Notre Dame gridiron contest Saturday - SPORTS
JOEL ORDESKY DAILY TROJAN
Dr. James Mosley
Professor advises safe sex to protect against AIDS
By Beth Laski
Staff Writer
"AIDS should never have been designated as a gay disease/' said Dr. James Mosley, addressing the topic, "AIDS is no longer just a gay issue."
Mosley emphasized that AIDS is most frequently transmitted through sexual intercourse, and that individuals should take responsibility for themselves and either not have sex or have safe sex.
Mosley, a USC professor of medicine and the recipient of a $23.9 million grant for research on the transmission of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, spoke Tuesday in Norris Theater.
Sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Student Assembly and the Student Health Advisory Committee, the speech was coordinated to find out the latest information about Mosley's grant and the research being done, said Rich Falconer, director of the Gay and Lesbian Student Assembly.
The "exceedingly severe" disease, first recognized in June of 1981 in the gay community and the hemophiliac population, has caused an enormous amount of fear, Mosley said.
The most frequent victims of the epidemic are homosexual and bisexual men, intravenous drug users, Haitians and hemophiliacs.
The cause of the deadly disease baffled scientists until research teams at the National Cancer Institute and the Louis Pasteur Institute in Paris announced in early 1984 that they had identified the virus responsible for AIDS as HTLV III.
Mosley discussed how the disease is caused by the transmitted agent and how the search for cases began following the initial detection of AIDS.
As of September 1985, 13,402 cases had been detected in the United States. Of those cases, 6,330 deaths have occurred.
The Transfusion Safety Study, directed by Mosley, examines what happens to blood donors who have AIDS antibodies and what consequences face those who receive the infected blood.
The AIDS virus destroys the body's "helper" T-cells which stimulate the immune system to fight diseases. The impaired immunity function leaves AIDS victims vulnerable to other infections.
With funding from the grant, the series of studies on the transmission of AIDS through blood transfusions will focus particular attention on patients with hemophilia.
"This research project is a continuation of many efforts in recent years to ensure that safe blood is provided for medical use," Mosley said.
One of the project's primary objectives, achieved in April of this year, was to develop a blood screening test that is now being used to test samples of blood previously given by 200,000 donors. Researchers will then follow as many as 400 people who are indenti-fied as previous recipients of blood transfusions containing antibodies for the AIDS virus.
The next step to be taken in the research is to evaluate how predictive the tests are in determining the liklihood of infection in transfusion recipients, Mosley said. "We will also investigate what happens to donors whose blood contains antibodies, to see if they later develop AIDS," he added.
"The presence of antibodies indicates that the donors have been exposed to the virus, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they will develop AIDS in the future or that they will transmit AIDS to blood recipients," said Mosley.
The results of the tests conducted will be vital for all persons exposed to the virus by any means, Mosley said.
Volume XCIX, Number 39
Gay Marine seeks discharge
Fears court-martial
By Terry Allen
Staff Writer
Marine Sgt. Rolf Lindblom, a part-time mechanical engineering major at the university, wants a discharge from the Marines. He says he is gay. The Marines want proof.
Afraid of being court-martialed, Lindblom refuses to provide that proof, but without it, his superiors will not give him an honorable discharge.
Like all branches of the U.S. military, the Marine Corps does not tolerate homosexuality.
"I started by speaking to an officer about it," Lindblom said. "I told him I was gay and there wasn't a problem at first. Everything was endorsed and forwarded to the right people. All of a sudden, though, as it went up into the hierarchy, there was a controversy."
"When anyone applies for an enlistment or commission in any of the armed services, he's asked a battery of questions," said Chuck Henry, director of the Marine Corps' Public Affairs Office in Los Angeles. "One of these (questions) is whether he has engaged in homosexual conduct. If he answers in the affirmative, he is, by law, ineligible."
After an individual has enlisted, if he admits to participating in homosexual activity, he is subject to dismissal, "perhaps under less than honorable conditions", Henry said.
"You can be court-martialed," Lindblom said. "But it's no different than it is for a civilian. You're just tried in front of a court.
"But you can't be tried unless you make a written statement or an oral statement saying that you've had sex wdth someone of the same sex," he continued. "And I'm not going to do that."
Lindblom's case, while not unique, has risen out of what he calls a vague policy concerning homosexuality in the armed services.
"The way the law is written, you can only be court-martialed if you do something 'very destructive to the unit's morale'," Lindblom said. "But I think those rules are a little vague. They're looking at homosexuality as a sex act and not a lifestyle. There's a lot more to it than that."
Lindblom, who in his five years of service has
received a number of military accolades, said his superiors have had a hard time accepting that he is
gay
"They have this misconception that if you're gay, there's something wrong with you," he said. " 'Look at all the good things he's done,' they said, 'there's just no way he can be gay.' "
Lindblom said that until recently he painstakingly concealed his homosexuality from colleagues in South Carolina and Japan, for fear of being dishonorably discharged.
Reassignment in Los Angeles, however, "made it a lot easier to be myself", he said.
"It got harder and harder to hide myself," Lindblom said. "At first I made up Maritza, my girlfriend, so they wouldn't suspect anything. But then they would call and invite me places. Of ccurse I had to say I couldn't. How do you keep that going? It's become virtually impossible.
"When I was reassigned to Los Angeles, it was like coming home," he said. "Los Angeles is like New York in a lot of ways. It's a cosmopolitan city. There's an active gay community here."
Lindblom will not stand alone in this controversy. The American Civil Liberties Union has stepped in on his behalf and will likely defend him if the Naval Investigative Service recommends punitive action.
The university's Gay and Lesbian Student Union is also prepared to offer its services to Lindblom.
"We will do everything we possibly can," said Rich Falconer, director of the Gay and Lesbian Student Assembly. "The Law School has a Gay and Lesbian Law Union which we are attempting to contact. Because we are just a c’-ib right now, we can't give him any financial help, but we want to offer our emotional support."
Lindblom, although prepared to follow through to the end, believes the case is now largely out of his own hands.
"I've done everything legitimately, according to Marine policy," he said. "And I'm exhausted. I'm going to have to let things go as they're going now
—	public. I'll never give them what they want. I'm not a martyr, but I want my peace back."
University of Southern California	Wednesday,	October	23,	1985
ABEL ESPINOZA/DAILY TROJAN
Actor Pierce Brosnan signs autographs during a break from Thursday's filming of Remington Steele near Doheny Library.
Piernik leaves Greek position for Northridge
By Joan Whitney
Staff Writer
Tom Piemik, former coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life, resigned last Friday from his post at the university to take a position at California State University, Northridge.
Piemik was hired by the Campus Activities Office at Northridge two weeks ago, said Richard Williams, assistant dean of student programs there. As the new activities chairman at Northridge, Piemik will work with the Greek system and other student organizations.
Williams said Piemik will not begin working at Northridge until Nov. 18 and he "probably has some programs at USC he wants to complete."
However, the university's Greet A “=»irs Office said Piemik no k. «. works here.
In a memo sent to faculty members, Piemik said it is going to be difficult for him to leave this university. The Trojan family will always hold a special place for him and he loves USC, the Greek system and the students, Piemik said.
Piemik began working at this university in August of 1980 as
(Continued on page 3)
trojan