National
White House addresses HIV among black MSM
‘Roundtable discussion’ focuses on high infection rates
ONAP Director Douglas Brooks hosted a meeting about the high HIV infection rates in black MSM. (Photo courtesy White House)
The director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and an official with a global pharmaceutical company released details at a White House meeting on Feb. 4 of two new initiatives aimed at curtailing the high rate of new HIV infections among black gay and bisexual men.
ONAP Director Douglas Brooks, who hosted the meeting, and Bill Collier, who heads the North American operation for the multi-national pharmaceutical firm ViiV Healthcare, discussed the two initiatives, which were launched separately last week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and ViiV Healthcare.
Among those attending the meeting, which was billed as a roundtable discussion, were community leaders and federal government officials who work on HIV/AIDS related issues, according to a statement published on the HHS website AIDS.com. The event was closed to the media.
The statement says the event was timed to coincide with National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which took place two days later on Feb. 7.
The statement says Collier “announced a $10 million multi-year investment by the company to advance concerted community responses to the HIV epidemic among black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in Baltimore, Md., and Jackson, Miss.”
Collier told the gathering his company’s initiative would operate as a public-private partnership to support “the engagement of numerous stakeholders in developing and applying community-driven strategies to improve access to and retention in quality HIV care for black MSM, who bear a disproportionate burden of HIV,” the statement says.
He said the project has been named ACCELERATE!
A separate statement released by ViiV Healthcare says the company chose to launch the project in Baltimore and Jackson because they are among the U.S. cities hit hardest by HIV/AIDS, especially among MSM of color.
Brooks and Ronald Valdiserri, the Assistant Secretary for Health/Infectious Diseases, briefed those attending the roundtable event on a separate initiative announced earlier that day by HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the statement says. That initiative, according to Burwell’s announcement, consists of a four-year demonstration project intended to address HIV disparities among MSM of color.
“The cross-agency project, ‘Developing Comprehensive Models of HIV Prevention and Care Services for MSM of Color,’ will support community-based models that provide gay men of color with the health and social services they need to live healthy lives free of HIV infection,” the HHS statement released on AIDS.com says.
“For those already infected, the program will support community-based services that help MSM of color get diagnosed, linked to and retained in culturally competent medical, care – including, when called for, substance abuse and mental health treatment as well as necessary social services, like stable housing,” the statement says.
The statement says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with other HHS agencies federal partners would play the lead role in carrying out the new initiative.
A spokesperson for the White House Office of National AIDS Policy couldn’t immediately be reached to obtain an official list of those who attended the Feb. 4 roundtable gathering.
Sources familiar with the event said among those in attendance, in addition to Brooks and Collier, were Ernest Hopkins, A. Cornelius Baker, and Ronald Johnson, who represented the National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition. Hopkins and Johnson also serve as officials with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the national group AIDS United respectively.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with the Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality — about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
“It is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.”
Federal Government
Republican state AGs challenge Biden administration’s revised Title IX policies
New rules protect LGBTQ students from discrimination
Four Republicans state attorneys general have sued the Biden-Harris administration over the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX policies that were finalized April 19 and carry anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in public schools.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday, which is led by the attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee, follows a pair of legal challenges from nine Republican states on Monday — all contesting the administration’s interpretation that sex-based discrimination under the statute also covers that which is based on the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The administration also rolled back Trump-era rules governing how schools must respond to allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which were widely perceived as biased in favor of the interests of those who are accused.
“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “In the decades since its adoption, Title IX has been universally understood to protect the privacy and safety of women in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms.”
“Florida is suing the Biden administration over its unlawful Title IX changes,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on social media. “Biden is abusing his constitutional authority to push an ideological agenda that harms women and girls and conflicts with the truth.”
After announcing the finalization of the department’s new rules, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters, “These regulations make it crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights.”
The new rule does not provide guidance on whether schools must allow transgender students to play on sports teams corresponding with their gender identity to comply with Title IX, a question that is addressed in a separate rule proposed by the agency in April.
LGBTQ and civil rights advocacy groups praised the changes. Lambda Legal issued a statement arguing the new rule “protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and other abuse,” adding that it “appropriately underscores that Title IX’s civil rights protections clearly cover LGBTQ+ students, as well as survivors and pregnant and parenting students across race and gender identity.”
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Calendar: May 3-9
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