Gay music icons Looking back over five decades page 25 On stage Actor's Theatre brings back ‘Hedwig’ page 25 Words Which ones are offensive? page 13 Noted. Notable . Noteworthy. LGBT News & Views Specia.1 Section: Mlusic Volume 22 . Number 06 www.q-notes.com July 28.2007 Candidates tackle gay issues in forum on LOGO Melissa Etheridge and Joe Solmonese to setye as co-panelists by Brad Luna . LOS ANGELES — Gay-targeted cable network LOGO and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) have announced they will co-present an historic televised forum on issues of importance to the LGBT community with the leading 2008 Democratic presidential candidates. Among those expected to attend are Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson. The forum will take place Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET in Los Angeles before a-studio audience. It will be broadcast live, without commerci^ interruption, exclusively on LOGO’S 24/7 cable television channel, as well as through live streaming video at www.logoonhne.com. LOGO is a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks and HRCF is the educational arm of the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. . This event, which marks the first time in history the major presidential candidates will address a live LGBT television audi ence, is part of MTV Networks’ award-winning pro-social efforts and dedication to engaging its audiences on the issues that are most important and relevant to them. The event also continues HRCF’s efforts to educate and bring awareness to issues of equality and fairness that continue to affect the lives of LGBT Americans. The candidates will appear sequentially and engage in con versation with co-panehsts Mehssa Etheridge, performer and advocate, and Joe Solmonese, HRCF president. The panehsts plan to cover a range of issues including relation ship recognition, marriage equality, work place fairness, the mihtary, hate crimes, HIV/AIDS and other important issues. “We’re honored to give the presidential candidates an historic opportunity to share their views directly with tihe LGBT audi ence,” said Brian Graden, president. Entertainment, MTV Networks Music Group, and president, LOGO. “This forum continues MTV Networks’ tradition of engaging vital niche audiences with voting and the electoral process.” “In the 2008 presi-' dential election, issues of concern to the LGBT community have already been at the forefront of the national conversation,” said Solmonese. “From the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ to the recent. signing of a civil unions bill in New Hampshire, there is no doubt that voters will demand ' answers to important questions affecting our community” The forum will include significant online components at www.logoonline.com and www.hrc.org, including online ques tion submission. The LGBT vote is considered a decisive elec toral force and according to exit poll data make up approxi mately four percent of the voting population. Los Angeles was chosen as the site for the event because of the state’s early pri mary election, on Feb. 5,2008. The event will take place at Hillary Clinton (I), Christopher Dodd (2), John Edwards (3), Mike Gravel (4), Dennis Kucinich (5), Barack Obama (6) and Bill Richardson (7) will appear on LOGO in a forum focusing on gay issues. Studio City, Calif., at HD Vision Studios. This event represents the first live event airing on LOGO. > Alabama RY park bars people with HIV Owner bans two-year-old with HIV from pool and other areas by Paul Cates and Allison Neal MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently sent a letter to the owner of the Wales West RV park in Silverhill, Ala., demanding that it stop discriminating against people with HIV by barring them from using the swim ming pool, showers and other common areas of the park without a letter from a doctor. “This kind of ignorance and preju dice is unacceptable at this point in the HIV epidemic,” said Olivia Turner, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. “After more than two decades of studying the disease, we know that you can’t catch HIV by swimming next to someone with the disease or using a public shower.” According to media reports, Dick and Silvia Glover’s two-year-old foster son Caleb was banned from the pool and other com mon areas of the RV park by its owner Ken Zadnichek after Silvia mentioned to a desk clerk that the boy had HIV. Although Caleb had been looking forward to taking a ride on the park’s two train rides, the couple had no choice but to leave the park. “Mr. Zadnichek should be ashamed of himself for picking on a defenseless two-, year-old,” said Christine Sun, a staff attor ney with the ACLU’s AIDS Project. “Mr. Zadnichek claims that he was merely trying to protect other campers, but he had noth ing to protect other campers against. Ignorance about the disease is no excuse for prejudice.” Despite the fact that Dick and Silvia Glover’s two-year- jjjg o\d foster son Caleb w« liking forward to the train ^^LU explains nde, the owners of Wales West RV park banned the , child from use of the facility because he is HIV positive. discrimination against people with HIV is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and demands that the park owner send written assurances to the ACLU that the park will no longer discriminate against people with HIV. The letter also notes that the ADA pro-. hibits businesses from imposing eligibility requirements, such as requiring a doctor’s note, that screen out people with disabili ties. The letter quotes information from the Alabama Department of Public Health making it clear that,“[y]ou do not get HIV from an HIV-infected person by working together, playing sports, shaking hands, hugging, closed-mouth kissing, sharing drinking glasses, eating utensils or towels, using the same wash water or toilet, swimming in the same pool, or coming in contact with their sneezes, coughs, tears or sweat.” > GOP showing support for gays page 20 Major strides with Dems at helm page 21 The Big Screen:‘Haifspray’ page 33

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