I’ve written that the Feds’ HIV budget has been released. It’s not all good news.
Category Archives: Bilerico Posts
CDC Analysis: 4 out of 10 HIV-Diagnosed Not In Care
An analysis of epidemiological data by the Centers for Disease Control has arrived at a startling conclusion: as many as 4 out of 10 persons diagnosed with HIV do not remain in care.
Despite all the medical evidence which advocates early HIV treatment for a healthy life, people are still not accessing care. The specific reasons are unclear, but the National HIV Treatment Guidelines are very clear: Persons with HIV are to be tested for Viral Load and CD4 counts ever 3-4 months, unless they are considered “virus-suppressed” (usually with an undetectable viral load and normal CD4 count with no medication changes over a period of time), then it is every 6-12 months.
So, what’s happening?
In surveillance data from 13 regions, only 59% of people recently diagnosed with HIV had had a test for viral load or CD4-positive T-cell count within the previous year, according to Irene Hall, PhD, head of the CDC’s HIV incidence and case surveillance branch.
The finding implies that the remaining 41% are not under a physician’s continuing care, Hall said in a teleconference during the 2011 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta.
The two tests are a “marker for being in care,” Hall told MedPage Today.
Maybe it’s time to start talking seriously about barriers to proper care, including discrimination, poverty, cultural issues and race.
At a time when we know treatment is prevention, it’s important that the members of our communities who are HIV infected receive the care they need.
I’m wondering if it’s about support. Many of the people in my HIV+ support groups help each other with their health care- talking honestly about issues, sharing resources- even giving each other rides to doc or lab visits. They stay on their meds, talk realistically about their health, exercise, pay closer attention to nutrition and reducing stress. They do it because they have people they can speak to honestly about their disease- people who know firsthand what it’s like. And, for the most part, they’re having incredible, fulfilling lives.
In my experience, it’s the people who are trying to deal with HIV on their own who don’t do so well.
Depression and fear can play an enormous part in healthcare apathy- and it’s a well-documented fact that fear and depression are alleviated by concern and compassion from family and friends- and involvement with others who share similar circumstances.
So, in the interest of trying to understand this better, I have a couple of questions:
Do you know anyone (maybe it’s you) with HIV who is not getting care for their disease? What can be done to get them into care?
I’d like to follow up with your responses- so feel free to contact me at Dgsma@hotmail.com if you are uncomfortable leaving a response in the thread.
For Ted and Jack, Marriage Equality Came Too Late
Ted and Jack
You may remember my friend Ted Hayes. He’s been a guest of the site, writing a column about fundamentalism and sexuality and the pro-choice-life rhetoric.
New York’s Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record profiled Ted today- on the day that marriage equality becomes a reality in that state- and it’s beautiful.
For many people outside the LGBT world, gay pride and marriage equality is too often seen simply as the cause of “radical” youth- the pierced, cross-dressing, politically and theologically liberal boys/girls/trans/men/women with their Harleys and glitter and rollerskates.
It is that- and I happen to love it and believe in the power and importance of self-expression.
But it’s also more.
Gay Pride and marriage equality are also about the people of advancing age who have struggled to live their lives with love and integrity in the face of hatred, anger, denial and oppression- the kind that many of us today simply cannot fathom.
Enter Ted:
This is a short story about a man’s long life as he stands on the brink of a day he never thought would arrive.
At the age of eight, Ted Hayes heard a kid in the schoolyard call another kid a queer.
Hayes asked a friend what the word meant.
“It means when boys like boys, not girls. My dad says anyone like that should be killed.”
The friend said he was sure glad he wasn’t like that. Hayes agreed.
“That was the day the lying began — years and years of lying,” Hayes, of Stone Ridge, recalled last week.
The state’s gay marriage law takes effect Sunday. Hayes, now 80, grew up in the South and has mixed feelings about it. He’s fought for gay marriage and he’s glad it’s finally come to pass. Yet, the law ends at the New York state border. It represents a battle won, in a war that’s still being fought.
The law’s passage came too late for Hayes to share its satisfactions with his partner of 26 years, Jack Waite, who died of cancer two years ago at the age of 94.
“Jack could never grasp how our being married would have harmed another’s marriage in the slightest,” Hayes said, dismay coloring his voice.
The harm that’s been done, as Hayes has experienced it, has not been done by those who have struggled for marriage equality but by those who would deny them, people who have tried all Hayes’s long life to keep him a fearful, uncomplaining second-class citizen.
Thanks, Ted. We owe you one.
Rick Perry + Crazy Christianists = Scary
Since it’s Sunday- and most of us spend some time reflecting spiritually on Sunday- I couldn’t help but share the following article about Rick Perry, the current Governor of Texas. It comes from the Texas Observer:
A little-known movement of radical Christians and self-proclaimed prophets wants to infiltrate government, and Rick Perry might be their man.
Oh, it gets stranger.
The movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation. Believers fashion themselves modern-day prophets and apostles. They have taken Pentecostalism, with its emphasis on ecstatic worship and the supernatural, and given it an adrenaline shot.
The movement’s top prophets and apostles believe they have a direct line to God. Through them, they say, He communicates specific instructions and warnings. When mankind fails to heed the prophecies, the results can be catastrophic: earthquakes in Japan, terrorist attacks in New York, and economic collapse. On the other hand, they believe their God-given decrees have ended mad cow disease in Germany and produced rain in drought-stricken Texas.
Their beliefs can tend toward the bizarre. Some consider Freemasonry a “demonic stronghold” tantamount to witchcraft. The Democratic Party, one prominent member believes, is controlled by Jezebel and three lesser demons. Some prophets even claim to have seen demons at public meetings. They’ve taken biblical literalism to an extreme. In Texas, they engage in elaborate ceremonies involving branding irons, plumb lines and stakes inscribed with biblical passages driven into the earth of every Texas county.
If they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.
In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual.
I always thought Perry was a loose, secessionist cannon. But now, I just think he’s a loose, crazy christianist secessionist cannon. And the goofy theology driving some of these fringe groups is becoming more and more pervasive. Like I said: scary.
But really, y’all need to read this for y’selves. Full, fascinating story here.
“When I was eight years old, I fell in love with Eleanor Roosevelt.”
Bilerico article is here.
Calling All HIV Negative Men- This Is Your Time
Damn! Mark King scooped me again. I was thinking about saying this for a while, but my friend did it beautifully, so why bother? I’ll just reprint it… 🙂
This is directed to HIV-negative gay men. Listen carefully. This is your time.
I’ve lived with HIV more than half of my life, and people often praise me far more than I deserve, simply for surviving. They use words like brave and courageous.
You know what takes courage? Getting an HIV test every few months. You, waiting nervously while your most personal sexual choices are literally being tested, waiting to find out if you’ve been good – or if you’re going to pay for a single lapse in judgment by testing positive, when the look on the faces of your friends will say you should have known better.
I have no idea what that must be like. I took the test over 25 years ago. The positive result was traumatic, no doubt about it, and I soldiered on during some awfully frightening times. But I have a significant psychological advantage over my HIV negative friends: I only took that damn test once.
Read the rest here. It’s excellent.
Study: Bullying Leads To Dangerous Risks For LGBT Youth
A new study in The Journal Of School Health gives another reason to protect school-age LGBT’s from bullying and threats of violence. This is the first study to examine school victimization in adolescence in relation to physical and mental health in later life- and the results are not surprising:
“We now have evidence of the lasting personal and social cost of failing to make our schools safe for all students. Prior studies have shown that school victimization of LGBT adolescents affects their health and mental health. In our study we see the effects of school victimization up to a decade later or more. It is clear that there are public health costs to LGBT-based bullying over the long-term,” said lead author, Stephen T. Russell, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, University of Arizona.
Those public health costs include higher suicide attempts, increased risk of contracting STD’s (including HIV), and greater levels of anxiety and depression- mostly due to decreased levels of self-worth directly related to victimization.
Key Research Findings:
- LGBT young adults who reported high levels of LGBT school victimization during adolescence were 5.6 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.6 times more likely to report a suicide attempt that required medical care, 2.6 times more likely to report clinical levels of depression, 2.5 times more likely to have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease, and nearly 4 times more likely to report risk for HIV infection, compared with peers who reported low levels of school victimization.
- Gay and bisexual males and transgender young adults reported higher levels of LGBT school victimization than lesbian and bisexual young women.
- LGBT young adults who reported lower levels of school victimization reported higher levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction and social integration compared with peers with higher levels of school victimization during adolescence.
This provides substantial scientific evidence to create safer environments for our youth. Please share with school administrators, teachers and parents.
San Francisco State University. “School bullying, violence against LGBT youth linked to risk of suicide, HIV infection.” ScienceDaily, 16 May 2011. Web. 17 May 2011.
Queering Ecology: One Goose At A Time
If you’re an amateur naturalist, like me, you’ve probably spent some time in the library or online looking for sexual ambiguity in nature- after all, one of the biggest arguments against the biodiversity of sexual orientation is this: Natural Law.
The argument basically says nature dictates what is (and what isn’t) natural. The basic premise for years had been that animals and plants have clearly established sexual roles and are completely hetero-oriented. And that was a basic premise of my high school science and biology classes.
Because my own experience doesn’t bear this out, I’ve always known that science would soon catch up- destroying the faulty premise of hetero-only natural law. My friend Alex Johnson- a bona fide environmental scientist, also had the itch to find the versatility of nature.
In his fascinating piece for Orion Magazine, Alex writes:
Where is the line between what is Nature and what is Human? Do I spend equal times in the parking lot and the forest? Can I really say the parking lot is separate from the forest? What if I end up staying in the parking lot the whole time? What if it has been a long drive and I really have to pee?
The problem is, the Nature/Human split is not a split. It is a dualism. It is false.
I propose messing it up. I propose queering Nature.
As it would happen, I’m queer. What I mean is this: A) I am a man attracted to men. B) Popular culture has told me that men who are attracted to men are unnatural, and so C) if my culture is right, then I am unnatural. But D) I don’t feel unnatural at all. In fact, the love I share with another man is one of the most comfortable, honest, real feelings I have ever felt. And so E) I can’t help but believe that Nature, and the corresponding definition of “natural,” betray reality. From my end of the rainbow, this thing we call Nature is in need of a good queering.
Like I said- fascinating. Read the full piece here.
Then forward it to your high school science teacher.
The Gay Imam
I get a lot of emails from friends who know that I love to read all sorts of things, but don’t have a lot of time to search for it myself. One of my friends looks at websites from The Netherlands and sends me items. From Radio Netherlands Worldwide came a little gem entitled “Gay Imam Says Homosexuality Not Sinful“.
“Huh? Really?”
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Christian circles, where being gay is feared, celebrated, derided and, in some cases, simply no big deal. I’m used to it. Christian tradition seems built for such a struggle. But Islam?
I was eager to learn more. It seems South African Imam Muhsin Hendricks is a gay man who runs a foundation called The Inner Circle which helps Muslims struggling with their sexuality and their religion. He has openly proclaimed “It is okay to be Muslim and gay!” From the article:
It’s a message not everyone agrees with and the reason why Mr Hendricks is no longer officially a cleric.
Muhsin Hendricks looks a little tired. He is in the Netherlands at the invitation of the Amsterdam branch of gay rights organisation COC and he’s on a punishing schedule. There is enormous public interest in the “pink imam”, as he’s been dubbed.
But every trace of fatigue vanishes as Mushin Hendricks talks about his faith and his sexuality.
“Being Muslim and being gay are both strong identities. And I think that they are both innate identities for me. So somewhere along the line I had to reconcile the two.”
This was far from easy for Muhsin Hendricks. He was born into an orthodox Muslim family in South Africa. His grandfather was a cleric in one of Cape Town’s most prominent mosques. Mushin discovered at an early age that he was different. He played with dolls rather than cars. He was seen as being feminine and was teased as a result. All this was long before he even knew there was such a thing as homosexuality.
Mushin Hendricks took comfort in his faith, in spite of the fact that many Muslims believe it offers no place to homosexual feelings. Sexual love between two men or two women is prohibited. It is seen as one of the worst possible sins, punishable in some Islamic countries by death.
It’s a story familiar to anyone with conflicts around faith and identity. It’s also an opportunity to learn more about the experience of our Muslim brothers and sisters- and maybe another reason to celebrate the shared humanity of the struggle for dignity and integrity.
Addendum:
Reader Michael writes:
Thought you might like to add an addendum to your article to inform readers that the gay Iman is featured in the documentary about gays and Islam called “A Jihad for Love” co-produced by Sandi Dubowski who made the doc about gay Jews I trust you’re familiar with: “Trembling Before G-d.” Those interested should be able to rent the DVD from any decent rental outlet. Website: http://www.ajihadforlove.com/home.html
While often fascinating–particularly the part revealing the Islamic countries that are liberal enough to tolerate gays and lesbians fleeing from other Islamic countries–and a kind of quasi-underground railroad to relocate them in Western countries–overall I found it as depressing as “Trembling” but without providing the Hope through Heart experienced through the personality of Dubowski who’s not in the later film. But it’s certainly informative.
Where Should We Stand?
I wanted to cross-post this yesterday, but got completely caught up in open houses and then people over for the Oscars…sigh. I wonder how James Franco feels today.
I bet, sadly, not good.
Anyway, this is another post from my friend Ted Hayes on the pro-life/choice false dichotomy. Excerpt:
Most of the other efforts to date of these holier-than-thous have been to wage war against women, particularly in the area of abortion. They can depend on their very ill-informed base’s jumping up and down with glee if they fuel the culture war and attack women and the LGBT community. Since their last foray into the fight against any form of equality for gays ended with repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” they have now turned their “guns” toward a woman’s right to choose.
It’s an excellent read- and don’t forget to post comments in favor of Ted’s becoming a regular contributor to Bilerico!
Full text here.
From Eternity To Here 