Ment of Lesbians and Gay . Men!
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~-'~ ':':' :'.:!:::" ':.~,::.....:,~ :-:,, :•• ';~" ' ::'!-':,'~: ::~~~~":'~'_\~""'~~'::X~'Q~:'.:.":--~ " "''''>~< "_' .~ .. .... Volume 9, Number 1 September 1990 ACT UP Misbehaves by Jeff Muir On the morning of Saturday, the AIDS crisis would not be possible and all other victims of anti- gay stings treatment to people with AIDS/HN August 4, a handbill caught my eye as without the institutional racism and be dropped," a stop to "police harass infection," and the development of a I made my way across the Diag. It was homophobia in which the crisis is ment against youth, lesbians and gay 'Center for Excellence' for AIDS re bright canary yellow, and on the top of rooted. We stand committed to the men, and people of color," the aboli search at U-M." it were the words" ACf UP!". fight against racism and anti-lesbian/ tion of "'sodomy,' 'gross indecency' For a group that incessantly harps I immediately became interested, gay bigotry in all forms." and all other anti-lesbian/ gay laws." about AIDS not being a gay disease, because ever since I first heard of the The handbill then listed several But that was not all. The group also the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ACT-UP ('demands," although it did "demanded" the distribution of free certainly advocates many "gay" is (ACT-UP), I have found their actions sues. Yet, more demands .followed, startling. The New York chapter inter many of which had little or nothing to rupted a mass conducted by Cardinal ACT UP! do with AIDS. O'Connor, chaining themselves to The final demands were for the pews, shouting obscenities, and A WAVE OF POLICE I : 'RESTS OF GAY MEN IS SWEEPING MICHIGAN. abolition of the "anti-youth 'age of throwing condoms at churchgoers and consent law,'" public funding of church officials. During the recent In In Holland. Michigan. police BIT8St8d 5 gay men L n a pnvat. residence for sodomy law vioIaIionI. I.aIt month in Clarkston. "community centers for and for lesbi ternational AIDS Conference in San 6 ilJlI\81 were cI1arged v«th 'disolderty conduct" aftt! • 'I8ing SOlicited by poliCe CItCOyI in a highwly rest stop. In Adrian. ans and gay men under worker / com poIict 'atraslld 16 gay men at the~ homes or places of WOt:. , for 'indecency oetwttn malts' aft8r VIdeotaping a local Francisco, ACT-UP shouted down munity control," "free abortion and cruising spot for three months. Othw busts have been report8l.. i These arrests fit into a pattern of regular police Health and Human Services Secretary harTassmtnl of young people. lesbials and gay men and people of color.' This wave of polic. 8IIaCks must stop: birth control on demand to all without Louis Sullivan, again throwing con requiring parental consent or notifica doms and paper wads. tion," the implementation of "wide It struck me as odd that a group Stop Police Haras~~ment of spread, non-moralistic safer sex edu seeking government and public cation throughout the Ann Arbor / money for its various "demands" Ypsilanti area and at every grade level would blatantly offend so many Lesbians and Gay . Men! in the schools" which "must include people who might otherwise be sym the distribution of free condoms and pathetic to its cause. It also struck me as When straight peoo!e. seeKing a little privacy to mal<e love. resort to a OatlIed car or SectUd80 bit of wood In .......cpar1< . explicit information on how to use they may be hassled by tne oolice and told to move on. When lesl'Oans and QaY men 00 the same. tney are SUlliect to odd that a group supposedly practic getting arrested. beaten. oelng expos80 as "queer" to tne ouOlic. lOSing 1118" lObs. ar.o aCCUS80 of being cmid l!1o:es;ers. them and a positive treatment of les ing civil disobedience would prevent This is bigotry against gay peooIe! bian/ gay sexuality" to "be carried out others from speaking publicly about under the control of the communities things that ACT-UP doesn't agree ACi iJ:' ui"~c:~~-:::: ~:!t '''0 m l.~ ~'r~us inadeQuacy of the 'response" to the AIDS crisis would no! be poSSIble WIthout most affected." with, as was the case with both Cardi the institutional racism and homoM()!'13 in which th6 CriSIS is rooted. We stanO commlne~ ~ .,e figill <o;jioii"";' : ~C::"'!1 ~~ These demands 'disturbed me for nal O'Connor and Sec. Sullivan. anti-lesbiarvgay bigOtry in all its forms. several reasons. First, ACT-UP's wish The yellow handbill, which was Please See Page 13 the product of ACT-UP's Ann Arbor chapter, did nothing to change my Demonstrate! attitude. It stated that a "wave of police arrests is sweeping Michigan," and Rally at the police station/city hall told the heart- wrenching story of 5 gay men in Holland, 6 gay men in Corner of Fifth and Huron Clarkston, and 16 gay men in Adrian who had allegedly been arrested in Monday, August 6 at 6:45pm police sting operations. It went on to say that these arrests "fit into a pattern One of the ACT-UP handbills that was distributed of regular police harassment of young people, lesbian and gay ' men and not say from-whom it was "demand sterile needles, the availability of free people of color." ing" them. These included "an imme and anonymous AIDS testing, the con The handbill also stated that diate end to police/U- M security struction of "an AIDS treatment center RJ.O'ROuike " ACT-UP understands that the mur sting operations," that, "the charges at U-M hospital under worker/client boob teViewtd 1>i· 17 derous inadequacy of the 'response' to against the Adrian 16, theClarkston6, control," which would offer "free AJDS ,~~'>IJ~ '!m I ~ l2I:fk "" * . ' ~"~~~~"""-"".. ~ ......" .... "" , ~.,,, ,,,,,",, ,,,, .. ,., ,,., ! The Michigan Review, September 1990, p. 2 THE Serpent's Tooth MICHIGAN Crayola has eliminated the color marriage." Finally, some research objecting to her views on affirmative REVIEW maize from its higflly-acdaimed 64- useful to college students. action, bilingual education, and for color crayon pack, making it impos mer position in the Reagan admini sible for U-M students to color their stration, the president of the university The Cam pus Affairs school's maize and blue logo on note Scholars at the State University of New revoked her invitation, citing the im books and folders. A spOkesman at York at Albany have determined that portance of "cultural pluralism." Mrs. Journal of the Binney & Smith, the manufacturer of male college freshmen have nearly 8 Chavez is a Hispanic woman. University of Michigan Crayolas, insensitively suggested sexual fantasies per day, as opposed to goldenrod as a replacement. Boycott, 4.5 for the females, reports Fortune. As anyone? suming this sample can be extended to The Latin American Solidarity Editor-in-Chief include all undergraduates, the U-M's Committee (LASC) is one of several John J. Miller 20,374 male and 16,100 female students groups that plans on protesting every The U-M's Correlates of War Project, concei ve a total of 235,442 sexual fanta week the U.S. military presence in Publisher always on the cutting edge of research, sies per day. In a related study, experts Saudi Arabia, reports the Ann Arbor Carey Brian Meadors recently unsheathed this startling tid have detemlined the average Ameri Metro Times. What they say about stu bit of data, according to a News and In can has one breast and one testicle. dents' lack of geography skills must be Executive Editors formation Services press release: true. Adam DeVore "Even the most war-prone nations ... Brian Jendryka will not fight without sufficient weap According to the Dartmouth Review, a onry." Oh, so is that why Kuwait student at Dartmouth College "can Here at the Review, we've always read Assistant Editors didn't invade Iraq? Please, use more of write a paper on the joys of sodomy, so with glee the MIM Notes, "The Official Rahul Banta, Gifton Gault, Bob our tuition dollars to find out. long as one accurately footnotes the Newsletter of the Maoist International Juneja, Joseph Klein, Mark Tulkki sources." Movement." The August edition, however, surpassed all of our expecta French Correspondent Speaking of war and U-M press re tions, as it included a letter from "Lo Karen Brinkman leases, here's the lead of a News and Ann Arbor' s ACT-UP chapter recently tus Blossom," stating "Marriage is a Information Services story on the Per demanded, among other things, that system of slavery," reviews of movies Production Manager sian Gulf crisis: "Even the pets got free the U-M make available free condoms released in 1979 and 1988, and an ad for Ruth Armstrong health care in oil-rich Kuwait. The and "explicit" instructions concern a book entitled "Introduction to defend Iraqi invasion may change all that, ac ing their use. This, in order to combat ing Joseph Stalin." On the Stupid Com Personnel Manager cording to a U-M Mideast specialist." AIDS. Yet couldn't the promotion of munist Rhetoric scale, MIM Notes earns Vince Wilk free condoms without emphasizing an 8, which is significantly higher than the risk of certain behavior inadver Agenda's 6. Editor Emeritus While working on his recently pub tently encourage the spread of the dis Marc Selinger lished book, Dating, Mating, and Mar ease? riage, U-M sociology Prof. Martin K. Best quote of the summer: ''You're the Staff Whyte discovered "The length of the ones who are the terrorists! You all suck Mike Beidler, Thomas Binkow, dating experience, the number of dat Linda Chavez was scheduled to de on Willie Horton's sexual organ while David Boettger, Michael ing partners, the length of the relation liver the University of North being sodomized by Oliver North!" Bonanno, Jim Borninski, Brian ship with the eventual first husband Colorado's commencement address Said by an anonymous individual as Cook, Peter Daugavietis, Vincent and the degree of sexual intimacy wiU1 last May, according to the Washington part of an "intellectuals" conversation DeSantis, Athena Foley, Brian that husband (have no) significimt in Post's Jonathan Yardley.