Out in the Mountains

OITM Roundup:

State, National and World News Briefs

compiled by Kip M. Roberson

The Guilt comes to
St. Mike's

COLCHESTER -- The NAMES
Project Quilt is coming to St.
Michael's College this fall.
Opening ceremonies will be on
November 29, 1995, at the Tarrant
Sports Center. Approximately two
hundred quilts of eight panels each
(representing 1600 people ‘ who
have died of AIDS) will be on
display from November 30th
through December 2nd.

Anyone who wants to request a
specific panel to be included in the
display should write to Don Duell
at 26 Berkeley Street, South
Burlington, VT 05403. Please let
him know the name(s) of the
person(s) memorialized, and he
will request them for the
November display. Although he
will try his best in obtaining the
asked-for panels, some may be
unavailable since parts of the Quilt
are being shown all around the
country. However, the sooner you
can write to him with the names,
the more likely that the panels can
be included in the St. Michael's
display. Don Duell also has
information on making panel(s) for
the display of the Quilt. (Vermont
CARES Voice)

Vermont AIDS
Update - 1994 in
Review

BURLINGTON -- The Center for
Disease Control received a total of
80,691 AIDS case reports from
state, local, and territorial health
departments in 1994, accounting

‘for one fifth of all U.S. AIDS

cases reported since 1981. The
1994 total is lower than the 1993
year-end total of 106,618 cases,
but larger than the 1992 total of
47,572. This decrease in the
number of reported cases was
expected following the expansion
of the AIDS surveillance definition
on January 1, 1993. When this new
definition went into place, a large
number of AIDS cases were
reported. Persons who had not
previously been diagnosed with
AIDS now met the new definition
and received an AIDS diagnosis.

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After this initial, one-time increase, the number of reported cases has been

» relatively stable.

In Vermont, reported cases show similar patterns to the national numbers. A
total of 35 Vennont AIDS cases were reported in 1994, a figure lower than
the 74 cases reported in 1993, but higher than the 26 cases reported in 1992.
The annual rate per 100,000 for the state of Vermont fell from 12.7 in 1993
to 6.5 in 1994.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that HIV infection is
now the leading cause of death among people 25 to 44 years old, surpassing
accidents as the number one cause of death.

' Over 270,000 or 61% of the cumulative total of U.S. AIDS cases have died.

It is estimated that someone in the U.S. dies of AIDS once every 3 minutes.
(VT Dept. of Health)

Reading material
may cost teacher her job in NH

NEW IPSWICH, NH -- Penny Culliton's desire to teach her students
tolerance for homosexuals and the gay lifestyle may have jeopardized her
job. The Mascenic Regional High School teacher who distributed books
with homosexual characters said that Superintendent Francine Fullam sent
her a letter saying she intended to recommend the school board dismiss her.

Culliton distributed Maurice by E.M. Forster, The Drowning of Stephen
Jones by Bette Green, and The Education of Harriet Hatfield by May
Sarton. The books, which featured gay or lesbian characters, were not
required reading. Principal Dana McKenney ordered the books removed
from Culliton's classes, saying the books had not been approved. .

Several students and parents have called the move censorship and asked the
school board about the selection process and the grant that was used to buy
the books. Culliton told The Telegraph of Nashua she has heard from
several civil rights groups and other groups against censorship. "People in
general have been very supportive," she said. Superintendent Fullam would
not return telephone calls to the Associated Press.

Culliton cannot be dismissed without a school board hearing because she
has been at Mascenic for five years. The hearing date has not yet been
scheduled, Board Chairman Steve Lizotte said. "I can't really say a whole
lot," Lizotte said. "We don't have all the information yet, so we can't discuss
it. We haven't had any real discussion about it." Culliton said she did not
know if the hearing would be public.

She said Maurice was to be used in her 12th grade British literature and
critical writing class. The Education of Harriet Hatfield was to be used in
her I 1th grade American literature and interpretive writing class. The
Drowning of Stephen Jones was to be used in her 10th grade modern world
literature course.

Lizotte said the situation was "getting convoluted by people accusing other
people of being against this or that . . . We are responsible to the people
who elect us, not necessarily those who are the loudest. We have to follow
the direction the people want us to follow, and we have to do it legally."
Culliton said she would be meeting with the teachers‘ association lawyer. "It
is a labor contract case," she said. (Boston Globe)

Rhode Island 9th state to approve civil
rights legislation

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island state senate voted by a margin of
26-21 in favor of a bill protecting individuals against discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, credit and public
accommodations. The bill had already passed in the Rhode Island house.
The law became effective immediately.

This was the 11th year that some form of sexual orientation civil rights
legislation had come before the Rhode Island general assembly. Mary
Forgue, president of Rhode Island Pride at Work, a
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered labor organization called the bill, "an
advancement for all working people regardless of sexual orientation." The
new law defines sexual orientation as, "having an orientation toward
heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality." An amendment which
would have excluded the Boy Scouts of America from the law was defeated
by a vote of 20-19. (Rhode Island Pride at Work)

FBI spies on AIDS activists

NEW YORK -- The FBI is spying on AIDS activists and gay rights groups,
apparently out of fear they might resort to violence or throw infected blood
during demonstrations, according to FBI documents and a civil rights
group. The documents, made public under the Freedom of Information Act,
indicate that informants gave the FBI information and that the bureau has
had its own people at some meetings. The documents were obtained by the
Center for Constitutional Rights, based in New York City.

The records involve surveillance of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power,
or ACT UP, in 1990 and 1991. The FBI refused to release 177 pages of the
199-page file. The Justice Department told the center in releasing the file

that the FBI also has files on the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the Coalition for
Lesbian and Gay Rights and Senior Action in a Gay Environment, said
Michael E. Deutsch, legal director for the constitutional rights group. The
FBI said it had no comment on its surveillance practices.

ACT UP said that it announces at the start of every meeting that
undercover officers probably are present. "It's just a given they're there,
and it's a waste of their time," said Ann Northrop, an AIDS educator and a
spokeswoman for ACT UP. "I think the Oklahoma bombing proves that
they're looking in the wrong place for trouble." (Burlington Free Press)

He can always say it stands for
"Superman"

SAN FRANCISCO -- The self-proclaimed world's leading authority on
penile surgery is having a hard time of it himself these days. A doctor in
California, who has performed over 4,000 penis enlargement operations, is
facing lawsuits from at least six San Francisco men who claim the
procedure left their organs numb, infected and deformed, according to an
article in the San Francisco Chronicle. There have been similar lawsuits
filed in Los Angeles against the same doctor.

Once complaint was filed against Dr. Melvyn Rosenstein of Culver City
by a man because the skin on his penis suffered a "spontaneous rupture"
after the shaft was overinflated with fat. Another man claims that his penis
became seriously infected two weeks after the operation. He claims the»
incision made during the operation leaked, causing a "large blister" to
fonn. The blister infiicted "intense pain." As a result, the complainant says
he can no longer "receive sexual  pleasure."

In other lawsuits filed against Rosenstein, men contend that the surgery did
not make their penises longer, but caused the appendages to jut from their
bodies at peculiar angles.

Additionally, one expert says that even in the best cases, the lengthening
process does not work. "The penis comes out a little bit, but that doesn't
change the length during erection," said Dr. Tom Lue, a professor of
urology at the University of California at San Francisco. In the worst cases
though, the results can be disastrous and traumatizing. Lue describes one
patient who came to him in tears. "His penis is now in an 'S' shape," the
doctor said. "It's really very ugly looking  This is a very smart man. He
just made a wrong decision." (Update)

Arresting Language

CHICAGO -- Mike Royko, a long-time Chicago Tribune columnist
(Royko also appears in The Burlington Free Press),'was arrested for drunk
driving and a related traffic accident in December of last year. Recently, a
copy of the police report of that incident was made public. In this report, a
litany of homophobic and racist slurs are attributed to Royko. Among
other things, Royko is quoted as saying "jag off queer" and "fuck you fag"
to the arresting officer. To the ambulance crew, he reportedly said: "What
are you, fags? Why are you wearing those fag gloves . . .?" And while
being processed, Royko is said to have asked: "You fucking loser, what's
your ethnicity, you fag?"

‘Meanwhile, in his newspaper columns, Royko stands up for "traditional

family values" and "Christian ethics." He regularly attacks homosexuality
as that "lifestyle" which is crude and degraded. Of course, police reports
are hardly exemplars of truth or accuracy. But the comments attributed to
Royko are consistent with his own writings. Actually, those comments are
the logical extensions of the more "refined" homophobia found in Royko's
columns. But it should come as no surprise that the "articulate" columnists
and "well mannered" politicians who publicly say they are "simply
opposed" to "special rights for gays" or "quotas for lesbians" are, in fact,
the same people who say "fuck you fag" behind closed doors.

Questions and comments concerning journalistic hypocrisy, heterosexual
excesses, or other issues can be sent to Mike Royko, Columnist, and
Howard Tyner, Editor, Chicago Tribune, 435 North Michigan Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60611, tel. (312) 222-3232, fax (312) 222-3143. (GLADD
Media Watch) V

  

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