20-OCT-1993 17:04 EVANGELICAL LUTHERANS CONSIDER ROLE OF HOMOSEXUALS

    CHICAGO, Oct 20 (Reuter) - A draft report on sexuality this
week by the United States' largest Lutheran church affirmed gay
and lesbian relationships and described the use of condoms as a
"moral imperative."
    The first draft of "The Church and Human Sexuality: A
Lutheran Perspective," was released Wednesday by the 5.3-million-
member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and will be mailed
to 19,000 church leaders to elicit responses.
    Meant as a framework for discussion that will eventually
guide church members, the report states that "a church called to
love thy neighbour begins with pastoral concern for what gay and
lesbian persons are experiencing.
    The church's 67-member Conference of Bishops responded to the
report with "appreciation but also with reservations."
    The bishops disapproved of the church performing any ceremony
that would confer its blessing on homosexual relationships, but
said congregations should "explore the best ways to provide
pastoral care for all to whom they minister."
    Lutheran churches in this country have in the past wrestled
with the issue of whether to allow homosexuals to become
ordained.
    The draft report discusses at length the challenges faced by
both married and single people, and also addresses premarital
sex, divorce, contraception and sexual abstinence.
    On the issue of responsible sexual behaviour, the report said
that employing preventive practices such as the use of condoms
are "moral imperatives," given the unacceptability of exposing
partners to sexually transmitted diseases.
    But it stops well short of approving extra-marital sex.
    "Prior to a (marriage) commitment, we as a church affirm and
encourage abstinence," the report said.
    However, "It is the binding commitment, not the license or
ceremony, that lies at the heart of the biblical understandings
of marriage," it went on to say.
    "(Homosexuals) yearn to love and be loved in an enduring
relationship, though there is little church and societal support
to maintain such a committed relationship," it said.
    The report also confronts many of the biblical references
used to indict homosexuals and declares, "it is inappropriate to
use these passages by themselves as the basis for opposing all
committed, just, loving homosexual relationships today."
    The church task force that wrote the report said the document
will be discussed in church hearings, synod assemblies and other
settings next year and will be revised.

20-OCT-1993 18:40 AIDS researchers give upbeat reports at
national conference

By LIDIA WASOWICZ
UPI Science Writer
   SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Leading AIDS researchers delivered an
upbeat message Wednesday at a major meeting, noting renewed
enthusiasm, optimism and hope, as well as promising new vaccine
tests in the fight against the deadly disease.
   They are forging ahead with studies of long-term survivors,
combination drug therapies, individualized tests to determine
treatment effectiveness and inoculation trials on thousands of
homosexuals and drug abusers.
   The widespread discouragement and pessimism that followed last
summer's international AIDS conference in Berlin -- where
scientists presented a slew of disappointing study results for
what had been considered promising therapies -- have given way to
more positive attitudes, they said.
   "Although everyone agrees therapies need to be better than
they are, the mood has recovered," Dr. Paul Volberding, director
of the AIDS, or acquired immune deficiecy syndrome, Program at
San Francisco General Hospital, said at the Sixth National AIDS
Update Conference.
   Since the epidemic began in 1981, 315,390 Americans have been
stricken with AIDS, and 194,344 have died, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
   Of particular interest are studies of long-term survivors who
have remained symptom-free five years to 10 years after being
infected. They may provide a critical clue as to why some people
remain healthy while others become deathly sick when invaded by
the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, that causes AIDS.
   Although researchers have thus far failed to pinpoint what
sets the resistant apart, studies of the infected with no
symptoms indicate early intervention with low doses of the drug
AZT in patients with higher T- cell counts persistently slow the
disease, Volberding reported.
   Also on the front burner are therapeutic strategies involving
combinations of drugs.
   Scientists agree there is no good therapy for AIDS but hope
while waiting for a non-toxic and effective drug to be developed,
some combination of existing treatments might be used to prolong
and improve life for at least some patients.
   Promising initial results have been shown in a group of drugs
called protease inhibitors that block the growth of infectious
viruses.
   In addition, Volberding said researchers are on the verge of
developing tests that can quickly measure the effectiveness of a
treatment in an individual.
   Because of the wide range of symptoms and reactions to HIV
infection, such tests could prove vital in making sure no patient
gets over- or under-treated.
   Dr. Donald Francis, a researcher with Genentech Inc. of South
San Francisco, reported progress on an AIDS vaccine developed by
the biotechnology firm. In "remarkable results," the scientists
found the 300 subjects suffered no negative side effects aside
from sore arms.
   "One-hundred percent of the humans produced neutralizing
antibodies, which are cross-protective against various types of
the virus," Francis said. But "we do not know if they produce
enough to protect against the virus."
   To find out, researchers plan to test the vaccine on several
thousand gay men and drug users in late 1994.
   Francis said liability, cost and profits are the main
obstacles in getting more drug companies interested in
manufacturing an AIDS vaccine.