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Winston-Salem’s wet and wonderful Pride Page 3 NC Mobilization '96 prepares for next phase Page 7 The Carolinas' Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 11, Number 3 • June 29, 1996 • FREE NC bans same-sex marriages (Drai^ Legislature railroads bill through in only nine days by Eagle White Q-Notes Staff RALEIGH—State Senator James Forrester and the rest of the General Assembly can fi nally relax a bit — North Carolina now has a law on the books which says that marriages performed in other states between persons of the same gender will not be recognized as le gally valid in this state. Since no state currently allows unions between same-sex partners, Forrester may take great pride in knowing that he has skillfully sponsored and nurtured a bill which essentially accomplishes... nothing. The good news is that North Carolinas ver sion of the same-sex marriage ban, currently sweeping the country, did not pass unani- “ mously, as did a similar measure in South Caro lina. Five members of the Senate and 10 mem bers of the House voted against SB 1487, the latest numerical incarnation of the statewide bill which was originally introduced by Forrester on May 23 as a local bill banning the validity of same-sex marriages for Iredell County. The present form of the bill took the Gen eral Assembly exactly nine days to pass from introduction into law. This is remarkable ex pediency from a governing body which has been considering a bill regarding domestic violence for thirteen months. By June 18, Senator Forrester was so troubled by the idea of same-sex marriage that he made repeated motions on the Senate floor regarding it. The first motion was to vote on the measure immediately after hearing the Ju diciary Committee’s report on it. Forrester said the bill was of “compelling interest” to the state. When that motion was ruled out of order by chair Dennis Wicker, Forrester was allowed to enroll the bill at the end of the day’s calendar — although there were sue pages of bills in front , of the measure. When 6;00pm rolled around and the bill was still in line behind other legis lative matters, Forrester asked for immediate consideration of SB 1487. Wicker relented, and the bill was discussed on the Senate floor for 20 minutes. SB1487 was passed 42-5. The five votes against the measure came from Ballance, Jordan, W. Martin, Sherron and Hobbs. Sena tor Lucas said the bill was wrong, but decided to take the path of least resistance and “took a walk” during the vote. (Senators who are present are required to either vote “aye” or “no.”) All bills of the day were sent by special mes senger to the House for immediate consider ation. The House heard only one special mea sure — Senate Bill 1487. The bill was referred to the Welfare and Human Resources Com mittee, which called for a special meeting at See MARRIAGE on page 18 Internet protected by court decision Asylum granted to gay Russian by Mike Ausiello Special to Q-Notes LOS ANGELES—A 23-year-old Russian man, beaten and jailed in his home country because of his sexual orientation, is now a free man living in West Hollywood, thanks to a landmark asylum case won by the Immigration Law Project of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center. A native of a small town 400 miles north east of Moscow, Sergey Fedetov was beaten, interrogated and jailed by police officials, and threatened by school officials on as many as 15 different occasions. “They arrested me because they could tell I was gay and they do not think we should be alive or in Russia,” said Fedetov, through an interpreter. “Although the Russian government recently repealed the law outlawing homo sexuality, this has not changed the mistreat ment by the police and other Russian people. If anything, the increasing anar chy in my country has made it worse.” On one occasion, Fedetov and a friend were arrested by three officers because they were “obvious homo sexuals.” At the po lice station, he was thrown around, slapped in the face, and hit on the back with a “demokratiser” (rubber baton) by an in terrogator who ordered him to reveal the names of other gay people. When he refused, he was jailed in a small cell with three other pepple for more than nine hours without food or water. Upon his release, Fedetov was interrogated by officials at his high school, who learned he was gay from the police. The school officials threatened to have him registered as a juvenile delinquent if he did not change his behavior. Of the six times he was taken into custody by police, only once did he avoid a severe beat ing. On the occasions he was not arrested, he and his friends were taunted by the authorities who would yell insults and demand the names of other gay people. They would also make a scene, so as to let neighbors and passersby know he was gay. The harassment of gay people was too much for one of his friends who ended his life by jumping from the ninth floor of a build- '"S- The police also “warned” his mother of his behavior and surprised him at home once a month to intimidate him and demand infor mation about other gay people. This abuse of gay people was not unique to his hometown. After moving to Moscow in by David Stout Q-Notes Staff PHILADELPHIA—The information su perhighway is safe for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders once again thanks to a June 12 ruling. Three federal judges unanimously decided that the Com munications Decency Act (CDA), regarded as the most controversial portion of the Telecom munications Reform La>y, is an unconstitu tional restriction of speech oh the computer network. The Telecommunications Reform Law was enacted in February to keep sexually explicit and objectionable materials on the Internet away from minors. But, due to the vague word ing of the CDA, individuals might have been subject to criminal penalties for simply post ing information relevant to the homosexual community. Life-saving information about AIDS, safer-sex and abortion could have been cause for prosecution under the measure. Since proponents of the CDA failed to clearly define the terms “indecent” or “patently offensive” when drafting the measure, the judicial panel struck it down. Because of the Internet’s unprecedented abil ity to provide a worldwide forum for the ex change of ideas, the panel felt that it war ranted the strongest free speech protection possible. In his written opinion. District Judge Stewart Dalzell colorfully noted, “Any content-based regula tion of the Internet, no matter how benign the purpose, could burn the global village to roast the pig.” Gay community activists hailed the decision — the first major ruling on Internet speech^in this country. “The Federal Court’s decision to strike the Communications Decency Act was a firm acknowledgment that the Act would have reduced the Information Superhighway to just one lane,” said Loren Javier, Director of Infor mation Systems for the Gay and Lesbian Alli ance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a gay, media advocacy organization. “Today’s ruling will ensure that gay and lesbian adults and young people, some of whom count on the In ternet as their only source of openly gay infor mation, will continue to have access to all the net has to offer.” Patricia Nell Warren, author of the pioneer ing gay novel The Front Runner and one of the plaintiffs in the challenge suit, expressed her feelings in a media release after the ruling. “To day, as one author with books at risk from CDA " dtifprcement, and as one of the plaintiffs in the case, I am happy about this victory for free speech. “But today is a single battle won ■ in an ongoing war. Both the federal government and religious special- interest groups are determinecl,;' to push censorship ever mofe broadly. Their excuse is that ‘youth must be protected’. What they really have in mind is control, not protection.” , ‘ To highlight the importance of online com munications to young gays and lesbians, many of whom would be completely isolated with out the Internet, four youths submitted writ ten testimonials to the court describing their own experiences. Warren acknowledged the importance of these documents in her com ments. “I especially want to commend the four young people who quietly filed affidavits with the court. Of all the hundreds of thousands of kids who would be negatively affected by the CDA, Hunter Allen, Kir O’Connell, Rheana Parrenas and Christine Soto were the ones who personally spoke out on free speech for youth. See INTERNET on page 18 New home HIV test sparks debate Jeff Kim (L), Coordinator of the Immigration Law Project, and Sergey Fedetov, the first gay Russian to get asylum. June 1994, to earn enough money to flee to the United States, he was stopped and detained by police officials on at least five occasions. On these occasions, however, the officers made it clear he could avoid a beating if he agreeed to pay a bribe. “It seemed impossible for me to hide the fact that I am gay,” said Fedetov, a dark-haired. See ASYLUM on page 8 by David Jones Q-Notes Staff RALEIGH—A new home test for HIV, the AIDS virus, is being marketed but may not be available in North Carolina. Q-Notes talked to state health officials and the company produc ing the test and got very different reactions to the issues around home testing. The test, marketed by Direct Diagnostics, a >, subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, was approved ^ by the US Food and Drug Administration I (FDA) on May 14, and is being test-marketed in Texas and Florida. The company plans to .B" make it available nationally in January 1997, .0 to be sold in pharmacies without a prescrip- £ tion for about $40.00. Users collect a drop of blood from a finger prick, place it on a special card, mail it in to the company, and call for results in a week using an identification number. Callers with positive tests will be referred automatically to a live counselor. Those with negative tests will receive a recorded message with options to get more information or speak to a counselor. State health officials have confirmed to Q- Notes that they are considering a request to the FDA to block sales of the kit in the state, which can be done under federal law. “My mind is not made up,” state health director Dr. Ron Levine told Q-Notes, “and I want to hear from all those who are knowledgeable about this. A lot of rhetoric and emotional winds blow around this issue, and it’s hard sometimes to keep the discussion on the science, but that’s what I intend to try to do.” Levine said that plans are already being made to consult the state’s AIDS Advisory Council. Advocates for people at risk for HIV have been divided and are still cautious about home testing. Many activists opposed earlier attempts to get approval for home tests, although most now say that its time has come. Project Inform of San Francisco, the largest activist-based AIDS information provider, issued a guarded state ment concluding that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of home testing. The issue was discussed informally at a meeting of the North Carolina HIV/AIDS Alliance, a statewide AIDS service lobbying group, on July 18. Most seemed to agree with Cullen Gurganus, execu tive director of The AIDS Service Agency in Raleigh, who said, “I always come down on the side of making it easier for people to get infor mation about their health but I still have seri ous concerns about counseling.” See TESTING on page 13
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