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LGBT, HIV/AIDS programs face ‘tragic’ cuts under sequester

ADAP, funding to combat hate crimes on the chopping block

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Arne Duncan, Department of Education, Washington Blade, gay news
Arne Duncan, Department of Education, Washington Blade, gay news

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says there’s “no upside” to the administration’s ability to combat bullying if the sequester takes effect. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Federal programs serving people with HIV/AIDS and others relevant to the LGBT community will be among those feeling the crunch on Friday once the sequester of government funds takes effect.

The sequester — approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2011 as part of an agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — would institute $1.2 trillion in cuts for U.S. government programs across the board starting this year over the course of 10 years.

The cuts were designed to be so onerous that Congress would come to an agreement on a more balanced approach to deficit reduction as opposed to letting the sequester take effect. Although lawmakers and Obama delayed the date on which the sequester would take effect until Friday as part of the “fiscal cliff” deal at the beginning of the year, they so far have been unable to agree to an alternative.

An estimated 8.2 percent in the first year would be cut from the budgets of discretionary federal programs, including HIV/AIDS and LGBT-related programs.

Crosby Burns, research associate on LGBT issues for the Center for American Progress, said the institution of these cuts on Friday would be a “tragedy” because minority communities like LGBT people take the biggest hit when policy makers issue across-the-board cuts to government programs.

“Politicians are literally playing games with people’s lives,” Burns said. “If the sequester happens, AIDS patients will lose access to life-saving drugs, programs that combat hate crimes and domestic violence in the LGBT community will be slashed, LGBT homeless youth will have to remain on the streets if homeless shelters receive less funding, and LGBT workers who have been discriminated against will see their cases go uninvestigated.”

During a White House news briefing on Wednesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the Washington Blade there would be “no upside” regarding how sequestration would impact administrative efforts to combat school bullying because the focus would instead move to getting by with fewer resources.

“We’re not even having that conversation today, it’s all about going in the opposite direction,” Duncan said. “So creating safe communities, creating climates in which children live free of fear, thinking about what we’re doing in the curriculum, afterschool clubs — all the things we should be doing whether it’s around reducing bullying, or whether it’s around the arts or robotics, or whatever it might be, we’re not even having that conversation, which is, again, crazy to me.”

Hope persists that Congress will come to an agreement to undo the sequester before March 27, when the continuing resolution expires that has provided funds for the U.S. government under fiscal year 2013 levels. At that time, funding will need to be renewed or the federal government will shut down. That date is just before worst purported consequences of the sequester — such as furloughs of government employees — are set to take effect on April 4.

But HIV/AIDS programs will be hit especially hard on Friday. According to a fact sheet issued by the White House earlier this month, cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program could result in 7,400 fewer patients having access to life-saving HIV medications. The White House also says around 424,000 fewer HIV tests could be conducted by Centers for Disease Control State grantees, which could result in increased HIV transmissions and costs in health care.

Carl Schmid, deputy executive director for the AIDS Institute, said he hopes that lawmakers and Obama will come to an agreement before the next set of ADAP grants are issued in March or April because they would be lower under the sequester.

“We have had ADAP wait lists in the past, and those are for new people coming on,” Schmid said. “This is they won’t have enough to support the people that are currently on drugs, and that’s really, really dangerous. So I’m sure the companies may try to help out as they have in the past and other parts of the Ryan White Program contributing to ADAP, but we don’t want to get into that situation denying people who are already on medication their drugs, and that’s very dangerous.”

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.

An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.

They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.

Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.

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