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Comings & Goings
Alva named adjunct professor of the year at UT San Antonio Health
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].
Congratulations to Eric Alva on his recognition as adjunct professor of the year for the second time in four years at the University of Texas, San Antonio College for Health, Community and Policy, Department of Social work.
“I am truly blessed and grateful for this recognition,” Alva said. “I could not be where I am today if it wasn’t for my students, and colleagues. They have supported me and have taught me so much. Though I may be the one standing up in front of the class, my students know that it is not “my class” it is “our” class because it belongs to them as much as it belongs to me. They teach me every class something new and that is a gift.”
In addition to serving as an adjunct professor, Alva is a motivational public speaker represented by Keppler Speakers. He speaks on his life and as a political and human rights activist. He has delivered speeches at more than 200 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Texas A&M, and Northwestern. He has spoken to other audiences including NASA, Pepsi, AOL, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Sodexo, Raytheon, American Airlines, and The Hartford.
Alva speaks of his personal experiences including working to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the challenges facing LGBTQ service members. He speaks of his own life overcoming obstacles as he recovered from injuries sustained in battle, learning to walk again, and starting a new life after 13 years in the military. He speaks inspirationally drawing on personal experiences as a disabled military veteran, a Hispanic, and a gay man.
He worked for the Child Protective Services Division, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. He served in the United States Marine Corps, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines Regiment and retired at the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6). He is a much-decorated service member whose deployments included Somalia (Operation Restore Hope) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom). He was a member of first wave of Marines to enter Iraq in 2003, when he was injured and lost his leg. His awards include Purple Heart Medal (first soldier wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom); Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (5); Combat Action Ribbon; Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal (4); National Defense Service Medal (2); Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (4); Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; and Meritorious Unit Commendation (3);
Alva has volunteered for the Human Rights Campaign as a national spokesperson for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He represented HRC at public events nationally and in the media. He has volunteered for the San Antonio Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Chamber of Commerce; San Antonio Stonewall Democrats where he was a member of the board; National Association of Social Workers; and the Dive Pirates Foundation (adaptive SCUBA diving for people with disabilities).
District of Columbia
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
‘This is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on March 20 signed a bill approved by the D.C. Council that requires health insurance companies to cover the costs of HIV prevention or PrEP drugs for D.C. residents at risk for HIV infection.
Like all legislation approved by the Council and signed by the mayor, the bill, called the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act, was sent to Capitol Hill for a required 30-day congressional review period before it takes effect as D.C. law.
Gay D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) last year introduced the bill.
Insurance coverage for PrEP drugs has been provided through coverage standards included in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But AIDS advocacy organizations have called on states and D.C. to pass their own legislation requiring insurance coverage of PrEP as a safeguard in case federal policies are weakened or removed by the Trump administration, which has already reduced federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs.
Like legislation passed by other states, the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act requires insurers to cover all PrEP drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Studies have shown that PrEP drugs, which can be taken as pills or by injection just twice a year, are highly effective in preventing HIV infection.
“I think this is a win for our community,” Parker said after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to approve the bill on its first vote on the measure in February. “And this is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
President Donald Trump removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post Thursday, following growing criticism over how she and the Department of Justice handled a range of issues, including matters related to sex offender and Trump ally Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump announced Bondi’s removal on Truth Social, where he also said Todd Blanche will serve as acting head of the Justice Department.
“Pam Bondi is a great American patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my attorney general over the past year,” Trump wrote on the platform. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown on crime across our country, with murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
Trump was seen as recently as Wednesday with the now-former attorney general at a Supreme Court hearing on citizenship.
The decision contrasts with Trump’s previous public praise of Bondi, the 87th U.S. attorney general and former 37th attorney general of Florida, who served in that role from 2011-2019 before joining the Trump-Vance administration. He has frequently lauded her loyalty and said he speaks with her often. Bondi was also one of president’s defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial.
Privately, however, Trump had grown frustrated that Bondi was not “moving quickly enough” to prosecute critics and political adversaries he wanted to face criminal charges, according to multiple sources. The New York Times reported that her inability to charge former FBI Director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James with any crimes is a large factor in the president’s choice to fire her from the government’s primary law enforcement agency.
The move comes as Trump has sought to minimize public turmoil within his administration, avoiding the perception of a revolving-door Cabinet that defined his first term.
Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who unsuccessfully ran for governor, has emerged as a leading contender to lead the Justice Department. He has been one of Trump’s most reliable allies.
“He’s our secret weapon,” Trump said of Zeldin in February during a White House event promoting the coal industry, adding, “He’s getting those approvals done in record-setting time.”
Bondi has also growing faced scrutiny from Congress.
The House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed her to testify about the department’s handling of certain files, where she declined to answer key questions during a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing in February.
The Tampa native has a long history of opposing LGBTQ rights through her roles in government. As Florida attorney general, she fought against the legalization of same-sex marriage, arguing it would cause “serious public harm,” pushing forward a legal battle that cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She also asked the Florida Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
More recently, Bondi established a “Title IX Special Investigations Team” within the Justice Department focused on restricting transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports teams and accessing facilities aligned with their gender identity. She also told Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to turn over the medical records of anyone under 19 who received gender-affirming care.
Her removal follows Trump’s decision last month to oust another controversial female Cabinet figure, Kristi Noem.
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
JD Vance to travel to Hungary next week
Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general
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