Board of Edutn of Oklahoma Cy v. Natnal Gay Task Force | The First Amendment Encyclopedia

Contents:

• THE NATNAL GAY AND LBIAN TASK FORCE: FIGHTG HIV/AIDS OM THE BEGNG
• BOARD OF EDUTN OF OKLAHOMA CY V. NATNAL GAY TASK FORCE (1985)
• NATNAL GAY AND LBIAN TASK FORCE

THE NATNAL GAY AND LBIAN TASK FORCE: FIGHTG HIV/AIDS OM THE BEGNG

The Natnal LGBTQ Task Force is dited to achievg eedom and jtice for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer people, and their fai through proactive, targeted, change-ducg iativ.

Also known as: NGLTF, Natnal Gay Task Force, Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force, The Task Force. Natnal LGBTQ Task Force, byname the Task Force, formerly Natnal Gay Task Force (1973–85) and Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force (1985–2014), Amerin nonernmental anizatn found 1973 that advot for the civil rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ) dividuals. The anizatn mpaigned to have homosexualy removed as a tegory of mental disorr the 1970s.

In that same time perd enuraged the Democratic Party to nsir the civil and human rights of the gay muny. In 1984 the anizatn issued the first extensive report on hate crim directed at the gay muny, documentg anti-gay victimizatn and vlence. As a foundg member anizatn of the Milary Freedom Project, the Task Force helped set the amework for the 1993 bate about gays servg the to the Obergefell v.

BOARD OF EDUTN OF OKLAHOMA CY V. NATNAL GAY TASK FORCE (1985)

Kaposi’s sara, a relatively benign form of ncer olr people, aggrsively stck young gay men New York Cy. As more and more data accumulated, GRID (gay-related immune ficiency), AID (acquired immunoficiency disease), “gay ncer” or “muny-acquired immune dysfunctn, ” changed nam and changed shape.

Bce Voeller, former executive director of the Natnal Gay Task Force, would nduct early rearch tablishg that ndoms prevent the spread of AIDS, and he tablished the e of the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, rather than the accurate and stigmatizg “Gay Related Immune Deficiency” to scribe this syndrome. Origally thought to be nfed to gay men, s began to be reported hemophiliacs, Haians and women.

Alarms sound all over the untry, but pecially for gay men and those who red about them. What seemed to be a mor medil mystery morphed to the most profound public health tastrophe to strike gay muni the Uned Stat.

NATNAL GAY AND LBIAN TASK FORCE

In 1982, Virgia Apuzzo, then executive director of the Natnal Gay Task Force New York Cy, saw big trouble brewg. And a toxic brew turned out to be: a sexually transmted, ially untreatable and fatal disease primarily affectg gay and bisexual men mixed wh ep-seated homophobia and sex phobia.

Dpe lnch of lol first-rponr anizatns like the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) New York Cy, Apuzzo believed that meetg the health crisis at sle required rourc om the feral ernment. In 1983, she brought Jeff Levi on to the Task Force staff; Levi was the first AIDS lobbyist om a gay anizatn to work the halls of Congrs and feral agenci. The anizatn changed s name to the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force and reloted s office to Washgton, D.

Levi voted the next four years to advotg for effective feral policy and fundg and fightg off the homophobia-lan legislative iativ g om the lik of Sen. At the same time, NORA and other groups drew polil and public attentn away om AIDS as an epimic gay and bi muni, the “-gayg of AIDS, ” as beme known. Such victori, though, were also punctuated by vic attacks fueled by homophobia and irratnal fear of HIV transmissn.

Of particular importance, jt days after the 1987 March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights, Helms succeed passg an amendment to an AIDS tn bill that outlawed feral funds for AIDS tn that “promote or enurage, directly or directly, homosexual activi. In other words, AIDS tn materials supported by feral funds would be stripped of any culturally petent language directed to gay and bi men about how to prevent the spread of AIDS: ndom e, rmatn about risks associated wh anal and oral sex, and advice about negotiatg safe sex wh sexual partners.