Hell In The
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...Page 4
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Air crash claims lives of four AIDS workers
by Gene Potent
Special to Q-Notes
CHARLOTTE—^Two social workers and
two volunteers serving the Palmetto AIDS
Life Support Services (PALSS), an advocacy
and service agency based in Columbia, South
Carolina, died July 2,1994 in the crash of US
Air Flight 1016 near Charlotte/Douglas In
ternational Airport.
Lori Pinette, of New Milford, Connecti
cut, and Ann Sharkey, of Chestertown, Mary
land, both 23 and second year students at the
University of South Carolina’s College of
Social Work, were, according to friend Susan
Hopkins, “...ready to serve justice, ready to
make a difference in the world.. .They sparkled
with idealism and love and care.” Pinette,
traveling to visit her boyfnend and her brother,
who was being ordained as a priest, had just
completed a one-year internship in Case
Management at PALSS. “Lori—she was the
most non-judgemental person you would ever
meet,” according to a friend of both women,
Laurie Simpson, “She was the most caring
person.” Sharkey, engaged to John Mellody
of Syracuse, New York, had just begun her
internship, and was on her way to Boston to
visit Mellody and a former roommate. She
and Mellody were planning to wed next sum
mer. Just last month she had purchased her
wedding dress.
Pinette and Sharkey were among four USC
students killed in the crash. Hopkins’ words
were spoken at the University’s Rutledge
Chapel at a July 11 memorial service honor
ing those students. Another service, honor
ing all of the 37 passengers who died, was
held on July 12 in Columbia’s Trinity Episco
pal Cathedral. Thirty-four of the dead were
South Carolina residents, including 28 from
the Columbia area.
“Everyone here had the greatest respect
for both Lori and Ann,” notes Mark
Fitzpatrick, Office Manager at PALSS, add
ing, “Lori’s parents were very supportive of
her work with us.” As a continuing demon
stration of that support, Pinette’s parents have
asked that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be
made to PALSS.
Two other victims, both in their twenties,
were volunteers serving in the agency’s buddy
program, providing support services to those
with AIDS on a one-to-one basis. “It is our
policy not to reveal the names of our volun
teers,” states Cynthia Poindexter, Director of
Services. “They were giving of their time and
talents. One had been in the buddy program
for about a year and a half and the other was
new, having recently completed training.”
“Of course, in our work, we are forced to
face and deal in death all the time, but this
kind of sudden death is particularly difficult
to deal with,” says Poindexter. “It is death
from a different direction. It is not that it is
more significant, just different.” She adds,
“Within the last 12 months (in addition to the
loss of clients), PALSS has suffered the loss
of an Executive Director (Bill Edens, who
died last November), a social worker, a mem
ber of our Advisory Council, a board member
and now these interns and volunteers.”
Mark Bodenmiller, who recently began
his duties as Executive Director, says “It has
been a tremendously painful year. TTiis is one
of the first things I plan to look at, to pay
attention to...to discover how these losses
have impacted the organization.”
“We have a really close staff. It is always
okay to feel what you need to feel here.
However,” Poindexter strongly emphasizes,
“we are committed to our vision. We want
everyone to understand that never stops. We
are always available.” She adds, “We need
for our clients to know we are here for them.”
Mark Fitzpatrick agrees, saying, “We have
to be strong for those that cannot be strong for
themselves...that’s what Lori, Ann, and our
volunteers would have wanted.”
Memorials may be made directly to PALSS
at Post Office Box 12124, Columbia, SC,
29211. For further information, call (803)
779-7257, outside of South Carolina, or toll
free at 1-800-779-7257 within the state.
Radical Right fails to qualify in 8 of 10 states
WASHINGTON, DC —Radical Right-
wing groups in eight states failed to qualify
ballot measures that would have legalized
discrimination against gay people, said rep
resentatives of four national gay and lesbian
groups at a recent briefing in Washington,
DC. Initiatives in two states, Oregon and
Idaho, qualified for the ballot. While the
Oregon measure has been struck from the
ballot by a state judge, that ruling is being
appealed.
“We are relieved, but not relaxed,” said
Sue Hyde, Fight the Right Project Coordina
tor for the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force. “The failure of the Radical Right to
qualify in eight states is positive, but it should
not send the ‘all clear’ signal.”
Radical Right groups in Arizona, Maine,
Michigan, Missouri, Nevada and Washing
ton failed to gather the required signatures by
deadlines that ranged from January 31 to July
11. The initiative in Florida was ruled invalid
by that state’s Supreme Court in March 1994.
An announced initiative effort in Ohio never
materialized, but the group announced plans
for a project attacking politicians who have
been supportive of equal rights for gay people.
“Our job now is to support local commu
nities as they come together to counter the
discriminatory agenda of national Radical
Right wing organizations,” said Tim
McFeeley, Executive Director of the Human
Rights Campaign Fund. “We will work in
close cooperation with local communities in
Oregon, Idaho, and wherever Radical Right
groups try to institutionalize discrimination.
We must reach people with information about
the problem of anti-gay discrimination and
pass a federal bill to protect people from
losing their jobs to discrimination.”
Mandy Carter of the National Black Gay
and Lesbian Leadership Forum said, “Na
tional radical groups have divided communi
ties by trying to institutionalize discrimina
tion. TTieir cynical strategy is best challenged
by the truth. People of color communities are
an important part of the effort to expose the
discriminatory agenda of the Radical Right.”
Nicole LeFavour, an official with the Idaho
Campaign for Human Dignity, the group that
will be opposing that state’s discriminatory
measure, noted that the Idaho initiative barely
qualified. “The Idaho anti-gay group fell far
short of its goal of 100,000 signatures and
squeaked past with only a few thousand to
spare,” said LeFavour. “Unfortunately, this
gives the national Radical Right wing organi
zations an opportunity to take their
disinformation campaign all over our state.
Local communities in Idaho must come to
gether to stop the Radical Right groups from
institutionalizing censorship and discrimina
tion in Idaho.”
Oregon’s ballot measure was struck down
as unconstitutional by Marion County (OR)
Circuit Court in April 1994. Judge Rodney
Miller ruled that an initiative limiting the
rights of gay people cannot appear on the
November ballot because it violates the state
constitution, which requires that an initiative
deal with a single issue. The decision is
currently on appeal to a higher court.
“The courts continue to tell us that citizens
cannot vote lesbians and gay men out of
constitutions,” said Suzanne Goldberg, a staff
attorney for Lambda Legal Defense and Edu
cation Fund. “Still the Radical Right contin
ues to promote these unconstitutional as
saults, and we will continue to battle against
them in court.”
NC Pride 94 allocates $13,500 from profits
by Don King
Special to Q-Notes
CHARLOTTE—North Carolina’s gay/
lesbian community will receive $13,500 from
excess revenue generated by the NC Lesbian
& Gay Pride Parade & Celebration held June
3-5 in Charlotte.
The committee that organized North
Carolina’s ninth annual pride event fash
ioned its allocation at a July 18 meeting.
The largest award, $6000, will go to the
Fund for Southern Communities, a gay-
friendly foundation located in Atlanta, with
the stipulation that all $6000 be granted to
NC gay/lesbian organizations. Because of a
dollar-for-dollar challenge from a New York
foundation, the Fund will receive an addi
tional $6000 earmarked for gay/lesbian orga
nizations in the Carolinas and Georgia.
Other Pride 94 allocations include:
•$1100 to the Gay/Lesbian Switchboard
of Charlotte.
•$500 to NC Pride PAC, which assists
gay-friendly candidates seeking office on the
state level.
•$500 to Charlotte chapter of Parents,
Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays for
the chapter’s scholarship fund for college-
bound youth.
•$400 to the Youth Leadership Council of
Time Out Youth. The council, made up of
youth, plans activities such as the annual
Alternative Youth Prom. Time Out is the
support and advocacy group in Charlotte for
lesbian and gay youth 13 through 23.
•$300 to WOW, a Charlotte lesbian orga
nization.
•$250 for Gay Awareness Week at UNC-
Charlotte.
•$250 to promote a Sept. 2 public musical
concert in Charlotte during the International
Leadership Conference of GALA—the Gay
& Lesbian Association of Choruses, an inter
national group.
•$200 for the newly created Charlotte In
terfaith Network for Gay and Lesbian Equal
ity.
Continued on page 32
:f£AI
Glenn Kent
HIV testing
decision near
by David Jones
Q-Notes Staff
The North Carolina Commission for Health
Services, the independent rule-making body
that adopts health regulations, has rejected a
request from the state AIDS Advisory Coun
cil that anonymous HIV testing not be ended
on September 1, 1994 as currently planned.
Instead, the Commission has given the Coun
cil one more chance to make its case.
As reported first in Q-Notes (May 1994)
the new state AIDS Advisory Council adopted
a resolution at its April 19, 1994 meeting
calling on the state to suspend plans to end
anonymous HIV testing. The Council asked
the Commission for time to develop a pro
posal to reduce the barriers to confidential
HIV testing and suggest a new date for end
ing anonymous testing once that plan had
been implemented.
The proposal was presented to the Com
mission on April[ 27, 1994 by Calvin
Michales, co-chair of the Council’s Preven
tion Committee and a member of the board of
the Guilford County AIDS Partnership. The
Commission decided not to suspend the Sep
tember 1, 1994 termination as the Council
requested. Instead, it told the Council that it
could come back to the August 3,1994 meet
ing of the Commission with the Council’s
plan to lower barriers to testing.
Speaking against the proposal was Pat
Hunter, director of a Rocky Mount minority-
based AIDS service organization and mem
ber of the NC Minority AIDS Coalition.
According to minutes of the meeting, she
stated that anonymous testing was supported
by “a small segment of our population” and
that the safety of the general public would be
served through confidential testing (where
names are given and reported to the state). A
representative of the NC Medical Society
also called for the end of anonymous testing,
as did Dennis Retzlaff, Warren County Health
Director and speaking for the Association of
Local Health Directors. No one from the
public spoke in favor of the proposal to retain
anonymous testing.
Ron Levine, MC, State Health Director,
also told the Commission that a petition had
been received from ACT UP/Triangle calling
Continued on page 16