Subject: Crackdown on AIDS Dissent!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 16:11:26 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: November 19, 1996

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Ronnie Burk: (415) 864-0731
Todd Swindell: (415) 864-8355
  
Crackdown on AIDS Dissent! ACT UP SF Activists Denied HIV Services; Targeted
in Smear Campaign; Beaten & Jailed.
----------
Inflammatory advertisements and for-hire goon squads funded by San Francisco
AIDS Foundation attempt to silence HIV-positive critics from controversial
protest group.

San Francisco -- In a week marked by overt hostility toward the AIDS
dissident movement, members of the controversial direct action group ACT UP
San Francisco were barred from receiving HIV services through the city's
leading AIDS relief providers; targeted in a libelous ad campaign; assaulted
by hired security at a public forum and jailed minutes after leaving a
meeting with executives of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF).
Activists charged that this barrage of characterizations and assaults is part
of an effort funded and led by SFAF to silence HIV-positive activists who
publicly criticize their organization.

A recent ACT UP political protest exposed SFAF's conflict of interest in
receiving large donations from drug companies like Glaxo-Wellcome, Abbott and
Roche pharmaceuticals to drum up a huge market for AZT, experimental protease
inhibitors and other expensive anti-HIV agents. ACT UP SF members argue that
these chemicals are no cure for AIDS and warn people with HIV that the
treatments can further damage an already compromised immune system.
Demonstrator Ronnie Burk was arrested at that protest for dumping a bag of
used cat litter on the Foundation's Executive Director Pat Christen, whom
activists refer to as "Fat Cat" Pat due to her high salary of over $120,000 a
year.

The disturbing series of events targeting ACT UP began on November 12, 1996
when Burk was notified by SFAF that all client services which they and two
other prominent San Francisco AIDS relief organizations provided him had been
abruptly terminated. This meant that the HIV-positive, unemployed Burk was
banned from SFAF, Shanti and the University of California at San Francisco
(UCSF). In addition, he was cut off from case management, health services and
emergency housing relief efforts provided by those community groups to people
with AIDS. Still, despite purging him from their client roster, SFAF refused
to relinquish Burk's confidential client medical files.

ACT UP members warned that such drastic personal persecution by an AIDS
service organization as retaliation for a client's participation in a
political protest is unprecedented, unethical and illegal. Burk vowed to
appeal SFAF's decision and initiate immediate legal action against the
organization.

"It's shocking that SFAF executives think they can pull the plug on certain
PWAs' services to shut up criticisms about the organization's mismanagement,
unsavory business practices and murderous AIDS treatment policies," commented
Burk. "I disagreed with SFAF politically and now they are trying to assist me
into the grave by cutting off AIDS services that I am entitled to receive.
Services that federal Ryan White relief dollars pay SFAF to administer.
People with AIDS should be alarmed about the overreaching control and lack of
accountability pill-pushing powerhouses like SFAF now possess over our
lives."

Two days later, Burk was startled to find inflammatory full-page
advertisements in two local gay newspapers characterizing ACT UP SF members
as club-wielding thugs who bash bottles over the heads of those with whom
they disagree. The ads, costing over $1,200 each, were placed in the papers
by SFAF Communication's Director Derek Gordon and paid for using Foundation
funds.

Activists say the accusations of physical violence are untrue, that the ads
provide no substantiation for the claims that people were injured by ACT UP
members, and that the militant group is dedicated to nonviolence.
Furthermore, they assailed SFAF's management team, a majority of whom are
HIV-negative, for allocating scarce financial resources to fund propaganda
that oppresses AIDS dissidents who call into question the organization's
integrity and credibility.

SFAF's intimidation tactics continued on Friday, November 15th when ACT UP SF
activists attended a public forum at Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) on
the use of protease inhibitors as AIDS prevention pills. Activists who
arrived to distribute scientific articles were denied entrance into the
meeting room and then subsequently beaten by hired security guards who
removed them from the premises. Information tables toppled and church pews
overturned as police escorted and dragged screaming ACT UP members from the
panel discussion. One protester, David Pasquarelli, was cited for misdemeanor
charges of trespassing, assault and malicious mischief before being released.
Pasquarelli also pressed assault charges against the security guard who
tackled and punched him.

Finally, on Monday, November 18th, Burk and fellow AIDS dissident Michael
Bellefountaine, were arrested at the offices of the San Francisco AIDS
Foundation and subsequently jailed. The arrest immediately followed an
afternoon meeting with Susan Haikalis, Client Services Director for SFAF,
over the recent decision to deny HIV services to Burk.

According to Burk, the two activists arrived at the Foundation for a
scheduled meeting with Haikalis at 1:00 P.M. Approximately one hour later,
after a sometimes heated yet largely unproductive meeting, both Burk and
Bellefountaine peacefully departed. As they entered the elevator, the
security guard previously charged by Pasquarelli with assault at the November
15 MCC melee followed them inside and incited another physical confrontation.
Both Burk and Bellefountaine plan to press counts of assault against the
security guard.

Bellefountaine, who has AIDS, was charged with one felony count of assault
and one felony count of issuing a "terrorist threat." Burk was charged with
one misdemeanor battery and released after spending eight hours in custody.
Bellefountaine is currently being held in San Francisco County Jail with bail
set at $3,000.

Burk, who had previously utilized the Foundation for psychological services
to cope with the mental stress associated with his HIV diagnosis, believes
the altercation between the two ACT UP members and security was the end
result of a botched, but much more sinister, plan of retaliation by SFAF
against him.

"They were expecting me to be alone at yesterday's meeting to discuss the
termination of my HIV services. To my surprise the meeting was held in the
office of a psychiatrist I used to see through the Foundation. When he then
arrived at the meeting I knew what was up," stated Burk, "In retaliation for
my part in a recent political protest that nationally embarrassed their
organization, SFAF execs were going to threaten to have me declared a danger
and committed against my will to an institution. No one would have found me
for days and, by the time they did, SFAF's propaganda machine would have
spread the lie that I went nuts. It's scary that a group that once provided
me assistance is now using my medical records to intimidate me into silence."

###

Press photos (digital & paper) from the "AIDS Crackdown" are available. For
more information on this or other ACT UP SF actions contact us at (415)
522-2907. Our mailing address is 1388 Haight Street, #218, San Francisco, CA
94117. Fax: (415) 834-0243; Email: [email-masked].

==========

What follows is the text of a full-page advertisement placed in Bay Area
Reporter and Bay Times by San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Each ad cost well
over $1,000.00 of private and/or government AIDS relief money.

Page 19:

Outing Violence!

Clubbed with a stick. Spat upon. A broken bottle over a head. Doused with
cans of paint. Assaulted with animal waste.

All real violence. Violence which occurred right here in San Francisco - in
the Castro, in the Mission district and in the Tenderloin. Right in our own
backyards.

Homophobic crimes of hate?

No. People from our own community attacking others working in the fight to
end HIV disease and AIDS. Violence perpetuated in the name of activism.

We must out violence! It is dehumanizing. It damages us all. If we do not,
then who is to determine when violence is acceptable? Is it to be condoned
when we encounter a difference in sexual orientation? In race? In gender? In
utilization of family planning clinics? Is it to be condoned when we have a
disagreement over AIDS funding or HIV treatments? The answer is simple.

We don't need hate and violence. We never will. We will not allow HIV to
destroy our community. Violence must not be allowed to do the same.

Perpetrators of violence in our community say they intend to escalate their
actions in the future under the guise of activism. This is not acceptable.
Stand firmly against violence as a means of expressing disagreement. Stand
firmly against hatred in any form. Take a stand for our community and our
lives.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation
End the HIV pandemic and the human suffering caused by AIDS.

==========

Letter #1 from SFAF to HIV-positive, Latino ACT UP SF member Ronnie Burk
regarding denial of all future AIDS services.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation
P.O. Box 426182
San Francisco, CA 94142-6182

Mr. Ronnie Burk
234 Waller Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

October 31, 1996

Dear Mr. Burk:

I am writing to inform you that you are permanently suspended from the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation's Client Services Department. At the time of your
San Francisco AIDS Foundation intake you agreed to and signed a Client Rights
and Responsibilities contract that stated you would not express physical
violence or threats towards Foundation staff, interns and volunteers (see
attached copy of your signed agreement). As Director of Client Services, I
will not condone the use of violence in any form. I also have the
responsibility to provide a safe environment for clients, staff and
volunteers at the Foundation. On Thursday, October 7, 1996 you physically
assaulted a staff member of the SFAF during a Board of Supervisors Candidate
forum. This has led to the decision to permanently suspend you from services
at the SFAF.

In addition, as the SF AIDS Foundation is part of a services partnership with
the UCSF AIDS Health Project and Shanti, your permanent suspension applies to
these agencies as well.

Should you violate this suspension and come into our office of the offices of
the AIDS Health Project or Shanti, security will be called immediately, and
the police as well, if necessary.

Below are two agencies where you may go to receive services that may help you
with your problems:

1. Center for Special Problems: (415) 292-1500
2. AIDS Benefits Counselors: (415) 558-9845

You have the right to appeal this decision; you may call me at (415)
487-8026.

Sincerely,

Susan W. Haikalis, LCSW
Client Services Director

==========

Letter #2 from SFAF to Ronnie Burk regarding his confidential client files.
Information from Burk's psychological profile was used to threaten him with
placement in an institution for his recent political actions.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation
P.O. Box 426182
San Francisco, CA 94142-6182

Mr. Ronnie Burk
234 Waller Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

November 11, 1996

Dear Mr. Burk:

I was sorry not to have reached you by phone on Friday but appreciated
reaching you this morning. Please find enclosed a copy of your record from
the Client Services department of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. If you
have any questions about anything in the record, please feel free to call me
at (415) 487-8026.

I would like to reassure you that your record is kept in a locked filing
cabinet in the Client Services department. Only Client Service department
staff who are working with a given client have access to that client's
records. Confidentiality of all client records is an overriding policy for
the department, governing all the work we do. Any breach would be taken
seriously.

Therefore, based on the message you left for me, I have placed a notation in
your chart record that specifically states no information is to be released
to anyone even if you have previously signed a release to that individual
and/or agency.

Again, if you have any additional questions, please call me at (415)
487-8026.

Sincerely,

Susan W. Haikalis, LCSW
Client Services Director