Saturday, May 28, 2011

Two years - HIV Positive - Surviving!!

I remember May 28, 2009 just like it was yesterday. The day I was told that I was HIV+. I have learned a lot since that day. I have learned that I can live positive for a very long time. I have learned that although I have HIV it does not have me. Yes, I too get a little depressed at times and have this past week thinking about what I should have done to protect myself and did not. However, we can not dwell in the past. Today is a new beginning as is everyday I awake. I thank God every day that He has given me LIFE! I want those who read this to know that I am alive and well. I am a survivor. I am strong. I am positive, HIV+ and living well.

God has given me a great support system of family and friends. For this I am very thankful. If you are struggling today because of HIV know that God will help you get through the rough patches. All you need to do my friend is turn your eyes upon HIM. My prayer is that I continue to grow, learn and help others who have been diagnosed with HIV. I learn everyday something new and make it my mission to help wipe out the stigma of HIV. Know your status my friends, get tested, help put a stop to the spread of HIV!!

Blessings and peace to all who read and know that LIFE moves forward with the hand of God leading you if you will only let HIM.
 As for me, I am HIVictorious!!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Motivations are murky for people trying to spread AIDS ... and murkier for those trying to catch it

By Meg Laughlin, Times staff writer
In Print: Sunday, May 22, 2011
Johnnie Hurst, 48, left, is director of Brothers Making a Difference, which provides HIV testing. D.W. Swain, 22, contracted the disease and works as an AIDS educator.
Johnnie Hurst, 48, left, is director of Brothers Making a Difference, which provides HIV testing. D.W. Swain, 22, contracted the disease and works as an AIDS educator.

TAMPA — Three years ago, 19-year-old D.W. Swain came down with a severe cough and high fever he couldn't shake.
It didn't occur to him, he said, that he could be HIV positive because his sex life had been limited to a man who swore his love and that he was HIV negative.
But when Swain heard from friends that his former boyfriend was "spreading the ninja" — infecting people — he got tested.
The test came back positive, and Swain discovered that he already had full-blown AIDS. His immune system ravaged, he rapidly developed pneumonia, then nearly fatal kidney and liver failure.
He was shocked to find that a man he loved had knowingly spread a fatal illness.
Just as shocking to Swain was hearing about a few local men actually trying to get the virus that can lead to AIDS.
In gay chat rooms, he had heard of the shadowy world of "gift givers'' — those who knowingly spread the incurable virus — and "bug chasers'' — those who seek it out. The sardonic nicknames describe people who refuse to believe the virus is deadly, or who know it is and don't care who is harmed. Swain had trouble believing such a phenomenon had touched his own community, much less his own life.
More than 100,000 Floridians have HIV. Relatively few — perhaps up to 100 in the Tampa Bay area — are thought to be bug chasers or gift givers. Theories on their motivations vary. Some infectors are thought to be showing their power, or maybe even wreaking vengeance. Virus seekers might think mistakenly that HIV will make them eligible for more public benefits, or that they're proving their love to an HIV-positive partner.
Whatever drives them, their impact, both on people like Swain and on the effort to combat the epidemic, has health officials deeply concerned.
Doctors, nurses, counselors and AIDS educators are bound by medical confidentiality laws not to report to law enforcement the names of those they suspect of intentionally spreading the virus. And even when a person who did not want the virus steps forward to accuse his "gift-giver,'' prosecutors have a tough time proving the charges in court.
So health workers watch and cringe, as more people are infected. Some, like Swain, naively trust their partners rather than practice safe sex.
"I can't believe how stupid I was. I learned the hard way that each of us has to be responsible for our own protection," said Swain, who keeps his condition under control with a daily regimen of powerful drugs.
Now 22 and a college student, the Tampa native works as an AIDS educator, urging others to protect themselves, no matter how convincing a partner's promises.
Anecdotal evidence
Plenty of people share Swain's initial skepticism about local bug chasers and gift givers.
Dr. John Sinnott, director of infectious disease at the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital, met with a reporter in his office recently to talk about the issue.
"Urban myth, I suspect," he said. But he picked up the phone to ask a colleague who works more closely with AIDS testing and programs.
Dr. Todd Wills, associate professor of infectious diseases at USF, came on the line.
"They're out there,'' Wills said. "We can't say what the numbers are because the evidence is not data driven, but anecdotal."
Sinnott: "How many in this area — 100?"
Wills: "That's high. But possible."
Sinnott: "Really? I had no idea."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Department at the National Institutes of Health, said he is "not surprised" to hear of the phenomena because he gets similar reports from all over the country.
He said he is baffled by people's cavalier behavior because HIV can still cause deadly AIDS even though drugs have been developed to keep it in check. Patients might have a viral strain that develops resistance. The powerful antiretroviral medications are toxic and can damage the kidneys and liver, or may conflict with drugs needed for other conditions. Patients often suffer from depression, drowsiness, nightmares and odd redistribution of weight. Opportunistic infections, such as pneumonia, and of course death, are real possibilities.
"I have never talked to anyone who became HIV-positive — regardless of how it happened — who didn't say they would rather not be infected after it happened," said Fauci.
In 2009, 1,232 people died of AIDS in Florida.
'Positive brotherhood'
Most AIDS educators and health care workers don't like to talk about bug-chasing and gift-giving. They fear these few people only add to the stigma that the HIV community already experiences and could even cause more cuts to already dwindling public services.
But the behaviors have been documented in medical literature and popular media.
In 2003 on CNN, documentary film maker Louise Hogarth talked about her film The Gift, which featured bug chasers. She called them a "fringe group" with "misperceptions about what it means to get infected."
The film was followed by a controversial article in Rolling Stone magazine about bug chasers and gift givers in San Francisco. The story led to Internet debates and a 2004 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workshop.
At that workshop, a presenter said he had heard getting infected described as "the gift of the positive brotherhood."
In 2006, a BBC documentary called I Love Being HIV+ chronicled the filmmaker's experience of going on a gay dating website, announcing he was HIV positive, and receiving dozens of requests from men wanting unprotected sex so they could get the virus.
The Times asked local AIDS workers to put the newspaper in contact with people trying to contract the virus, but none would speak for the record.
No bonanza
Johnnie Hurst is director of Brothers Making a Difference, an AIDS testing and education center in Tampa. He met D.W. Swain when the young man sought counseling after his diagnosis.
Around the same time, Hurst noticed that the man Swain had identified as his former lover began coming in about once a month, each time bringing in a different young man to be tested.
When a drop of their blood in a vial of chemicals formed the dark line showing them to be HIV positive, most doubled over sobbing, said Hurst. Meanwhile, the man Hurst now calls "the notorious gift giver" feigned surprise and hugged them, smiling behind their backs.
"He seems to get off on their vulnerability," said Hurst.
Hurst said he has seen this scenario unfold at least 10 times.
He said he also sees young men, who get positive test results, pump their fists triumphantly while yelling "yes" or "finally."
People who actually seek out the virus aren't taking its consequences seriously, said Andrew Maldonado, AIDS officer for the Hillsborough health department.
"They think all they have to do is take a pill and the benefits outweigh the downside," he said. Some think getting the virus proves their love to their HIV-positive partner, and gives them a sense of belonging to a community, even one defined by a deadly disease.
More common, he said, are those who seek the virus because they believe a bonanza of services, from free housing and food to a visiting nurse, awaits them.
"They'll say things like 'Okay, time to get the services rolling,' " Maldonado said.
But services, which were never abundant, have since dried up, or require lengthy waits to obtain, he said.
"What we are trying to do is educate bug chasers about the truth — that they are wrong on all counts," said Maldonado.
Legal hurdles
A United Nations policy brief in 2008 said purposeful HIV infections are rare, but that "the resulting harm justifies punishment."
Governments around the world have enacted laws against intentional HIV infection.
Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office records show that from 1996 to 2010, charges were brought 91 times against suspects for "criminal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus infection." Of those, more than 30 resulted in convictions.
Local prosecutors say it's difficult to stop a gift giver because they usually can't prove who had sex with whom and who infected whom.
The first big hurdle, said Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe, is finding out who the infectors are, then proving they knew they were HIV positive and failed to tell their sexual partners.
The next hurdle is proving the target was infected by the gift giver, not someone else, and then proving the victim didn't know the infector was HIV positive.
McCabe could recall only one case in Pinellas that was successfully prosecuted in the past decade.
"It's not an attractive situation for a prosecutor," he said.
Biology adds to the legal problems. "The virus mutates after infection, which makes it very unlikely that it could be tracked from one person to another," said National Institutes of Health spokeswoman Melanie Padmanabhan.
But Polk County Assistant State Attorney Chip Thulberry said convictions were not impossible. A few years ago, his office convicted a man for criminally spreading HIV.
"The prosecution has to start with a victim coming forward and complaining,'' he said. "That's the first step."
A video plea
After he was well enough to get out of bed, Swain made a YouTube video addressed to the man who he says infected him.
He begins by saying he forgives his former lover. His smooth young face overcome with sadness, Swain looks away, then stares back at the camera. He mentions another friend who, he says, fell prey to the infector.
Swain laments his own dashed dream of military service. He tells his infector: "You repulse me."
Then, his face softening, he concludes: "Be up front with people. Realize what you're doing to people before it's too late."
After the video appeared online, Swain said his infector called and threatened to sue him if he divulged his name.
Even though he was not a health worker when he was infected, Swain maintains his current employment means he can't divulge his infector's name.
"But if subpoenaed, I would," he said.
As an AIDS educator at Youth Educational Services in Tampa, Swain said he has met five more young men in the past year-and-a-half who say they were infected by his former lover. They also say the infector claimed to be HIV negative.
"We hear he's having unprotected sex with women now," said Hurst.
Last month, a young man came into the clinic where Swain works. He knew Swain's HIV status, and asked him to have unprotected sex.
"A bug chaser," said Swain. "I can't sleep at night just thinking about it."
Times researchers Caryn Baird and Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

1 Florida's rank among states in the number of new HIV cases reported in 2009
5,755 Number of new cases of HIV reported in Florida in 2009
853 Number of new HIV cases reported in the Tampa Bay area in 2009
1,232 Number of people in Florida who died of HIV/AIDS in 2009
135,000 Total number of people in Florida who were living with HIV in 2010.
Source: Florida Department of Health



Saturday, May 21, 2011

No Driver's Licenses For Gays - This is appalling!!

No Driver's Licenses For Gays

A 28 Year old gay man by the name of Cristian Friscina, (pictured) from Southern Italy, tried to renew his driver’s license last week but was denied because his "gayness" is considered dangerous on the road.
After performing a medical examination and submitting the necessary documentation to the Italian Ministry of Transport, Friscina was informed that his license had been withdrawn because of a medical report issued by a military hospital indicating that he suffered from a mental illness. (In Italy apparently being gay is legally still seen as a disease).
Mr Friscina had informed the doctors in the Military hospital of his homosexuality some years ago, who informed the Motorizzazione Civile (Italian Road Safety Authority).
This is not the first time that gay men in southern Italy have faced this kind of discrimination. A few years ago, a Sicilian lost his license in the same way. When he did his driving exam again, he got issued a licence for handicapped persons, valid for one year.
Paolo Patanè, president of the Italian gay movement Arcigay, emphasised how ridiculous the ban is: "It has long been known that homosexuality is not a disease. It is about time that everyone learns that."

This going a bit to far!!

Gays Are Nazi's?

American Family Association big shot, Bryan Fischer (pictured) labelled gay people as Nazi's two days in a row on a radio program.
On Tuesday and then again on the next day, Fischer spewed his Christian based hate by insisting powerful gay people were out to silence anyone who disagreed with them, comparing the gay rights movement to Hitler's Nazis, and, ironically, the Roman Catholic Church's Spanish Inquisition.
“The homosexual agenda is just like Islam: there is no room for dissent, there is no room to leave, once you're in, you can't leave,” Fischer said on his AFA-hosted radio program.
“Muslims won't let you leave, homosexuals won't let you leave – if you leave, they claim you're faking it, so there's no way out,” he said, referring to ministries that claim they can pray away the gay.
“I mean, ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis. Homosexual activists, when it comes to freedom of speech, are Nazis. When it comes to freedom of religion, they are Nazis. There is no room in their world for dissent, there is no room in their world for disagreement, there is no room in their world for criticism. You criticize homosexual behavior, they tag you as a bigot and a homophobe and then they got to work to silence you just like the Roman Catholic Church did in the days of Galileo - it's no different; it's the Spanish Inquisition all over again.”
In a rant against openly gay military service he suggested that gay people, and ostensibly their allies, would physically torture their opponents once “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” is lifted.
“It's just like Islam, it's just like the Nazis. With the homosexual lobby there is no place for freedom of speech. There is no place for differences of opinion.”
“In the gay world, the world of gay activism, there is no room for heresy,” he said. “If you deviate from the tolerance dogma you're a heretic. They're going to come after you like Torquemada went after heretics in the middle ages. They are going to put you on the rack and you're done. You're toast.”
“If you say a word of complaint about any homosexual behavior, then you are going to be sent to re-education camp,” he said. “I mean, you're going to be sent to some place to get your brain washed and get your mind right. Until you are willing to say you support deviant sexual behavior, you're not getting anywhere.”
Watch the vid:

Source: OnTopMag.com.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Fear – no more!

Fear – no more!

One day living with no worries or care
Now living each day with a new fear
Fear of sharing
Fear of caring
Fear of loving.

Why must we suffer from the disease within
Not knowing how our lives will ultimately end
Fear of sharing
Fear of caring
Fear of loving.

Hope in a pill to suppress the disease
Getting closer to the day of cure: they say to appease
Fear of sharing
Fear of caring
Fear of loving.

I look to my Savior for answers to this fear
I raise my head and feel the tears
Fear of sharing
Fear of caring
Fear of loving.

Let me love unconditional and fearless
Knowing that God is ever near us
No more fear of sharing
No more fear of caring
No more fear of loving.

Hope eternal in God’s grace
He alone will dry the tears from my face
No more fear of sharing
No more fear of caring
No more fear of loving.

Love eternal from God above
Now ascend’s on my soul on the wings of a dove.
No more I fear - sharing
No more I fear – caring
No more I fear – loving.

God’s peace now reigns in my soul
This disease will no longer take a toll
I no longer fear – sharing
I no longer fear – caring
I no longer fear – loving.

by David Moorman May 20, 2011

A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO AIDS


WHAT IS AIDS?


AIDS IS THE ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY SYNDROME - A SERIOUS ILLNESS THAN CAN CAUSE DEATH.

AIDS IS CAUSED BY A VIRUS CALLED "HIV" (HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS). HIV WEAKENS THE BODY'S IMMUNE SYSTEM (ITS DEFENSE AGAINST DISEASE).

HIV AND AIDS ARE WORLDWIDE PROBLEMS, AFFECTING MILLIONS OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

The first thing for us to remember is that Jesus NEVER refused help or treatment to ANYONE that sought it... lepers, blind, crippled, deaf... Jesus helped everyone.

WHY SHOULD I AS A CHRISTIAN LEARN ABOUT AIDS? Because Jesus calls on us to respond with love to everyone, especially those who are suffering.

"FOR I WAS HUNGRY AND YOU GAVE ME FOOD. I WAS THIRSTY AND YOU GAVE ME SOMETHING TO DRINK... I WAS SICK AND YOU TOOK CARE OF ME..." MATTHEW 25: 35 - 36

People with HIV and AIDS have many physical, emotional and spiritual needs. The more we learn about HIV and AIDS, the better we able we are to respond with love.

"YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." MATTHEW 22:39

People with HIV and AIDS need compassion... However, certain fears have limited our response as Christians. In Jesus' time, lepers and others who were will or disabled were also treated as outcasts because of these same fears. But Jesus' response to the ill and disabled was full of compassion, healing and acceptance - not condemnation, fear or rejection. Jesus set the example for us to follow.

"ALL THOSE WHO HAD ANY WHO WERE SICK WITH VARIOUS KINDS OF DISEASES BROUGHT THEM TO HIM; AND HE LAID HIS HANDS ON EACH OF THEM AND CURED THEM." LUKE 4:40

Our love for ourselves and our neighbors is a direct reflection of our love for God. For more understanding of human suffering and its relationship to God, read: PSALMS 103, THE BOOK OF JOB, MATTHEW 4:23-25, MARK 2:1-12, LUKE 8:43-48, AND JOHN 9.

Jesus responded with love to all people in need. Today Jesus' loving presence continue to guide and inspire us.

"TRULY I TELL YOU, JUST AS YOU DID IT TO ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE WHO ARE MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY, YOU DID IT TO ME." MATTHEW 25:40

JESUS CALLS ON US TO: BE LOVING... GOD'S LOVE IS BOUNDLESS. FOR US TO EXPERIENCE AND SHARE GOD'S LOVE, WE MUST NOT LIMIT OUR OWN LOVE. READ MATTHEW 25:31-46, MARK 3:1-5, LUKE 6:37-38 AND ROMANS 13:8-10

LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AS OURSELVES. JESUS' WORDS AND DEEDS INSPIRE US TO LOVE AS HE LOVED - TO RESPOND TO THOSE IN NEED AS JESUS DID. READ MATTHEW 22:34-40, MARK 12:28-34, LUKE 10:25-37 AND JOHN 13:34-35

BUILD PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE... JESUS' LIFE PROCLAIMED THAT HUMAN RIGHTS, DIGNITY AND PEACE COME FROM GOD - WE ARE STEWARDS OF THESE GIFTS. READ MATTHEW 5:1-12, MARK 10:17-25, LUKE 4:18-19, AND JOHN 8:1-11

ANSWER JESUS' CALL... REACHING OUT TO PEOPLE WITH HIV AND AIDS - AND THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND CAREGIVERS - IS A WAY FOR EACH OF US TO GROW IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.

HIV AND AIDS CONFRONTS US WITH SEXUALITY, DISEASE, DISCRIMINATION AND DEATH - ISSUES WE MAY FEAR AND TRY TO AVOID.

BUT IF WE ARE TO LOVE AS JESUS LOVED, WE EACH MUST FACE THE ISSUES OF AIDS.

WHEN YOU PRAY, ASK: HOW WOULD JESUS RESPOND TO A PERSON WITH HIV OR AIDS? HOW WOULD I RESPOND IF A RELATIVE OR FRIEND HAD HIV OR AIDS? HOW WOULD I WANT OTHERS TO RESPOND TO MY RELATIVE OR FRIEND? HOW WOULD I WANT OTHERS TO RESPOND IF I HAD HIV OR AIDS? HOW CAN MY CHURCH RESPOND TO PEOPLE WITH HIV AND AIDS AND HOW CAN I HELP?

SO... RESPONDS TO HIV AND AIDS AS JESUS WOULD - WITH LOVE!

LEARN MORE ABOUT HIV AND AIDS PRAY TO GOD FOR STRENGTH, PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING INCLUDE PEOPLE WITH HIV AND AIDS, THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND CAREGIVERS IN YOUR CHURCH'S MINISTRY. WORK FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL PEOPLE, AND STRIVE TO END FEAR AND DISCRIMINATION. TREAT EVERYONE WITH RESPECT, DIGNITY AND COMPASSION. "THIS IS MY COMMANDMENT, THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU." JOHN 15:12

AND REMEMBER... THERE IS HOPE!

"FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, SO THAT EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM MAY NOT PERISH BUT MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE." JOHN 3:16

JESUS IS OUR HOPE!



http://www.dabtheaidsbearproject.com/chretoai.html

Waterville woman reflects on living with HIV virus; organizes AIDS walk in Hallowell

Waterville woman reflects on living with HIV virus; organizes AIDS walk in Hallowell

WATERVILLE -- Nancy Russell has decided that after 20 years of keeping her virus a secret, it's time to come out in the open.
click image to enlarge
Nancy Russell, diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago, is organizing the Central Maine AIDS Walk happening Saturday in Hallowell. She is special-events coordinator for the Horizon Program based in Augusta.
Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans
Russell, 67, has HIV.
She doesn't look, act or feel sick, but for 20 years she has been treated for HIV and has kept it under wraps from everyone but her closest friends.
Even her neighbors do not know she has it.
"Mine came from a one-time sexual encounter with a man, a neighbor, I had gone out with a few times," Russell said Wednesday.
That was when she was 47 and living in Miami. Now, at nearly 68, she says, she's ready to help educate others about HIV. And if it prompts even one person to get tested for the virus, it will have been worth it.
"It's not an automatic death sentence," she said. "There is no cure, but it's very treatable."
Russell is a patient advocate and special events coordinator for MaineGeneral Health's Horizon Program, an Augusta-based agency that provides medical and social services to people with HIV/AIDS in central and mid-coast Maine.
She recalls a young married couple with HIV coming into the clinic with their child, apprehensive and fearful. Russell told them she has had HIV 20 years.
"They said, 'Wow, you can live that long?'"
Their attitudes changed and she watched the fear melt away, she said. She knew she had something to offer people by being open about her own disease.
"I really think there's still so much stigma to the disease," she said. "It's so important to educate people that you have to be aware -- you do have to protect yourself -- but if you do get HIV, hopefully you can get the right doctor. You can carry on your life."
Russell is helping to coordinate the Central Maine AIDS Walk Saturday in Hallowell. The event, now in its second year, drew 65 walkers last year and benefits the Horizon and HealthReach programs.
The Horizon Program, supported mostly through grants, does outreach education, with officials going to jails to test people for HIV, and speaking to students in schools. The program offers dental care, which is not covered by MaineCare. Case managers also connect clients to needed services.
Walkers for Saturday's event may solicit donations using a pledge sheet; people may also just donate to The Horizon Program or HealthReach Harm Reduction Program. Walkers raised about $3,500 last year, according to Russell.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Russell lived most of her life in Florida and moved to Waterville six years ago to be closer to her brother, she said.
She was a secretary in Florida for many years, retiring at 62. After being diagnosed with HIV, she was extremely ill and told a friend she did not think she would be alive in another year.
But she had a wonderful doctor, as well as supportive friends, which helped her to survive.
At the time, HIV disease was considered a gay man's disease; she would go to doctor appointments and be the only female in the waiting room, she said.
She did not get involved in HIV/AIDS-related events while living in Florida, but when she came to Maine and found The Horizon Program, she felt compelled to help others, she said.
"I have a terrific doctor, Mark Rolfe, and the caring, compassionate office staff at the Horizon Program," she said.
She gardens, loves to spend time with friends and shop for antiques, and takes the time to help other people. She acknowledges that before she became ill, she was somewhat of a snob.
"I think I am a much nicer person now. I think the bottom line is, do whatever you can to give back. You've got to help others who don't have what you do."
Once in Maine, Russell got involved in the Central Maine Client Advisory Committee and is a member of Women of Maine Battling AIDS Together Successfully. She also volunteers at the community group, REM, in Waterville and is a member of a local Red Hat Society.
She recently got up the courage to tell her friends in the Red Hat group that she has HIV. The response was overwhelmingly warm, she said.
Not being truthful with them was exhausting, she said.
Rolfe, Russell's doctor, is medical director at The Horizon Program, which serves about 200 clients who range in age from 20 to into the 80s.
About 1,000 people in Maine have HIV, he said. Medications for HIV have become much better and cause fewer side effects, according to Rolfe.
"It's still a worldwide epidemic," he said. "In the U.S., we see about 50,000 new cases a year."
The ratio of men to women who have HIV is about 60 to 40, he said. It is important that anyone who has been sexually active be tested; testing is very simple and involves putting a swab in the mouth for about 20 seconds, according to Rolfe.
"The worst cases are times when people know they're getting sick and they don't know why and don't want to get tested and they end up in intensive care, really sick," he said. "A lot of people don't get tested because they think it's a death sentence."
One does not contract HIV from toilet seats, or from hugging someone or a kiss on the cheek; one gets it through sexual transmission or sharing of needles, he said.
He recommends the website TheBody.com for HIV/AIDS patients, their families and health-care professionals.
Rolfe praised Russell as one who is often the first person to arrive at the clinic and the last to leave, spending time with clients.
"She's a good listener," he said. "Nancy is always, always very positive, saying 'You can get through this. I know where you are. I was there. Your life is going to get better.'"

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

NY Post's Shameful AIDS Coverage - Regan Hofmann

NY Post's Shameful AIDS Coverage - Regan Hofmann



NY Post's Shameful AIDS Coverage 

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I'm appalled by a heinously reported piece in the New York Post that uses HIV as a salacious hook to a story that is not--and should not--be about HIV.

Late yesterday, the New York Post reported that a woman working as a maid in New York's Sofitel hotel was allegedly sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, one of the world's most powerful and richest men--a man who also happens to be running the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while running for the French presidency.

The headline for the piece was: "IMF Accuser in Apt. for HIV Vics." The accompanying cover line was: "Maid HIV Shocker."

Talk about burying the lead and misleading the reader.

How about: French Presidential Candidate and Head of IMF Suspect in Sexual Assault Case.

Rather than focus on the purported crime and the man who committed it, the Post used the first nine paragraphs of the story to delve into the woman's housing situation; a situation that may or may not be an indication of whether (or not) she is living with HIV. The survivor's lawyer, Jeffrey Shapiro, claimed on The Today Show that she was "absolutely not" living in housing for people with HIV, as was claimed by the Post.

The woman (whose name has not been released and who is a widow, mother and originally from West Africa) claimed she was viciously attacked and forced to engage in sexual acts against her will. The Post labels her as the "accuser," the "victim" and an "HIV victim." Meanwhile the man who purportedly viciously attacked her is referred to by the Post as "the humiliated 62-year old suspect." Later in the piece, when describing Kahn, who is on suicide watch and being held without bail, the Post said he has been "reduced to wearing shoes without laces and a medical device to make sure he's breathing." It seems the editors of the Post have placed their sympathy in the wrong place. I'm not saying he's guilty. It's too early to know. But, given that there are theoretically equal degrees of uncertainty about both claims, it seems only fair that the coverage would not defile one person over the other. Unless that person may have HIV and then, well, they must be a bad person, right? Wrong.

I can't help but wonder if the Post would be as unsympathetic to the female survivor if her HIV status had not been raised. It's just too easy for them to take a side: the word of a West African immigrant who lives in low income housing who may have HIV versus the word of one of the most influential men in the world. The irony is that she may not have HIV and/or that he may. Who's to say that he doesn't have HIV simply because he's not living in housing for people with HIV? I'm not saying he does; I'm saying that technically it's a possibility and if she proves to be HIV-negative and has been sexually assaulted, I hope she has been offered counseling and post-exposure prophylaxis (or "PEP"--a 28-day course of antiretroviral HIV medications that, if commenced within 72 hours of potential exposure can prevent a person who may have been exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus from becoming infected).

The question is: Is her HIV status germane to this piece? No.

Unless, of course, you are Kahn's lawyers looking to discredit her. Then, it might be very important to attach the heavily stigmatized diagnosis of HIV to her. And, by doing so, attempt to render her as a person of "questionable moral character," as many people erroneously construe people living with HIV.

It may also matter if you are the editor of a newspaper whose sales depend on provocative headlines employing the "sticky factor" of the world's most arresting words. If your job is to sell the most dead trees possible, you may just make "HIV" part of your headline as often as you can. People do things for two basic reasons: fear, and desire. That's why "HIV" and "sex" are two words with great power to catch eyeballs. One summons deep and primal fear; the other is synonymous with desire.

The Post's coverage makes one thing searingly clear: Anyone who thinks HIV stigma is any less intense or harmful than it has been for years need only to consider this example to see that HIV remains one of the most reviled topics of all time. And that the fact, or even suggestion, of someone's HIV status remains a powerful tool when trying to discredit their character.

This piece implies that the horror of the idea that this woman may be living with HIV trump the horror of her assault. That her HIV status is the most important and shocking thing about the case. But how, in 2011, could the notion that someone may be living with HIV be more shocking than what may have happened to her (forced fellatio, sodomy, etc.)?

Even more awful is that this piece posits that though a man may face life in prison for rape--he may have a bigger worry because he may have been exposed to HIV. The first two sentences of the report are, "Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have more to worry about than a possible prison sentence. The IMF chief's alleged sex-assault victim lives in a Bronx apartment rented exclusively for adult with HIV or AIDS."

As we near the 30th anniversary of the first reported cases of what we now know to be HIV (June 5, 2011), I am just dismayed that any media vehicle, even those like the Post that are known to be sensational, are still so irresponsible when it comes to reporting about HIV/AIDS.

Since the Post chose to raise the issue of the alleged survivor's HIV status, why then did it not also discuss the scientific facts about HIV and mention whether or not Kahn has been tested for HIV (or plans to get tested, as it takes a certain amount of time for changes in the body to occur post HIV-transmission to allow for an accurate HIV-test result)?

The piece mentions that "according to the federal Centers for Disease Control: 'It is possible for either partner to become infected with HIV through performing or receiving oral sex'" but the piece fails to clarify that statement in any helpful way. There is relatively very low risk of HIV infection when performing or receiving oral sex. For a complete, and completely accurate, explanation of HIV risks associated with oral sex, read the lesson on oral sex at POZ's sister site, AIDSmeds.

The Post also failed to mention that if she is living with HIV, there is the possibility that she is on antiretroviral medications and if so is 96% less likely to be able to transmit HIV to a sexual partner--a fact reported by the New York Times last week, on May 12.

This coverage is just gross. Shame on you editors at the New York Post. There are 33.3 million people, 1.2 million of them Americans, living with HIV/AIDS on the planet. Many of them will die if they can't get treatment. Only 6 million people currently have access to care. A big barrier to access to care is HIV-related stigma. By wielding HIV on your pages as you did in this story, you are contributing to a problem that can only be addressed when accurate information is disseminated and people become educated and less fearful about what is, ultimately, nothing more than a disease of the immune system.

I get the editorial instinct to titillate and grab people's attention. I'm an editor who is tasked with growing my audience. But I believe in doing that by giving people life saving information and debunking dangerous myths and misconceptions around a disease that remains so deeply stigmatized, in part, because of articles like yours on the Kahn case.

Why report on HIV/AIDS housing only to use it to assassinate someone's character? You're missing the real story: that services for low-income New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS (including housing) are being cut severely making thousands of people's lives more unstable and therefore, perilous. I'd love to see the Post have as much sympathy for people who are living with HIV who are at risk of being thrown back into the shelter system or out onto the streets of New York. When this happens, people living with the virus often are unable to take their life saving medications.

As a woman who is living with HIV and who knows first hand the damaging power of HIV stigma, I ask the editors at the New York Post to reconsider your AIDS coverage.

Because if you don't, millions of trees won't be the only thing you have a hand in killing.

The National Minority AIDS Council has condemned this piece.

NY-based Housing Works has condemned this piece.

I'm condemning it.

If you choose to join in the backlash, post a comment here and I'll be sure to pass along your comments to the editors of the New York Post.

Or, write your own letter directly: letters@newyorkpost.com.

OR, call the New York Post's Editor-in-Chief Col Allan at 212.930.8272.

I don't usually borrow images from other sites, but I couldn't help but borrow this one from Housing Works. The caption reads: Moral compass of a dog? New York Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan poses for the camera.


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Help Paying for Meds: Patient Assistance and Co-Pay Programs for HIV and Viral Hepatitis Drugs

Do you lack health insurance but make too much money to qualify for government assistance? Are your prescription co-payments so high that you can’t afford other basic necessities? Help may be available from pharmaceutical companies in the form of patient assistance programs (PAPs) and co-pay programs.

Over the past two years, the Fair Pricing Coalition (FPC) has been working closely with the pharmaceutical industry to streamline access to co-pay programs and PAPs for people living with HIV and/or viral hepatitis. The FPC has negotiated co-pay programs with virtually every major HIV drug manufacturer. The FPC is also working on expanding PAPs and making it easier for people to access them, especially for people who have been put on waiting lists for state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). Following is a list of co-pay and patient assistance programs for HIV and hepatitis B and C, and contact information for these programs. This is a living document that will be updated as program changes are implemented.



AIDSmeds.com is a place that can help: http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/PAPs_Copays_19740.shtml

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Reconciling Sexual Orientation with the Scriptures

Reconciling Sexual Orientation with the Scriptures
Rev. Kevin A. Konkle
Senior Pastor, True Love Christian Fellowship
........Indianapolis, ....Indiana

Sexual Orientation We believe that gender is unimportant in God’s eyes here on Earth for there is neither male nor female, but we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians ....3:28). We believe that gender is unimportant in God’s eyes in heaven, for there will be neither male nor female in heaven, but we will be as the angels (Mark ....12:25). Therefore we believe that God does not look at gender as a factor in determining what a loving, committed, covenant relationship is. God looks for true love and true commitment between two people, no matter what the gender of the persons involved, to determine what a loving, committed, covenant relationship is.
The Bible says we were made in the image of God when God looks in the mirror our reflection is what He sees. God created male and female in His image (Genesis ....1:26-27). Then the image of God is not that of male or female alone, but of both. God created Adam and Eve originally for two purposes: companionship- helping each other, and reproduction of the species. Over time the humans race has reproduced plentifully and efficiently. The need to be fruitful and multiply is not as urgent today. In fact today many loving, committed, covenant relatioships exist that are not primarily for the reproduction of the species, but are primarily for companionship and helping each other. These loving, committed, covenant relationships are just as important and special in God’s eyes as those relationship that are also for the reproduction of the species. The ancient stereotype of relationships that exist where no children are born are less special, is not a proper scriptural or sociological view in our society.
We believe that God loves variety, and created each person uniquely with physical, emotional, mental, temperamental, and sexual orientation characteristics, that may be different from others (Psalms 139:14-16). We believe that each person is a masterpiece from God’s artistic collection. We believe that God knit us together in our mother’s womb with different eyes, hips, laughs, temperments, and sexual orientation. This He did to add beauty and variety to our world.
There are some examples in scripture of two people of the same sex in a loving, committed, covenant relationship:
Jonathon & David (1 Samuel 18:1), Ruth & Naomi (Ruth ....1:16-17), Centurion Soldier & "Servant" (Luke 7:2)
We believe that the proper expression of sexual love in God’s eyes is within the context of two persons of the same or opposite sex in a loving, committed, monogamous relationship. This relationship should be as close to a marriage type relationship as legally possible. Sexual activity with another person in any other context is displeasing to God. We strongly believe, any sexual activity between minors and adults in displeasing to God and should be illegal.
Acting on homosexual lust or heterosexual lust is displeasing to God. (Ephesians 5:3)
The scriptures speak against:
*Homosexual gang rape - ........Sodom and ........Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-7)
*Straight people experimenting with homosexuality for pleasure (Romans ....1:26-27)
*Homosexual activity and prostitution in worship of idols (Leviticus ....18:22)
*Homosexuals acting on their most carnal, lustful desires towards other humans, with no love. (1Corinthians 6:9-10)
All of the above we believe are displeasing to God, and that one can repent of and be forgiven for these actions. (1 John 1:9).
We believe just as David, Abraham, and Solomon had sexual partners that they shouldn’t have had, God still loved them and used them- but He wanted them to change that area of their life. People engaged in sexual activity that is displeasing to God should not be judged or treated horribly, but should be helped into a better relationship with Jesus and a healthier more meaningful lifestyle.
What does the New Testament say about the Old Testament laws?
Colossians 2:14 "having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." NIV
Closeted Christians:
*Jesus said whatever you are in your heart, that’s what you are, whether you act on it or not. (Whited Sepulchers- Matthew 23:27, adultery- Matthew 5:28) If you are gay in your heart, and if what you are in your heart is what you really are in the eyes of God- then you are gay whether you act on it or not. So if being gay is a sin and you are gay in your heart, then you have no hope for salvation, since your status with God is reflected by what’s in your heart, and not by what others see. However, being gay is not a sin. Jesus loves and accepts you as you are- not as other people see you! Jesus knows you are gay. You have been out of the closet to God since He created you. He’s not surprised to know you are gay, and He loves you and accepts you just as you are. In fact He knew you were gay but He still chose to commune with you and use you for His glory! Be yourself and be free in Christ Jesus!
*Jesus gave the death penalty to the dishonest (Annanias & Saphira- Acts 5:4-5). He gave new life and new hope to the people with questionable sexual histories (Adulteress woman- John ....8:11), but who were honest. He became more upset about dishonesty, then He did about sexuality. Psalms 101:7 NIV "No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence."
*Jesus never condemned homosexuality- he condemned adultery, judgemental people, religious hypocrites, and ceremonial-loving Pharisees, but never homosexuality. In fact many Biblical scholars believe Jesus told a gay Roman centurion soldier that the soldier had greater faith, then the faith Jesus had seen in all ........Israel(Matthew 8). The centurion asked Jesus to heal his "pais." This is a Greek term often used in ancient times to refer to a servant who was his master’s same-sex partner. [K.J. Cover, Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978), p. 16]. Many Biblical scholars believe this was Greek at the time for "gay lover/partner" Jesus didn’t launch into a sermon about the evil of his relationship with another man and condemning him, Jesus just healed this gay centurion’s "pais" or very dear servant. By this miracle of healing, Jesus preserved this loving same-sex relationship. We feel the church should be the same way- healing, not judging.
*The Acts of the Apostles shows the early church did not condemn homosexuals. Phillip was sent by God into the desert just to convert and baptize what many Biblical scholars believe was a gay black man, the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts ....8:27-37). At that time, eunuchs had a reputation as having homosexual orientation. In fact in Bible days saying one was a "eunuch" would be similar to saying today that one was an "Male hairdresser from ........San Francisco". The eunuchs were very much stereotyped by their society- some things never change. Yet Phillip didn’t talk to him about whether he was gay or not, he just told him the good news about Jesus and baptized him. We believe the church should be the same way- converting and baptizing, not judging.