Sunset for Morning Party on Fire Island.

The Morning Party, an annual summer event that is de rigueur for the circuit-party crowd, has been one of the biggest fund-misers for Gay Men's Health Crisis. For several years, though, it has also been one of the biggest controversies for the New York City-based AIDS service group. Critics said the party, held on New York's Fire Island, was little more than a celebration of drags and unsafe sex. In August the complaints took on a new urgency when one man died of an overdose of the drug gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB) the evening before the party and 21 revelers were arrested at the festivities for drug possession.

While GMHC had long defended the Morning Party for its fund-raising power, the 1998 event was apparently too much to tolerate. On December 30 the agency pulled the plug. "We have found that the reputation for this particular fund-miser as a drug party and the alarming level of drug taking that occurs are incompatible with our mission of preserving the health of the community," said Greg Lugliani, GMHC's director of communications. "The reputation is interfering with our day-to-day work of educating ... about substance abuse and HIV prevention." Lugliani said the agency will try to make up for the $450,000 brought in by the Morning Party by scheduling other fund-misers on Fire Island. There is no word on whether the party itself will continue under a different sponsor.