National
AIDS 2012: Protesters disrupt congressional panel on AIDS
Activists want to repeal ban on PEPFAR funds from going to sex workers


Protesters disrupt a congressional panel moderated by former Sen. Bill Frist (left) at the 19th International AIDS Conference (Blade photo by Chris Johnson)
Protesters disrupted an HIV/AIDS panel discussion on Wednesday involving members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, accusing the Republican senators of blocking efforts to thwart the disease at home and abroad.
The activists, many of whom were affiliated with the umbrella group called the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, stormed the dais where the members of Congress began speaking shortly after former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, who was serving as moderator, started the event at the 19th international AIDS conference in D.C.
The session was titled, “The United States Congress & the Global AIDS Epidemic.” In addition to Frist, four sitting members of Congress took part: Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Chanting “Repeal the pledge for PEPFAR” and ringing cowbells, protesters called on Congress to repeal the portion of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, requiring organizations that receive money under the program to have policies against prostitution — even though sex workers around the world are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Protesters later chanted, “Sex workers rights are human rights!”
Many of the protesters carried red umbrellas. Their signs read, “U.S.A. Repeal the Anti-Prostitution Pledge” and “Export Justice; Not Bad Policy.” A banner unfurled before the dais read, “Export Justice: Not Bad Policy.”
The shouts continued for about five minutes as Frist seemed helpless in his efforts to regain control of the panel even after he said activists had made their point. After one protester said, “You have the floor, senator,” discussion on the panel began to proceed.
But as the members of Congress began to speak activists continued to criticize Republican members of the panel throughout the event — and not all the shouts were about U.S. aid to protect sex workers overseas against HIV/AIDS.
After Enzi gave his remarks recalling the process leading to passage of PEPFAR, protesters shouted, “What about epidemic at home? Where’s the Senate bill?” Enzi replied he’s voted twice to reauthorize funding for the Ryan White Care Act, which provides AIDS drugs to low-income people. The AIDS Institute later affirmed that Enzi twice voted for the measure in 2006 and 2009.
Frist also came to Enzi’s defense, saying the Wyoming senator has traveled to Africa seven times since his initial visit to monitor progress that U.S. global funds have been making on HIV/AIDS.
Rubio didn’t fare any better. When he began speaking, a member of the audience criticized the senator, saying the level of HIV criminalization is higher in Florida than any other part of the country. Another protester silently held up a sign reading, “Rubio Make Mitt Ends AIDS.”
Still, Rubio, a Tea Party favorite, seemed amenable to the United States confronting HIV/AIDS despite his general opposition to government spending, saying foreign aid represents about 1 percent of the U.S. budget and wouldn’t significantly reduce the deficit if taken away.
But the situation was different for Democratic lawmakers, particularly Lee, who last week introduced a bill in Congress called the “Ending HIV Act,” which, among other things, would repeal the ban prohibiting PEPFAR funds from going to sex workers. One protester before the dais held up a sign saying, “We <3 Barbra Lee.” Coons also didn’t endure significant barbs.
In her remarks on the panel, Lee touted the bipartisan work that has been done to confront HIV/AIDS, but said an expanded approach that includes drug users and sex workers is necessary because they represent the majority of people living with HIV. The lawmaker left immediately after her remarks to return to Capitol Hill for votes.
In the last 10 minutes of the discussion, Frist lost complete control of the event. When it became apparent that no time would be allocated for questions from the audience, protesters began to shout “Time for Q&A! Time for Q&A!”
Frist initially said he’d allow some time for questioning as panelists continued discussion, but the chants continued. Finally, as one male audience member demanded to talk and others chanted, “Let him speak,” Frist allotted him a full minute to talk, asking him to take up the full minute. The speaker, who didn’t identify himself, said he was an activist who hailed from Gambia, and accused panelists of allowing people in Africa to die, saying, “We could have saved lives if you allowed us to talk.”
The panel concluded shortly afterward. Protesters continued to chant as they exited the room together along with others.
Shawn Jain, a spokesperson for the conference, said the protesters and organizations with which they are affiliated do not face any consequences.
“The conference expects marches and other peaceful protests during AIDS 2012, including actions inside the conference venue,” Jain said. “AIDS activism has been very important to bringing about critical changes in how the world responds to HIV, and the conference endorses freedom of expression and peaceful protest as an essential principle in the fight against AIDS.”
Kelli Dorsey, one of the protesters and executive director of Different Avenues, said afterward the goal of the protest was to encourage Congress to lift the anti-prostitution pledge that is conditional for U.S. funds against AIDS under PEPFAR.
“What’s happened is some organizations — because of fear and because the guidelines are unclear — don’t provide the same services to sex workers, and therefore sex workers are marginalized from the health care systems,” Dorsey said.
Still, Dorsey expressed doubt that Congress will take action on this issue, saying, “I think it’s going to take a while for us to see action. I think Barbara Lee will put it in, [but] it’s going to be a slow build up because we have a very conservative Congress right now.”
Michael Tikili, a community organizer with an international AIDS activist group HealthGAP who held up the sign calling on Rubio to take action, said afterward Rubio “can actually influence” Romney because the senator is considered a contender as a vice presidential nominee.
“It’s really important for him to speak up on AIDS,” Tikili said. “The fear is that if Romney were to come into office, and he doesn’t have the same beliefs and intuition on AIDS funding, then we’re screwed.”
Tikili expressed confidence that Rubio got the message, saying, “I saw him look directly at me and frown.” And this message may have instigated progress. According to Tikili, Sally Canfield, Rubio’s deputy chief of staff, told the protesters after the event the senator would speak to Romney about issuing an AIDS strategy.
A Senate staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, characterized the situation slightly differently, but acknowledged Rubio agreed to talk to Romney on AIDS.
“After the panel, someone shouted out the general question, ‘Will you talk to Governor Romney about AIDS?'” the staffer said. “Marco said ‘sure.’ Nothing on a ‘national AIDS strategy’ though.”
New York
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant

A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.
NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.
John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.
The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.
Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.
“These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.
It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”
The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question.
A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.
Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.
“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.
“Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says.
Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”
Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”
Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.
“As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from the Washington Blade.
“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”
It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”
The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.
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