by Peter DeLvecchio

HIV/AIDS groups slam budget cuts

In Jan. 10 releases, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and AIDS Project Los Angeles slammed proposed cuts of $11 million in HIV/AIDS funding in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed 2008- 2009 California state budget. Affected programs include AIDS Education and Prevention, HIV Counseling and Testing, AIDS Epidemiology Studies and Surveillance and California’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

“Cutting crucial AIDS services at the same time the Centers for Disease Control is preparing to release new nationwide data showing a stark increase in HIV cases … is a very poor budget and public health strategy,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein, in the AHF release.

“Slashing ADAP not only endangers the health of poor people with HIV/AIDS,” said APLA Executive Director Craig Thompson, “but also guarantees them a trip to the emergency room if they get sick, and in the end, the state will pay.”

Interestingly, in his Jan. 8 State of the State address, Schwarzenegger said, “Talking about fiscal responsibility sounds so cold when you have a representative for AIDS patients ... sitting across from you.”

Mattachine Society co-founder Kennith Burns dies

Kennith H. Burns, co-founder and early leader of the Mattachine Society, died Dec. 16 in Burbank of lung failure, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 81. Mattachine was founded in Los Angeles in 1950 by Harry Hay, Burns and others. Chapters were soon formed in other cities nationwide; the goals were to unify gay people, develop an “ethical” gay culture, lobby for the repeal of sodomy laws and otherwise fight oppression. Burns was Mattachine’s president from the mid-1950s until 1959, and urged members to assimilate into the general society. The national organization splintered in 1961. Until the mid-’60s, the various Mattachine groups were the nation’s leading gay rights organizations, but after the Stonewall riots in 1969, they came to be seen by many as too conservative and nonconfrontational, and ultimately disbanded. As president, for example, Burns said, “We must blame ourselves for much of our plight. When will homosexuals ever realize that social reform, in order to be effective, must be preceded by personal reform?” After Mattachine, Burns remained active in the gay community, and was honored by the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination.

Anti-LGBT student rights referendum fails

A referendum to repeal a statute providing anti-discrimination protections for LGBT students has fallen short of the number of signatures required to place it on the November 2008 ballot, states a Jan. 10 Sacramento Bee “Capitol Alert.” The Student Civil Rights Act, authored by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), took effect Jan. 1 and is being challenged in federal court in San Diego by anti-gay groups on constitutional and other grounds. Kuehl calls the suit “frivolous,” and says the new law simply reinforces existing protections. The state moved to dismiss the suit Jan. 11.

“Californians stood with us and said ‘no’ to turning back the clock on civil rights and protecting all youth from discrimination in our schools,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, who joined with the Gay-Straight Alliance Network last December in filing a suit defending the statute. The referendum’s sponsors have filed a new initiative to repeal the law.

Episcopal Church bans California bishop

The Episcopal Church banned a California bishop from practicing for two months on Jan. 11, reports the Sacramento Bee. Fresno Bishop John-David Schofield drew the ire of the national church when he led his conservative diocese in taking the first step in December toward seceding from the church over its relatively liberal stance on issues of homosexuality. A rift opened between the American church and the worldwide Anglican Communion, and also within the U.S. church, over the appointment in 2003 of openly gay New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, leading several U.S. dioceses to begin the secession process.

Green Party holds presidential debate

The Green Party held a “Presidential Debate that Matters” in San Francisco Jan. 13, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The five candidates were former Georgia Democratic Congressmember Cynthia McKinney, environmental engineer Kent Mesplay, hip-hop scholar and professor Jared Ball, Texas activist Kat Swift and West Virginia actor and filmmaker Jesse Johnson. Said McKinney, “This is not a joke. This is about starting a real movement in this country.” Ralph Nader, sometimes called a spoiler in the 2000 presidential contest won by George W. Bush, also addressed the crowd of about 800. For information about the Green Party, visit www.gp.org.

Domestic partners win tax break

On Jan. 3, the California Supreme Court rejected an appeal by county assessors from a lower court decision permitting domestic partners to inherit property from each other without new tax assessments, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The assessors contended that 2003 Board of Equalization rules, and a 2005 state statute granting domestic partners these rights, were unconstitutional because Proposition 13, which was passed in 1978 and reduced property taxes, and a 1979 measure that exempted transfers between spouses and to children or grandchildren from increased taxes, but did not mention domestic partners, trumped the later provisions.

Black LGBT groups to hold presidential forum

Several black LGBT groups will hold a presidential election forum Jan. 23 at the Lucy Florence Coffee House and Cultural Center at 3351 W. 43rd Pl., in Los Angeles. The event is billed as “the first of its kind that features the voices and opinions of African-American LGBT persons, a community whose voice often goes unheard in both the mainstream gay community and African-American community.”

One of the participating groups is In the Meantime Men’s Group, which hosted its annual King Day Celebration Jan. 15 at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. “During the month of February, people from around the country will come together to recognize Black History Month and National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Week. It is our hope that the collective Los Angeles community will come together to define liberation, both individually and collectively,” says Executive Director Jeffrey King.

For information on the presidential forum, call Jasmyne Cannick at (323) 839-0216.