n October 1985 . page 3

frompage2
the Health Department A.l.D.S. Hotline
at 1-800-882-AIDS.

Someone considering taking the test
should prepare themselves emotionally
for it. Why are you considering it?
How will you react to a negative or a
positive test result? How important is
it for you to know?

For some, the emotional price of
not knowing, the uncertainty, is higher
than finding out one may be positive.
For others, that information may be so
devastating that taking the test would
be a major mistake. What anyone
testing positive will face, however, is
not a clear result, but more uncertainty.

NOW President

by Charlotte Dennett

When NOW President Ellie Smeal
speaks on the ERA, she goes straight to
the bottom line of women's oppression.
In the once-lost tradition of Susan B.
Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and
Alice Paul, she identifies that bottom
line as money.

Addressing NOW’s annual state
conference in Burlington Sept. 13,
Smeal told women assembled at the
University of Vermont that “the ERA
is not just a matter of simple justice.
Real needs are at_s_ta_ke. But our
opposition is using fear, distortion and
scare tactics to cover up economic
need."

Smeal identified employers of
women and insurance companies as key
players against passage of the ERA.
While campaigning for the federal ERA
in the Midwest, she explained, "we kept

Even a negative test result can
bring uncertainty and unwanted
changes. Perhaps most dangerously, it
can lead one to the mistaken conclusion
that there is licence to participate in
unsafe sexual activities again. That,
obviously, should not be the case:
everyone in a high risk group will
continue to need to protect themselves
and their partners by practicing risk
reduction techniques until the A.I.D.S.
crisis has ended.

If you are considering the test,
take a few simple steps to prepare
yourself for it. Find out everything
you can about it beforehand, making
sure your decision is informed and
well-thought out. Schedule getting your
results at a time when you will be in a

speaks on ERA

asking why certain legislators refused
to vote "yes" when the polls showed.
that the vast majority of Americans
were for the ERA. They told us it was
about farmers. They told us, ‘This is an
agricultural state.‘ They said the Farm
Bureau was against us.‘

But Smeal discovered that the
Farm Bureau had many more members
in Cook County (Chicago) than in
down-state Illinois where the farmers
were. Why? Because the Farm Bureau
represents some 40 insurance companies.
And insurance companies, besides being
among the largest employers of women,
profit from overcharging women in
health and disability, life and auto
insurance.

Smeal told her audience that
insurance companies, with the help of
Senator Jesse Helms, are currently
trying to bail out of health insurance
coverage for AIDS victims because they

Along with Gov. Kunin. Burlington Mayor Bernard Sanders
(pictured) spoke at this past summer: Lesbian/Gay Pride Rally.

position to process them, to take time
out to deal with the information , not
at a time when lots of other things are
going on emotionally in your life. Tell
a small group of trusted friends that
you are taking the test, and make sure
they are available to help you deal
with results. Think ahead about who
(friends, lovers, tricks) you may want
to tell about the results, and then stick
to just telling that list -- it is too easy
to blurt the information out in an
emotional moment and then regret your
choice of confidantes.

The decision to test or not must be
an informed and rational one,
otherwise, the test may be more
devastating emotionally then medically.

know the disease is spreading and will
ultimately cost them billions of dollars.
Pointing to the Right's pamphlet
purporting to show the 'Gay/AlDS/
ERA Connection,‘ she said, ‘It's so
cruel that this deadly disease is being
used as a scare tactic against us.‘

Of course, she noted wryly, ‘if
women were transmitting it: they'd
have us in the closet.‘ And if the
opposition's literature were to point out
that the virus was spread by semen
rather than the vaguely worded ‘bodily
fluids‘ or "sexual transmission," then
"women might start thinking what safe
sex is!"

Turning serious, Smeal concluded.

"We're not prime victims yet, but AIDS‘

will ultimately affect all of us because
a virus does not discriminate. Right
now it's being used to deny women a
chance at economic equality by those
who are profiting off us and trying to
keep us down."

The Right's argument that the ERA
will destroy the family likewise angers
Smeal, since the ERA has been shown
to have its strongest impact on family
law and the issues of divorce, custody,
and marital property.

"We are trying
family with money, not
cards," she said.

to shore up the
Hallmark

continued page 4

VIOLENCE AND THE MILITARY:
Burlington Area Women Say ''I don't
Buy I”

REDIRECTION, the media project
of Burlington Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
takes to the airwaves. WILPF has
produced a series of five radio spots
featuring local women talking about the
impact of militarism and military
spending on their lives. These
60-second spots will be aired on four
local radio stations (WQCR, WVMT,
WJOY, WDOT) for two weeks in
October (October 5-8; October 14-17). In
conjunction with the radio series,
WILPF has produced an informational
brochure highlighting the ‘I DON'T
BUY IT‘ theme. Brochures will be
distributed throughout Chittenden
County. Watch for them and tune in
your radio.