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GAY LOBBY
More than 800 lesbians and gay
men, and our supporters, met with
members of Congress during two days
of lobbying activity which preceded
the National March on Washington
for Lesbian and Gay Rights. On
October 8th and 9th, 90 Senators
and over 200 Representatives were
lobbied by their constituents on
the demands of the March.
Organizers have declared the
event a huge success. "We achieved
just what we set out to accomp
lish," explained NGLTF Lobbyist
Peri Jude. "We articulated the
demands of the March to members of
Congress, we pushed key pieces of
federal legislation, we built
support for other bills, and we
secured commitments for votes on
legislation that is rapidly moving
through Congress.
The National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force (NGLTF) prepared
detailed briefing papers, key
legslative summaries and the voting
records of all members of Congress
on legislative measures of interest
to the gay/lesbian community.
Mobilization Against AIDS (MAA), a
San Francisco-based organization,
was actively involved in coord
inating appointments by constit
uents across the country.
Organizers now face the task of
sifting through evaluation and
follow-up documents obtained from
constituents. "We plan to follow
up," said Jude. "We want to build
upon this important effort to make
sure that promises come true and
that the educational process
continues."
SAW.
In the last issue of Lambda, the
article "Safe Sex: A Message From
the Heart" contained a few points
which needed further explanation or
correction. Scott Hustead and
Kathy Kerr of the State Division of
Health Services were generous
enough to provide us with the
following information:
We would like to remind those
interested in taking the HIV anti
body test that it is available
through all local health depart
ments in North Carolina". So,
students with transportation may go
to any local health department for
free and anonymous testing.
Here are some additional points
or clarifications regarding test
ing. At the health department, any
positive blood specimen is tested
two more times. If either of these
tests register positive, the blood
13
specimen undergoes a confirmatory
Western Blot test. Only if this
final test is positive is the
specimen considered positive,.
The vast majority of people
develop antibodies to HIV within
eight to twelve weeks after infec
tion. A few may take as long as
eight months to develop anti
bodies. A recent study indicates
there may be rare instances in
which someone could take a year or
longer to develop antibodies. As
you state in your article, a
negative test should never be taken
as a license to engage in unsafe
sexual practices.
The names of individuals with
HIV antibody positive test results
are not reported to the state.
Several states have made HIV
infection a reportable condition,*
but not North Carolina. The names
of only those who have received a,
diagnosis of AIDS are reported to
the Division of Health Services.
Testing in and of itself
provides no control over the AIDS
epidemic. It is appropriate
counseling and encouraging indiv
iduals to reduce their risks of
acquiring or passing on the
infection that slows the spread of
this disease. Everyone, whether
positive or negative, whether they
know their antibody status or not,
needs to be taking precautions to
protect themselves and others.
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