VOLUME SEVEN, NO 24--November 24, 1994--December 7, 1994--Issue 168 FREE Give the People Light and they will find their own way. The Wisconsin Light Researchers May Sixty Percent of Religious Right-Aligned Have Found the Way HIV Turns Candidates Are Victorious in Recent Elections (Washington, D.C.)- Nationwide, Into AIDS 60 percent of candidates aligned with or supported by Religious Right political groups were victori- (Philadelphia, PA)- The discov- ous in November 8th's elections. ery of a protein that may trigger the This, according to a report issued on AIDS virus into developing into the November 11 by People For The disease may lead to new treat- fatal American Way, a nonpartisan . or- ments, researchers said. ganization fighting for progressive a leading AIDS expert warned But causes. against giving false hope to people The percentage of wins gives the HIV-positive. who are Religious Right access to all levels I-IIV-infected people can be of government and increases their healthy and live for years before the power dramatically, the report says. virus begins reproducing and attacks "Religious Right leaders provided immune system. the body's the core support for officials taking University of Pennsylvania sci- seats in Congress, state capitols, now say that they have found entists school boards and other local offices in a gene, unique to HIV a protein around the country," said Arthur J. that appears to tell infected carriers, Kropp, President of People For. to start reproducing the cells when "Now it's payback time as more virus. Their research was published politicians than ever owe their jobs November in the Proceed- in early to the organizing and financial sup- of the National Academy of ings port supplied by Religious Right Sciences. groups," Kropp said. "That support understand a new pathway "We came with a price. Anyone familiar uses," said study chief the virus with the movement knows that its David Weiner, an assistant professor leaders will not be content to be and medicine at Penn. of pathology background music. Their expecta- "We now have an opportunity to tion is that the Right-Wing agenda drugs to inhibit it." design will receive top priority in the next Nava Sarver, one of the chief Dr. two years." in the AIDS division of the scientists People For's state-by-state report Institutes of Health cau- National includes nearly 600 candidates for that the study, while interest- tioned national, state and local offices. very preliminary. Usually, ing, is In Wisconsin, Mark Neumann such as Weiner's that are studies who won election to Congress in the in the laboratory do not conducted 1st District is identified in the report hold up when tested in bodies, she as being "tied to the Christian Coa- said. lition.". He received support from questions need to be asked "Many the ultra-right Eagle Forum. these findings," Sarver to confirm Toby Roth (R-8th District) was "I feel it is not right to give said. featured as a "political friend" in a hope to patients who are desperate Christian Coalition promo video. type of therapy." for any In the State Legislature, the report But Dr. Alfred Saah, an associate lists Scott Walker (R-14th Assembly School of Public professor in the District) and Sheryl Albers (R-50 University, Health at Johns Hopkins Assembly District) as being sup- said, "It's a hopeful sign and I think Gay and ported by and supporting the Chris- and if it pans Book Section--Pictured above is the cover of the new pictoral book "Out In America," which presents a portrait of it's worthy of pursuit tian Coalition. out, it will be quite an advance." Lesbian life in America See the Winter book section beginning on page 6 "The Religious Right's election day victories The study centered on one of nine known reflect several years of hard work on their part HIV genes, "vpr." The gene produces a pro- Governor Proclaims AIDS Awareness Week as at the grassroots," said Kropp. tein, known by the capitalized abbreviation "Their invest- ment in organizing has paid off. Now it's time "Vpr," that apparently must be present before 4 for the rest of us to play the game. In other infected cells can produce new, infected viral November 28-December words, the time for complaining is over. Op- particles that in turn infect other cells., Weiner Day ponents of the Right have to organize and take said. December 1 is World AIDS in the tough job of door-to-door cam- Scientists need to know how the virus mul- (Madison)- Wisconsin's Governor Tommy draw public attention to the AIDS pandemic. part while making the case for an alterna- tiplies before they can design drugs to inhibit Thompson has issued a proclamation declaring Locally, World AIDS Day will provide a paigning vision for America." it, Weiner said. November 28 through December 4, AIDS unique opportunity for groups and organiza- tive as the People For report notes, the Re- Weiner's research team found in laboratory Awareness Week in the state and December 1 tions to sponsor activities. Memorial and But, ligious Right didn't win everything. tests that the stage of infected people's disease as World AIDS Day. memory observances are being conducted in among their defeats were the corresponds with the level of Vpr protein in The theme for the 7th Annual observance of communities throughout the state. Notable -Gay initiatives in Oregon their blood. World AIDS Day is "AIDS and Families: Communities in southwestern Wisconsin will downing of the anti People in the early stages of infection had Protect and Care for the Ones We Love." sponsor lectures, staff information tables and and Idaho. Citizens Alliance has twice low levels of the protein; those with fully de- Dr. Micahel H. Merson, Executive Director distribute red ribbons. An interfaith vigil, "The Oregon of Oregon that veloped AIDS had high levels. of the World Health Organization's Global "Naming Our Family, Healing Our Wounds," tried to convince the people in law," By exposing cells to the protein in the labo- Program on AIDS, stated that "If we all do will be held on the eve of World AIDS Day in discrimination should be enshrined voters have twice said ratory, the researchers turned latent infection our utmost within our families of choice-- Madison, while several local art institutions said Kropp. "Oregon rejected insti- into active infection. whether they are the people who share our will be observing a "Day Without Art." no. This year Idaho voters also Weiner's team also found that it could block home or those who share our planet--we shall For those unable to attend such observances, tutionalized discrimination. "Religious Right leaders and their allies in the production of new virus by exposing the help immeasurably to defeat AIDS in every it is being asked by AIDS activists around the Congress should get the message--confirmed in cells to Vpr antibodies. Weiner said his team family." country that you put one blue light in your every poll--that most Americans are opposed is now trying to develop a vaccine that would More than 189 countries, including the U.S., to discrimination based on sexual orientation," create Vpr antibodies. will observe World AIDS Day as a way to TURN TO AIDS DAY. PAGE 15 Kropp said. New Brain Study Gives Evidence that Post-Election Poll Finds GOP, Democrats Biology Influences Sexual Orientation and Independents Support Equal Rights (New York)- A study of brains in Gay and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. (Washington, D.C.)- An election-night poll Lake, Inc., surveyed a random sample of 800 heterosexual men gives new evidence that bi- She discussed the work before presenting it on of people who voted in the 1994 midterm people who had voted in the midterm election. ology may help determine a person's sexual November 17 in Miami Beach, Florida, at the elections showed that voters who changed the The margin of error is +/- 3.5%. orientation, researchers say. annual meeting of the Society for Neurosci- face of Congress continue to support ending Among the findings: Scientists found an anatomical difference ence. discrimination against Lesbian and Gay 70% of those surveyed said Gay people between the two groups. In Gay men, a com- Studies in 1991 and 1992 reported size dif- Americans. should not face unfair job discrimination, but munication conduit connecting two parts of the ferences elsewhere in the brain that were re- In the first-ever post-election poll that meas- rather have "equal rights in hiring and firing"- brain was thicker on average than in hetero- lated to sexual orientation. ured voter attitudes toward Gay people, ma- -with 77% of Democrats, 71% of Independ- sexual men. "Witelson's study is an important addition to jorities of Republican, Democratic and Inde- ents and 64% of Republicans supporting the The parts of the brain connected by the con- the growing body of evidence indicating a pendent voters supported equal rights for Les- idea; duit are used for understanding spoken lan- biological basis for homosexuality," said Peri bian and Gay people, who face widespread and 57% supported the Employment Non- guage and perceiving objects. Jude Radecic, Executive Director of the Na- legal discrimination with no protection from Discrimination Act that would "extend current The finding suggests that sexual orientation tional Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). federal law. civil rights laws in the workplace to cover may be part of a larger package of brain char- "And it shows that homosexuality is a natu- Voters also strongly supported increased ef- Gays and Lesbians" acteristics, so that Gay men as a group may rally occurring and common variation among forts against HIV/AIDS and expressed worry 78% favored "increasing efforts for AIDS have a different pattern of mental skills than humans--a fact that Gay and Lesbian people about a "religious right wing agenda." research, prevention and care"; straight men, said researcher Sandra Witelson.