Date:         Fri, 24 Feb 1995 09:32:14 -0500

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NEWS RELEASE
FEBRUARY 23, 1995

CONTACT:  Richard Tafel - Director
        LCR National Office
        (202) 347-5306

*Abner Mason, President-Log Cabin Federation (617) 266-7052
*Dr.Kotch (215) 732-6694           *Lee Coleman (503) 642-7295
*Jim Wiggins (504) 861-0433        *Patrick Ball (713)681-2067
*Alex Wentzel (714)494-6271        *Monty Cornell (617)247-7638
*Shawn Dorisan (612)871-2509       *Joe McCallion (305) 563-3626
*Marty Bloxham (619)738-6963       *Jerry Neal (614)224-7648


KASSEBAUM HOLDS RYAN WHITE HEARINGS, CALLS FOR A RESPONSE TO "THE CHANGING
FACE OF AIDS"

 Senator Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS), chairman of the Senate Labor and Human
Resources Committee, announced her intention to make the funding formulas of
the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990 more responsive to the "changing face of
AIDS" at the first Ryan White hearings of the 104th Congress yesterday.

 "Once primarily a coastal urban area problem, the HIV epidemic now reaches
to the smallest and most rural areas of this country," Kassebaum said.  "To
the extent that the needs have changed, the law should change as well."

 "Senator Kassebaum has a deep understanding of the full picture of the AIDS
epidemic in 1995," said Richard Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin
Republicans, the nation's largest lesbian and gay Republican organization,
which has made Ryan White its number one legislative priority for 1995. "She
is providing the kind of leadership that this issue needs right now."

 The Kansas Republican also announced her opposition to converting Ryan White
into a block grant program, preferring instead to preserve the funding
structure currently in place, adding that "the need for this important
legislation remains."

 Kassebaum also warned against infighting among interest groups within the
AIDS community as a result of formula changes, urging that everyone involved
focus on the needs of people with AIDS.

 "I realize that formula changes inevitably lead to tensions between
'winners' and 'losers,'" Kassebaum said.  "I would hope, however, that we
could approach the question of funding distribution with a view toward making
assistance available where it is most needed by individuals."

 "We can't let AIDS become a partisan issue from either the left or the
right," Tafel said.  "Senator Kassebaum understands this very well, and she
will guide the process in the Senate with a firm focus on the issues and not
the politics."