an assessment of MAP in all aspects
other than fiscal. Several former MAP
employees, including this writer, read the
consultant’s report and found striking simi
larities between the complaints voiced by
new employees and those voiced over a year
and a half earlier, indicating that many of
the problems brought to the board’s atten
tion in mid-1991 had yet to be addressed.
Q-Notes has now obtained copies of two
letters which pinpoint specific problems at
MAP. These letters raise serious questions
concerning client care, funding of the agency,
and-MAP’s ability to resolve its own prob
lems.
The firstletter,datedJuly 30,1993, from
Vi Alexander, Chairman, Allocations and
Review Board of UW CC is addressed to Hal
Chappie, President of MAP’s board of di
rectors. This letter serves as a summary of
the management consultantreport {Q-Notes,
June 1993) and an audit conducted jointly
by UWCC and the Regional HIV/AIDS
Consortium. The letter was carbon copied
to all members of the Mf^ board of direc
tors and board of advisors.
Some of the findings presented in this
letter include:
“The consistent presence of documenta
tion deficiencies indicate that appropriate
client service plans have not been devel
oped or implemented. There appears to be
little substantive data to support that client
needs are adequately assessed, plans to meet
those needs are developed, or that deliberate
progress toward meeting those needs is
made.”
“Deficiencies in policy and procedure do
not support the agency’s efforts to establish,
implement, monitor, and maintain appropri
ate client services.”
“There are niunerous instances of signifi
cant data provided by the agency that are in
opposition to data gleaned during the pro
gram audit.”
“Without adequate dociunentation, there
appears to be no tangible evidence for asser
tions made by the agency regarding the
quality of its services.”
“The volume and basic nature of many of
the findings of the management consultant’s
report would tend to indicate serious, sys
temic problems with the agency’s manage
ment at both a Board and staff level. This
conclusion, unfortunately, has been strength
ened by the results of the program audit.”
“The agency has notprovided appropriate
coordination of care as described in the
proposed program profiles submitted to jus
tify UWCC funding.”
“There is a consistent pattern of inad
equacy in development, implementation, and
adherence to appropriate policies, proce
dures, and practices. This pattern does not
foster confidence in the agency’s ability to
design and implement appropriate correc
tive actions to its program or management
without assistance.”
Continued on page 7
Gay leaders to speak at conference
by Darryl R. Williams
Q-Notes Staff
DURHAM—-Three powerhouse speakers
have been chosen to address the 1200 activ
ists and organizers who will attend the 6th
Annual Creating Change Conference in
Durham this November. Each has contrib
uted enormously to the gay, lesbian, and
bisexual movement, according to confer
ence director Ivy Young.
Mab Segrest, a Durham resident consid
ered a national leader in fighting the right,
will open the conference, and. Young said,
will set the tone for the conference. “I think
having Mab open will set an appropriate tone
this year because all people of conscience are
facing a battle against the fundamentalist
right, whose efforts affect all people—^work
ing class women, people of color, people
who live here but weren’t bom here, gays,
lesbians, and on and on.”
The second plenary speech, which is be
ing given by Dr. Franklin Kameny of Wash
ington, DC, should be a “centering experi
ence” for conference attendees, Yoimg said.
“People will have already gotten a feel for
the conference and done some networking.
They’ll be ready for something thoughtful
and reflective.”
Dr. Marjorie Hill of New York City will
close the conference, and Young expe cts that
Hill “will send people into the streets of their
cities and towns ready to do battle for the
next year.”
Dr. Franklin Kameny
Q-Notes spoke recently with Segrest,
Kameny, and Hill. Following are conversa
tions with each of them.
Mab Segrest
Mab Segrest, an Alabama native who
lives in Durham, has been active in lesbian
and gay political and cultural work, both
locally and nationally, since 1977. For six
years, she was part of the collective that
published Feminary: A Lesbian-Feminist
Journal for the South. She has organized
against Klan and Nazi movements and hate
violence with North Carolinians Against
Racist and Religious Violence, where she
„ was Executive Director for four years and
§ Director of Research and Publications for
“ two years. Segrest is considered a leader in
.2 the national movement against hate crimes.
.£ She also serves on the boards of the Center
'$■ CO for Democratic Renewal and the North Caro-
~~ lina Coalitionfor Gay and Lesbian Equality,
she is the author of My Mama’s De^
Squirrel: Lesbian Essays on Southern Cul
ture and the upcoming Memoirs of a Race
Traitor, a book of essays to be published this
spring. She is currently Coordinator for the
United States Urban-Rural Mission of the
World Council of Churches.
Mab Segrest can’t think of a more appro
priate place for Creating Change than the
South. After all, she said, “The South has
provided the impetus for most of the civil
rights stmggle during the second half of this
century. It started with the Black hiunan
rights stmggle, and from that sprang the
women’s movement and the lesbian and gay
movement.”
Continued on page 29
NC court awards
ACT UP/Triangle
$24K in law suit
by David Jones
Q-Notes Staff
RALEIGH—^The State of North Carolina
has been ordered to pay ACT UP/Triangle
almost $24,000 to cover its legal expenses in
suing the state to preserve access to anony
mous HiV testing.
In Febmary 1991, the state obtained an
order from the Commission on Health Ser
vices allowing it to withdraw anonymous
HIV testing from 83 counties, making it
available in only 17 counties. ACT UP sued
the state and obtained a decision from an
administrative law judge in Durham in July
1992 that the action was arbitrary and capri
cious because the state failed to demonstrate
that the action was in the public interest.
The state ignored the decision (adminis
trative law judges only recommend policy
but cannot enforce their findings). ACT UP
then went to District Court and obtained an
order in January 1993, to restore anonymous
HIV testing in all 100 North Carolina coun
ties.
District Court Judge Orlando Hudson re
cently ordered the state to pay ACT UP’s
legal fees because the state lost the lawsuit
and a constitutional issue was involved. The
court found that the constitutional right to-
equal protection under the law was violated
when the state withdrew anonymous HIV
testing from some North Carolina counties
without a clear and compelling reason to do
so, discriminating against those who no longer
had access to free, anonymous testing for the
AIDS virus.
ACT UP’s Steve Harris, who organized
the successful legal campaign, said that after
the legal debts were paid off there would be
some money left for ACT UP to use in futine
projects. Since the order covers all legal
expenses, the amount already raised and paid
by ACT UP will be reimbursed, too, result
ing in anet excess to be retained by ACT UP.
Harris is quick to point out that the fight
over anonymous HIV testing is far from
over. The state has been meeting with activ
ists and HIV medical experts to discuss HIV
testing policy in an ad hoc committee formed
several months ago. However, in recent
press reports the state health department said
that it expects to eliminate all anonymous
HIV testing by September 1994, possibly
sooner. Eliminating all anonymous testing
would not violate the court order since all
persons would be affected equally. The US
Centers for Disease Control is currently com
pleting a study of HIV testing in North
Carolina.
“We are not finished with this; far from
it,” Harris said. “This order vindicates our
position,” he continued, “but what it really
means is that we can continue the fight from
an even stronger position.”
National Coming Out Day celebrates sixth year
by Brent L. Pack
Q-Notes Staff
Is it easier to “come out of the closet” if
you feel that you are not alone, but merely
one of thousands who is taking that daring
step out of fear and isolation? The organizers
of National Coming Out Day, October 11,
1993, hope that a feeling of community and
inclusion in a larger force will motivate
closeted gays, lesbians and bisexuals to stand
tall and be proud of who and what they are.
not only on October 11, but all year long.
Tliis year, the National Coming Out Day
(NCOD) organization has merged with the
Human Rights Campaign Fund, the nation’s
largest lesbian and gay political group. Al
though National Coming Out Day and the
Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) seem
to have similar goals, their union may seem
peculiar to many. However, Tim McFeeley,
Executive Director of HRCF, feels very
strongly about the alliance. “Coming out
and having a political impact are integrally
linked,” he says. “Every poll shows that
American voters who know a family mem
ber, loved one or someone close to them is
a lesbian, gay or bisexual support fede^
protection against discrimination on the basis
of sexual orientation. Coming out to the
people who love and respect you is the most
important political act you can do.”
Given the increased prestige and person
Continued on page 6