United States

 U.S. Fails on AIDS (4 videos)

by Cameron Lefevre
Thu, 08/07/2008 - 9:30am
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Wednesday was a busy day for activists here at the IAC. A number of actions were held--I counted at least four--including one targeting the United States for failing to fight HIV/AIDS. U.S. AIDS activists marched through the halls, media center and into the "US HIV Epidemic in 2008" session, issuing a grade of "F" to U.S. policy makers, and demanding a National AIDS Strategy and a reform of the U.S. global AIDS plan to ensure the U.S. treats four million people worldwide and funds only evidence-based HIV prevention programs.

Check out the photos and videos below to see us in action!  read more »

IAC Puts Patterns of Omission and Neglect in Stark Relief

by Jacqui Patterson
Wed, 08/06/2008 - 9:00am

Days 1-3 of this conference, I’ve been overwhelmed by the plethora of issues I could cover on this blog and thus paralyzed.

After attending the Ecumenical Pre-Conference, I handwrote a long diatribe about the hypocrisy of the church as it relates to showing the love that is supposed to be at the center of Christianity towards queer folk. (This is a bit of a generalization as certain groups are very much trying, as evidenced by some of the discussions at the conference.)

Then I felt driven to write about how the women’s rights movement (again, generalization) has also, to some extent, failed to be inclusive in its agenda. This was inspired after participating in the session “Where are the voices of lesbian women?” in the Women’s Networking Zone. In addition to omissions around lesbian and transgendered women, many of us also continue to observe a striking disregard for issues of race with the rather myopic focus on gender that doesn’t encompass intersectionality. One hopes that the movement will begin to truly live up to the slogan of today’s march, “All women, All rights!”  read more »

U.S. Presidential Candidates issue statements on domestic epidemic in wake of incidence announcement

by Julie Davids
Sun, 08/03/2008 - 8:39pm
Today, the presumptive nominees of the two ruling political parties of the United States issued statements in respond to CDC's release of data confirming higher rates of HIV incidence in the U.S.
McCain still has not called for a national AIDS strategy, which is a leading priority of hundreds of local, state and national HIV/AIDS groups, and has not released an HIV/AIDS platform. Obama's HIV/AIDS platform includes both domestic and global components, and is linked at the very bottom of his website page on health care.

Do the candidates' statement go far enough towards a viable plan for combatting the domestic epidemic? Read the full post and decide for yourself -- comments welcome!
Obama Responds to CDC Numbers on HIV/AIDS

Senator Obama released the following statement on the Center for Disease Control's report about new cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States.

"We have now learned that 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States in 2006, not 40,000 that had been previously cited. These new figures should bring new focus to our efforts to address AIDS and HIV here at home.

Yep, it's GAY alright

by Jim Pickett
Sun, 08/03/2008 - 12:20pm

Remember a couple of years ago when the LA Gay and Lesbian Center ran ads like the one above?

Lot's of folks - gay and not - got their panties in a knot about this campaign.

"It´s not a gay disease anymore. The 'face of AIDS´has changed"

"A disease cannot have a sexuality."

"This campaing stigmatizes us even more."

And yadda yadda. Fact is - then and now - HIV is quite prevalent among gay men and men who have sex with men the world over, alarmingly so. In the United States and all over the place. Read previous blog posts right here that, sadly, tragically. back these claims up.

Pretending HIV is somehow a generalized epidemic just doesn´t sit with the facts in MOST of the world. Making believe that AIDS is everyone´s business, and that everyone is at risk, does no one a favor.  read more »

Growing U.S. HIV Epidemic in Gay, Bisexual Men Heightens Call for National AIDS Strategy Bridging Race and Sexuality

by Julie Davids
Sun, 08/03/2008 - 9:59am

There was a flurry of press activity yesterday due to the release of the long-awaited revision of HIV incidence estimates for the United States...

This morning, CHAMP put out a release calling for a national AIDS strategy that would bridge race and sexuality. Here's some of the key quotes; the full release is available in the AIDS2008.com press room:

Walt Senterfitt, CHAMP board co-chair and an epidemiologist living with HIV who served as a Visiting Scientist at CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention:

“The new estimates confirm that a vast majority of new infections in the U.S. occur in gay and bisexual men, and that Blacks are significantly more heavily impacted than other racial/ethnic categories. However, the data fail to clearly link the two, perpetuating a longstanding, damaging polarization. We need CDC to clearly show the HIV incidence numbers in gay men and other MSM of color.

A substantial number of Black people infected every year are gay or bisexual, and a substantial proportion of gay and bisexual men infected are Black. In fact, the heaviest impact is at the nexus of the two – being both black and a man who has sex with men. Yet this population is significantly marginalized, even stigmatized within both larger populations of which it is an integral part. A national AIDS strategy must tackle this fundamental challenge."

Jim Pickett, Director of Advocacy at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago:  read more »

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