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The Carolinas' Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper « Volume 12, Number 4 • July 12, 1997 « FREE
Supreme Court protects
freedom of the Internet
by Liz Tracey
Special to Q-Notes
NEW YORK—The Supreme Courts June
26 decision to preserve free speech on the In
ternet, by finding the Communications De
cency Act (CDA) in violation of the First
Amendment, was applauded by free speech
advocates across the nation. In the gay and les
bian community, the ruling was met with added
enthusiasm because many feared that the CDA
would limit the rights of Internet users to freely
discuss issues regarding sexual orientation.
The CDA, passed as part of the Telecom
munications Act of 1996, prohibited “patendy
offensive” or “indecent” content on the Inter
net. Last June, a three-judge panel found the
CDA unconstitutional, at which point the
Department of Justice appealed the case to the
US Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Courts decision is a victory
for all those who believe that the Internet is a
vital source of both information and commu
nity for Americans,” said Joan M. Garry, ex
ecutive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alli
ance Against Defamation (GLAAD). “For the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender commu-
AIDS activists arrested for angiy
takeover of Glaxo Wellcome office
nity, the Internet has been
particularly important,
both in advancing our visibility and as a politi
cal, cultural and social tool. The Court s deter
mination of the CDA as unconstimtional is one
which rejects silencing vibrant Internet com
munities, and in the best traditions of free
speech, allows for a diversity of voices on what
is a still evolving media form.”
Writing for the majority. Justice John Paul
Stevens said, “The CDA is a content-based
regulation of speech. The vagueness of such
regulation raises special First Amendment con
cerns because of its obvious chilling effect on
free sp>eech.”
Loren Javier, Interacdve Media Director for
GLAAD, commented: “Jusdce Stevens sums up
the ambiguous and vague language of the Com
munications Decency Act quite well. The law
would have had dramatic effects on a medium
where the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
community thrive. If small-minded bigots were
making decisions based on hate regarding ‘in
decency’ on the Internet, many lesbian and gay
sites, including GLAAD’s, might have per-
isheff” T
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
NEW YORK—Seven members of ACT
UP/New York were taken into police custody
June 24 following their seizure of Glaxo
Wellcome’s Investor Relations office in Man
hattan. The takeover began at 9:15am and con
tinued until officers physically removed pardci-
pants an hour and a half later.
Although the occupation was spurred by
Glaxo’s announcement to limit the expanded
access program for its heralded new AIDS drug
1592 to just 2,500 people worldwide (a situa
tion that members labeled “criminally inad
equate”), the company has long been accused
of putting profits before public health.
Over the last few years, the number of pa-
dents allowed to participate in pre-market drug
access programs has shrunk by 90 percent. Since
as many as 30 percent of people with AIDS
Support group for gay youth
receives bigoted IRS response
by Peg Byron
Special to Q-Notes
GREENSBORO—^Advocates for gay, les
bian, bisexual and trangender youth are de
manding that the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) withdraw its anti-gay response to a re
quest for non-profit status by the Gay and Les
bian Adolescent Support System (GLASS).
They have also asked the federal agency to
promptly grant GLASS federal tax exemption.
“GLASS is a well-run, grassroots support
group that helps young people besieged by anti
gay bigotry. The IRS response to this pillar of
the Greensboro community is shockingly dis
criminatory,” said Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund Staff Attorney David Buckel,
who sent a letter to the tax agency on July 2.
After GLASS asked for tax exempt status
under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3),
the IRS sent the group a
letter last fall that hinged
approval on the follow
ing: “Please describe in
detail the procedures and
safeguards in place to as
sure that counsellors (sic)
and participants do not
encourage or facilitate
homosexual practices or encourage the devel
opment of homosexual attitudes and propen
sities by minor individuals attending your pro
grams.”
Buckel said, “GLASS’s very purpose is to
raise the self-esteem of youth who face harass
ment and violence because they are gay, bi
sexual, or perceived to be so. As a non-profit,
charitable and educational organization,
GLASS is entitled to tax exemption.”
He continued, “The IRS should be as wor
ried about ‘homosexual attitudes’ as about ‘het
erosexual attitudes’ — namely not at all.”
Lambda Managing Attorney Ruth Harlow
said, “The IRS also needs to guarantee an ap
plication process free of discriminatory requests
for information. This powerful federal agency
is supposed to enforce the tax code, not police
people’s attitudes or sexual orientation. The IRS
had better refocus on its proper role and en-
. sure that it gives fair treatment to all applicants,
including lesbian and gay organizations.”
She noted, “President Clinton himself has
called for strengthening America’s communi
ties by boosting volunteer efforts and counter
ing anti-gay hate crimes, exaedy what GLASS
aims to do. This worthwhile community safety
net should not be subjected to offensive scru
tiny by the federal government.”
GLASS was formed to meet the needs of
young people facing anti-gay bigotry and abuse
by providing support groups, educational ma
terials and counseling referrals. It is staffed en
tirely by volunteers and has served about 120
youth between the ages of 15 and 21 since it
started in 1994.
In Adanta, Jane Morrison, Managing Attor
ney for Lambda’s new Southern Regional Of
fice, said, “The IRS
“The IRS response
is shockingly
discriminatory.”
* .t—
Police take Glaxo demonstrator into custody
seems to be hindering
development of impor
tant, grassroots, lesbian
and gay organizations
that parents as well as
young gay people des-
perately need. Even as
support for lesbians and
gay people grows in this part of the country,
there still is great need for organizations like
GLASS.”
Morrison added, “One North Carolina
mother has driven her son 40 miles to this
group, and even a social services agency in
Greensboro’s neighboring Rockingham County
has called on GLASS for help.”
Noting that the IRS inexplicably bumped
the GLASS application from a local Adanta
office to its national headquarters in Washing
ton, DC, Buckel said the letter received by
GLASS echoes anti-gay IRS responses from as
early as the 1970s and suggests that anti-gay
zealotry persists in the agency.
“Lambda is concerned that the agency rou
tinely discriminates against the growing num
ber of lesbian and gay youth groups through
out the country,” Buckel said. T
have failed the exttemely promising new three-
drug combination therapy, there is a significant
number of people who are desperate to find a
powerful alternative — 1592 offers that hope.
Activists have challenged Glaxo’s business
practices from the earliest days of the epidemic,
when it introduced what would become the
most-prescribed and best-known AIDS drug on
the market: AZT.
According to Bill Bahlman of ACT UP, the
forthcoming market losses for AZT and the
similar 3TC are causing Glaxo to drag its feet.
“Glaxo Wellcome’s slow development of 1592
is due to the pharmaceutical giant’s desire to
squeeze the very last profit dollars out of its
two cash cows....”
Activists make a compelling case that profit-
margins, not patient welfare, could be direct
ing Glaxo’s marketing scheme with relation to
its two best-selling AIDS pharmaceuticals. Al
ready proven stronger than either AZT or 3TC,
1592 will replace both. And thus for, the com
pany has reaped an astonishing $2.54 billion
in sales of AZT alone, says ACT UP/New York
spokesman John Riley. And the money keeps
rolling in, he charges. “Even though sales of
AZT and 3TC skyrocketed in 1996, Glaxo
slapped a 3 percent price increase on these over
priced drugs last fall. They now retail for nearly
$3,800 and $3,100 per year respectively.”
As part of their takeover demands, activists
called on Glaxo to drastically lower prices of
AZT and 3TC immediately. They also re
quested the upcoming expanded access program
for 1592 be enlarged to include all people who
need the drug, a number esti
mated to be around 10,000 just
in the US.
ACT UP is not the only body
pressuring Glaxo over its han-
dhng of 1592, though. The com
pany is becoming a target for
many AIDS organizations
worldwide. The Canadian direct
action group AIDS Action
NOW demonstrated June 19 at
Glaxo’s new plant in Toronto, de
manding an eidarged access pro-
■y gram. The San Francisco board
^ of supervisors is slated to vote on
^ a resolution calling on the com-
^ pany to provide 1592 for all San
^ Franciscans with AIDS who need
it. Additionally, a growing num-
% ber of AIDS organizations are
u calling for a boycott, with groups
S as far away as Israel and Argen-
£ tina signing on. Even the new
White House AIDS czar Sandy
Thurman is attempting to nego
tiate with Glaxo for larger supplies of 1592.
Despite these strong-arm tactics, so far Glaxo
has given no indication that it will alter its pric
ing or 1592 access policies. But, as public pres
sure continues to grow, there is a likelihood that
changes will occur. As one AIDS activist ob
served, “If we continue to show people that
these drug companies are making billions off
of our illnesses without any true regard for our
health, public sentiment will turn against them.
Afterall, who would want to do business with a
company that got sinfully rich by rationing its
life-sustaining ‘product’ among the dying? The
answer is ‘nobody.’ So we’re going to make sure
the word gets out.” T
CPA selects leaders for first year
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—Charlotte Pride Alliance
(CPA), the grassroots, political organization
formed in response to the anti-gay measures
enacted April 1 by Mecklenburg County Com
missioners, recently announced the election of
chairpersons for its five standing committees,
while three additional members were tapped
to serve as coordinators.
CPA is a membership organization open to
anyone who wants to work toward equality for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Although everyone is encouraged to participate
in CPA, only members may vote. Individuals
can become members by completing a mem
bership form and serving the organization in
some capacity (committee member, donor, vol
unteer, etc.).
According to CPA’s bylaws, “Each commit
tee shall select annually from its membership
one or two individuals to serve as
chairperson(s). 1) This/these individual(s) agree
to serve a one-year term; 2) there shall be no
limit to the number of terms an individual(s)
may serve as chairperson(s); 3) committees shall
select the chairperson(s) prior to Charlotte Pride
Alliance’s annual meeting to be held on or about
April 1st; 4) the chairperson (s) will be recog
nized at the annual meeting; 5) it is the respon
sibility of committee chairperson(s) to insure
that minutes of committee meetings are kept
and delivered to the Education/Research com-
See LEADERS on page 22