Gay Activists Blast Crystal Meth Posters
Prosecutor Will Meet With Activists To Discuss Poster Flap


NEW YORK (AP) A public awareness campaign featuring posters of convicted methamphetamine dealers has drawn an angry response from gay activists.

Last week, federal prosecutors in Manhattan unveiled the posters, which have the defendants' names, mug shots and warnings like, "Over six years for selling crystal meth. Was it worth it?" They planned to plaster them in gay neighborhoods that have been ravaged by the highly addictive stimulant.

Activists responded on Tuesday by accusing authorities of needlessly vilifying gay men who were caught selling small amounts of crystal meth. They also argued the campaign could undermine efforts within the gay community to treat addicts and discourage potential users.


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For a decade, MASALA's let members be gay and S. Asian
By Poornima Apte


BOSTON - Imtiyaz Hussein had been in Boston for about six years in 1994 and had heard about gay and lesbian groups such as Trikone on the West Coast. The idea for a similar organization in the local area, he says, came from the need to see the same support mechanism here.

"It was a pretty selfish motivation really," the Jamaica Plain resident laughs, "to actually find others like me, somebody ethnically Indian. I was also emerging in my gay identity and found myself further distanced from my culture and I wanted to connect more with it."

The Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association, known to members as MASALA, came into being with an initial group of seven gay men. The organization grew when they published an announcement in the New England gay and lesbian publication, "Bay Windows."