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Pen Points
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I find Petrelis erratic at times. His alliance with ACT UP SF does not warm my heart, though he insists he's not a member of that group and he certainly does not accept the HIV-denialist line. According to a recent press release from ACT UP SF, Petrelis and Pasquarelli deny all threats of violence, and deny all the other serious charges as well. Of course they would, right? But maybe they're telling the truth and we should presume innocence until proven guilty? Since Hallinan is freely using the rhetoric of "terrorism" in connection to this case, I think that's just as serious as any blustering phone mischief. Since they are being held on absurdly high bails and already doing time in jail, we might consider recent cases when activists have been singled out for "pre-emptive strikes" by top cops and District Attorneys. Even before 9/11, bails were set at serial killer levels for prominent activists; and after 9/11, the definition of "terrorism" has drifted quite far from ground zero. I'll take pains to be clear here. I take rough and tumble tactics and rhetoric for granted in the political realm. I take a much dimmer view of projecting personal threats into someone's home. I've gotten anonymous abusive calls in the past, and a string of silent calls recently. I suspect these are related to my political views and writing, since I keep personal relations in decent order and below a certain temperature. In personal life, I sometimes make a clean break but remain civil.
The frustration with the rising incidence of HIV infection among gay males is real. But what of it? Until gay men living with AIDS gain an activist base and a political voice of our own again, let's not trust doctors or anyone else to speak for us. The notion that all people will "use a condom every time" is cloudcuckooland. Sex is powerful-- yes, sometimes more powerful than reason for some people--and this is a global epidemic. There is a double standard. At a Health & Human Rights conference recently, I heard a philosophy professor talk about Kant's universalism, and then go on to say that the condom code might be alright for gay men, "but men and women want to reproduce." I would not trust either my own health or my own human rights to such a nincompoop. We need renewed research on a vaccine, and on microbicides which might allow bare skin sex with much reduced risk of STDs. (There is an excellent article on microbicides in Open Letter under Health Care.) In the meantime, we need political action to get the right messages, medicine and prevention efforts to as many people as possible. The rhetoric of Drs. Coates, Klausner and Cohan is repellent, precisely because the problem is real and their job is medicine. The two men in jail are not entirely wrong, and the "expert opinions" orchestrated against them are not entirely right. Petrelis and Pasquarelli shold learn some manners, even and especially with political opponents. But they have a point: the most important one being (to my own mind) that AIDS, Incorporated will never serve the needs of mere queers unless there is continued friction between some folks with high salaries and some folks who still get sexually transmitted diseases. In a recent Advocate article, Dr. Gary Cohan laid on the Holocaust rhetoric as thick as Larry Kramer ever did in the past. Then and now, I think the Holocaust was bad enough in its own right. The way such rhetoric is used to scold gay men with STDs is despicable. Cohan mentioned gay professional men in their forties--in other words, men who should know better--coming into his office with syphilis and newly diagnosed HIV. Cohan's article was truth in advertising, and after reading that ad his gay patients might want to find another doctor. The ghastly devolution of the lesbian and gay movement is part of the problem. Witness Elizabeth Birch stating at a recent HRC fundraiser that 9/11 was a blazing moment of national unity "which vaporized all differences." That's exactly what scares me, especially since Hilary Clinton shared the same stage and message with Elizabeth Birch. We're all New Democrats now? In that case, we can safely ignore two queers who count for nothing in bipartisan politics. As a health activist, I have more in common with Petrelis than with Pasquarelli. Both deserve a fair day in court. I would like less Law and Order in this particular case, not more. I would like more common humanity among some doctors and bureaucrats, and much less of the spirit of the Inquisition. And I want to say so on the public record.
Scott Tucker Update on Ron in a Michigan Prison
Ron has been kept extremely busy in correspondence to other inmates. One day he wrote 20 letters! All are experiencing similar problems to his. The scope and the degree of suffering is overwhelming. He has begun plans to prepare small information sheets to send to inmates to advise them on how to file grievances and what to say. The grievances will fail but if we ever get to court, we need to show where they have exhausted all other opportunities to resolve the issues. Jeffery Montgomery and I had an interesting call with the National Prison Project of the ACLU in Washington D.C. (Thanks Ben!) We had contacted them before and they didn't answer. This time we had lots of details for them. Other than that I can't the give details here. We have to be very careful at this stage. Visited Ron last night and he is doing quite well under the circumstances. He is really excited about the hoped for cell move today. He will be crushed if it doesn't happen. Amazing to be so excited about simply being moved into a cell with someone who isn't apt to want to rape him, steal from him, extort money from him, assault him, etc. He has the next issue of the newsletter roughed in and on its way to me. It may be the last one that we are able to put out for a while as with the onset of winter, my other business will soon begin to overwhelm me from a different direction. (www.forbushcorner.com) A thousand thanks to those who have written to Ron and kept him able to function with all the turmoil. Another thousand thanks to the 7 or 8 of you that have sent checks to Triangle to help with the project. Thanks too the people that have supplied me with postage stamps. With the new issue of the newsletter coming out soon they will be greatly appreciated. Others with extra stamps, send them on to me. I'll put them to good use. Still no word from the MDOC about our meeting. Will begin to send certified letters to pursue that matter. I feel at times like we are attacking a mountain with a tablespoon. But we are making a wee bit of progress. As always, all of us certainly appreciate your support.
Sincerely, Uranian Ukrainians On the 12th of December this year Ukrainian gays and lesbians and friends and others will celebrate the tenth anniversary of decriminalization of homosexual relations in Ukraine (the repeal of Article 122.1 of Criminal Code on December 12, 1991)- Ukraine being the first among all former Soviet Union republics to decriminalize gay sex. In order to highlight this historic event our organization decided to organize "Our Rainbow" Cultural Conference to be held during 13-16 December in Kiev. "Our Rainbow" is aimed at empowering Ukrainian gay-community, strengthening its visibility, and promoting its integration into the society. Various social and cultural measures will be held during the conference. At the press conference and the round table titled "The situation of lesbians and gay men in Ukraine", social, legal and other aspects of the problem will be discussed. We shall conduct model training on HIV-prevention, safer sexual behavior among gay-community. Several workshops are in the program as well. Representatives of Ukrainian lesbian & gay groups, and of public and mass-media, are invited to participate. "Our Rainbow" will have various cultural events in its program. It has scheduled two performances of the play Sexually Speaking 1+1 by OUTSiders (Aputheatre) from Amsterdam www.geocities.com/outsiderstheatre. Also an organized event will be Tupilak's http://hem.passagen.se/tupilak/tupilak.htm Nordic art & photo slide exhibition.
Members of Tupilak: Lesbian and Gay Cultural Workers in the Nordic Area
Visitors to the conference will see video shorts, documentaries & art films by The Evolutionary Girls Club from New York. At the conference site some art works of Ukrainian artists will be shown. And of course celebratory discotheques will be organized. Please help us by sharing this information with people you know will be interested in Ukrainian gay&lesbian life, and in supporting the sustained activities of Our World Center. For updated info about the festivity plans please visit www.gay.org.ua/actions/festival-e.htm Or contact Andriy Maymulakhin, Our World (Nash Mir / Nash Svit) Gay and Lesbian Center, Coordinator at telephone/fax: (0642) 47-12-22, e-mail: ourworld@gay.org.ua During the conference you can get additional info from "Tvoe Zhyttya" in Kiev - 239-38-53.
Sincerely, |
AIDS dissident Michael Petrelis
Ron Rouseau
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