Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 14:16:55 -0500 (EST) From: "David J. Edmondson" Subject: GLIL newsletter for 5/95 The Quill Volume 3, Number 2, May, 1995 GLIL Events Draw Crowds and Show Big Success! Forrest Gump and SMYAL Win Big on Oscar Night While Forrest Gump was racking up six Oscars , friends and supporters of the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) gathered at Club Zei in Washington. Sponsored by GLIL, the first annual Academy Awards Celebration for Youth netted nearly $7,000 to benefit SMYAL's programs. Over 150 people attended the gala event, which featured a host committee that included U.S. Rep. Steve Gunderson and half of the D.C. City Council. As the evening drew to a close, emcee Dorothy Hirsch introduced GLIL President David Morris and SMYAL President Greg Greeley "for a special announcement." Morris and Greeley told the crowd that SMYAL, GLIL, and Club Zei had agreed to hold the event again next year. "The results exceeded our expectations," said Morris. "We are quite pleased with this accomplishment." Contributions of food for the gala came from Trumpets Restaurant, Old Glory All-American Barbecue, and Kendall-Pennington Catering. Club Zei provided the facilities and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences donated four limited-edition Oscar posters, generously framed by Gallery 2000, for a trivia contest run by SMYAL youth. According to event chair Gene A. Cisewski, the silent auction drew a lot of excitement. An autographed Speedo swimsuit donated by world champion diver Greg Louganis fetched $625. GLIL member Dennis Black walked away with a photo signed by each cast member of Melrose Place that was donated by Aaron Spelling. The auction alone raised nearly $1,500. Young people from SMYAL performed music, drama, and dance numbers ranging from poetry reading to punk rock. "SMYAL is an especially worthy charity," said Morris. "We GLIL members felt that this celebration was an excellent way to give something back to the community. We look forward to doing this again next year." SMYAL serves gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth 14 to 21 from the greater Washington area. They provide counseling and educational programs and sponsor a hotline and discussion groups. Home Test Kit Panel at National Press Club Draws Crowd GLIL sponsored a lively paneldiscussion on HIV home testing kits to a packed audience on February 27. The event, held at the National Press Club, was the latest in a series of debates and discussions that GLIL hosts on issues concerning gay men and lesbians. Odell Huff, who organized the forum for GLIL, explained: "We believe it is important to debate these issues and bring them to the attention of a larger audience. At the same time, GLIL's position is as clear as it has ever been -- namely, individuals should be free to choose their own methods of health care without restrictions imposed by the government. The prohibition on HIV home testing is a perfect example of how the government interferes in a citizen's right to choose." Dana Berliner, staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a D.C.-based public interest law firm, told the forum that her firm "is prepared to pursue legal action if it becomes necessary and the FDA does not approve home access testing soon." Berliner argued that "the most common and least appreciated form of regulation in the modern world is delay," noting that the Food and Drug Administration "has been reviewing the issue and withholding approval of home access testing for the last seven years. During that time, at least 500,000 Americans became HIV positive." Berliner concluded: "Individuals have the right to choose home testing if they want it." Other participants in the forum included Sean Strub, publisher of POZ magazine and president of Strubco, a direct marketing firm, and Sam Kazman, general counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free-market think tank, who both argued that the FDA should approve HIV home testing kits. Participants Christopher J. Portelli, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Health Association (NLGHA), A. Cornelius Baker, director of public policy and education at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), and W. Shepherd Smith, president of Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy (ASAP), all argued that the prohibition against home testing should continue. GLIL's forum took place in the wake of an announcement from the FDA that they are accepting comments on a proposal to entertain applications for approval of HIV home testing kits, a reversal of earlier FDA policy. The public had two months to comment on the proposed rule, which appeared in the Federal Register on February 23. "Political" Violence? by Stephen H. Miller As reported in the New York Times, thousands attended the "Rally for Women's Lives" near the Capitol on April 9 to protest violence against women, "a term they applied not only to rape and battering but also to political assaults on welfare spending, abortion and affirmative action." The five-hour rally was organized by NOW and endorsed by more than 700 groups, including labor unions, environmentalists, and groups advocating on behalf of abortion rights, civil rights, disability rights, gay rights, victims rights and welfare rights In speech after speech equating physical attacks with "political violence," the 50,000-plus demonstrators were admonished to oppose proposals to reform welfare and curtail affirmative action programs. "Be it personal terror or political terror, it has just one purpose -- control," exclaimed Feminist Majority president Eleanor Smeal. All this sounds wearily familiar to those of us who have slugged through recent "lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered" rights marches. Here's the formula: take a basically sound goal -- either equality for gay and lesbian citizens or ending violence against women -- then lump in every item of the far left's political and social agenda, and accuse anyone who declines to support the "united front" of being a reactionary bigot. That's essentially what happened to the Log Cabin Club in Washington, D.C. As reported by Darice Clark in the Washington Blade (April 7), the rally was organized "in the spirit of multiculturalism and coalition building," and as a protest against the "war" on poor women and the Republican Congress's Contract with America (the Contract on America in leftspeak). The Blade story notes that "most gay organizations agreed to endorse the rally" with the exception of the Capital Area Log Cabin Club, the local organization of gay Republicans. "We take very seriously the need to work to combat violence against vulnerable and targeted populations, including women and gays," Carl Schmid of the Log Cabin Club wrote to NOW. "We are quite willing to endorse and cosponsor nonpartisan efforts toward this end....However, the actions you ask us to endorse are not nonpartisan." But Marquita Sykes, a lesbian activist at NOW, replied to the Blade that "my personal opinion is that if the main focus is violence against women...by not endorsing, you don't support the main issue." Baloney. Gay and feminist activists on the political left have done all they can to exclude libertarian and moderatetoconservative gays and women from their respective movements. It's ludicrous to expect a gay GOP club and other gay organizations not on the left to support a broadbased agenda defending race and genderbased preferences and maintenance of a failed welfare system that, in their opinion, has turned our inner cities into a wasteland terrorized by fatherless boys -- a culture of dysfunction supported at taxpayers' expense. The libertarian group Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty (GLIL), while deploring violence against women, also refused to endorse the rally because (as its president explained in a letter to the Blade) the event was "designed to support a tired rendition of all the leftliberal welfare statist nostrums that the American people rightly reject." Nevertheless, NOW's National Action Vice President Rosemary Dempsey, a lesbian activist, defended the "grand alliance of the left" approach, telling the Blade that "attacks" from the Republican Congress "are based on gender, race, sexual orientation, and class and we just can't have that." If Ms. Dempsey and her compatriots wish to advocate on behalf of a welfare statist political agenda of ever bigger government engaged in increasingly more intrusive social engineering, aimed at eliminating individual initiative and obscuring the relationship between work and reward, that's their business. But she ought not to expect the over onethird of selfidentified gay voters who chose Republican congressional candidates in the last election to follow suit. And what arrogance to imply that they're racist, sexist, and homophobic for failing to do so! GLIL Supports Bottoms (Washington, D.C., April 21, 1995) -- "The Virginia Supreme Court's decision to deny Sharon Bottoms custody of her son, Tyler, simply because she is a lesbian is outrageous," said David Morris, president of Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty (GLIL), in reaction to the Court's ruling today. "To paraphrase the Vietnam War slogan, the court is saying: 'We have to destroy the family in order to save it.' This strikes at the heart of true American family values." Morris stated that GLIL believes the integrity of the family is vital for the survival of a free society. "This decision is, without a doubt, an assault on the integrity of the family and should be condemned in no uncertain terms. The Virginia Supreme Court has produced a shameful, anti-family decision." Morris discussed the decision with his father, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, who told him: "Although I don't condone or agree with the lifestyle of this person, I find it difficult to see that the lifestyle of the parent could be a reasonable purpose to separate a mother from her child. If you're doing your best to provide for your child, how can you be considered unfit?" Sharon Bottoms lost custody of her son in a court battle that has been going on for several years. Morris asked: "How can the government come along and rip a family apart like this? What does that say about the values of our society?" Morris demanded that Virginia lawmakers pass legislation guaranteeing sexual orientation will not be a legal reason for denying child custody. "Would we deny custody of a child with mixed racial heritage to his biological parents because some people are still bigots? The law should protect families, not separate them. The Virginia Supreme Court disagrees." "Our country's future is in its children -- gay or straight, black or white, immigrant or native-born -- and we cannot scar their future by tearing them from their mothers' arms," Morris concluded. Committee Condemns Oklahoma City Bombing by Carol Moore Washington, D.C.--Members of the Committee for Waco Justice condemn the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and all such acts of violence to protest injustice or further political goals. In attacking innocent people, the bombers could not right the wrongs done by the federal government against the Branch Davdians, a peaceful group of people who were no threat to themselves or their neighbors and community. We feel as badly for the victims of the Oklahoma bombing as we do for victims of the April 19, 1993 gas and tank attack outside Waco, Texas. The Committee for Waco Justice is working to expose the systematic coverup of the federal massacre of the Branch Davidians. We believe only a complete investigation of these crimes by an Independent Counsel can begin healing America of the divisions caused by the Waco massacre and exacerbated by the Oklahoma City bombing. The Waco massacre in no way justifies the Oklahoma City bombing, but neither does the bombing justify deriding the legitimate concerns of millions of Americans about the Waco massacre. The Committee condemns all attempts, by government or private parties, to meet violence with violence. We will oppose all attempts by the federal government to use this bombing as an excuse to further deprive Americans of our liberties. The Committee urges the press, the public and federal officials to recognize the terrible facts that have alienated so many Americans: In July of 1992 David Koresh explicitly invited Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' investigators to inspect his weapons. Despite Davidians' clear willingness to cooperate, on February 28, 1993 76 BATF agents, firing automatic weapons -- including from helicopters -- and throwing flash-bang grenades, raided the Davidians' home and church, Mount Carmel Center. Evidence suggests nervous agents shot first, causing Davidians to fire back in self-defense. Six mostly unarmed Davidians and four armed BATF agents died. David Koresh, BATF and the FBI knew that if Mount Carmel, whose bullet-ridden roofs and walls contained evidence of illegal fire from helicopters, was left standing, Davidians might be acquitted and BATF agents prosecuted. It is possible BATF and FBI agents conspired, either silently or explicitly, to destroy the building, its incriminating evidence and its dozens of defiant witnesses. For 51 days the FBI sabotaged negotiations by refusing to allow the Davidians to consult attorneys or deal with third party negotiators who would ensure the FBI would not destroy evidence of BATF crimes. The FBI harassed Davidians through destruction of their property, shining of bright lights, blaring of loud music and violent sounds, and terrifying helicopter overflights and fake tank rammings. On April 19, 1993, despite the groups' very credible promise to exit in a few days, after David Koresh finished writing a religious tract, the FBI conducted a vicious gas and tank assault that killed 76 Davidians. Mounting evidence suggests that FBI commanders systematically created a fire hazard by injecting into the building gallons of flammable CS gas dissolved in flammable methylene chloride solvent. Commanders ordered tanks to smash away at the building -- even though they knew it was filled with dozens of gallon containers of lantern fuel as well as lighted lanterns. Tanks also collapsed half the gymnasium and all three stairwells and smashed in exits and hallways, preventing most Davidians from escaping the fire. President Clinton immediately began to promote the lie that Davidians committed "mass suicide" and murdered their own children. He is repeating that lie to this day. Attorney General Janet Reno and the United States Congress conducted investigations that were little more than whitewashes and coverups. No agents or officials even were interviewed under oath. U.S. attorneys who prosecuted Davidian survivors participated in the withholding of and destruction of evidence of BATF and FBI crimes. And trial Judge Walter J. Smith sentenced nine Davidians to 243 years, despite jurors' assertions they believed Davidians should receive only time served for what jurors thought were the "minor" charges on which they found Davidians guilty. Besides calling for an Independent Counsel investigation, the Committee for Waco Justice recommends a full Congressional investigation of the abuses of Americans' rights by federal law enforcement--particularly BATF and the FBI. We also call for full pardons for the Davidian prisoners. We will continue to work non-violently toward the goal of healing America through disseminating the truth about the massacre of 82 Branch Davidians. From Your Editor By Bill Boushka The Workplace Over the last 30 years, the increase in personal freedom, autonomy, and self expression has been accompanied by corresponding changes in the workplace. A generation ago, businesses often accepted the idea of paying a steadily increasing lifetime "family wage" to an appropriately loyal "breadwinning" employee. Now, while American individuals are much more mobile and enjoy a high standard of living compared to much of the world, businesses look at employees as contingent resources (otherwise, as fixed expenses). The notion that "Greed is Good" applies to both businesses and persons. Much as been written about middle class "downward mobility." People, often owing more on their homes than their net worth, cannot maintain a standard of living because their skills have lost "fair market value," like much real estate. Now, the catchall phrase is "entrepreneurialism" which can downgrade into buying your own job. It is probably prudent to view one's earning potential as consisting of two parts: (1) what the person could earn, freelancing, one day at a time, on the everyday value of one's technical skills; (2) the value added from long term association with and loyalty to a single business. The bridge concept is "teamwork," often coupled with "total quality management." Companies are quickly rediscovering the reality that long term success cannot be achieved without reciprocal commitments. Companies replace a "Peter Principle" hierarchy with a confederation of self managed teams, which conceptually could even move as groups from one client to another as projects and needs change, but which are always accountable for results. Teamwork provides an opportunity for libertarian principles. Imagine the possibility of a company's providing a team a variable, results-based bulk compensation budget, which members could reallocate among themselves as they perceived each others contributions and needs. Teams could make the "hiring" decisions, and would work out the psychological tensions between "employees" with different values and, particularly, different levels of family responsibility. The end result could be greater career stability and progress for many people. Government needs to give industry and "labor" the chance to work these ideas out by relaxing some labor regulations, and needs to make employee ownership even more attractive. Individuals will find that they can rehearse new skills more quickly and "keep up" when they find they are important to other people. On the Military Ban On March 13, the first major challenge to the "new" military gay policy, "don't ask, don't tell" was argued in Federal District Court in New York. Everyone should read The New Republic editorial on March 27, which angrily conveys the SLDN report of shocking abuses of the due process rights of some Service members supposedly given a "zone of privacy" by the "new" policy. And on March 11, a significant piece by me discussing the constitutional issues of The Ban and relating the history of unsuccessful efforts to secure a "Live and let live" policy, was published, in Ground Zero News (P.O. Box 1982, Colorado Springs, CO 80901 GrndZeroCO@aol.com 7196356086 fax 719-635-6106, $20 per year). On March 30, the (lower) District Court ruled that the "new policy" is unconstitutional because its "presumption" provision is discriminatory and inhibits lawful free speech. To tell the truth, I am not optimistic that higher courts will ultimately overturn the military's subjective discretion in deciding personnel standards for military service (the "old" Ban), or even in interpreting certain statements as "presumptive" evidence of (future or past) prohibited conduct (the "new" Ban). There are even judicial scenarios which would anchor the notion of military "deference" if the practice of "asking" were "officially" resumed; hence Newt Gingrich clumsily proposed to restore the "old" Ban based on "suitability." However The Ban is formulated, it is supported by the troublesome notion of the government's judging citizens' inclinations and associations when unable to prove specific "criminal" acts. Rather than counting on a long court fight, we should be starting debate on a carefully crafted Right to Privacy constitutional amendment an addition to the Bill of Rights to start the next millennium one which would legally protect once and for all the practice of consensual, adult, private, nonfraternal intimate relations, and the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body (at least during the earliest weeks of pregnancy), and, finally, the right to be free of involuntary servitude or conscription. On Contacting the Editor Please send your letters, articles, and comments to me by EMail at jboushka@aol.com, or call me at [703] 979-8961 for a mailing address. You may also use the GLIL Internet address or PO Box; but I will see your comments sooner if you contact me directly. On Our Policy Forum Congratulations to Odell and Gene on setting up the successive forum on Home Test kits. We intend to have other forums throughout the year on areas of general interest, such as "family values," the workplace, the military ban, and clinical progress against HIV. Announcing.... GLIL Business Meeting Scheduled Members interested in the future of GLIL are encouraged to attend a business meeting: Wednesday, May 17, 1995, 7 p.m., at Barrett School, 1400 Q Street NW, Washington, DC. The agenda includes event reports, officer reports, creating our own BBS, member dues, fundraising, and future forums. Member Wins Party Office GLIL Member Gene A. Cisewski was elected Chair of the Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia and will serve a two-year term in that position. LPVA Convention GLIL member Rick Sincere, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Virginia, invites you to participate in the LPVA state convention in Richmond on May 20. For more information, call (703) 920-4023. Follow-Up to HIV Home Test Kit Forum On March 14, Gene Cisewski appeared on NET's hour-long nationwide broadcast of "Mitchells in the Morning" to discuss approval of the HIV home test kits. After W. Shepard Smith from the right-wing ASAP said that we must better target our resources, Cisewski reminded him that we weren't talking about "our" resources. "It's not your money, it's not my money, it's not the taxpayers' money -- the resources are private investments made in private enterprise."