Insults Hurled in Debate on Condom Distribution

Supporters and opponents of a controversial proposal to make condoms available in Los Angeles schools traded insults during an emotional three-hour meeting on the East Side with most in the overflow audience voicing their objections to the idea.

A boisterous crowd of about 1,500 people packed the auditorium at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights to hear about a Los Angeles city schools task force report that expressed support for condom distribution on senior high campuses but rejected the proposal at junior high schools.

Controversy in the predominantly Latino neighborhoods surrounding Roosevelt surfaced after members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) distributed condoms outside the school’s gates last week.

At the Roosevelt meeting--the third of six called by district officials to discuss the condom proposal--many in the audience cheered on opponents of the condom distribution proposal and hissed those in favor.

One father of two students at Roosevelt got a rousing ovation when he took to the microphone to voice his displeasure at the plan.,

“If we keep the Ten Commandments, there is no need for fighting AIDS, especially in schools where students should be concentrating on their students,” George Cabrera said to the roar of an approving crowd.

Another father was hissed when he acknowledged that he had practiced a homosexual lifestyle.

But when David Alba, the father of two small girls, told the crowd he changed his sexual practices to protect his daughters, those in the audience cheered wildly.

“Homosexuality,” he said, “is not something you are. It’s something you choose. And my life is an example of that.”

Even a 28-year-old school nurse, who said she was a virgin, drew cheers when she said that condoms were not a 100% solution to stopping the spread of AIDS.

But when Dr. Aliza Lifshitz, president of the California Hispanic Medical Assn., said that the concerns expressed by school nurse Deborah Gilbert were based on outdated studies, the physician was hooted down.

Those in the audience favoring the condom proposal tried to drown out the other side with applause when a speaker supporting their viewpoint took to the microphone to speak.

An ACT UP activist drew a mixture of cheers and boos when he urged those at the meeting to “use your mind, don’t use your heart.”

One gay activist, Jarrow Rogovin, accused the hostile crowd of being anti-homosexual.

“These people are talking about education and they booed down the doctor (Lifshitz),” he said. “Half of my friends are dead and I’ve had it” with opponents’ arguments against condoms.

The school board, which must approve any plan the district adopts, is set to vote on the recommendations later this month. Two of the seven board members have said they support making condoms available, but others say they are assessing parents’ reactions before making a decision.

Times staff writer George Ramos also contributed to this story.