Our Own, May 1984

              FREE
VOLUME 8 NUMBER 7 MAY -1984
Warrington New President
DePriest Resigns VGA Post
by Keith Maranger
At its regular monthly meeting, held
April 14 in Richmond, the board of di- ­rectors
of the Virginia Gay Alliance
(VGA) announced the resignation of
Thomas B. DePriest as president of the
organ~zation. This was followed by the
election, by a unanimous ~ote, of
Kenneth Warrington as the new VGA
president. Warrington had been named
vice-president in March to replace
Steve Proffitt who resigned. Until his
recent election as president,
Warrington had also occupied the posi­tion
of chair of VGA 1s Tidewater chap­ter.
The VGA 1s state board also selec­ted
Pam Jarvis, vice-chair of the
Arlington chapter, to succeed
Warrington as vice-president.
Tom ·DePriest c-ited 11 burnout11 as the
primary reason for his resignation.
He said that his personal life and
professional life had been 110n hold 11
over the past year and a half, and that
VGA needed 11other people 11 and 11other
directions. 11
DePriest said that he had been will­ing
to be a 11 focal point11 in ·vGA. He
continued, 11What I had not anticipated
is that I'd have to convince lesbian
and gay people in _the stat~ of the
dignity of what we were trying to do ...
I am not- a promoter .·11 DePri est said
that VGA recently mailed 1,000 letters
concerning a fundraiser in ~arch and
received only 35 responses, and he
cited this incident as 11 the straw that
brqke the camel 1s back ... That 1s the
thing that annoyed me personally. 11
DePriest said that he still intends
to assist VGA in thP job of preparing
-and sending questionnaires to sena-
- torial and congressional candidates
in this year's fall election. He
stressed the . importance of changing
Virginia's alcoholic beverage control /
and sodomy laws, since _11those two laws
legitimi~E: the prejudice (against
gays). 11 He expressed the belief that
changing thes~ laws will provide a
legal foundation for further changes,
such as non-discriminatory hiring
practices. DePriest said that he favors
the adoption of a statewide human
rights statute; even if sexual orienta­tion
is not included as a protected
category. (At least one recently draft­ed
human rights proposal excludes sexu·
al orientation.) _ · .
Although DePriest did not have any
-specific recommendations for newly­elected
Ken .Warrington, he did suggest
that VGA· consider hiring an executive
director with an office in Richmond,
who could maintain frequent contact
with state legislators and politicians.
He said that he was 11very pleased11
that VGA 11 now (has) the core of people
who are willing to work. 11
Warrington said that, as president;
he hopes to increase the participati~n
of gays and non-gays in the VGA. He
commended Tom DePriest and the 11 found­ing
fathers of VGA11 for having 11done
the gay community a fantastic service.''
Warrington said that he is 11 thankful 11
that legislators can now go to one _
organization such as VGA and 11 talk in
honesty. 11 He also said that he will
announce his specific plans for a
series of gay leadership conferences
around the state, at the regular board
of directors meeting on May 20 when
the new office-holders will begin
their terms. -
Warrington announced that Brett Cook
will replace him as chair of VGA 1s
Tidewater chapter. He added that Betsy
Ashby will be the new vice-chair of
the chapter·•
Ne_w Fiction-
5eepage8
Censorship Debate at TNCC
by Doug Thompson
Recent actions by the administra­tion
of Thomas Nelson Community College
(TNCC) in Hampton have affected the dis­tribution
of Our OtiJri. on campus and led
to a charge of 11 ce'nsorship of speech,
information and ideas 11 agains·t the ad­ministration
by the Faculty Forum. The
first action, a policy change which
went into effect last November, stopped
the di-stribution of Our OtiJri. and other
free publications in the college li­brary,
and required that free materials
thereafter be cleared by Mr. Rhomie
Heck, Director of Development and
Public Information', before being dis- Thomas s. Kubaux., Presid?nt
tributed in 11 Gator 1 s, 11 the college Thomas Nelson CommunityCoUege
cafeteria. In a related move, Mr. -
Heck issued a memorandum to all administrators a~d superviscrs on the col~ege
staff which stated that only he is to answer inquiries from the media.
Our awn learned of the policy change regarding free publications during
the distribution of its November issue. Prior to the change, copies of Our
OtiJrz. had been available· in the library at TNCC for about four years, on a
counter near the information desk, along with a variety of other f~ee publi-cations.
·
· On December 1, a repres·entative of our OtiJri. met with Mr. Heck to request
a clarification of the new ·policy and an explanation of the criteria Mr. Heck
would use to- determine whether a p_ubl ication submit~ed to his office could
or could not be distributed at Gator's. Mr. Heck declined to reveal any cri­teria,
stating that the college would ~ither distribute or .not distribute par-ticular
publications 11at its own discr-etion. 11
•
On December 12, President Kubala responded by letter to a written re­quest
from our OtiJri. for a clarification of the college's criteria by stating
only that ·0ur Oti.m would continue to be distributed, along with other publica­ti~
ns, at Gator's.
Continued on page 13
Norfolk Candidate Deborah Lass
Photo by Garland Tillery
Gay Issues Raised
.In Va. Council Races
Gay ana lesbian rights issues emerged
jn May 1 city council elections of at
_ least four ttties in Virginia, signal-
1 i ng an unprecedented- gay presence on
the state's"" political scene.
The Norfolk race had the only openly
gay candidate in Virginia races, and al­though
she placed last in the field of
ten candidates, her campaign won the
respect of other political figures and
was seen as a source of encouragement
-for that city's gay and lesbian communi-ty.
Gay, lesbian artd femin1st issues al­so
-surfaced in candidates• ·forums held
in the cities of both Norfolk and
Richmond.
In the cities of Roanoke and Char­lottesville
gay organizations publishe:I
ratings of candidates. Also in the city
of Virginia Beach, although no specifi­cally
gay issues were publicly debated,
a fundamentalist minister, the Rev.
Anne Giminez, was resoundly defeated in
her first try for-elective office.
(In 1980 Giminez led a fight to have
certain gay literature, including Our
Oum, banned from local libraries.)
In ftorfolk Deborah A. Lass, the les­bian
candidat~whose campaign focused
on .making city ·government more 'respon­sive
to citizens• need~, polled 882
votes out of a total of almost 36,000.
i~inners in ·the Nor:fol k race were incu~
bents Elizabeth Howell and Joseph A.
Leafe, and newcomer Rev. John Foster.
In Richmond, two candidates who, in
a candidates• forum, strongly opposed
discrimination against gays--Willie J.
Uell and Stanley E. Baker-- both lost.
In Roanoke the local chapter of the
Virginia Gay Alliance had rated the
candidates on a scale of O_ to 100, \',/ith ·
100 being most favorable. Mayor Noel
Taylor, with a 70 rating, won over his
Continued -on page 10
Researchers Announce Major
Brea-kthroughs _
Three major medi- The breakthrough will also detect
cal research break- the AIDS virus in donated blood.
throughs that may The findings led American research-significantly
affect ers to expect the development of an
the treatment of hep- AIUS vaccine in about two years.
atitis B, AIDS and '. The Washington Post's April 27 re-genital
herpes were port on genital herpes revealed that
announced in April. an oral form of acyclovir has had
The Wall Street a significant effect on the treatment
Journal reported of genital herpes. Doctors from five
(April 29) th~ de- medical centers report that daily use
velopment of a syn- prevents recurrence in 13 out of 17
thetic hepatitis B patients for up to eight months and .
vaccine; The New shortens the period a victim is infec-
York Times (April tious.
24) report~d the Further research on oral acyclovir
isolation of the refro-virus research- is needed. The Food and Drug Adminis-
<!rs believe is the cause of AIDS; and tration may approve -the oral form for
The Washington· Post {April 24) report- g~neral use this year. Currently .the
·ed s·ignificant results in the treatment ointment costs $18 to $24 for a two
ment of genital herpes with an oral to three week supply.a
-form of acyclovir, a ·drug previously '
used as an ointment. - -Compiled by Mark Hiers
Researchers at the New York Blood
Center and at the California Institute
of Technology jointly announced a lab­oratory
advance that rnay lead to an
· inexpensive, synthetic hepatitis B
vaccine in two to four years. Current
treatment co·sts $100 for a three-in­ject-
ton course of a genetically en-
-gi nee red vaccine manufactured in the
United States by Merck & Co.
Scientists isolated two ~ntig~ns
from hepatitis B virus that cause a
response from the body's immune sys­tem.
Biologist Stephen B.H. Kent of
Caltech reproduced the antigens•
molecules synthetically. Testing on
laboratory animals will continue
prior to any decision to test human
subjects. '
. Federal researchers announced April
23 that they had found a virus, call­~
d HTLV-3, they believed to cause
AIDS. This announcement followed that
of scientists at the Pasteur Institute
in Paris which reported isolating a
similar virus, LAV.
Margaret M. Heckler, secretary of
Health and Human Services, believes
the two vi ruses wi 11 be proved i dent i-­ca
1.
INSIDE
A Letter from Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Eddie Murphy Disease Foundation .... 2
Gay Rights Don't Matter in Virginia ........ 2
Gay Pride in Norfolk ..................... 3
NYC Gay Pride March 'Legal' ............. 3
Around Virginia .......................... 4
--'True West' Reviewed ........... : ........ : 5
F'erron-Live at Last. : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Thoughts on Coming Out at Work ......... 6
Gay Fathers Conference ..... _. ............ 7
Monrean Begins Job .· •................... 7'
Inner Limits .......................... 8 & 9 ·
You & The Law .......................... 10
Achieving Mental Health ...... · .......... -. 10
The Word Made Whole . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Scandals Easter Show ......... : .... : . . . . 12
.ACT Peoples Choice Award ............. 12
Classified ................. _: ............ 14
Directory ............................... 15
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