AIDS Activists Again Take Protest to County--Politely : Health care: Their restraint, after years of noisy protest, was reflective of the new liberal majority on the Board of Supervisors.

After years of noisy demonstrations before the conservative-run County Board of Supervisors, AIDS activists showed up Tuesday before the board, with its new liberal majority, to protest--albeit politely--delays in the spending of emergency funds to fight the deadly disease.

About 75 protesters sat quietly in the board chamber as supervisors not only ordered the health department to speed up the distribution of $7.8 million in emergency AIDS funds but took another action reflecting the shift in county policies. Splitting along ideological lines, the board voted 3 to 2 to oppose barring entry into the United States of HIV-infected persons.

“We can’t even afford AIDS care for American citizens,” said Supervisor Mike Antonovich, joined by fellow conservative Deane Dana in dissenting.

Supervisor Gloria Molina argued that the proposed change in federal immigration policy would still permit the deportation of foreigners who are unable to pay for their own health care. The board action was recommended by the county Commission on AIDS, which pointed out that the 8th International Conference on AIDS, scheduled for Boston next year, may be moved to another country “if the U.S. continues this discriminatory and unnecessary policy.”

The tenor of the meeting was a dramatic departure from a May, 1990, session when rubber-gloved sheriff’s deputies arrested 27 demonstrators who smeared “AIDS Care Now!” in red lipstick on a glass barrier in front of the supervisors.

Tuesday, no one was arrested. No one even hissed when Sheriff Sherman Block received a scroll from the supervisors.

“I’m much more hopeful than I was six months ago,” said Gunther Freehill, an AIDS activist.

Shortly after Molina took her seat on the board in March, the new liberal majority approved the distribution of bleach kits and condoms to fight the spread of AIDS.

But AIDS activists showed up Tuesday complaining that the county bureaucracy has been dragging its feet in distributing $7.8 million in emergency AIDS funds awarded under the federal Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Act. The first installment of $3.9 million was awarded in February.

So far, $2.7 million has been committed, said county health Director Robert Gates.

“Across the nation, Los Angeles County stands virtually alone in its inability to move these emergency dollars into the community,” complained Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

James Rosen, a member of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power/Los Angeles, told supervisors: “Each of you needs to have a staff person who is HIV-positive. How else can you understand the urgency of this disaster?”

Gates said the health department needs time to study the proposals from community organizations for use of the funds, to solicit bids and negotiate contracts.

“We are moving as quickly as we can figure out how to move,” Gates said.

But supervisors ordered Gates to allocate all of the funds by Sept. 1. When Supervisor Kenneth Hahn suggested that county bureaucrats work nights and weekends, if necessary, to allocate the AIDS funds by Sept. 1, the crowd broke into a rousing applause.