Author Archives: D Gregory Smith

AIDS: “The Unnecessary Epidemic”

by D Gregory Smith

This eloquent, excellent article is from The National Association Of People With AIDS/HIV (NAPWA) newsletter, Positive Voice. It outlines many of the challenges we face as a country- including homophobia, stigma, and stinginess- in getting HIV under control:

This is an exciting time for all of us who live with HIV or are affected by it. Theoretical models predicted for years that treatment-as-prevention could work, and the last year confirmed it. In the elegantly designed HPTN 052 trial, results showed that serodiscordant heterosexual couples had a drastically reduced risk of infection for the HIV-negative partner when the positive partner was receiving effective treatment with antiretroviral drugs.British Columbia didn’t wait for trial results. For several years, the province has aggressively sought to find and treat as many HIV-infected people as possible, and the numbers of AIDS deaths and new HIV infections are now coming down. Dr. Julio Montaner, father of the B.C. program, remarked recently that the falling number of (known) new infections was not the result of less testing, or of safer sex. That leaves only one plausible explanation: reduced community viral load.

So we can end this epidemic. It’s time to start calling it The Unnecessary Epidemic.

As NAPWA President and CEO told us in the previous issue of Positive Voice, ending the epidemic will take resources, resources, resources. Resources for high-impact prevention programs. Resources for treatment and support services for all who need them. Resources to fix an unfair health care system.

But it’s also going to take more than resources. It will take changes in public attitudes. Twenty percent of Americans living with HIV don’t know it. Some of them don’t because prevention and testing programs haven’t reached them. Other don’t because having HIV can be so stigmatizing that they would really rather die slowly than know their status.

So let’s look at some public drivers of HIV stigma, and then look at the consequences.

The evils of “second-hand sodomy”

On the site Conservapedia.com – think of it as Wikipedia for the “right”-minded – Americans for Truth (!) president Peter LaBarbera writes, Why isn’t there a concerted government effort – akin to the current anti-smoking campaigns – to reign in homosexual promiscuity – beginning with closing down all sex businesses (bathhouses) that facilitate homosexual perversion? (Of course, we favor closing down straight prostitution businesses as well.) We know that bisexual behavior (men on the “down low”) help spread dangerous diseases to the general population: how many deaths and illnesses have to result from “second-hand sodomy” before authorities take corrective action?

Translation: it’s all the gays’ fault. If we could just shut down all gay sex, the epidemic would go away. Never mind that a majority of African Americans living with HIV are women, in numbers that could not possibly be accounted for by some partners’ “down low” adventures, and HIV in Africa was a heterosexual disease from day one. LaBarbera is saying that sex he disapproves of is perversion, perversion leads to disease, and “second-hand disease” is tantamount to murder.

Just as bizarrely, Dr. Peter Duesberg continues to contend that HIV is harmless and AIDS is caused by gay sex and drug use. Somehow, we just don’t think most of the African American women living with AIDS have been having gay sex and sniffing poppers…. And never mind the experience of people with HIV who were on the ropes in 1996, when drug cocktails based on protease inhibitors were just coming into use, and eight weeks after we started our new drug regimens our viral loads were down, our T cells were up, and our dermatologists were telling us we didn’t have to come back anymore for our every-two-weeks appointment to zap new KS lesions. Practical lesson: control the HIV and the AIDS symptoms go away. Conclusion: the virus causes the symptoms. Discussion over, Dr. D.

Not victim-free expressions of opinion

We can laugh at these extreme opinions, but publishing them is not a victimless crime. Duesberg’s opinions delayed wide use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in South Africa for years, and people died. The shame about non-majority sexual orientation spread by Conservapedia and others keeps people who know they should get tested from doing so and having to live with a positive result. Using criminal law as a (failed) tool to prevent new infections drives infected people and injection drug users underground, where prevention and treatment services can’t reach them.

How the Grinch stole your needle exchange

The 2013 federal budget just passed reinstates the former ban on federal funding for one of the most targeted, cost-effective HIV programs ever conceived: injection needle exchanges. The ban was one of many prices, just before Christmas, for passing any budget at all. The underlying thinking may have had something in common with Conservapedia’s panacea of outlawing gay sex: just say “there ought to be a law,” whether it’s a matter law can deal with effectively or not. It can’t, and we wonder whether many members of Congress demanding the ban knew that. Certainly those with competent health policy staffers did.

Naming stigma – and praising constructive action

As a community of people who live with HIV or serve those who do, we have a responsibility to call out stigma wherever we see – HIV stigma, homophobia, unease with transgendered people, the cruel expectation that people trapped in sex work or drug use are in control and should just go cold turkey and quit. This is more important than any quarrels we may have among ourselves about PrEP, condoms, or whether to concentrate on developing a preventive or therapeutic vaccine first (scientific accident will decide that for us).

 To join the National Association Of People with AIDS/HIV, click here.
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ADAP Watch 1/13/2012

by D Gregory Smith
ADAPs With Waiting Lists
(4,717 individuals in 12 states*, as of January 12, 2012)
State Number of Individuals on ADAP Waiting List Percent of the Total ADAP Waiting List Increase/Decrease From Previous Reporting Period Date Waiting List Began
Alabama 47 1% -44 October 2011
Florida 1,301 28% 135 June 2010
Georgia 1,275 27% -12 July 2010
Idaho 6 0.1% -3 February 2011
Louisiana** 628 13% 27 June 2010
Montana 11 0.2% -2 January 2008
Nebraska 17 0.4% 2 October 2011
North Carolina 126 3% 1 January 2010
Ohio 0 0% 0 July 2010
South Carolina 164 3% 0 March 2010
Utah 32 1% 0 May 2011
Virginia 1,110 24% 7 November 2010
* As a result of FY2011 ADAP emergency funding, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia were able to reduce the overall number of individuals on their waiting lists.

** Louisiana has a capped enrollment on their program. This number represents their current unmet need.

 

ADAPs With Other Cost-Containment Strategies: Financial Eligibility
(445 Individuals in 6 States, as of November 9, 2011)
State Lowered Financial Eligibility Disenrolled Clients
Arkansas 500% to 200% FPL 99 clients (September 2009)
Illinois 500% to 300% FPL Grandfathered in current clients from 301-500% FPL
North Dakota 400% to 300% FPL Grandfathered in current clients from 301-400% FPL
Ohio 500% to 300% FPL 257 clients (July 2010)
South Carolina 550% to 300% FPL Grandfathered in current clients from 301-550% FPL
Utah 400% to 250% FPL 89 clients (September 2009)

ADAPs with Other Cost-containment Strategies (instituted since April 1, 2009, as of November 9, 2011)

Alabama: reduced formulary Arizona: reduced formulary Arkansas: reduced formulary Colorado: reduced formulary Florida: reduced formulary, transitioned 5,403 clients to Welvista from February 15 to March 31, 2011 Georgia: reduced formulary, implemented medical criteria, participating in the Alternative Method Demonstration Project Illinois: reduced formulary, instituted monthly expenditure cap ($2,000 per client per month), disenrolled clients not accessing ADAP for 90-days Kentucky: reduced formulary Louisiana: discontinued reimbursement of laboratory assays North Carolina: reduced formulary North Dakota: capped enrollment, instituted annual expenditure cap Ohio: reduced formulary Puerto Rico: reduced formulary Utah: reduced formulary Virginia: reduced formulary, restricted eligibility criteria, transitioned 204 clients onto waiting list Washington: instituted client cost sharing, reduced formulary, only paying insurance premiums for clients currently on antiretrovirals Wyoming: capped enrollment, reduced formulary, instituted client cost sharing

ADAPs Considering New/Additional Cost-containment Measures (before March 31, 2012***)

Alaska: reduce formulary Florida: lower financial eligibility Kentucky: reduce formulary Montana: reduce formulary Oregon: reduce formulary Puerto Rico: reduce formulary Tennessee: establish waiting list Wyoming: establish waiting list, lower financial eligibility, institute client cost sharing

Access to Medications (as of November 9, 2011)

Case management services are being provided to ADAP waiting list clients through ADAP (2 ADAP), Part B (9 ADAPs), contracted agencies (5 ADAPs), and other agencies, including other Parts of Ryan White (4 ADAPs).

For clients on ADAP waiting lists who are currently on or in need of medications, 11 ADAP waiting list states can confirm that ADAP waiting list clients are receiving medications through either pharmaceutical company patient assistance programs (PAPs), Welvista, or other mechanisms available within the state.

***March 31, 2012 is the end of ADAP FY2011. ADAP fiscal years begin April 1 and ends March 31. To receive The ADAP Watch, please e-mail Britten Pund at bpund@NASTAD.org.

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MLK Day 2012

by D Gregory Smith

 

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else?

The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

~Martin Luther King, jr
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Some Good News

by D Gregory Smith

 

The Heartland Proclamation

by the Heartland Clergy for Inclusion

 

As Christian clergy, we proclaim the Good News concerning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons and publicly apologize where we have been silent. As disciples of Jesus, who assures us that the truth sets us free, we recognize that the debate is over. The verdict is in. Homosexuality is not a sickness, not a choice, and not a sin. We find no rational biblical or theological basis to condemn or deny the rights of any person based on sexual orientation. Silence by many has allowed political and religious rhetoric to monopolize public perception, creating the impression that there is only one Christian perspective on this issue. Yet we recognize and celebrate that we are far from alone, as Christians, in affirming that LGBT persons are distinctive, holy, and precious gifts to all who struggle to become the family of God.

In repentance and obedience to the Holy Spirit, we stand in solidarity as those who are committed to work and pray for full acceptance and inclusion of LGBT persons in our churches and in our world. We lament that LGBT persons are condemned and excluded by individuals and institutions, political and religious, who claim to be speaking the truth of Christian teaching. This leads directly and indirectly to intolerance, discrimination, suffering, and even death. The Holy Spirit compels us:

  • to affirm that the essence of Christian life is not focused on sexual orientation, but how one lives by grace in relationship with God, with compassion toward humanity;
  • to embrace the full inclusion of our LGBT brothers and sisters in all areas of church life, including leadership;
  • to declare that the violence must stop. Christ’s love moves us to work for the healing of wounded souls who are victims of abuse often propagated in the name of Christ;
  • to celebrate the prophetic witness of all people who have refused to let the voice of intolerance and violence speak for Christianity, especially LGBT persons, who have met hatred with love;

Therefore we call for an end to all religious and civil discrimination against any person based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. All laws must include and protect the freedoms, rights, and equal legal standing of all persons, in and outside the church. 

Link is here

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“An Open Letter To Gay Republicans”

by D Gregory Smith
"The Third-Term Panic", by Thomas Na...

Image via Wikipedia

From Asher Huey at  The Huffington Post :

Dear gay Republicans,

Rick Santorum’s surge and near-win in Iowa should be a wake-up call: your party hates you.

Let’s put economic and other issues aside for a moment; we can have a spirited debate about the backward GOP approach to taxes, the environment, and foreign policy another time. I don’t understand how you can look beyond the fact that a major portion of your party’s fundamental beliefs are that you are not equal.

This isn’t a minor issue within your party. The Republican Party platform calls for amending the United States Constitution to discriminate against you. Party officials actually want to use our country’s foundational document, which grants and extends rights and freedoms to people, to limit yours. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

…Your party has, as one of its major leading presidential candidates, a person who doesn’t think you should be able to serve openly in the military, who doesn’t believe that you can create a loving family, who thinks that your committed relationships are destroying the moral fabric of America. Your party has thrown you in the deviant pile. Your party has labeled you a sexual predator. Your party is afraid of you and does not incorporate your voice or believe in your dignity.

Read the rest here. 

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Rehberg: Local Governments Richer Than The Feds

by D Gregory Smith
Rep. Denny Rehberg (MT)

Image by republicanconference via Flickr

After earning the title of the Tea Party Caucus’s top earmarker, and after giving himself five pay raises in Congress, Montana’s millionaire Congressman is now telling Montanans that they should turn to their local governments if they need any help.

“I always find it a little bit ironic when somebody comes to me and says we need money at the local level from the federal government,” Rehberg recently told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle (onlineHERE).  “I say, well, why don’t you ask the local level, because, you’ve got more money than we do.”

What Rehberg forgot to mention was that the last time Congress approved earmarks, he earned the title of “tea partier with his name on the most earmarks” — requesting more than $100 million for Montana.

Rehberg, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, also failed to mention that while he was spending millions in taxpayer money, he gave himself five pay raises during his 12 years in Congress–at a time when hardworking Montanans were nation was struggling.  Hmmm.

“Congressman Dennis Rehberg is desperately wants Montanans to forget his long, irresponsible record of giving himself pay raises while spending their money in Congress,” said Ted Dick, Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party.  “Now his message to Montanans is ‘tough luck.’  We join all Montanans in demanding more responsible decisions from Congress than Dennis Rehberg’s.”

Rehberg’s Pay Raise Votes:
Votes to RAISE his own pay in 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, and 2002 (NOTE: The 2006 pay raise was later blocked by the Democratic Congress in 2007).  
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Spokesman-Review Opinion: “Gays Deserve Same Rights”

by D Gregory Smith
English: John Eder at the Portland Pride Festi...

Image via Wikipedia

In Spokane’s Spokesman-Review, the marriage equality issue in Washington State is given some real-life background for its readers: the story of a couple who’d like to be legally married. Governor Chris Gregoire has recently announced her support for marriage equality in Washington- a state that has had domestic partnerships for same-sex couples in place since 2007. Eastern Washington- traditionally more conservative than the Sound Side- is the audience served by the Spokesman Review, and a great place to see this rational and reasonable opinion piece getting such great play. Some Washington Republican legislators have recently announced their support as well. I think it’s looking better and better every day to expect marriage equality to pass the Washington legislature this year.

The times, they are a-changin’. Warms my heart.

Here’s a taste of the story- with the money quote in bold:

Flannery doesn’t expect churches to change their stances on same-sex marriage, but he does believe government should treat everyone equally.

So does Susan Hammond, a Spokane nurse. Late Wednesday night, after Gregoire’s speech, Hammond posted on Facebook a letter to her legislators. She invited her friends to forward it as well.

She wrote, “I am counting on your leadership and humanity to do the right thing so that my young adult son, who is gay, can live in a society that affirms who he is and allows him the same right his brothers already have: to marry the person of his choice.”

The opposition to same-sex marriage baffles Hammond. “I honestly don’t get it,” she says.

After all, the strongest argument against changing the law is that marriage has traditionally been defined as being between a man and a woman. But that’s like using a long-standing definition of slavery as an argument against emancipation.

I’m making that my facebook status today.

Full story here.

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“Where Are You?”

by D Gregory Smith
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (album)

Trying to find Carmen Sandiego was at least fun and educational….

As Jon Tester continues his travels across the state, Montanans are wondering, “Where in the world is Congressman Dennis Rehberg?”

Rehberg’s last public event was two months ago, in Whitefish.  Since then, Rehberg has granted press interviews, but he has refused to meet publicly with the Montanans he’s supposed to serve.

Tester last week hosted two widely attended public forums to discuss online safety with executives from Facebook, and he held a public roundtable with the Billings Chamber of Commerce on the future of energy production in Montana.

Rehberg, however, had no public events.  In fact, Rehberg’s online schedule only lists one day last week, and that day consisted of only three press interviews.

“Following orders from his party bosses in Washington, Congressman Rehberg in December irresponsibly voted against tax relief for middle-class families and against the Keystone Pipeline,” said Ted Dick, Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party. “No wonder he’s hiding from the public.  After voting against Montana’s best interest, he doesn’t want to be held accountable to the Montanans he’s supposed to serve.  We call on Congressman Rehberg to end his vacation and get to work creating jobs.”

Against overwhelming public opinion to the contrary, Congressman Rehberg recently told the Bozeman Chronicle that the U.S. House was functioning well, despite his vote against extending a payroll tax holiday for the middle class families.

“Congressman Rehberg might think playing political games with Keystone jobs and middle class tax cuts is business as usual for Congress, but he would hear something very different from Montanans, if he was willing to meet them face to face,” added Dick. “Thank goodness we have Jon Tester serving us in Congress, working hard every day on Montana’s behalf.”

Last year, Congressman Rehberg also abandoned public meetings after releasing his key appropriations bill weeks late and without public input.  The same day Rehberg was questioned by the press about his lack of public meetings, Congressman Rehberg scheduled two meetings.  Then he watched as a uniformed sheriff removed a Montanan from his event in Jordan.

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New Hampshire GOP’s On The Gays

by D Gregory Smith

Didn’t watch the New Hampshire Debate?

English: Logo from the television program The ...

Yeah, me neither. I thoroughly enjoyed the Twitterbate, though- the feeds of my Tweeps were hilarious. I was very busy watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory. But don’t think me completely irresponsible- I knew there would be some good summaries this morning. Here’s one of them.

Think Progress has compiled all of the candidates statements regarding LGBT persons/issues/paranoid persecution complexes into a single video. Fascinating viewing- especially if you’re a psychologist:

 

 

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“Boys Don’t Kiss Boys Here”

by D Gregory Smith

A brilliant, heartwarming and serious look at the way gender hyper-stereotypes may be crushing our children’s spirits, from The Good Men Project:

“Time to clean up your toys and come downstairs to say our goodbyes.” I yell upstairs as two sweet boys come sliding down the stairs, giggling—still covered in markers and delight.

English: A young girl kisses a baby on the cheek.

“Give your friend a great big hug and a kiss and tell him we’ll see him soon,”

“Mom, I can’t kiss him.”

“Why not?” I ask with a smile, imagining some funny, as-only-kids-will-say statement. Sadly, my smile withdrew as I heard the following response come out of my child’s mouth.

“Because Sam’s mom said that boys aren’t allowed to kiss each other.”

Fear. It creeps in like a villain who, even after dying one thousand times over by the hands of the comic book hero, manages to live on.

This incident left me befuddled. It felt similar to a time when my son showed a love of dance that was so intense it only made sense to enroll him in lessons. At three years old, he was the only boy in a class of all girls. Comments from other parents were surprising.  My husband was particularly frustrated when one mother said, “Wow—that’s great of you. I just don’t think I can enroll her brother in dance. My husband would kill me.”

As a mother of a boy in a post-feminist society, I stopped a sole focus on career aspirations and cracking that ever-present glass ceiling and instead, altered my sightline.  Raising a boy is one feat, and requires presence of mind and reaction timing surpassing that of an NFL quarterback. To raise a man, however, requires forethought and an open mind. It made perfect sense that Tom Matlack started Good Men Project—what struck me in my desire to better parent a boy, is how little support and information there is out there to do just that.

You may remember the story about the kid whose mom let him dress up as Daphne for Halloween– this essay is just as frank, just as important and asks some very important questions.

Please read the whole essay here.