National
AIDS 2012: Clinton announces ‘blueprint’ for ‘AIDS-free generation’
Identifies new funding streams to confront global epidemic
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke Monday at the 19th International AIDS Conference (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Monday that the United States would prepare a “blueprint” to confront the global AIDS epidemic and realize her previously stated vision of an “AIDS-free generation.”
In a speech before attendees in D.C. at the 19th International AIDS Conference, Clinton said she directed U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby to develop the plan and said it would be unveiled before Dec. 1 on World AIDS Day.
“I have asked Ambassador Dr. Goosby to take the lead on developing and sharing our blueprint of the goals and objectives for the next phase of our effort and to release this blueprint by World AIDS Day this year,” Clinton said. “We want the next Congress, the next secretary of state, and all of our partners here at home and around the world to have a clear picture of everything we’ve learned and a roadmap that shows what we will contribute to achieving an AIDS-free generation.”
Clinton first articulated the idea of an “AIDS-free generation” during remarks she delivered on World AIDS Day last year.
A number of HIV/AIDS advocates praised the idea of a blueprint in the global fight against HIV/AIDS as they called for the strategy to include certain enumerated provisions.
Chris Collins, vice president of policy for amFAR, said he’s hoping the plan would articulate the way forward in confronting the global AIDS epidemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 25 million across the globe.
“When you want to accomplish a complex goal you need a clear plan of action,” Collins said. “Creation of a blueprint is an important step forward because it directs our planning, policy and funding toward achieving clear outcomes and goals and will help everyone engaged monitor progress toward an AIDS-free generation.”
In a joint statement, 65 advocacy and implementation organizations said the blueprint needs to contain several key points to succeed, such as defining specific outcome targets for HIV incidence, morbidity and mortality; requiring full transparency of U.S. government budgets; and requiring detailed annual reporting on progress.
During the same speech, Clinton unveiled five new funding streams aiming to target populations that are particularly affected by HIV/AIDS overseas, touting a “combination prevention” strategy of treatment and prevention.
The five new funding streams total $157 million:
• an additional $80 million to support approaches that ensure HIV-positive pregnant women receive treatment to protect themselves and prevent them from spreading the disease to their children and partners;
• an additional $40 million to support South Africa’s plans to provide voluntary medical male circumcisions for almost half a million boys and men in the next year;
• $15 million for implementation research to identify the specific interventions that are most effective for reaching key populations;
• $20 million to launch a challenge fund to support country-led plans to expand services for key populations; and
• a $2 million investment in the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund to bolster the efforts of civil society groups in addressing key populations.
Clinton said keeping women in Africa with HIV healthy is important to keep them from transferring the disease to their unborn children, which she said the United States is committed to ending by 2015.
A number of female HIV/AIDS advocates at the conference called for greater attention to the disease’s impact on children. In sub-Saharan Africa, which has been particularly affected by AIDS, an estimated 60 percent of those living with HIV are women.
“When women are identified as HIV-positive and eligible for treatment, they are often referred to another clinic, one that may be too far away for them to reach,” Clinton said. “As a result, too many women never start treatment. Today, I am announcing that the United States will invest an additional $80 million to fill this gap. These funds will support innovative approaches to ensure that HIV-positive pregnant women get the treatment they need to protect themselves, their babies and their workers.”
Clinton’s speech was highly anticipated among the estimated 25,000 people in attendance at the conference. Organizers sent attendees to overflow rooms a full half-hour before she came on stage because the large room in which she was set to speak was already filled to capacity.
Upon her arrival, Clinton was greeted with a standing ovation from attendees. But not everyone received her favorably.
A group of protesters could be heard shouting at the secretary as she approached the podium. They held up a sign calling on Clinton to take “Trans Pacific” action against AIDS — apparently out of concern of insufficient funds for trans people affected by AIDS overseas. Clinton responded, “What would an AIDS conference be without a little protesting? We understand that.”
Some HIV/AIDS advocates have criticized the Obama administration for not doing enough to fight the global epidemic. The president’s budget request for fiscal year 2013 cuts half a billion dollars from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program established by President George W. Bush to confront the global epidemic, as the White House maintained the program is doing more with less because of the reduced cost of drugs.
Protesters shout at Clinton during remarks at AIDS conference (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Despite this proposed cut, Clinton emphasized new accomplishments for PEPFAR under the Obama administration, saying the program is funding 600,000 more people since December. She said this increase means PEPFAR is reaching nearly 4.5 million people and is on track to meet the administration’s goal of treating 6 million people by the end of 2013, which President Obama announced on World AIDS Day last year.
“Now since that time I’ve heard a few voices from people raising questions about America’s commitment to an AIDS-free generation, wondering whether we are really serious about achieving it,” Clinton said. “Well, I am here today to make it absolutely clear: the United States is committed and will remain committed to achieving an AIDS-free generation. We will not back off, we will not back down, we will fight for the resources necessary to achieve this historic milestone.”
Additionally, Clinton said PEPFAR is reaching more than 370,000 women globally and has supported more than 400,000 male circumcisions, which has been shown to reduce HIV transmission, since December.
“You know and we want the world to know that this procedure reduces the risk of female-to-male transmission by more than 60 percent and for the rest of the man’s life, so the impact can be phenomenal,” Clinton said. “In Kenya and Tanzania, mothers asked for circumcision campaigns during school vacations so their teenage sons could participate. In Zimbabwe, some male lawmakers want to show their constituents how safe and virtually painless the procedure is, so they went to a mobile clinic and got circumcised. That’s the kind of leadership we welcome.”
But as she emphasized U.S. efforts in confronting the epidemic, Clinton also called for partner nations to step up their game to confront the disease in their own countries, saying reaching the goal “is a shared responsibility.”
“I spoke earlier about how the United States is supporting country ownership, but we also look to our partner countries and donors to do their part,” Clinton said. “They can follow the example of the last few years in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, India and other countries who are able to provide more and better care for their own people because they are committing more of their own resources to HIV/AIDS. And partner countries also need to take steps like fighting corruption and making sure their systems for approving drugs are as efficient as possible.”
As part of this commitment, Clinton called on other countries to contribute to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculous and Malaria. Obama’s most recent budget request affirms the administration’s commitment to provide $4 billion over three years to the fund, and Clinton said Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, the Gates Foundation and others have stepped up their efforts.
Paul Zeitz, vice president of policy for the D.C.-based ACT V: The End of AIDS, joined in the call for other countries to step up their efforts in confronting HIV/AIDS as he commended Clinton for announcing her plan to produce a blueprint in the global fight.
“As we all know, money is the oxygen for action for creating an AIDS-Free Generation,” Zeitz said. “Action speaks louder and we need to make sure that governments around the world step up to pay their fare share, including my own government. U.S. leadership in the global battle to end AIDS is an essential catalyst.”
National
Blade reporters reflect on covering Pulse massacre 10 years ago
Orlando stepped up to comfort and support its LGBTQ community
Friday marks 10 years since a gunman killed 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
The massacre, which, at the time was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, left the LGBTQ community in this country and around the world reeling. It also prompted renewed calls for gun control.
The OnePulse Foundation, which Pulse owner Barbara Poma founded after the massacre, raised upwards of $20 million for a memorial that never materialized.
The city of Orlando in 2023 purchased the Pulse property for $2 million. Crews earlier this year demolished the former nightclub. The city of Orlando has pledged $12 million for a permanent memorial that is scheduled to open in 2027.
Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff and International News Editor Michael K. Lavers reported from Orlando in the days after the massacre. Here are their reflections a decade later.
Describe the scene when you arrived in Orlando. Where did you go first?
NAFF: Most mainstream reporters headed for the Pulse nightclub, but it was already roped off with police keeping bystanders at least a full city block away. Instead, I hurried to The Center, Orlando’s LGBTQ community center, downtown. I expected to find it locked down with tight security but instead the doors were flung open and everyone inside was busy at work. No tears, just dedicated staff and volunteers working the phones to secure visas and free plane tickets for relatives of the victims. The director gave me a tour and in the back storage room were pallets and pallets of bottled water stacked to the ceiling. When I asked what all the water was for, he said the city had issued a call for blood donations and the lines to donate were 1,500 deep in 100-degree heat. So The Center drove around to all the sites to deliver water to all those standing in line.
That scene was so inspiring and a testament to the strength and resiliency of the LGBTQ community. We’d seen tragedy before and knew how to respond.
LAVERS: I arrived in Orlando about 14 hours after the massacre took place. The city was shellshocked.
Equality Florida, the state’s LGBTQ advocacy group, and other organizations held a press conference at The Center shortly after my flight from D.C. landed. I drove there from the airport. Terry DeCarlo, who was The Center’s executive director at the time, along with then-Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith and others spoke on behalf of a community that was reeling. The Center at the press conference handed out business cards that read, “You matter.” I had it in my wallet when I drove to a makeshift memorial that was a block from Pulse — the police had cordoned off the area immediately around the nightclub. A local resident who I interviewed told me that she did not know if her friends who were at Pulse when the gunman opened fire survived. Another person with whom I spoke shared a similar story.
A torrential downpour began shortly after I arrived. The storm was an apt metaphor for the raw emotion of that horrific day.
What’s your most prominent memory of covering the Pulse massacre?
NAFF: I was covering a vigil in downtown Orlando when then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s motorcade arrived unannounced. To that point, he had not addressed the LGBTQ angle and seemed to be downplaying the fact that this was an attack on our community. I hurried to the front row as he held an impromptu news conference. To my dismay, he took only three short questions from TV reporters then rushed away. I grabbed his communications director and insisted that Scott take a question from the LGBTQ media. She agreed and told me to wait next to the SUV. When Scott approached, I asked him, “What is your message to LGBTQ Floridians?”
To my surprise, he sputtered, stammered, and broke into tears before telling me, “This was an attack, what else can you say? This was an attack against the gays, an attack against Hispanics, an attack against our country, our nation and it’s disgusting. The biggest thing we do now is ask how to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
It was his first public acknowledgment that the LGBTQ community was the target of the attack.
LAVERS: Two moments stand out for me.
The first moment is when then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Orlando on June 16, four days after the massacre. I was one of the reporters who the White House asked to be part of the local press pool. I was about 50 feet away from Obama and Biden when they placed bouquets with 49 flowers — one for each of the victims — at a makeshift memorial between City Hall and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando. Obama in remarks he made to the press pool mentioned one of the gay victims who had once said, “We cannot be afraid.” The emotions of the last four days simply became too much, and I broke down. Another reporter who was part of the press pool who was standing next to me realized I had broken down. She put her hand on my back to console me.
The second moment came a few weeks later when I was in Puerto Rico to cover the community’s response to the massacre and to interview victims’ relatives. Orlando has a very large Puerto Rican community, and nearly half of those who died at Pulse were of Puerto Rican descent.
I drove to Caguas, a city that is roughly 20 miles south of San Juan, the island’s capital, on July 7, and interviewed Aida Velázquez in her small apartment. Her son, Frankie “Jimmy” de Jesús, died at Pulse. Aida talked about her son, and she showed me pictures of him. Jimmy also danced Jíbaro, a Puerto Rican folk dance. The interview took place less than a month after the massacre — Jimmy’s funeral took place in Caguas less than two weeks earlier.
I sat in my car after the interview and sobbed uncontrollably for nearly five minutes. Nothing can possibly prepare you for interviewing a mother who had just lost her child in the most horrific way possible.
How did the local community respond and what about their response gave you hope or inspiration?
NAFF: In addition to the staff at The Center working to assist victims and their families, everyday Orlando residents stepped up to help however they could. At the downtown vigils, straight mothers and fathers carried signs offering hugs to anyone who needed them. I encountered a group of young teenage males who approached a group of law enforcement officers and appeared to perform for them. When they finished, I asked what they were doing and they told me that they were straight friends who lived in Orlando and wanted to do something to help so they composed an uplifting rap song and walked around performing it for anyone who needed cheering up.
LAVERS: The way that Orlando rallied around the LGBTQ community was simply inspiring.
Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, at a memorial service that took place at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center on June 13 said his organization was “united as Americans when it comes to standing with the LGBT community and their rights to live freely and to practice their lives here.” This comment underscored the outpouring of support that Orlando showed its LGBTQ community after Pulse. It was also a call for the better angels among us to reject hate in all of its forms.
What surprised you most about the experience?
NAFF: I was most surprised — and moved — after talking to Rev. Debreita Taylor of Oasis Fellowship Ministries, an LGBTQ-affirming ministry.
“My message is love. Period. Love. Period. There’s nothing in the word of God that faith leaders can go to that teaches hate,” she told me. “Have faith and believe that evil and hate can be eradicated one person at a time. How do you treat someone? How do you embrace someone who treats you wrong? We all bleed, laugh, hope and have great victories and major defeats. And so, you know me, even if you don’t know my name — I’m you.”
LAVERS: It admittedly took me quite a while to fully process what I experienced in Orlando — I was focused on doing my job as a reporter, which was to cover the story, and, most importantly, show the human impact of what had happened. I suppose one surprising aspect of the time I spent in Orlando was that I found myself feeling more defiant against those who seek to destroy our community. They want us to live in fear, and I refuse to give them that satisfaction.
What, if anything, changed as a result of Pulse?
NAFF: In the immediate aftermath of the attack, queer spaces began rethinking their approach to security, which has served us well in the years since. Sadly, just a year later, Pulse was bumped to the No. 2 deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history when a gunman opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people. Americans and their politicians never learn from these largely preventable tragedies. The carnage continues.
LAVERS: Gun violence remains a shameful scourge in this country. Our community remains vulnerable to violence and discrimination. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other politicians here in Washington, around the country, and overseas continue to use our community to advance an anti-equality agenda. The carnage continues, as my colleague correctly notes, but our community remains strong and defiant. That gives me hope.
National
Queen Jean is Tony’s first transgender winner
Designer/activist wins for work on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
It was a historic night at the 79th annual Tony Awards on Sunday as Queen Jean won the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, making her the first out transgender person to win a Tony.
“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
She won the award for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and was also nominated for best costume design of a play for “Liberation.”
In addition to her stage work, Queen Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, an organization that supports trans and gender-nonconforming people in New York City.
National
Madonna turns Times Square into massive dance floor
Pop icon celebrates Pride month with surprise performance
Pop icon Madonna celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday to the delight of 50,000 fans.
She performed for about 15 minutes high above street level, including several songs from her new album “Confessions II” due on July 3, along with a trio of songs from the first “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”
In addition to the brand new “Love Sensation,” she performed “I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” plus “Hung Up,” “Get Together” and “I Love New York.” She wished the crowd a happy Pride season; the event was shared with audiences through Grindr’s first-ever livestream.
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