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December is a time of celebration, but it’s also a
time for commemoration since we start the month with World AIDS Day. It’s an
important occasion to remember those we’ve lost to the disease, express our
support for those who are living with it and steel our collective will for the
work that still lies ahead. This December 1, I found myself thinking a lot about
inequality - and how it plays out in prevention and treatment services across
disadvantaged communities.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention released new data from 33 states showing that HIV continues to
devastate African American, Latino/Hispanic and gay male communities. From
2001-2004, African Americans accounted for more than half of all new infections,
with infection rates more than eight times higher than those for Anglos; Latinos
accounted for 18 percent of new infections, more than three times higher than
Anglos. Of the 15,700 people who died of AIDS in 2004, 51 percent were black, 21
percent Hispanic. And, MSMs (men who have sex with men) accounted for 61 percent
of all new HIV infections in males.
These statistics are shameful. As someone who’s lived
through the entire epidemic and been involved in HIV work for more than two
decades, I know a lot about the story behind these numbers: our most vulnerable
communities are not getting the resources they need. Every day people with HIV
in disadvantaged communities struggle for access to medication, medical
treatment, housing, employment and disability benefits. Yet many of the
federally funded prevention and care efforts are facing serious budget cuts and
seem to focus more on currying favor with conservative religious organizations
than serving those in need.
Despite this troubling picture, progress continues to
be made. Lambda Legal’s HIV Project is committed to reaching underserved
communities. With our focus on impact litigation and policy work, we have joined
with partner organizations to fight against proposed cuts in Medicaid and HIV
treatment programs in many states. Also on the treatment front, we’ve had
great success in challenging discriminatory policies that deny liver and kidney
transplants to people with HIV. In our most recent victory we forced Arizona’s
Medicaid program to reverse course; the state had originally turned down a
lifesaving liver transplant for an HIV-positive woman who had end-stage liver
disease as a result of hepatitis C. (About one third of people with HIV in the
United States are co-infected with hepatitis C.) As we’ve done in other cases,
we convinced a judge that the denial of treatment was not based in good medicine
or sound science. Cases like these highlight to health providers - both public
and private - that people with HIV should be treated on a case-by-case basis
like everyone else, rather than lumped into some “one size fits all”
category based on misguided notions about the disease.
Beyond medical treatment, we continue to make progress
in employment discrimination cases on behalf of people with HIV. For example,
last spring we won a successful settlement for Joey Saavedra, a skilled
auto-glass installer who was fired by his employer because of his HIV status.
Though his supervisor was impressed with Joey’s work, the company’s
management thought he was a threat to others - despite decades of studies and
data proving that only in rare workplace situations do people with HIV pose any
real health risk. As part of Joey’s settlement, the company agreed to adopt a
nondiscrimination policy and conduct training sessions on HIV for its employees.
None of our efforts can make up for a neglectful
federal government. But what we hope to do in Lambda Legal’s work is to the
use the courts, and the court of public opinion, to right wrongs where we can
and, wherever possible, to shine a spotlight on the crisis that confronts us.
With the eighteenth World AIDS Day just past, we refuse to forget or pretend or
be silent. As the remaining days of 2005 wind down and we prepare to enter a new
year, I’ve asked myself, and I’m asking everybody I can, to make a
commitment to do whatever it takes to make the news better this time next year.
Kevin Cathcart is the
Executive Director of Lambda
Legal
©365Gay.com 2005
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