LGBT POV

False Choice: Obama’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy vs ABC’s “The View”

By guest blogger Nii-Quartelai Quartey

Change without a plan is change without a chance.

Like the thousands of other HIV/AIDS activist across the United States, I was proud to see President Obama and his Administration make good on a campaign promise to change the way we fight against HIV/AIDS with the first National HIV/AIDS Strategy in the history of the U.S. epidemic

The goals of this inaugural National HIV/AIDS Strategy include:

1. Reducing HIV Infections by 25%
2. Lowering the rate of HIV transmission by 30%
3. Increasing the number of infected people who know their status by 10%
4. Increasing the number of people accessing care within three months of diagnosis by 30%
5. Increase the proportion of gay and bisexual men, Blacks, and Latinos with undetectable viral loads by 20%

According to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Executive Summary: “In 1995, 44 percent of the general public indicated that HIV/AIDS was the most urgent health problem facing the Nation, compared to only 6 percent in March 2009.” I can’t help but firmly agree with the 44% of the general public, especially in light of the fact that HIV/AIDS stigma, lack of quality and affordable health care, and poverty most severely impact the lives of African-Americans.

After reading through the executive summary of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy I kept asking myself this simple question about the largest risk-group in the community most impacted by HIV/AIDS in the United States: Do African-American heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men have a chance to be saved with this strategy?

I am concerned that the $30 million in new HIV/AIDS dollars attached to this strategy from the Patient Protection and Affordability Act could be better used to build and develop the capacity of new and existing organizations to do greater prevention and treatment work, while a sizable investment from the existing $19 billion/year domestic HIV/AIDS prevention budget could be redirected in-part to develop severely lacking infrastructure in high-risk communities like the African-American community.

The social change that we have an opportunity to help deliver requires that we as activist identify and report targeted communities and risk groups not receiving badly needed resources to local, State, and Federal government officials and agencies; create our own public education and prevention plans rooted in the indisputable findings found in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy; identify and report intervention strategies that work and are consistent with the goals outlined by the National Strategy; over communicate all of the above in our quest for State and Local support and resources to help expedite the progress we have a unique opportunity to be apart of.

Controversy at “The View”

Earlier this month during the hot topics segment of ABC’s “The View” when discussing the gay blood ban barring any man that has had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood,  Co-Host Sherri Shepherd and Guest Co-Host D.L. Hughley’s claimed that African American gay and bisexual men are ‘primarily’ responsible for increased HIV rates among African American women.

Now the proportion of Black gay and bisexual men infecting Black women likely does not account for a majority of cases but the truth of the matter is that there is no empirical evidence to back up Shepherd and Hughley’s claim especially when many African-American men do not self-identify as gay, bisexual, or men who sleep with men (MSM). There is no evidence to support men engaging in situational sex with the other men, either.

Now some activist might have you believe that a public apology from Shepard and Hughley for “factually incorrect” comments about Black men on the “down low,” require more attention than having you weigh in on this National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Let’s be clear: the National HIV/AIDS Strategy will impact more lives than the most watched episode of ABC’s “The View.”

I would argue that this continued brow-beating between GLAAD and ABC’s strategic communications team takes away from the fight against HIV/AIDS and causes African-Americans to fight each other thus incubating a climate of homophobia and limited understanding.

The Obama Administration just spent 15-months building a National HIV/AIDS strategy and now well-meaning National LGBT groups and individuals are fighting to correct the view of two comedians—this is a poor use of limited resources and limited time to counter the rising tide of HIV/AIDS infections in the greatest at-risk communities—Black, Latino, and low-income

Our activism must have more depth, stamina, and vision. Blaming two comedians for lacking the expertise that most everyday people lack when it comes to discussing infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS may be more of an indictment of flawed and outdated outreach strategies than this manufactured protest.

Nii-Quartelai Quartey, a Los Angeles based Civic and Community Engagement Consultant, began his activism at the age of 13 as a student organizer for Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network. To date his political campaign work in California includes work on winning campaigns such as: Karen Bass’s 2010 Congressional Campaign, Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, Ron Dellums 2006 Mayoral Campaign in Oakland, and the Yes on Proposition 11 redistricting reform initiative.  His organizing work to repeal the discriminatory Proposition 8 same-sex marriage ban, create living-wage jobs through the California High-Speed Rail initiative, and capacity-building support for non-profits doing health and wellness work exemplify his commitment to the social and economic justice movement. Nii-Quartelai will be studying Social Entrepreneurship and Change at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology this fall. Follow him at twitter.com/q4character