Nationalllnternational News

AIDS Discrimination Trial

Toledo, OH — The American Civil
Liberties Union is arguing that a hospital

and doctor in Fremont, Ohio violated the

Americans with Disabilities Act and other
laws when treatment was refused to a man
with AIDS. The claim is believed to be the
first such complaint since enactment of the
federal statute in 1990. Fred Chaaron
suffered a severe allergic reaction to
medicine while driving through Ohio on a
trip back to Maine in 1992. He was rushed
to the emergency room at Memorial
Hospital in Fremont. The emergency room
staff tried to admit him to the hospital, but
the senior doctor on duty, Dr. Charles
Hull, learned of Charon's AIDS diagnosis
and refused to admit him to the hospital,
stating that "once you get an AIDS patient
in the hospital, you will never get him
out." Instead, Mr. Charon was sent a long
distance by ambulance to another hospital.
The Americans with Disabilities Act was
designed in part to address problems of
health care providers refusing to treat those
infected or believed infected with HIV.
The court issued a 22 page ruling in which
it found that the ADA applies to both Dr.
Hull and the hospital and ordering the case
to go to trial before a jury. (ACLU)

Cammermeyer
Ordered Remstated

Washington, DC - On June 1, U.S. District
Judge Thomas Zilly ordered the
reinstatement of Margarethe
Cammermeyer, a highly decorated colonel
in the Washington State National Guard
who was dismissed for acknowledging that
she is a lesbian. In the ruling Judge Zilly
said that military experts "conceded that
their justifications for the policy are based
on heterosexual members‘ fear and dislike
of homosexuals. Mere negative attitudes,
or fear, are constitutionally impermissible
bases for discriminatory governmental
policies." The Pentagon and the Justice
Department had no immediate comment
on whether they would appeal Judge Tilly's
ruling, though it seems likely given past
actions. (AOL, The New York Times)

Lesbian and Gay Scouts

Washington, DC — When Surgeon
General Joycelyn Elders called for the Girl

Scouts and Boy Scouts of America to
open their ranks to gays and lesbians, the
Girl Scouts promptly responded with

their long time policy against
discrimination based on sexual
orientation. Sandra Gillis, Executive

Director of PFLAG , the country's largest
family organization providing support,
education and advocacy, applauded the
Girl Scouts policy while continuing her
organizations‘ appeal to the BSA to open
their ranks to gays. Citing a 1992 policy
statement by PFLAG's Board of Directors,
Gillis called the BSA's policy “injurious
and in violation of the traditional Boy
Scout values of honesty, friendliness,
kindness, and fair play. PFLAG
encourages all of its members who are or
have been members of BSA to write to the
local, regional, and national offices of the
Boy Scouts of America, requesting that
BSA eliminate its discriminatory policy.

1 We further encourage PFLAG members

to withhold contributions to BSA until
such time as it changes its position.”
(AOL)

New Y_ork Bars
Recruiters

Albany, NY — New York's highest court
ruled last month that the military has no
special rights to recruit in a public school
system which bars employers who
discriminate based on sexual orientation.
This is the first time a state's highest court
has ruled on the issue. The decision was the
result of a suit brought by a parent of a
Rochester public school student against the
Rochester school board. The court noted that
any employer who violates the school's
non—discrimination policy is also barred
from recruiting. (The Washington Blade)

Gay Consumer Survey

Westport, CT — The annual_.Yankelovich
Monitor survey, which has tracked
consumer values and attitudes since 1971
included a question about sexual identity
for the first time, providing the first
nationally representative and projectable
portrait of lesbians and gay men as
consumers. Virtually all previous surveys
have been conducted by or for interested
parties like lesbian and gay publications
which used self—selected samples. This is
the first time a marketing survey has used

July/August 1994

a sample already set up to reflect the
general population.

Almost 6 percent of the respondents to the
1993 Yankelovich Monitor survey
described themselves as gay/
homosexual/lesbian. Some of the
demographic data differs from widely held
assumptions about the affluence of gay
households. Among gay men, the mean
household income was $37,400 compared
to $39,300 among straight men. For
lesbians it was $34,800 compared with
$34,400 for straight women. differences
between respondents who said they were
gay and those who did not included the
following. Gays and lesbians were twice as
likely to have attended graduate school,
are self-employed at rate almost two-thirds
higher than straight people, are highly
concentrated in the top 25 metropolitan
areas, and are more accommodating to
technology. Gays and lesbians also report
more stress in their lives, 98%, compared
to 89% of straight people. Watts Wacker,
managing partner of Yankelovich said the
company wanted to explore the consumer
behavior of gays and lesbians because "this
is a very viable market that many clients
have expressed an interest in knowing
more about." (The New York Times) V

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