#rex wockner

BOSTON [July 17, 1989] — In a move that surprised many observers, the U.S, Immigration and Naturalization Service June 14 [1989] said it will grant citizenship to Masha Gessen, a 23-year-old Soviet immigrant who repeatedly emphasized that she is a lesbian while applying for naturalization.

[...]

Historically, the INS has denied visas, permanent residency and citizenship to homosexuals by classifying them as "not of good moral character," possessed of a "psychopathic personality," or as "sexual deviants." [...]

In a letter accompanying her citizenship application, Gessen taunted the INS by writing, "I ... believe myself to be a person of good moral character, despite the fact that I know that the INS has in the past stated that homosexuals are not people of good moral character."

According to Gessen, INS Boston district officials ignored the letter and, when asked about it directly by her lawyer, said it presented no problem whatsoever. [...]

[Openly gay U.S. Congressman Barney] Frank has introduced legislation in Congress to amend the "sexual deviancy" clause which, he said, can still be legally used against gay visitors and residency applicants. The measure is expected to pass this year.

[...]

Gessen is the editor of Next, a Boston-based gay and lesbian news magazine. She came to the U.S. at age 14 as a Jewish political refugee and felt that the circumstances of her emigration made her citizenship application an ideal test case.

"I came out after I was granted permanent residency, which means that I could not be deported for lying on my entry application, nor could I have my permanent residency taken away," she said. "In addition, I have no citizenship in any country, which would make it impractical for deportation to be carried out."

Gessen said she is disappointed her challenge didn't end up in court and vowed to pressure Boston INS district officials "to obligate themselves to give citizenship to gay people in the future."

Denmark Celebrates World's First Gay Weddings Copenhagen Couples Make History Under New Danish Law

COPENHAGEN [October 15, 1989] — In what is being hailed as a fundamental turning point in the fight for gay and lesbian equality, 11 gay male couples were legally married Oct. 1 [1989] in the Copenhagen, Denmark Town Hall.

Denmark is the first country in the world to allow gay/lesbian marriage and this was the day the new law took effect. The grooms included a high school teacher, a Lutheran minister and a school psychologist.

[...]

At the center of the festivities was 74-year-old Axel Axgil and his 67-year-old partner of 40 years, Eigil Axgil, who combined syllables from their given names to form a common surname. Axel founded the Danish gay rights movement by coming out of the closet in 1948. He was fired from his job the very next day.

"I'm quite overwhelmed with all these people and the press," Axel said through a translator, "but it's overall very beautifully put together."

"We just never could have dreamed we would get this far," added Eigil. "Of course, we always hoped we would be fully accepted and have the same rights as others."

Eigil said he was not troubled at being married amidst a "media circus" because it is "the necessary price you pay for making world history."

Many other gay and lesbian couples saw it differently, however, and postponed their weddings until later, Activists with the National Association for Gays and Lesbians (LBL) had thought that 50 to 100 couples might marry Oct. 1, but as the historical significance of the day became more apparent, several couples backed out.

[...]

Asked if he had any words of encouragement for gay and lesbian couples in other countries who might someday hope to be married, Eigil Axgil said, "Be open. Come out. Keep fighting. This is the only way to move anything. If everyone comes out of the closet then this will happen everywhere."

MONTREAL [June 26, 1989] — A Danish man with AIDS (PWA) en route to Montreal's Fifth International conference on AIDS was detained by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials at Logan airport in Boston June 2nd [1989]. The same day, a British AIDS activist travelling to San Francisco to receive experimental treatments was sent back home by INS agents in Minneapolis.

Both actions follow recently-revised INS guidelines allowing HIV-infected visitors into the U.S. for up to thirty days in order to attend conferences, conduct business, visit family, or obtain medical treament.

That revision followed a highly-publicized incident in April, when Dutch PWA Hans Paul Verhoef, en route to a gay and lesbian health conference in San Francisco, was imprisoned in Minnesota, where he had stopped to change planes.

[...]

Boston INS agents allegedly asked [Danish ADS researcher Knud] Josephsen if he had AIDS after he said that his first destination was Montreal. He acknowledged that he was HIV antibody-positive "because it's a matter of dignity to say yes to that question" and because he had AZT in his luggage, he said. (AZT is a drug taken by many people with AIDS and HIV illness.)

After several hours of detention, Josephsen was granted a $50 "HIV waiver," good for thirty days – three weeks less than the time of his reseoarch project.

"It's sad that the U.S. in this way disrupts the international network of seropositives," Josephsen said. "I see no reason why I should be a threat to the U.S."

[...] British activist Simon Watney explained the case of PWA Henry Wilson of the Terrence Higgins Trust, Britain's leading community-based AIDS organization.

Wilson, who was travelling to San Francisco June 2nd to participate in a drug trial, was arrested in Minneapolis by INS officers who verbally abused him, strip-searched him, and placed him in handcuffs, according to Watney.

Wilson was told he could wait six weeks in jail while application was made for an HIV waiver, or could return immediately to the United Kingdom, Watney said. There was apparently no explanation why Wilson was not offered an on-the-spot waiver.

"The preposterous fantasy that the United States is at risk from people with AIDS coming into the U.S. from outside is not only punitive to individuals who have to undergo this form of sadistic treatment, it is also profoundly irrational," Watney said.

COPENHAGEN [October 22, 1989] — I had been so busy snapping pictures and pleading for translations that I didn't get emotional until a day later.

As I was walking away from the $1-per-reprint photo store, it suddenly hit me that I had stood in the Copenhagen Town Hall (along with 3,000,000 other news reporters) and watched 11 gay male couples be legally married.

A mere 20 years after Stonewall.

A hard-assed journalist should not admit it in print, but I think one little Rex tear may have slipped down my cheek as I walked. The autumn air evaporated it immediately — if it was really there at all. Real journalists don't eat quiche.

The epicenter of the historic day, and the proximate cause of my alleged tear, was 74-year-old Axel Axgil and his 67-year-old lover of 40 years, Eigil Axgil.

The day after, as I repeatedly looked at their pictures in the newspapers, warm fuzzies fuzzed through my jet-lagged body.

"These are the bravest, most amazing senior citizens in the world," I gushed to my straight Danish pal Peter.

Axel, you see, was the first person to come out of the closet in Denmark. In 1948. He was fired the next day from his accounting job at an auto body shop.

A few years later, Axel and Eigil took the "Ax" from "Axel" and the "gil" from "Eigil" and legally changed their last names to "Axgil." Fifteen years before Stonewall.

[...]

So, I walked up to Eigil just after his marriage and asked him what he had to say to gay and lesbian couples in other countries who might hope to someday be married.

Eigil did not hesitate: "If everyone comes out of the closet, then this will happen everywhere. Be open. Come out. Keep fighting. This is the only way to move anything."

Hardly a news bulletin.

We already know that the reason [...] the U.S. is not Denmark has nothing to do with fundamentalists, with the Human Rights Commission, with the Lambda Legal Defense and. Education Fund, with Jesse Helms and Cardinal O'Connor.

We already know it has nothing to do with any of the things we might try to blame it on.

The fault, we know, lies with most of us.

Most of us haven't told our boss, our grandma, our barber, our Catholic aunts and uncles, and the strangers on the subway that we are homosexuals.

We haven't told them, so they don't know what a homosexual looks like.

We don't kiss goodbye on the subway, so they don't know that homosexuals love each other.

And — Quel Mystery! — that's all there is to why "Chicago (and the rest of the country) is not Copenhagen."

Check it out with Axel and Eigil — the first legally married homosexuals in the world.

Forty years ago, before there were any gay newspapers to bitch at you, they did what you, for some unknown. reason, are still afraid to do:

"BE OPEN. COME OUT. KEEP FIGHTING. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO MOVE ANYTHING. IF EVERYONE COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET, THEN THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERYWHERE."

MONTREAL [June 26, 1989] — U.S. AIDS activists in Montreal for the Fifth International conference on AIDS repeatedly clashed with Quebecers over the local policy of denying women entry to gay male bars and clubs.

As the tension increased, ACT UP/New York cancelled plans to hold a large party at Securité Maximum, a popular gay disco in Montreal.

Earlier in the week, several women accompanying ACT UP/Los Angeles' Mark Kostopolous were allowed entry, but only after Kostopolous threatened to organize a 600-person-strong demonstration the next night. [...]

According to a volunteer at Montreal's Gayline, the men-only policy is in place at most of Montreal's gay bars and remains unchallenged by gay, lesbian or heterosexual Quebecers.

[...]

[Marcel] Pleau and several other gay Quebecers also spoke of conflict between French-Canadian and American activists. Differences of opinion arose on the second day of the conference when Quebecers requested that the media be excluded from activist meetings. ACT UP members explained that they use the media to effect social change, while members of Montreal's Reaction SIDA said they didn't trust reporters. Since New Yorkers outnumbered locals, reporters were allowed to remain.

At several demonstrations, small groups of Quebecers could be faintly heard initiating French chants that were quickly drowned out, to their great dismay, said several gay Quebecers. [...]

ACT UP members said they regretted the cultural tensions but felt that overall their visit was tremendously successful.

BOSTON [October 29, 1989] — An unprecedented and aggressive three-year plan for "accessibility" at "lesbian, gay, feminist and leftie events" has been published in "working draft" form by the Boston-based journal Dykes, Disabilities & Stuff [DDS].

Although the plan deals with such common problems as wheelchair accessibility, sign language interpretation, braille translation and muiti-lingualism, DDS entered uncharted territory in lashing out at gay/lesbian insensitivity to persons with "environmental illnesses" and to "women of all sizes."

"Beginning immediately," plan drafters wrote, "events should be advertised as scent-free and 'sniffers' posted at the entrance to ensure that all who enter are in compliance. Anyone who is wearing scents should be turned away at the door." The plan also calls for air purifiers to "be placed throughout meeting/event spaces."

A second overlooked disability, according to DDS, is that of women who are too large to fit in standard seating.

"Larged sized women," the plan said, "should not have to choose between not attending an event or being bruised by the seating. Couches and armless chairs with wide seats...are acceptable alternatives."

Another disability issue brought to light by the plan is the dilemma of women who tire easily and require rest breaks.

"Women who must take breaks are excluded from full participation and their input is lost," drafters said. "We would propose that all decision making occur in the morning. This would ensure that decisions are not made by a small group of women remaining...after those who need to rest or eat have left."

Finally, the plan demands that food and drink be available at all times, including "sugar-free drinks for women who are diabetic or otherwise sugar-intolerant. Signs can be posted," the drafters said, "indicating that the presence of sugar-free drinks is not an endorsement of the diet industry, but is a form of accessibility."

The draft was prepared by Sara Karon and Catherine Odette, who stated that "once this plan is distributed to the world and publicized, we will no longer tolerate ignorance of what access means."

The plan preceded by two months a blow-up at the Labor Day First Annual East Coast Lesbians' Festival in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

At that event, four disabled lesbians and several able-bodied sympathizers blockaded the festival entrance and attempted to send festival-goers home. The protesters complained that the ramping of camp buildings for wheelchair access was inadequate, that hydraulic lift shuttle trucks were not equipped to handle scooters and that the festival site was, in general, too hilly.

Latin American Groups: Many Ideas, No Cash

VIENNA [August 14, 1989] — Latin American activists attending the International Lesbian and Gay Association 11th World Conference July 17–22 [1989] all told an identical story: They have hundreds of ideas for bringing gay liberation to their countries, but no money for only but the smallest of projects.

Gay and lesbian groups came to Vienna from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. At the first Latin American workshop, they detailed the important undertakings that have been put on hold: newsletters, newspapers, hotlines, AIDS services, offjce space — even telephone calls and stamps to stay in touch with each other.

Jorge Romero Mendoza, from Guadalajara, Mexico's Homosexual Pride Liberation Group (GOHL), said his organization has yet to recover from a bomb which destroyed the facade of the GOHL community center last March. The bomb was most likely planted by homophobes who believe gays brought AIDS to Mexico, Romero said. Since the explosion, GOHL has been unable to pay its rent or phone bill, and the group's disco has closed.

Still, Romero said GOHL members are hopeful and are moving forward with plans to host ILGA's 1991 conference. "I think we can do it," he said. "The governor of the province promised his help, as well as the mayor."

Mexico City was represented by Carlos Hernandez of the group Calamo, which provides legal, psychological, cultural and medical support to the gay male population of the world's largest city.

Calamo, too, is broke, and has suspended plans to open "an alternative space," publish a magazine and add a "human rights defense wing" to the organization, according to Hernandez.

Colectivo Sol works on AIDS issues in Mexico City and was represented at the conference by Raphael Manrique-Soto.

"What we're doing now," Manrique-Soto said, "is putting emphasis in rescuing the positive side of sex for gay men, because we think the reaction against AIDS has replaced the whole idea of feeling guilty about sex. AIDS has created a climate where homosexuality is discussed in the media without negativeness for the first time," Hernandez said.

[...]

From Peru came MOHL, the Homosexual Pride Liberation Movement. Spokeswoman "Rebeca" told conferees that social pressure in Peru forces many gay men and lesbians into heterosexua1 marriages.

The gay movement has been disrupted since 1980 by a civil war that has taken 10,000 lives, Rebeca said, "and the sensationalism and disinformation of AIDS has cerated a huge panic so that gay and lesbian people have, for example, been expelled from hospitals."

[...]

Chile was represented by "Lilian" of the lesbian-feminist group Ayuguelen. She said there are no gay male activists in Chile because men are afraid to come out of the closet.

"We work underground," Lilian said[. ...] There is no public treatment available in Chile for persons with AIDS, according to Ayuquelen. "If they are among the few who have money, they go to a private hospital," Lilian said. "Otherwise, they go home."

Activists Denounce Governor as 'Closet Case'

Springfield, Illinois [October 1, 1989] — Governor James Thompson Sept 11 [1989] signed a bill making it a possible crime for an HIV-positive person to kiss someone who doesn't know of the individual's positive status. The governor also repealed a one-of-a-kind state law requiring those seeking marriage licenses to take an HIV antibody test.

[...]

Since the law took effect on Jan. 1, 1988, 250,000 pre-marital HIV tests in Illinois turned up 52 antibody-positive individuals. Marriage license applications in counties bordering Wisconsin and Indiana, meanwhile, dropped as much as 21 per cent as lovers crossed state lines to avoid the "AIDS test" and the $20 to $150 lab fees.

While Thompson was applauded by AIDS, gay, civil rights and public health activists for repealing the marriage testing law, he was denounced for signing a measure making it a felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison, to "expose...the body of one person to the bodily fluid of another person in a manner that could result in the transmission of HIV."

And for the second September in a row, members of ACT UP/Chicago staged a rowdy march up Halsted Street in Chicago's gay neighborhood to Thompson's mansion Sept. 15, protesting his signature on legislation they called dangerous.

Before the evening was over, protesters had called Thompson a closet homosexual and burned the state flag of Illinois.

No Transmission Required

Last year Thompson signed a bill allowing doctors to test for HIV without patients' knowledge. This year it was a bill that makes it a felony for persons with HIV antibodies to share their body fluids with others without first announcing their HIV status. Violators could spend up to seven years in prison.

This year's bill, authored by arch-conservative state Rep. Penny Pullen (R-Park Ridge), does not require that transmission occur for a crime to be committed. It does, however, exclude the antibody-positive person from prosecution if the other individual "knew that the infected person was infected with HIV, knew that the action could result in infection with HIV, and consented to the action with that knowledge."

Pullen has said previously that government studies back up her position that open-mouth kissing falls within the law's parameters, even though the government has yet to record an actual instance of HIV transmission via kissing.

AIDS activists are calling the new law "outrageously vague," and point out that violation seems contingent — among other things — on the precise epidemiological knowledge of the person allegedly put at risk.