THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

'These numbers are a national tragedy and should be seen as a wake-up call that we need a swift and sweeping national commitment to a comprehensive science-based prevention plan to combat HIV/AIDS in this country,' said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg.

'The administration has consistently favored abstinence-only programs over comprehensive science-based approaches and it is clearly not working. Without a change in direction, we are likely to keep falling further and further behind,' said Stachelberg. Meanwhile, community representatives struck a defiant tone in their opening remarks at the 2003 National HIV Prevention Conference, July 27-30, that drew more than 3,000 to Atlanta.

They expressed outrage at recently announced CDC prevention initiatives that they claim are turning away from behavioral and community-based interventions and to a medical model to reduce the spread of HIV. This has significant implications for federal funding of local organizations.

In a premonition of what was to come, conference cochair Ronald Valdiserri said, 'Our differences and how we work through them have been the source of our strength' in the fight against AIDS. He also is deputy director of the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

'By working together, it is estimated that we have saved up to 1.5 million lives in the United States through HIV prevention programs,' said Ed Tepporn, program coordinator of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum.

'Yet despite these successes, we as a community are being asked to shift our focus in our HIV prevention efforts … away from universal precautions and shared responsibility for the prevention of HIV' to a focus on those already infected with the virus. 'With these two shifts we are putting our already vulnerable communities at even more risk for HIV.' The community activists and service providers in the room exploded with applause.

'Organizations in our community may no longer be able to carry out their important work,' Tepporn continued, expressing the fears of many. 'They will be forced to close down, leaving our communities who are already underserved even more so.'

'We are being asked to make HIV testing part of medical care. Well, that's a load of bull, when 42 million people do not have access to medical care. And people of color are among those most impacted by HIV.'

Tepporn called the focus on testing 'shortsighted,' it will only increase the stigma around HIV. Prevention of new infections 'is a shared responsibility, whether we are HIV negative or positive.' Programs for positives must be created 'without abandoning those who are negative.'

'The direction we are being asked to take is not based on science or public health principles. We are being forced into narrow boxes at a time when our prevention should be multifaceted and based upon partnership.'

In closing, Tepporn said, 'HIV is much more than a sexually transmitted disease, it is also a struggle.'

He called for a commitment of family, 'which means, nobody gets left behind.'

Rev. Edwin Sanders spoke next. 'We welcome you here just as you are,' said the member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. He noted that many of those in the audience—poor, sex workers, gay, drug users—have been and perhaps still are among the disenfranchised of our society. 'You don't have to pretend … you can be just who you are.' The room erupted in applause.

'This has to be a place where we raise the tough questions,' he said.

'We have good reason to be suspect when people start using words like 'traditional public health messages.' When people start talking about traditions and doing things the way they have been done. Well, that is part of what got us where we are … . It is not an either/or.'

Sanders defended 'the kinds of behavioral approaches which we know have reduced the spread of HIV.' He celebrated the experience of those in the audience, saying that one needs not only a mental sense of AIDS but also the 'scents' of AIDS that comes only from face to the often dirty and anguished face of those suffering from the plague.

'Partnership suggests that there is equality,' he said, referring to recent CDC initiatives that had been adopted without consultation with the community.

____

With nearly half of new infections occurring in gay and bisexual men, HIV is disproportionately impacting the gay community, HRC said. In its strategic plan, the CDC recognizes that homophobia adversely impacts prevention efforts. Consequently, it identifies the need to develop and implement HIV-prevention programs for gay and bisexual men, particularly within communities of color.

'Unfortunately—and tragically—many of the policies promoted by the Bush administration that prioritize ideology over science are hindering efforts to make an impact on the spread of HIV,' said Mark Ishaug, executive director, AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

'We know that frank and open discussion about sex, and expanded access to clean syringes are two proven methods of combating this incurable disease,' Ishaug said. 'With more than 40,000 Americans and millions of global citizens becoming HIV- infected every year, we cannot afford to let ideology dictate our efforts to fight an entirely preventable disease.'

David Munar, AFC's associate director of policy and communications, and Shelly Ebbert, AFC's director of service coordination and planning, are two of the nation's top HIV researchers, public health officials, and AIDS community representatives attending the CDC HIV Prevention Conference this week.