House OKs 90% Hike in AIDS Research Funds : Attack Against Gays Led by Conservatives From Orange County

The House voted Wednesday to increase federal spending for AIDS research by 90% over the next 12 months, but a small knot of conservatives used the debate on the deadly disease to launch an attack on homosexual behavior.

Leading the assault were two Orange County Republicans, William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton and Robert K. Dornan of Garden Grove, who said that incidence of the disease, which is often transmitted through male homosexual acts, would abate significantly if gay men would abstain from intimate contact.

In preliminary remarks Tuesday, Dannemeyer created a stir when he declared: “God’s plan for man was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” His graphic speech on the House floor was laced with anatomical detail of how homosexuals transmit AIDS.

‘Vulgar and Indecent’

Ron Najman, media director for the National Gay Task Force, dismissed Dannemeyer’s comments as “vulgar and indecent” and accused both congressmen of trying to “fuel the fires of hysteria” against homosexuals with misleading and medically inaccurate comments about AIDS.

The controversy came to a head as the House voted 322 to 107 for a $104.9-billion omnibus spending bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education for fiscal 1986, which began Tuesday.

The bill includes nearly $190 million for AIDS-related research, education and drug development programs. The 1985 AIDS budget was $100 million. The Reagan Administration had budgeted about $120 million for AIDS programs in fiscal 1986, which began Tuesday.

During Wednesday’s debate, Dornan called AIDS a “modern-day plague” and referred to Wednesday’s death from the disease of actor Rock Hudson to underscore demands for restricting some homosexual activities. “We have to help people who in many cases seem unable or unwilling to help themselves,” he insisted.

Amendment Approved

The House voted 417 to 8 to approve a Dornan amendment granting U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop the power to shut down gay bathhouses and massage parlors if he deems them public health hazards.

Most Democrats decided not to oppose the proposal after pointing out that Koop already had such authority. California Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of a House health subcommittee, ridiculed the proposal as “bashing gays.”

Democratic leaders prevented Dannemeyer from pressing votes on other AIDS-related amendments, including a ban on federal grants to cities that refuse to close gay bathhouses.

Dannemeyer also had proposed making it a felony for male gays and others considered at high risk of contracting AIDS to knowingly donate blood. In addition, he would have ensured the right of health care professionals to wear protective medical gear while treating AIDS patients.

Hospital Controversy

That proposal was made in response to a controversy at San Francisco General Hospital, where some officials sought to dissuade nurses from donning surgical masks and other special equipment during routine treatment of AIDS patients. Although the nurses feared that they might contract the fatal disease, federal health officials contend that no evidence shows that AIDS can be transmitted in any other manner than through sexual contact or blood transfusions.

In a telephone interview, Najman said that AIDS is not confined to the homosexual community and that in Africa, for example, it is transmitted primarily through heterosexual contact. “It’s quite clear the congressmen (Dornan and Dannemeyer) are not in the possession of the facts about the gay community,” Najman said.

Meanwhile, in New York, Diane McGrath, the Republican challenger to Democratic Mayor Edward I. Koch, called for the closing of gay bathhouses, bars and theaters to help stop the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein last year made a similar proposal but dropped it under fire from the large gay community in that city.