Some members of the LGBT community are concerned that the Office of LGBT Health, a pioneering program administered by the Chicago Department of Public Health ( CDPH ) , may be in danger of closing. The directorship of that office has been vacant since the mid-June departure of Simone Koehlinger, who took a position working on obesity issues for the Cook County Health Department.
"The community is concerned that this position might be eliminated," said Jim Pickett, who works for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
A CDPH spokesman released a statement to Windy City Times that stressed the department's commitment to the office. "The Office of LGBT Health is an important unit within the Chicago Department of Public Health," the statement read. "CDPH will continue to support this important program and will be seeking to fill the position."
Koehlinger, however, said that her worries about the office's future arise from the fact that it is funded by a cash-strapped city government. "Thankfully, we have an administration at the health department that supports this position," she said. "The concern comes in that the position is city-funded."
"I personally have not heard that specific concern voiced at CDPH," Public Health spokesman Tim Hadac e-mailed in response to those concerns. Mayor Richard Daley's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Programs that are not specifically grant-funded, Koehlinger said, are particularly unstable in the current economic climate. In the last few years, the office has not been immune to budget-cutting measures, she said, citing a public relations position that was eliminated, rather than filled, when the person who occupied the position left.
"We haven't grown in size," Koehlinger said. "That's been something we wanted to do." She said that the office once employed as many as five people; with Koehlinger's departure, only one paid staffer, Pamela McCann, is left.
The Office of LGBT Health was established in 1999 to address health issues specific to LGBT people; among other things, its mission includes training healthcare providers, producing educational material for the public and partnering with health and advocacy organizations throughout the city. As one of the few city programs of its kind in the country, Koehlinger said, "It's a point of pride not only for the health department but for the city."
Pickett told Windy City Times that a particularly valuable contribution the office has made has been in addressing health concerns specific to Black men who have sex with men. "That office coordinates a lot of really good work among that community," Pickett said.
One project started under the Office of LGBT Health is the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus. The caucus' co-chair, Ariq Cabbler, said that the closure of the office "would be a major blow to the work that we do."
He said that the caucus has worked closely with the Office of LGBT Health on HIV/AIDS testing events, including testing at the Rocks Party, the annual post-Pride Parade gathering at Montrose Harbor that attracts thousands of mostly Black LGBT people.
"It's recognized as a national model," Cabbler said of that testing program. He said that his organization hopes to bring their successful testing models to other populations: "It is our goal to replicate that work with Latino men and transgender women," he said, noting that transwomen are particularly ill-served by HIV/AIDS surveillance protocols that identify them, incorrectly, as "men who have sex with men."
Cabbler said that he intended to send a letter to Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Bechara Choucair stressing his support for the continued funding of the Office of LGBT Health.
In addition to its work around HIV/AIDS, Koehlinger said that the Office of LGBT Health has been integral in coordinating responses to numerous health challenges to members of the LGBT community. For example, the office undertook a major campaign in 2004 and 2005 to address crystal-meth use among LGBT people. When a meningitis outbreak struck the community in 2003, Koehlinger said, the office made "sure that gay and bi men had access to medication." And the office has campaigned to promote smoking cessation in the LGBT community.
As the economic recession has continued, LGBT advocates and service providers—in both the public and private sectors—have found themselves no strangers to the threat of steep budget-cutting measures. In recent months, for instance, the state has struggled to find ways to fund the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which helps provide HIV and AIDS medication to over 4,000 low-income, HIV-positive people living in Illinois.
And last year around this time, HIV/AIDS service providers feared drastic, damaging budget cuts as the state government struggled financially. They were relieved when Gov. Pat Quinn announced that he would continue funding HIV/AIDS programming, with organizations receiving almost the same level of financial backing they had previously gotten.
Koehlinger credited Daley for supporting the Office of LGBT Health, calling it a "point of pride, not only for the health department but for the city." Similar to Quinn's decision last year, the future of the office may prove to be an important test of that support.
