AIDS Advocates Debate Obama’s Policies

From Poz.com:

Leaders in the HIV/AIDS community commend President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge for a national AIDS strategy, but call on him to honor that commitment during his first 100 days in office.

Despite George W. Bush’s lauded President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to fight HIV abroad, most experts agree that efforts to prevent and treat the virus on U.S. soil have not been nearly as successful during his eight-year administration.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announcing in August that the rate of new infections in the United States is 40 percent higher than previously estimated, it is of the utmost importance that President-elect Barack Obama honor his promise to keep domestic HIV/AIDS as one of his top policy priorities.

Read the entire article by clicking here.

Black Gay Men Bear Brunt of US HIV Epidemic

From an article posted in the New York Blade:

After announcing last month that the annual number of HIV infections in the U.S. is 40 percent higher than previously thought, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention confirmed this morning in a conference call with reporters that young black gay and bisexual men are the population seeing the highest rates of new HIV infections.

	Kevin Fenton, director of HIV/AIDS division at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, called new HIV incidence data about black gay men ‘alarming.’ (Photo courtesy CDC)

Of the more than 56,000 Americans diagnosed with HIV in 2006, 72 percent were gay and bisexual men; of those men, 46 percent were white, 35 percent were black and 19 percent were Latino.

But CDC officials announced “there were more new HIV infections in young black [gay and bisexual] men aged 13-29 than any other age or racial group” of gay men.

Read the rest by clicking here.

Cali D O C Developing Gay Marriage Policy

According to capitalweekly.net;

The California Department of Corrections is preparing new guidelines for gay marriages in prisons in response to the court ruling that legalized gay marriage in California.

Under the new rules, gay inmates will have the same marriage rights as straight ones: They’ll be able to marry non-inmates, but will be barred from marrying other inmates. With straight inmates, this rule has rarely had an immediate impact, given that male and female prisoners are housed in different facilities.

Read the rest of the story here.

GLBT Youth Respond to Increasing HIV Rates

The National Youth Advocacy Coalition responded today to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest report indicating that there are an estimated 40% more people living with HIV in the United States than previously thought. These new figures were gathered by the CDC using improved technology and methodology. The CDC’s report shows the largest population representing new HIV infection were young people aged 29 and under, indicating that existing pubic education efforts surrounding HIV prevention must be updated to be more relevant and effective at reaching youth as well as increased in breadth and depth to reach this demographic.

“The National Youth Advocacy Coalition applauds the CDC for providing the most accurate information on the status of our country’s HIV epidemic, but we are extremely concerned about the implications of these new numbers,” said Greg Varnum, NYAC’s acting executive director. “These latest figures clearly show that Americans aged 29 and under are not adequately or effectively engaged by existing methods of public education around HIV prevention and the importance of HIV testing. In this electronic era of MySpace, Facebook, Sidekicks and text messaging, NYAC will be taking a leading role in delivering public health messages to Gen Y through the technologies they use everyday.”

Read more at nyacyouth.org.