Aids Becomes a Political Issue

By Alessandra Stanley

Right-Wing Activist Phyllis Schlafly was back on the warpath. Holding an open letter to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop at a Washington press conference last Friday, Schlafly denounced him for appearing to advocate the "teaching of safe sodomy in public schools." She accused Koop, a conservative born- again Christian, of not sufficiently promoting chastity. Though the letter, signed by 54 other activists, was addressed to Koop, its message was aimed much further. According to Schlafly, "this is a political issue, and how politicians address it is very important."

The AIDS epidemic is fast moving toward the top of the New Right's agenda of pressing social issues. Fierce opposition to condom advertising and "safe sex" instruction in schools is only the first line of battle. The crusaders have also declared war on public health officials for not adopting stringent anti-AIDS measures such as mandatory testing and emergency quarantine. "AIDS is the No. 1 underground issue of our time," says Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. "We have a sick public health community that has been frankly intimidated by the homosexual lobby." Richard Viguerie, a New Right fund raiser, calls AIDS the "first politically protected disease in the history of mankind."

"Initially most traditional-value types saw AIDS as a natural cause and . effect," explains Bob Grant, chairman of the lobbying organization Christian Voice. "People with unsafe and immoral behavior were reaping its results." The AIDS-related death of Terry Dolan, a founder of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, made it an awkward subject among some New Right activists. But in the wake of recent studies showing that AIDS is spreading to the heterosexual community, the right stopped averting its eyes. Two other developments further energized the right: this month's Supreme Court decision granting victims of communicable diseases the same rights in the work force as the handicapped, and last month's Centers for Disease Control conference on AIDS, which advised against mandatory AIDS testing.

Republican Congressman William Dannemeyer of California has helped set the agenda by introducing five different AIDS bills that call for, among other things, mandatory testing for homeless people seeking Government-funded medical treatment and making it a felony for people with the AIDS virus to donate blood, semen or organs knowingly. Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus has begun a direct-mail fund-raising drive on the issue. Other groups have begun lobbying on the Hill and in their communities. H. Edward Rowe, president of the Christian Mandate for America, has established the National AIDS Prevention Institute.

Republican Presidential Candidate Pete DuPont felt the political undercurrents of AIDS while addressing the Council for National Policy, a somewhat secretive club of New Right activists and contributors, at the Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Fla., last month. A teenager in the audience drew a standing ovation when he asked the former Delaware Governor whether he agreed that AIDS was a sign from God that homosexuality is an "abomination." When DuPont replied that AIDS was a "medical problem, not a moral problem," he was booed. Said an activist in the audience: "DuPont blew it."

So far, most civil liberties groups believe the crusade does not have the potential to radicalize government policy or public opinion. "There is increased agitation," admits Jeff Levi, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, "but I don't see it getting anywhere." Many leaders of the New Right, however, are determined to make AIDS an issue that could eclipse abortion as a conservative litmus test for campaigners. "There is a current moving out there that politicians will have to respond to," says Weyrich. Warns Jeffrey Bell, an adviser to Congressman Jack Kemp: "Anyone advocating the American Civil Liberties Union line on AIDS will not be acceptable in the Republican nomination fight."