Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

LETTERS PrEP rally
2014-05-07

This article shared 4180 times since Wed May 7, 2014
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


An open letter to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation ( AHF ) President Michael Weinstein

Dear Mr. Weinstein:

We, the research team at The Hunter College Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training ( CHEST ), are deeply concerned about your recent inflammatory remarks about HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis ( PrEP ), calling Truvada a "party drug" and "ineffective" in preventing HIV transmission. We know that the AIDS Healthcare Foundation ( AHF ), as the largest HIV/AIDS services organization in the United States with a $300-million budget, provides services to a diverse range of patients and clients. People who are at risk for HIV and who are HIV-positive often experience barriers due to intersecting factors in accessing HIV services.

The AHF staff and board are also quite diverse in their experiences and approaches to HIV work and in all likelihood, there are staff and volunteers at AHF that do not agree with your position on PrEP. Your position on PrEP ignores the data on its effectiveness and further fuels stigma around sexual behavior and HIV, especially amongst communities that are most at risk for HIV infection—young men of color who have sex with men and serodiscordant couples. The AHF should represent the needs of all people at risk for or living with HIV/AIDS rather than catering only to those who engage in particular behaviors deemed "appropriate" ( especially considering they are likely at less risk for HIV in the first place and thus in less need of the AHF's services ).

Mr. Weinstein, your position on PrEP is out of touch with the realities of HIV prevention. PrEP is the most promising biomedical intervention to date for preventing new HIV infections in high-risk populations and is designed to provide protection against existing levels of HIV risk. In fact, there is no evidence that the use of PrEP will increase risk behaviors. Research suggests that a majority of people struggle to use condoms 100 percent of the time, and PrEP would provide an added layer of protection in the face of their existing risk. Men already engaged in bareback sex deserve and need an effective HIV prevention method—condoms should not be the only tool that people have to protect themselves from HIV infection. There are also contributing factors that impact decisions around condom use, such as using substances and engaging in high risk sexual behavior. Shaming non-mainstream sexual practices along with fueling stigma can potentially increase their risk and the difficulty of providing prevention for people engaged in such practices.

Over the past couple of weeks, leading experts and activists working in the field of HIV prevention have spoken out against your position on PrEP, yet you continue to stand by your statements. There is a significant amount of misinformation and confusion about PrEP—misleading information about its effectiveness, side effects and health-insurance coverage, to name a few, that can contribute to the relatively small numbers of people who are currently on PrEP. As professionals working in HIV prevention and care, we need to focus on the realities of the HIV epidemic and work to make PrEP more widely available to those individuals who are at most risk for HIV infection.

Further, we must focus on understanding and addressing barriers to PrEP uptake, factors that contribute to difficulties with PrEP adherence ( e.g., drug use ), issues with dissemination of accurate information regarding PrEP to community members and service providers, and the continued stigma that is associated with the sexual practices that put individuals at risk for HIV.

The continuation of the HIV epidemic both nationally and globally requires a shift in the HIV prevention paradigm, and it is clear that the position you have taken on behalf of AHF is dangerous, stigmatizing and out of touch with such paradigm-shifting approaches to prevention.

Signed,

The CHEST Research Team

Center for HIV Educational

Studies and Training ( CHEST )

Hunter College of the City

University of New York ( CUNY )


This article shared 4180 times since Wed May 7, 2014
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap 2024-03-04
- Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

Theater Review: one in two 2023-03-01
- Playwright: Donja R. Love. At: PrideArts at Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway Tickets: 773-857-0222; $35. Runs through March 19 Playwright Donja R. Love stresses that lower case letters should be used for the title of ...


Gay News

New York Times publishes transphobic column one day after an open letter condemning anti-trans coverage, HRC responds 2023-02-16
--From a press release - WASHINGTON— This morning, the New York Times published yet another opinion piece attacking the transgender and non-binary community. The piece, "In Defense of J.K. Rowling" was written by Pamela Paul and was published merely one day ...


Gay News

Showrunners send abortion-protection letters to Hollywood execs 2022-08-02
- Recently, more than 400 TV creators and showrunners—all of them women (including Shonda Rhimes, Issa Rae, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Natasha Lyonne and Ava DuVernay)—sent letters to top executives at Hollywood studios ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT: LETTERS Pride: Remembering who we are 2022-05-30
- The LGBTQAI community echoes the mantra of secular society: Happiness comes from sex, money and power. Life is too busy with work and leisure to have time for religion and/or values. During this period of Pride ...


Gay News

THEATER Underscore's 'Notes & Letters' running through May 28 2022-05-12
- Underscore Theatre Company celebrates its 10th-anniversary season with the world premiere of the musical Notes & Letters, which features book, music and lyrics by Annabelle Lee Revak (she/her) and is ...


Gay News

LETTERS A difference in opinion about Vatican document 2022-04-07
- I am responding to DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burks, who issued a press release that Windy City Times published. A newly released document from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education could trigger a new wave of ...


Gay News

LETTER Remembering Archbishop Tutu 2021-12-28
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away in Cape Town, South Africa, on Dec. 26 at the age of 90. In 1984, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts to bring about a peaceful transition to a society with ...


Gay News

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Thanksgiving is a time to reflect 2021-11-24
- Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for a God that created us and loves us. The sins of racism, sexism, ageism and classicism are neoclassic examples of how we have fallen short. We have come ...


Gay News

VIEWS In defense of the word 'lesbian' 2021-11-19
- When I decided to come out to my mom, I wanted to wait until I could say the word "lesbian" out loud. But as I sat her down, I tripped over the long string of letters. "Mom, I'm gay," I blurted ...


Gay News

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Opinion: The parade must go on 2021-09-02
- I am responding to the letter from Tim Frye, the current 2021 coordinator of Chicago's Pride Parade, about the cancellation of the event that was scheduled for Oct. 3. I agree that this decision takes in ...


Gay News

LETTER A matter of race 2021-05-20
- I applaud Mayor Lori Lightfoot's courageous statement on only giving one-on-one interviews to journalists of color. She obviously wants to see a public dialogue on this matter. White privilege is a topic we must look at ...


Gay News

Hate mail threatening Obamas, Biden, Harris sent to DuSable 2021-04-28
- The Secret Service is investigating six threatening letters sent to the DuSable Museum of African American History that mention President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Obama family, among others, The Chicago Tribune reported. ...


Gay News

LETTER The Vatican's words and actions do not echo love 2021-03-18
- The LGBTQA community is responding with shock, anger and frustration at the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith statement concerning same-sex unions. Many in our community can't understand why Pope Francis would allow such a ...


Gay News

LETTER Federal anti-discrimination protection? Inevitable 2021-02-06
- =The astute can predict the future with more than a modicum of confidence by examining history. Nate Silver did this last year at fivethirtyeight.com, as did Vegas oddsmakers, in predicting the victory of President Joe Biden over der ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.