ARTICLES & FICTION
20 "LOVING MIRRORS"
By Doug Richards
24 "LARRY KRAMER"
By Alan R. Yoffee
48 "GAY DOLLARS"
By Tracy Baim
62 "POSTCARDS FROM AMSTERDAM"
"CHADPMcGehee
66 "Chad Douglas"
By Robert W. Richards VISUALS
8 "FEVER PITCH"
By Chris Morris
27 "QUINTESSENTIAL QUINN"
From Falcon Studios
32 "RED RIDER, RED RYDER"
From Eagle Studio
38 "WAR BUFF"
By David
51 "WRANGLER AT 40"
By Chuck
73 "GIANT SPLASH SHOTS II"
From Falcon Studios MONTHLY FEATURES
4 "QUICKIES"
14 "ROUNDUP" (Film, Books, Theatre, Music)
18 "SMOKE FROM JEAnnie'S LAMP"
44 "VIDEO VIEWS"
57 "CONTACTS" EDITORIAL
The question of balancing health concerns against civil rights weighs heavily
on the legislative conscience these days, so heavily that at least one presidential
hopeful, Sen. Robert Dole, has said that the AIDS crisis will be a key issue
in the '88 campaign for the White House. Among the many aspects of the crisis,
the question of quarantine continues to be debated at all levels, yet too many
Americans still refuse to draw the parallel between quarantine detention facilities
and Nazi concentration camps, and too many members of the gay community still
believe it can't happen here.
We would, therefore, like to call attention to an event that occurred recently
in the state of Mississippi. There, last winter, a self-admitted male prostitute
named James McIntyre was brought before a grand jury on a sodomy charge, then
released on bail. He had previously been arrested sixty-six times on prostitution-related
charges, and though by his own admission, is a carrier of the AIDS virus, has
continued to ply his trade. Within hours, state officials issued a "quarantine"
order "of indefinite duration" against him, forbidding him to engage
in any inter-personal sexual activity without first informing his partner that
he has tested positive. The "quarantine" further prohibits him from
donating blood and requires him to attend counseling sessions — or be
sentenced to a six-month jail term and a maximum fine of $500.
How can one quarrel with those officials who issued the restrictions against
a man who has repeatedly proved himself to be a lethal threat to society? The
current terms of the "quarantine" include no detention camps, no gas
ovens, no tattooing. Is it not, then, both reasonable and essential?
Or is it? This is the sort of extreme case that legislators point to in defending
the need for quarantine bills, such as those now before the legislatures of
Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, and North Carolina — some of which do include
provisions for detention, misdemeanor charges against physicians who do not
report names, and jail terms for AIDS carriers who have sexual relations without
informing partners first. Political pundits give these bills little chance of
passage, and so we breathe an uneasy sigh of relief, and say once again that
it can't happen here.
But here, in America, the first gay male has been quarantined.
Jerry Douglas
Editor
