World AIDS Day

By GayMontana.org -12/01/06

Today is World AIDS day. In 2000, heads of state made a promise to halt and begin to reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015. New reports by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that, as of 2006, the epidemic continues to spread in every region of the world.

By now more than 65 million people have been infected with HIV and well over 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, 2.9 million in 2006 alone. At this rate, the WHO predicts that in the next 25 years another 117 million people will die, making AIDS the third leading cause of death worldwide.

The promise made in 2000 as part of the Millennium Development Goals has been followed by many other targets and commitments over the past six years. With “accountability” the theme of this World AIDS Day on 1 December, campaigners across the globe are calling leaders to account not just for good intentions, but for action to make those promises a reality.

A review of the affected communities identified by the UN AIDS lists target communities including children, indigenous peoples, men who have sex with men, migrants and mobile workers, mother to child transmission, nursing and midwifery, orphans, peacekeeping operations and uniformed services, prisons, refugees, displaced people, rural communities, sex trafficking, sex workers and clients, and women.

It appears that recently the turn of the "gay plague" of the early 1980's became more important to becuase it began affecting other sympathetic communities. The campaign to convince society that HIV/AIDS is not just a gay disease appeared to minimize the voice of the LGBT community about HIV/AIDS.

The Independent reports that "the story of the battle against the epidemic reveals a world divided. A gulf exists between sufferers living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the developing world and those in the rich nations of Europe and North America. "

The distinction seems to be the gay men in Europe and North America, and an assumed affluence among them and the the poverty of women and children in Africa. It should be noted that in general, contraction of HIV means both a financial struggle and a struggle for health. Programs exist in Missoula and Western Montana programs to help people living HIV/AIDS. These are administered without regard to the sex age of sexual orientation of affected people.

The divide and apparent finger pointing at men, whether they are gay, bisexual, or merely have sex with men prompted UN AIDS to issue UNAIDS policy brief: HIV and Sex between men  in August of 2006.

Notably, the policy brief states that a "number of UN human rights mechanisms have noted that sexual identity or orientation is prohibited as grounds for discrimination and that laws that criminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults violate the right to privacy. While some countries have legally recognized some form of same-sex partnership, in many countries sexuality is still a taboo subject for discussion and sex between men is socially disapproved of, legally prohibited and criminalized. In such places, healthcare workers, other service providers and employers often discriminate against men who have sex with men, and police may harass or arrest them or those trying to provide HIV and sexually transmitted infections services.  Discrimination prevents men who have sex with men from disclosing their sexual orientation, or reporting for HIV services. Consequently their vulnerability to infection is increased, and national data do not reflect the size of the HIV epidemic that is linked to same-sex behavior involving men."

The brief continues, "Fulfilling the rights of men who have sex with men is not only intrinsically valuable, it is also a critical means for improved health outcomes for them and the broader community. In many countries where sex between men is not criminalized and where stigma and discrimination have been reduced, men who have sex with men are more likely to take up HIV prevention, care and support and treatment services. In such contexts, historically men who have sex with men have successfully mobilized  community-based HIV prevention strategies, promoted the rights and needs of people living with HIV and created enabling environments for behavior change."

The tension between gay men and other affected communities in the battle against AIDS prompted a controversial campaign in Los Angeles. The LA Gay and Lesbian Center has instigated an advertisement  which carries the message “HIV is a gay disease” and the tag line “Own it. End it.” The advertisement appeared on roadside billboards throughout Los Angeles and in several magazines and newspapers.

Proponents of the campaign say the ads are a response to the fact that gay men still constitute the majority of HIV/AIDS cases in the US (as in most western nations) and that there has been undue focus on other minority groups in HIV/AIDS education