LGBT POV

There was a temporary big splash in the HIV/AIDS community last month when President Obama’s Office of National AIDS Strategy finally released its long-awaited plan on how to deal with the on-going – and in some areas, increasing – epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

Last Friday, Aug. 20, AIDS Czar Jeff Crowley blogged on the White House’s website about the Administration’s continuing commitment to prioritizing HIV/AIDS. He announced an amendment to the President’s FY 2011 budget request being sent to Congress to increase HIV/AIDS funding by $65 million – $35 million increase for HIV prevention as called for in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and “a $30 million increase for State AIDS drug assistance programs to respond to the ongoing crisis States are facing in operating these essential programs.”

Crowley also talked about President Obama’s July 13th remarks about the Strategy. But he doesn’t mention how Obama was briefly interrupted by Housing Works CEO Charles King – who took a lot of flack for shouting out. King recently posted an editorial explaining why he thinks the Strategy is a failure. Perhaps King and other HIV/AIDS activists will have a chance to discuss their frustrations during two upcoming webinars sponsored by the grassroots Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy. Please click inside for more on all of this.

The Wall Las Memorias – an inspirational art project dedicated as a Latino AIDS monument on World AIDS Day in 2004 – has been vandalized. Apparently a mother went to see the name of her son on the Wall in Lincoln Park in East LA and found a section of the mural splashed in yellow paint.

The Wall’s founder Richard Zaldivar told me:

“The vandalism was done to the section of the AIDS mural that depicts a child saying, ‘I once knew a child with AIDS.’ And so it is really sad  and very troubling that someone would use this opportunity to damage a piece of art that was created for the purpose HIV prevention and education to our community.

We are currently working with the police to see whether or not it was a hate crime. It seemed to be very targeted. There are six painted murals and only this mural was vandalized. So it was very targeted and focused.

I also really appreciate so many people from the community expressing their concern and sadness at this vandalism.”

Zaldivar says that if people want to be supportive, they can help create a discussion with the larger community around safety and other issues in the park. He requests that comments and suggestions be sent to jperez@thewalllasmemorias.org.

Additionally, Eddie Martinez says:

“We plan to try to clean it today at 2pm. We are going to try to use soap and water. If that does not work, we will need to call the company that produced the fabricated murals to see what the next steps are. We don’t want to further damage the murals. We have a team of volunteers and staff going to the monument today. People are welcomed to be there for support but we have enough manpower.”

The story is developing. Richard says they will post updates on The Wall’s Facebook page.

In advance of Congress taking up the Defense Authorization Bill, the antigay Family Research Council launched a campaign last week focused on the provision in the bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  The campaign isn’t just aimed at Congress. FRC’s Tony Perkins is in league with the Religious Right Prop 8 network – which includes TheCall’s Lou Engle – that distributes antigay propaganda to churches in areas where the families of military servicemembers live.  Those families are being targeted by the military for the DADT repeal survey.

Dr. Robert Labutta (U.S. Army, Colonel, Ret.) of the American Family Association was part of the FRC-sponsored webcast (which also included Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe and Montana Rep. Todd Akin) launching “Mission Compromised: How the military is being used to advance a radical agenda.” (Please see Good As You on AFA’s outlandish Bryan Fischer, another participant.) FRC posted the audio and a transcript of the webcast here.

Tuesday FRC released this video of Perkins talking to Labutta about the health implications of repealing DADT, which Perkins notes were a big part of the discussion in 1993 but are not talked about today. (Please click inside to see how FRC set up this question and video in an email to their supporters.)

But my question is: where are the LGBT or HIV/AIDS organizations that should be responding to these spurious accusations? This is the new Age of Anxiety, remember, and this crap might stick.

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?

Please click inside to read the rest of Nil-Quartelai’s essay – and what he has to say about the controversy at “The View.”

The Sisters’ Queer Art Walk

Join The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for a night of Queer inspired art, fashion, performance & music at the first annual Queer Art gallery.   All Art will be auctioned silently with proceeds benefiting APLA’s Crystal Methamphetamine Program and Highways: a queer performance space.  The FREE event will be held in the heart of gallery row on August 12th during LA’s Art Walk.

August 12 · 6:00pm – 10:00pm

The Exchange (www.QueerArtWalk.org)

114 West 5th Street

Los Angeles, CA

The event was designed by Illuminaughty D’Disco A GoGo

Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which provides medical care and/or services to more than 139,000 individuals in 23 countries worldwide, is in Vienna, Austria for the International AIDS Conference. At a news conference, Terri Ford, AHF’s Senior Director of Global Policy and Advocacy, added AHF’s voice to those of protesters calling for greater funding to stem the increase in HIV, especially among gay men. Ford held up AHF’s “Who’s better on AIDS?” full-page advertisement, which compares President Barack Obama’s AIDS record to that of President George W. Bush. The ad ran in the influencial ‘Politico’ last week and is on bus shelter in Washington, DC near the White House. AHF reports that posters and post cards of the ad are “extremely popular” at the AIDS conference.

Ford, who recently oversaw AHF’s 2009 ‘Testing Millions’ campaign – AHF’s successful World AIDS Day HIV testing campaign that tested 4,270,226 people in 23 countries – is also part of a huge host a satellite session today, July 21^st titled “Test and Treat: Getting to 10 Million on Treatment.” The ‘Testing Millions’ campaign is the focus of a 34 minute documentary short film titled “If Not Now…” by filmmaker Louise Hogarth, which will be shown during the session.

In a press release for the event, Ford says:

“Our world AIDS Day testing campaigns over the past two years have helped shatter myths about testing models and we are honored to share what we’ve learned from these campaigns and learn what our distinguished panelists have to share here in Vienna.

Advances in rapid testing technology combined with a real eagerness by thousands and thousands of people around the world to access HIV testing services spurred us to completely rethink our testing and counseling model. As consensus builds that both cost containment and treatment-as-prevention must play larger roles in the global AIDS fight, the ‘Test and Treat’ model that we are discussing today offers a straightforward yet crucial roadmap to vastly scaling up the number of those on treatment. This is a real matter of life and death for men, women and children around the world. We must hear their call — they want to be tested – to know their status and to stay alive. It is up to us to act quickly to save their lives.”

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There’s a lot going on at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, which opened to fanfare and demonstrations on Sunday.  The fanfare includes reports of new scientific advances in HIV vaccine research, including the partial efficacy of a vaccine regimen and the discovery of new broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.

The demonstrations included a march and “die-in” disrupting opening ceremonies.  (Photo courtesy Riekhavoc on Flickr) One issue was the failure of President Obama to provide sufficient new funding in the just-released National AIDS Strategy – a point former President Bill Clinton took issue with Monday. Here’s an excerpt from the Examiner:

“I completely understand why the advocates for greater AiIDS funding have loudly protested, but I do not think it is either fair or accurate to say the president has gone back on his promises, as if it was a callous walking away.”

Carl Schmid,
 Deputy Executive Director of
 The AIDS Institute, emailed me his response:

“I think AIDS activism is always alive and well at the International AIDS conferences as it should be. I would be shocked if there wasn’t a demonstration and hope it continues. I disagree with what Bill Clinton said today. We need demonstrations AND working the halls of congress. It shouldn’t be one or the other.”

Conference organizers have produced an easy to navigate website for the event – which runs from July 18-23. The Kaiser Family Foundation is the official webcaster of several of the panels – including this hour-long panel from a global perspective on “Is Activism Dead?” Please click inside for a number of press releases from different groups announcing news and opinions.

Political blogger Rod McCollum reports from the 2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna   (Twitter hashtag #AIDS2010) that a major protest by hundreds of HIV-positive activists disrupted the conference opening by staging a massive protest and “die-in.” He reports:

“The activists were calling attention to the decreased funding of HIV/AIDS programs by the G8 leaders, as well as the “slowing and scaling back their commitments toward Universal Access to HIV care, treatment and prevention.” No arrests were reported.”

Last Tuesday the Obama Administration’s Office of National AIDS Policy finally unveiled it’s long awaited National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which some AIDS activists such as Daniel Fredrick O’Neill appreciated.  In his report, Rod points out the administration’s shifted attention to “HIV prevention efforts at the highest-risk population—including men who have sex with men (MSM) and black Americans,” while noting that the strategy entails “no new additional spending.”

The Obama plan was also a subject of protest during the “die-in.”

Rod says the conference protest “mirrors the massive May 13 New York City action when hundreds of activists blocked traffic and laid down on Madison Avenue to protest the Obama Administration’s record on HIV/AIDS funding.”

The protests sound reminiscent to me of the massive protests ACT UP staged in New York City on Wall Street and Broadway, in Washington DC and Maryland (HHS, FDA) and Los Angeles (protesting Reagan and Bush) and previous disruptions of international AIDS conferences.

But it’s too soon to tell if this new activism will be sustained.

Rod reports that there are more photos from this protest at Riekhavoc’s Flickr …

(Hat tip to Rex Wockner and Joe.My.God).

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy: A Milestone in the History of the Epidemic

By Guest Blogger Dan O’Neill

Member, DC HIV Prevention Community Planning Group

During his 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama stated, “If elected, during my first year in office, I will develop and implement a comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) that includes all federal agencies.” He continued, “That strategy will reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities.” But with still no word on the matter after the first 100 days of his presidency, advocates soon took to the streets to pressure Obama to make good on his promise.

Well, he has, with the July 14 release of the final strategy and implementation plan for tackling the domestic HIV/AIDS crisis. Although members of the HIV/AIDS community had much to celebrate on Tuesday, many remained frustrated that the plan took so long to pull together and fell so far short on adequately addressing some of the most urgent HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention needs that America now faces.

A year ago I sat across the table from Jeffrey Crowley (pictured here with President Obama in the Oval Office), the newly minted Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), charged with the daunting task of spearheading the creation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAD). Crowley listened while my HIV Policy class presented him with our ideas on how we thought the plan should be structured.

At the time he was saddled with this tremendous responsibility, he was still sorely under-staffed at ONAP and already behind schedule according to many community advocates who had waited years for such a plan; so it’s a wonder that in just over a year he and his team were able to synthesize such a thorough and comprehensive strategy and implementation plan. And for rising to that challenge, they should be commended.

This undertaking marks the first successful attempt at such a national strategy, after previous failures and false starts. The most recent attempt under the Clinton administration failed to be implemented and went largely unnoticed by much of the community. As a result, this time around, Crowley was able to build on the lessons learned from the past as well as from the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In particular, this time ONAP went into the community to ask the front-line advocates, service providers, and HIV-positive individuals their thoughts on what the strategy should include. Undoubtedly, this open-community process helped to establish the buy-in needed for this strategy to come to fruition and for people to actually pay attention to it.

Thus, having met a key “ask” of HIV/AIDS advocates during the 2008 presidential campaign by successfully raising the profile of HIV/AIDS on the national stage, the foundation to make some significant inroads into the fight against this epidemic has been laid, that is, assuming that we get the implementation right.

Please click inside to read Dan’s analysis of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

The White House released its National AIDS Strategy National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and accompanying NHAS Federal Implementation Plan on Tuesday. The CDC estimates that approximately 56,000 people become infected with HIV each year and more than 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV.  Secretary Sebelius also announced that $30 million of the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention Fund will be dedicated to the implementation of the NHAS.

“We can’t afford complacency – not when in the ten minutes I’ve been talking to you, another American has just contracted HIV,” Secretary Sebelius said.  “That’s why our strategy calls for aggressive efforts to educate Americans about how dangerous this disease still is and the steps they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation was not pleased, saying AIDS programs are “starved” under the plan and that President Obama has failed to lead on combatting HIV/AIDS. More reaction is expected as HIV/AIDS activists consider the new strategy, which some say appears to be modeled on the international plan under President George W. Bush.

President Obama also released a Memorandum on the Implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (click inside). Go to www.AIDS.gov and www.whitehouse.gov/onap for more information and resources.

Later, President Obama spoke for about 20 minutes at reception in East Room for HIV/AIDS activists. Please click inside for a complete transcript of his remarks.

The White House has announced it will provide a live webcast of the unveiling of the National AIDS Strategy at 2:00 PM Eastern, 11:00am Pacific at www.whitehouse.gov/live.  Speakers include Secretary Sebelius, DPC Director Melody Barnes, Office of National AIDS Policy Director Jeffrey Crowley (pictured with President Obama), and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh will discuss the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS).

At 5:45 PM Eastern/ 2:45 Pacific, President Obama will discuss the strategy during remarks at a reception to honor the work of the HIV/AIDS Community.

A White House press release notes that the strategy plans to:

1) Reducing  the number of new infections;

2) Increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for people living with HIV;

3) Reducing HIV-related health disparities;

To accomplish these goals, we must undertake a more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic – which is why the NHAS also includes a Federal Implementation Plan that outlines key, short-term actions to be undertaken by the federal government to execute the outlined recommendations.  Additionally, the White House will issue a Presidential Memorandum directing agencies to take specific steps to implement this strategy.  The Presidential Memorandum will be released on Tuesday.

Please click inside to read more details and criticism.

The long-awaited National AIDS Strategy will be  unveiled Tuesday at 2:00p.m. at a White House-sponsored event, followed by a reception with many of the nation’s leaders on HIV/AIDS. The White House press conference will feature Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, Office of National AIDS Policy Director Jeffrey Crowley, and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh.

A White House press release says the heavy-hitters will “unveil the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and discuss its goals and details”

But there has been a lot of concern over the plan and how much community input has really been taken seriously, as well as how quickly the administration has acted on the growing lists in several states for AIDS Drug Assistance Program funding. Los Angeles – based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which is the largest global AIDS organization, is planning a counter-press conference Tuesday at 3:30 PM Eastern, to discuss some of those issues and to specifically criticize NHAS at the National Press Club with Michael Weinstein, AHF President and Tom Myers, General Counsel & Chief of Public Affairs for AHF.

In a press release, Weinstein previewed his comments:

“The ‘New York Times’ obtained a copy of the President’s AIDS strategy, and from what we’ve learned of it so far, there is really no ‘there’ there. This strategy is a day late and a dollar short: 15 months in the making, and the White House learned what people in the field have known for years. There is no funding, no ‘how to,’ no real leadership.”

Please click inside for more details.

Perhaps it’s because the New York Times just came out with a big report on on how the economic crisis is impacting the federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) or because of the volume of complaints following Tuesday’s national conference call with the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS (PACHA) on ADAP – but PACHA Chair Dr. Helene Gayle has set up another conference call with apparently plenty of time for public comment. Her letter, posted as a comment on my story on the conference call, is inside, with conference call information.

I have sent an email to Melvin Joppy at HHS asking: Will PACHA members be on the call? What is the point of the call, other than to log comments?  Is there any mechanism to address the comments if someone brings up a point that hasn’t been considered?  What is the process for the Resolution to get to Sec. Sebelius and President Obama? How long will that take and where is it now?

I will update this post when I receive his answers.UPDATE: Melvin Joppy replies: Yes, PACHA members be on the Friday conference call. The rest of his response is inside.

BJ Cavnor was so angry at the abrupt end to Tuesday’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) tele-conference call about AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, he posted on Prevention Justice’s live-blogging that it “reminds me of the Regan (sic) years.”

The call actually started off with an alarm sounded by Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson, associate administrator for HIV/AIDS at HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) who said that she had never seen such a rapid increase in the numbers of people with HIV/AIDS needing access to healthcare and medications. She said that 1924 people are now on waiting lists in 11 states.

That’s an increase of 184 people in just one week from the 1,840 people the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) reported on June 25. Just over one month before that, on May 6, there were 1056 individuals on waiting lists in 10 states.

Hopson cited more HIV testing, getting people into care and retaining them, as well as the budget crisis in many states, the “economic downturn” and increases in unemployment as reasons for the increase.  She said HRSA is “working closely” with states to help people get access to pharmaceutical patient assistance programs and she discussed funding appropriations such as the $1.14 billion allocated on April 5.

The apparent purpose of the call was for PACHA members to vote on a “Resolution Regarding the Timely Access to Life-Saving Care and Treatment.”

Please click inside to read more about the Resolution and what happened when the PACHA operator shut down the call before community members had their chance to speak.

President Obama’s Office of National AIDS Policy is expected to release a National AIDS Strategy in the coming weeks. But Phill Wilson, founder and director of the Black AIDS Institute and member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, says the PACHA meeting Tuesday will focus on the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP). A reminder – the meeting happens at 1:00pm Pacific and is via a teleconference call where you can listen in. Click here for info. But while AIDS activists are concerned about funding for ADAP, there are other important issues as well, as HIV/AIDS impacts less urban areas. Brian Davis’ story (Brian is pictured here with his wife Kathleen) should serve as a red flag about the intersection between HIV/AIDS healthcare and the justice system.

This Is Not My America

By Brian Davis

When I got my AIDS diagnosis June 12 2006, it began an incredibly harsh time in my life.

I had been HIV positive for nearly two decades. With the exception of having practiced safe sex with my girlfriend at the time and keeping any injuries covered that I incurred working as a carpenter, I had rarely given my virus any thought.

But with AIDS, I had to stop working. I was running high fevers everyday. During this time I had lost most of my support system, but most devastatingly, I also lost beloved pets (my children).  My neighbors poisoned both of my dogs to gain access to my home to steal.

I lost my support system because I was angry, confused, sick. I had a hard time thinking. I was broke. I was not myself. I was no longer happy.  I was unable to communicate effectively. All I could talk about was AIDS and my arrests. I was wearing thin on my family and they had already had several years of me being HIV positive and I guess when I went over the edge with my AIDS diagnosis, they had basically had enough…..

Please click inside to read the rest of Brian’s horrendous story and how his appearance due to side effects of AIDS meds landed him in jail.

A Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy posted a press release suggesting that HIV/AIDS advocates listen in on the meeting of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) meeting being conducted via telephone conference call on Tuesday, June 29 at 4:00 p.m. EST, 1:00p.m. Pacific. The call is expected to last about an hour. President Obama is expected to soon release a comprehensive, five-year plan of action to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S.

To help prepare community members for the announcement, the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy has developed a document, which offers core concepts for communications about the Strategy and ideas on how to leverage its release to garner local and national attention to urgent issues in our communities.

PACHA Call-In Meeting Info:

CONFERENCE CALL: Domestic: 888-455-2653. International: 1-210-839-8485. Access code: 158777.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Melvin Joppy, Committee Manager, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, at melvin.joppy@hhs.gov.

NEWS & ANALYSIS: Members of the Prevention Justice Alliance will be blogging live about the meeting’s proceedings at www.preventionjustice.org.

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AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has organized a protest for Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM to call out the New York-based Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) over its pricing and policies for its key HIV/AIDS drug, Reyataz, which AHF says is one of the most expensive first-line AIDS treatment in the US.  The protest is scheduled to take place outside the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Century City just prior to an 11:30 AM presentation by Lamberto Andreotti to investors—his first as BMS’ CEO—at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference 2010.

Please click inside to read AHF’s press release about why they are protesting.

It’s in quiet moments like these when the bonds between Peaceful Warriors are forged. Only those who’ve been tested on the road by the arduous climbs, hitting “the wall” within and pressing on, sometimes alone, sometimes with encouragement from others, but nonetheless understood by a community of fellow travelers on the long, difficult and joyful 545 mile journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles for AIDS LifeCycle 9. For HIV-positive peddlers Robert Kavanagh, left, and Greg Hill, captured here by photographer Susan Goldman, their triumph is symbolic of other unknown tests they might  also face and endure.

Please click inside for more info and photos.

For the past six days, since early Sunday morning on June 6, 1,925 cyclists and about 500 volunteer roadies have braved the roads and weather for the 545-mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, as seen in this photo by Susan Goldman. AIDS/LifeCycle 9, organized by the LA Gay & Lesbian Center with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, raised $10 million for HIV/AIDS services.

For most of the riders, this arduous journey is a deep commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS, often in memory of someone lost or dealing with the disease right now. Remember, not everyone can tolerate the strong combination drug therapies or their often difficult side effects.

A newly released LA County report,  “The 2009 Epidemiologic Profile of HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles County,” says the number of AIDS deaths and diagnosed AIDS cases continue to drop each year, thanks to antiretroviral therapy. However, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS continues to increase. LA County says it estimates that more than 62,000 people are infected with HIV and AIDS, and over one in five of that number is not aware they are infected. African Americans are only 9% percent of the county’s population, they account for 22% of those living with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, nearly three out of four Latinos diagnosed with AIDS didn’t know they were infected until very late, often after being hospitalized.

Welcome home the riders SATURDAY, JUNE 12 – the Ceremony begins at 4:00pm at Lot 7 at the grounds of the Wadsworth Theatre, VA Center, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., LA