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‘The numbers are staggering’

14 percent of gay, bi men in D.C. have HIV: study

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17 years ago

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Local activists and health officials this week called for new approaches in HIV prevention following a city study that shows 14 percent of tested gay and bisexual men were HIV positive and 25 percent of black gay male participants were positive.

During a March 29 town hall meeting organized by the D.C. Center for the LGBT community to discuss the study’s findings, a number of AIDS activists noted the study included a sample of just 500 male respondents and did not cover the full demographics of all men who have sex with men.

But most activists speaking at the forum said the study reveals a number of important new findings showing high-risk behavior among those sampled and should not be dismissed because it’s less than perfect.

“Because we’ve determined that it is not a truly representative sample due to methodological limitations of the research, we can’t say that 14 percent of D.C.’s gay [and men who have sex with men] population is HIV positive,” said Daniel O’Neill, chair of the D.C. Center’s HIV Prevention Working Group.

“The reality: It’s probably far worse than 14 percent, as the data is both dated and under-represents some of the most at-risk subgroups.”

Dr. Shannon Hader, director of the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration, opened the town hall meeting with a 45-minute presentation explaining the study’s findings and comparing it to existing city data on HIV prevalence among MSM, homosexuals and injection drug users, the three key groups used by researchers to measure the AIDS epidemic.

Hader and O’Neill were among five panelists who spoke at the town hall meeting and fielded questions from about 50 people who attended. The other panelists included Jose Gutierrez, a gay Latino activist affiliated with La Clinica Del Pueblo, a D.C. clinic that provides services to people with HIV/AIDS; Ken Pettigrew, director of programs for Us Helping Us, a local AIDS advocacy group that provides services for mostly black gay men; and Calvin Gerald, an organizer with the D.C. Center’s HIV Prevention Working Group.

Hader’s presentation followed the city’s release of the study’s findings March 26 at a news conference outside the Wanda Alston House for LGBT youth in Northeast D.C.

A first-of-its-kind look into the behavior of men who have sex with men in the District of Columbia, the study’s main finding was that 14 percent of those sampled were HIV positive. The figure represents an HIV-positive rate nearly five times higher than the 3 percent HIV infection rate among all adults and teens in the city, according to separate data gathered by the HIV/AIDS Administration.

The MSM study also found that black men who have sex with men, who participated in the study, had an HIV infection rate of 25 percent, compared to an 8 percent infection rate among white MSM who participated in the study.

“The numbers are staggering, but they are changeable,” says a report accompanying the study, which was conducted for the city by George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services. “We are convinced that there are no foregone conclusions to getting HIV for men who have sex with men.”

Although gay and AIDS activists attending Monday’s town hall meeting said the high HIV positive rate findings among MSM did not surprise them, some expressed surprise and puzzlement over other findings. Among them are that men under age 30 “generally had safer sex behaviors” while men over 30 “got tested less and used condoms less and had more sex partners.”

The study also found that more than 40 percent of the men participating did not use a condom at the time of their last sexual encounter and more than one-third did not know the HIV status of their last sex partner.

Another development that came as a surprise to many activists, more than half of the study’s participants reported an annual income of $50,000 or greater, an education significantly higher than a high school degree, and were believed to be “socially connected” with the LGBT community.

Hader and some of the AIDS activists attending the town hall meeting said this suggests that many gay men who should be aware of the need for greater condom use and overall less risky behaviors were nevertheless continuing to engage in risky behavior.

In a finding said to highlight a seeming paradox among black MSM, the study found that black MSM of all ages used condoms more frequently than whites. Yet the infection rate for black MSM remains high, the report says, most likely because the number of infected black MSM is significantly higher than white MSM, increasing the chance of infection even if safer sex is practiced most of the time.

“Though white men were more likely to engage in higher risk sexual behavior, more men of color were impacted by HIV,” says the report.

The report also notes that, “Contrary to some perceptions, younger men generally had safer sex behaviors, while older men got tested less and used condoms less and had more sex partners.”

The study found that about 66 percent of black MSM reported using a condom during their most recent instance of anal sex, compared to about 47 percent of white MSM.

Hader said the study was conducted using protocols established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for similar studies in other cities.

She said that similar MSM studies will be conducted every three years, alternating with studies of HIV-related heterosexual sexual behavior and studies of injection drug users conducted.

“The data are the data are the data,” she said at the town hall meeting. “They’re not the whole picture or the only picture, but they’re really useful information.

“And they’re not the answers So my hope is our data is to be used to start to come up with the answers, to reinforce anything we think we’re on the right track on, to bring up new ideas.”

‘We have more work to do’

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty joined Hader and other officials with the Department of Health and its HIV/AIDS Administration at the news conference March 26 announcing the release of the study.

D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At Large), who chairs the D.C. City Council’s Committee on Health, also participated in the news conference. He praised Fenty and Hader for working hard during the past three years to transform what he called a highly flawed public health data gathering system into a “world class” system recognized and praised by health departments in other cities and states.

Fenty joined Hader and Dr. Pierre Vigilance, director of the D.C. Department of Health, in noting that the study’s troubling findings of high HIV infection rates among MSM were offset by what they said were highly useful new data generated by the study.

“Knowing the facts about our HIV/AIDS epidemic improves how we fight this disease,” Fenty said.

Pointing to a separate study released last week, he noted that, “we’ve already shown that we can make progress against HIV by reducing AIDS cases and deaths and increasing people getting into medical care.”

“This study shows that we have more work to do to fight HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with men,” he said.

The D.C. MSM study consisted of 500 participants who were recruited “at open air venues, gyms, bars, restaurants, and clubs where men who have sex with men tend to frequent,” says the study report. “Participants were interviewed at these venues, which were located in Wards 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8.”

The study, which was conducted in 2008, doesn’t identify the specific venues, and representatives of the GWU team that conducted the survey declined at the news conference to disclose the names of the venues.

The report acknowledges that the study did not reach all MSM and most likely under-represents some groups, including MSM who don’t identify as gay or bisexual, and younger white MSM.

It notes that of the nearly 100 white men under age 30 who participated in the study, none were found to be HIV positive.

Vigilance and Hader said that while most of the MSM participants in the study reported having been tested for HIV, 40 percent did not know they were HIV positive until they were tested at the time of the study. Among those who tested positive during the study, nearly three-quarters had seen a doctor or other health care provider at least once in the previous 12 months, but were not tested.

Vigilance and Hader noted that a D.C. public health policy established four years ago calls for all adults in the city to be tested routinely for HIV during regular doctor visits, just as they are tested for high blood pressure and diabetes.

As a result of the study’s findings, Vigilance said the health department is calling on MSM to be tested for HIV twice a year instead of the once-a-year recommendation made four years ago.

Hader also announced at the press conference that the Department of Health is launching a new MSM HIV screening project in partnership with the Whitman-Walker Clinic and the Crew Club, a gay male gym and social venue.

According to Hader, the yearlong project will screen about 500 men at the Crew Club considered to be at high risk for HIV. She said pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc., is contributing $40,000 to the project and the Crew Club is contributing more than $5,000 along with special accommodations on its premises to conduct the screening.

She said that while the 14 percent HIV infection rate among MSM in D.C. is too high, previous MSM studies in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco found a combined infection rate of 25 percent in 2005. She noted that in Baltimore, the MSM infection rate was found to be 40 percent.

‘What are we doing wrong?’

The panelists who joined Hader at the town hall meeting and members of the audience expressed differing views on whether existing HIV prevention programs in the city, including those operated by community organizations like Us Helping Us and the Whitman-Walker Clinic, have been effective in their mission.

“There is a notion to say what are we doing wrong?” said Pettigrew of Us Helping Us. “But you can also ask, ‘What are we doing right?’”

He noted that one of the key findings in the MSM study was that men under 30 years old had a lower rate of HIV infection and were engaging in less risky behavior.

Ernest Hopkins, a veteran AIDS activist involved with programs in D.C. and San Francisco, said the D.C. government has been less aggressive and less visible in its AIDS prevention messages than in the past. He and D.C. Center Executive Director David Mariner called for greater city funding for community based HIV programs, including programs organized by the Center.

AIDS activist Chris Lane, a former official with the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, noted that a mental health component appeared to be missing from the MSM study.

Hader said the full scientific report on the study, which is to be published soon on the Department of Health’s web site, discusses mental health-related issues and that the city would pursue these issues when its reviews its overall HIV prevention programs in the next few months.

Gerald of the Center’s HIV Prevention Working Group cautioned against placing all the responsibility of HIV prevention on the city. He expressed concern that not enough black gay men have attended meetings and planning sessions to address the issue.

“We should not just wait for the government to do something,” he said. “We should educate our own people in the black community. We can let the government go so far, but we have to take it up from there.”

The study, titled “MSM in D.C.: A Life Long Commitment to Stay HIV Free,” is available through the Department of Health’s website, www.doh.dc.gov.

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Health

United States Conference on HIV/AIDS grapples with federal budget cuts

Annual gathering is largest of its kind in the country

Published

7 days ago

on

September 22, 2026

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Bishop Antonio José Gallardo Lucena addresses the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS in Anaheim, Calif., on Sep 17, 2026. (Photo by Caleb Kaufman for the Los Angeles Blade)

Advocates, public health experts, and healthcare providers gathered for the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS on Sept. 17 in Anaheim, Calif.

The conference is the largest of its kind in the nation and came amid a wave of new challenges for HIV research and treatment. Since the beginning of the second Trump-Vance administration, federal spending cuts have targeted HIV/AIDS programs, including the gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development and proposed cuts to PEPFAR, which supports HIV testing and treatment globally, in 2025. 

Last year, Congress maintained funding for HIV programs after proposed cuts faced opposition from advocacy groups and bipartisan criticism. Yet, this year Congress has proposed similar cuts to many of the same programs, which would cut nearly one billion dollars in HIV funding. The majority of the cuts would impact HIV prevention and outreach, which includes ending nearly all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV prevention activities. 

“If we continue down this path,” said Jeremiah Johnson, the executive director of PrEP4ALL, an advocacy group that supports expanding access to HIV prevention. “We’re going to see more people falling off treatment. We’re going to see more wait lists. That’s going to lead to more people dying from AIDS-related complications.”

Cuts and challenges

The funding cuts loomed over the conference and inspired protest from activists. 

On the first day of USCHA, activists with Save HIV Funding organized a mock funeral outside the convention center. Advocates living with HIV wrote eulogies for themselves, meant to show the consequences of diminished access to treatment. Then activists marched through the conference carrying fake coffins. 

Johnson, who helped organize the protest, said that “the Trump administration has eviscerated global aid … and the fears that many of us are just talking about hypothetically for ourselves at the moment are already happening [internationally]. And so we wanted to place that front and center at this conference.”

The attacks on funding for HIV research and outreach come at a complicated time for the movement to end the AIDS epidemic. While options for prevention and treatment have never been more accessible, such as PrEP and antiretroviral therapy, there have been some concerning upticks in infections, particularly among communities of color.

Southern states account for the majority of new HIV infections in the country, despite making up only 38 percent of the population. And these infections impact disproportionately Black and Latino communities. According to the CDC, even as overall HIV infections decreased from 2018 to 2022, diagnoses of HIV among Latinos grew by 17 percent, with a majority of this increase happening in the South. 

Stigma is still the biggest barrier for people seeking out HIV treatment, said Guillermo Chacón, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS. 

“The progress that we [made] in the past two years has been demolished,” he said. 

Chacón blames the federal government for stigmatizing HIV treatment by using harmful rhetoric about queer people. 

“The level of homophobia and transphobia right now is even higher because it has been used as a political message to create fear and division in our country,” he said. 

Chacón believes that research and outreach must be done to reverse the rising HIV infections among Latinos. However, this is exactly the type of research that the Trump-Vance administration is targeting most intensely. Research into “health disparities” — why some health problems impact certain communities more than others — has been heavily criticized by the White House, along with other research that it considers “woke” and claims is not supported by science. 

Impact felt at conference

The opening plenary for the conference addressed some of the funding challenges the movement was facing but tried to shift the focus to the victories the movement has seen over the years. Speakers highlighted historic successful activist campaigns like ACT UP, and recent improvements in medical care and access to treatment. 

Randevyn Pierre, head of U.S. external affairs at ViiV Healthcare, the sponsor of the plenary, took the stage to celebrate the success of the U = U campaign (undetectable viral load =
untransmittable HIV virus), and ViiV’s investment of $33 million in HIV community organizations across the U.S. This comes as the Trump-Vance administration has made moves to end direct funding of community-based organizations, opting to give the funding to state healthcare agencies. 

The speakers at the conference discussed reducing stigma for those living with HIV and the joy of living authentically. They also emphasized the diverse groups of people that are impacted by HIV and how they can come together to fight for a cure. Longtime AIDS activist Rae Lewis Thorton exclaimed, “When they tell me there’s a cure to HIV, I’m gonna take off my 4-inch heels and put on gold slippers,” to applause from the audience. 

The opening plenary also featured song and dance from a variety of artists, many of whom spoke about how HIV has impacted their own lives and how advocacy has uplifted their spirits. However, the joyous atmosphere at the conference would not last. 

On the final day of USCHA, Geri Donenberg, the associate director of AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health, took the stage to address the conference. 

As she spoke, phones began to buzz around the room with breaking news: the Trump-Vance administration was drafting an executive order to create an external board to oversee NIH grants and screen them for political content. NMAC CEO Harold Philips took the stage after Donenberg to address the crowd. “It’s up to us,” Philips said, “to hold NIH accountable.” He added that HIV advocates “have supporters inside NIH who are struggling and working to do the right thing. We have to have their back.” 

Chants of “stand up, fight back, fight AIDS” erupted from the crowd as Philips spoke. “We do have to fight back. We do have to continue to fight,” Philips replied. 

Caleb Kaufman is a California Local News Fellow placed with the Los Angeles Blade. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.

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Health

AIDS Healthcare Foundation announces 3 million people globally in its care

Los Angeles-based group lauded ‘historic milestone’

Published

4 months ago

on

June 3, 2026

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An AIDS Healthcare Foundation float in the Lima Pride parade in Lima, Peru, on July 1, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Jacob Kessler)

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit group founded in 1987 that has become the world’s largest HIV/AIDS organization, has announced it has three million people in care around the world.

In a statement released on May 26, the organization, known worldwide as AHF, said the latest accomplishment reflects its global commitment to HIV prevention, care, and treatment. It says the accomplishment comes at a time when AHF marks the 25th anniversary of its first global programs launched in South Africa and Uganda in early 2001.

The statement says the three million people in care milestone also comes while the group approaches the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1987.

“Today, AHF provides lifesaving services in 50 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe, supporting millions of people living with HIV through a network of 1,056 global clinics, 79 healthcare centers in the U.S., 67 pharmacies, 96 wellness centers, 26 Out of the Closet thrift stores, outreach programs, and community partnerships,” the statement says.   

“This accomplishment is far more than a number — it represents 3 million individuals whose lives have been touched by compassion, commitment, and the belief that healthcare is a human right,” Condessa M. Curley, the AHF board chair, said in a statement. “We extend our deepest gratitude to every member of the AHF team whose dedication made this milestone possible,” Curley said.

The AHF website notes the organization was founded in 1987 in Los Angeles as a network of hospices committed to “fighting for the living and caring for the dying” at a time when there was no effective treatment for HIV/AIDS. A statement on the website says since that time AHF has greatly expanded, converting its hospices into healthcare centers “and building a new paradigm for HIV care both in the United States and around the world.”  

The statement adds, “Under the leadership of president and co-founder Michael Weinstein, AHF has grown from a group of friends dedicated to creating dignified hospice care to the largest AIDS organization in the world.” It says Weinstein “has been at the forefront of creating cutting-edge healthcare and advocacy programs and continues to drive the organization forward with the aim of saving more lives around the world.”

The statement announcing the milestone has also come at a time when more than 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV, “while hundreds of thousands continue to die annually from AIDS-related illnesses despite the availability of effective treatment.”

It says AHF’s response has included an expansion of its prevention and public health programs worldwide. In 2025 alone, according to the statement, AHF and its affiliated programs provided nearly five million free HIV tests globally and distributed more than 54 million free condoms, “underscoring the organization’s continued emphasis on both prevention and treatment.”

In D.C. AHF operates health care centers at 1701 K St., N.W., Ste. 400 [202-293-8680], 650 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Ste. 310 [202-350-5000], and 1647 Benning Road, N.E., Ste. 300 [202-350-5000]. 

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Cannabis Culture

LGBTQ people, weed, and mental health: what you need to know

Community uses marijuana at much higher rates than general population

Published

5 months ago

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May 7, 2026

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(Photo courtesy of NORML)

Uncloseted Media published this story on May 7.

By SPENCER MACNAUGHTON | In 2025, the global cannabis market size was valued at nearly $103 billion. By 2034, that number is expected to explode by roughly 1,400 percent to more than $1.43 trillion.

In short, as an increasing number of countries legalize marijuana use, everyone is starting to consume a lot more weed. And LGBTQ people tend to use cannabis at much higher rates than the general population. One study found that 55 percent of lesbian and 45 percent of gay young adults use marijuana, compared to about 33 percent and 37 percent, respectively, of their straight counterparts.

As LGBTQ people face a mental health crisis, the mainstream stereotypes that depict weed as an antidote for anxiety, panic and depression aren’t painting the full picture. And that could be exacerbating the mental health struggles so many queer people, and especially youth, face.

Here’s what the research demonstrates about marijuana and its effects on mental health:

  • Multiple studies suggest a link between marijuana use and an increased risk of mental health disorders, including schizophrenia, depression and anxiety in individuals who are genetically predisposed.
  • One study found that daily marijuana use, especially among younger people, makes some individuals seven times more likely to develop psychosis.

The increase in higher-potency strains of marijuana could pose unknown risks. In 1995, the average content of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in confiscated marijuana was less than 4 percent. In 2022, it was more than 16 percent. Researchers don’t know the full extent of the impact that these higher concentrations can have on mental health and especially on younger people whose brains are still developing.

  • A systematic review of studies published between 2013 and 2025 found damning results for the mental health of young cannabis users:

They were 51 percent more likely to experience depression, 58 percent more likely to experience anxiety, between 50 and 65 percent more likely to experience suicidal ideation and 80 to 87 percent more likely to have attempted suicide.

  • While the above stats paint a grim picture, there is also some research that suggests benefits of cannabis use:
    • A 2025 systematic review found that “medicinal” weed showed some efficacy in relieving withdrawal symptoms of opioid use disorder. THC use has been associated with improvement of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, bipolar symptoms and sleep quality.
    • Other studies found that THC administered in a controlled setting was associated with a decrease of symptoms and adverse effects for a range of mental health disorders, including schizophrenia, psychotic symptoms, and anorexia nervosa.

Beyond what we pulled from academia, there is an astounding lack of information about the interplay between weed and mental health. As we dive deeper into Mental Health Awareness Month, I hope advocacy organizations, influencers and news outlets ramp up their coverage of this important topic that affects the countless LGBTQ weed smokers, many of whom are already struggling.

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