Lavender liberals recently held the National Conference of Openly Lesbian and Gay Elected and Appointed Officials in Minneapolis. Graced by the presence of two delegates from Canada’s New Democratic Party and one from the British House of Commons, the conference adopted a resolution (supported by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Senator Paul Simon) calling for further appointments of homosexuals to “posts in the administration” (they already have 70 in the administration of Washington Mayor Marion Barry, 40 in Mario Cuomo’s New York). The Movement also wants “financing of a national AIDS policy,” action against “violence against homosexuals,” and steps to “insure that immigration policy did not discriminate against homosexuals.” Heading the list, however, was the demand for an end to discrimination against sexual perverts “even in the armed forces.” If their plans materialize, the sodomites may be able to reinstate Sgt. Richard W. Sargeant, the black “medical instructor” who had been dishonorably discharged by the U.S. Army in San Antonio. Pleading guilty to one count of sodomy, two of adultery, and two of “disobeying an officer” (that must have been the clincher), Sergeant Sargeant, “fighting back tears,” told the jury, “I wish I could undo all the pain I have caused.”

Once upon a time, that film noir classic D.O.A. seemed as unlikely a scenario as ever constructed (Edmund O’Brien, dying from a slow-acting toxin slipped to him in a San Francisco nightclub, prowls the West Coast in search of answers, and revenge). But no longer, now that a minor traffic accident might be fatal, if you happened to have received a blood transfusion in Los Angeles, where Joseph Markowski has been arraigned on two counts of murder for selling AIDS-contaminated blood. Engagingly direct—”I know AIDS can kill, but I was so hard up for money I didn’t give a damn about other people”—Markowski’s financial woes ought to be covered by the financial aid demanded in the Minneapolis resolution. Lucky for him, Markowski has already managed to beat all the charges against him except two counts of poisoning. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen—Angelenos, please take note—could otherwise see nothing illegal in the 29-year-old male prostitute’s actions.

The Markowski case comes as no surprise: the morally diseased are always missionaries for their way of life. Drug addicts, homosexuals, and “swingers” want to win the world over to their own perversions, and when you throw in a death sentence, they become even more desperate for converts. Of course, we all know now that homosexuality is not pathological; it’s only an alternate life-style, deserving legal protection.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals has just decided that Georgetown University, although a Catholic institution, “must offer equal treatment to homosexual student groups [including financing]” despite its religious freedom to “follow an antihomosexual doctrine.” Louis M. Seidman, the professor of law who submitted a friend-of-the-court brief on the behalf of the homosexual students, welcomed the decision as an attempt to “fashion a result that took into account the legitimate concerns both sides have about the issue.”

In a sharply critical dissent. Judge Frank Nebeker unmasked the absurdity that underlines such moral evenhandedness: “One might ask whether by our holding a student group dedicated to heterosexual relations with girls under the age of sixteen would likewise derive ‘sexual orientation’ benefits under the [Human Rights] Act.”