..... -� --...'!!.. �-·- d December, 1983 Volume 4, Number 12 .Memphis, li nn Gay Alternative AIDS Grant Made to UT Off The Air The Gay· Alternative .Radio Pro­ gram has been temporarily silenced­ by Allen Cook It is asserted that AIDS can be signed November 11, University of for perhaps as long as six months. transmitted through blood trans­ Tennessee Research Corp. (an inde- The University fo Tennessee and WEVL-FM, which broadcast the pro­ Technology, Inc., a San fusions from infected persons who ·pendent, non-profit organization Cistron gram, has gone off the air to consol­ Francisco based firm have signed an are not yet symptomatic. long as helps UT researchers market, copy­ As idate funds and energy in an effort market a locally de­ two years may elapse between the patent developments) will agreement to right and to raise enough money to increase veloped test which might serve as a of net sales of the time a person acquires· AIDS and the receive 12% their power from 10 watts to 6300 for AIDS. Plans are screening tool time it manifests itself in one or tests. Dr. Howard Sanberg, assistant watts. This would expand WEVL's market the test to laboratories director of to more of the opportunistic diseases UT vice-chancellor and coverage area from the immediate nationwide. research programs, saidPifer and the which characterize the syndrome. mid-town area to one which would corporation will share equally in the According to the Commercial Williams is quoted as saying Cistron cover a good part of west Tennessee, Appeal, Cistron plans to sell about profits. hopes to develop an inexpensive test eastern Arkansas and north Missis­ has also given Pifer a half a million testS to public and pri­ which would detect the presence of Cistron sippi. grant to refine the test vate laboratories the first year. pneumocystis in potential blood $210,000 The station, known for its liberal, grant will extend over Robin Williams, a Cistron spokes­ donors. further. That free-form programming, has . opera­ three Y_ears. person quoted in the Appeal article, , Under the agreement, which was a period of ted on 10 watts of power during its said that the test will cost about seven vears on the air. The Gay Al­ $200 and hopes that it will be avail­ ternativehas been a part of that pro­ able in about six months. gramming since the beginning. The test was developed by Dr. AIDS Brochures According toThe-Gay Alternative Linda Pifer, a University of Tenn­ producers, WEVL is "the only sta­ essee Center for the Health Sciences Now Available tion that would allow the Gay com­ researcher whose lab has become a dispersal of AIDS related_ informa­ munity to air a show with all the worldwide testing center for pneu­ New brochures detailing basic tion. Pamphlets be distribu­ music performed by Lesbian and mocystis carinii pneumonia. The information about AIDS are will also ted in Nashville and Little Rock as Gay performing artists, using Gay test is purportedly the only non­ now available through the efforts part of the networking arrangement. lyrics." Local Gay news and public surgical method for determining the of the Memphis Gay Coalition and Memphis is thewesternmost state service announcements were also diagnosisof pneumocystis. Pneumo- AID Atlanta. to affiliate with AID Atlanta. broadcaston the program which air­ . cystis carinii is normally a non­ The brochures were paid for out ed for an hour on Sundays at pm. Among the questions answered in 3 threatening virus which becomes of the proceeds of a benefit perfor­ Donations are being solicited for the 4-fold pamphlet are: deadly when a person's immune mance ("Old Hash") held last June -What is AIDS? WEVL's "High Power" campaign. system is either depressed or des­ at Circuit Playhouse. More than -What are the symptoms? The producers suggest that donation troyed. About 58% of all AIDS $2000.00 was raised at that event, checks be made payable to WEVL patients are first diagnosed as having -Is immune suppression the same the most successful fundraising pro­ and mailed to The Gay Alternative, AIDS by determining whether or as AIDS? gram in the history of the Memphis Box 41773, Memphis, Tennessee not they have pneumocystis pneu­ -What should I do if my friend Gay Coalition. 38174-1773. In this way, the a­ monia. Dr. Pifer, who is an assis­ has AIDS? Developed by AID Atlanta, a mount of money the Gay communi­ tant professor of pediatrics, has -What about insurance? non-profit volunteer organization ty donates �an be tabulated. WEVI... been working on pneumocystis for -Ain I at risk? that was established in August, needs The brochures are available at approximately $15,000 to about 10 years. She indicated that 1982, the brochures were· printed complete the work. the pneumonia often strikes child­ locally at local expense. Stands for virtually all Gay related businesses The producers are remaining in ren whose immune system is not yet the brochures were purchased to in the Memphis area as well as the contact with producers of other Gay fully developed. In these cases, it is provide a convenient display vehi­ main library at Peabody and Mc­ radio programs throughout the not, apparently, a precursor of cle. In addition, a donation was Lean, the Health Department and countcy and are planning to use the by mail. To order a copy, include a AIDS. made to the organization as a ges­ forced time off to prepare for a big­ self-addressed, stamped In addition to diagnosing the ture of support and good will. The envelope ger and better Gay Alternative. and mail to Brochure, Box 3038, pneumonia, the test could be used Memphis Gay Coalition has agreed The Gay Alternative is a service Memphis, Tennessee to screen potential blood donors. to affiliate with AID Atlanta in the 38173·0038. of the Memphis Gay Coalition. ----�------------�----- ----------------------------------�--- ------� ------- -- ----------- ------� Editorials appearing in Gaze represent only the opinions of the Gazin authors unless otherwise indicated. It Was A Very Good Year / ! ayear,of sadness. �"' . �" It was a year of gr6wth for Gaze. surrounding the AIDS crisis. lt._w�a But it was also -- �. When a burglary in the' spring year in which both bar owners and . ·It Was a year �n: Whicn,tWO:Of OUI By Allen Cook threatened to halt the paper's pro­ Gay political types came together brother'S- were nitfr'dered.Both Mike duction, fate stepped in. The news­ on common ground sharing a com- Cianciola and Ron Smith ·-Will be time, things mon concern. missed. A year ago at this �aper is now typeset because of a bleak. There was talk . It was a year that the Memphis It was a year that saw AIDS looked pretty donation by a man responding to a the Memphis Gay Gay Switchboard helped more peo- emerge as a crisis of national impor­ of actually letting call for help. It was also a year in go.. .letting it die of atro-· ple than ever before. It was the year tance. But it was also a year that saw Coalition which advertiser support for the and participation that Lambda Televideo and the Gay increased support from the Gay phy. Membership newspaper increased many times all-tinle low. Clouds of Alternative rea�hed more people community and Congress in re- was at an over. It was a year in which the to be gather g. Ga than ever before. sponse to it. doom seemed i? z_� size of the paper grew on the It was a year that Gays in Mem- It was a year that saw 78 co-span- had just lost- both its founding edi­ average. It was a year in which phis were recognized as a political sors in the U.S. House of Represen­ tor and its art dl.ieetor. The treasury its circulation grew as well, making Gaze force by the candidates for city tatives call for a national Gay Rights showed red ink .. had just been it one of the most widely circulated elections. law. And it was a year in which the stiffed for a couple of large adver­ Gay-oriented newspapers in the It was a year that saw new Gay Moral Majority lost a good amount tising accounts which meant we South. open : Itwas,a _ of its credibility. were scraping up money for the It was a year which boasted the business in Memphis last issue as the next was being most widely attended Gay Pride year, in which Oay. Me�pl}1_s ·proved- - ..� . prepared. The Gay Switchboard River Cruise in the history of the it could'support more·thati o�e Gay I� th�'· y�ars since the formation phone bill was past due and it was event. It was the year of the most bar. of the Memphis · Gay Coalition there was · faced with the prospect of an un­ successful fundraising event in the It a year that saw the Mem- have been few years we can cia.ssify . to three expected move which would have history of the MGC. It was a year of phis Gay Switchboard grow as 'good'. 1983 has been one of put it several hundred dollars caring and sharing as people became times what it had been the year them. farther into the hole. Bills were involved in defusing the hysteria before. mounting up and things were getting worse. But something happened. We're John Glenn Says He Will Not Support not' sure, what,. but it's definite something happened. Gay Rights As 1983 draws to a close, the Americans." on record supporting Gay civil Memphis Gay Coalition completes .