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Posts tagged HIV

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International Aids Conference in DC is met with protests & international criticism July 24, 2012 Washington welcomed the International AIDS Conference back to the United States this Sunday, after a twenty-two-year absence due to US policy that barred people living with HIV from entering the country. As most delegates began to queue for the IAC’s opening session, a group of about twenty young women, trans people and men successfully interrupted the opening press conference, wearing green Statue of Liberty crowns, sounding vuvuzelas and chanting “No sex workers? No drug users? No IAC!” The United States still refuses entry to people who sell sex or people who use drugs, groups that are among the most vulnerable to HIV transmission and who have the least access to prevention and treatment resources. As the protesters filed out, Diane Havlir, conference co-chair, began her remarks again. “We’re here to talk about courage and big ideas,” she told reporters, as bursts of vuvuzela and and chants could be heard in the press room again. “All of us at this table will be judged for our actions.” That judgment dropped well before the conference itself. “Historically, before an international AIDS conference comes to a city, it’s an opportunity for that city to change these discriminatory laws,” said Kelli Dorsey, executive director of Different Avenues. Dorsey was in part responsible for negotiating with the conference organizers to ensure that sex workers and other marginalized groups were represented. “But that didn’t happen here. So we continue to have to demand to be at the table.” Source ALSO: As we reported on yesterday, a related alternative conference for sex workers is being held in India. In more loosely related news, a recent report has found that police are spreading HIV among the poor, transgender people, and sex workers.

International Aids Conference in DC is met with protests & international criticism

July 24, 2012

Washington welcomed the International AIDS Conference back to the United States this Sunday, after a twenty-two-year absence due to US policy that barred people living with HIV from entering the country. As most delegates began to queue for the IAC’s opening session, a group of about twenty young women, trans people and men successfully interrupted the opening press conference, wearing green Statue of Liberty crowns, sounding vuvuzelas and chanting “No sex workers? No drug users? No IAC!” The United States still refuses entry to people who sell sex or people who use drugs, groups that are among the most vulnerable to HIV transmission and who have the least access to prevention and treatment resources.

As the protesters filed out, Diane Havlir, conference co-chair, began her remarks again. “We’re here to talk about courage and big ideas,” she told reporters, as bursts of vuvuzela and and chants could be heard in the press room again. “All of us at this table will be judged for our actions.”

That judgment dropped well before the conference itself. “Historically, before an international AIDS conference comes to a city, it’s an opportunity for that city to change these discriminatory laws,” said Kelli Dorsey, executive director of Different Avenues. Dorsey was in part responsible for negotiating with the conference organizers to ensure that sex workers and other marginalized groups were represented. “But that didn’t happen here. So we continue to have to demand to be at the table.”

Source

ALSO:

As we reported on yesterday, a related alternative conference for sex workers is being held in India.

In more loosely related news, a recent report has found that police are spreading HIV among the poor, transgender people, and sex workers.

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Sex workers rejected by the U.S. to hold “Sex Worker Freedom Festival” in Kolkata, India July 23, 2012 U.S. restrictions are preventing many people most affected by HIV/AIDS from attending the International AIDS Conference scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. The United States categorically bans sex workers and drug users from entering the country unless they can obtain a special waiver. Sex workers and their allies are protesting their exclusion by holding a separate conference called the Sex Worker Freedom Festival in Kolkata, India. Speaking ahead of the India conference, Andrew Hunter of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects said the United States is discriminating against sex workers. Andrew Hunter: “[The U.S.] are the largest funder for HIV services and providing anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines to people with HIV, yet they are completely hypocritical when it comes to the involvement of sex workers in — not only in the International AIDS Conference, but the role of sex workers in controlling the HIV epidemic globally. So, we are not allowed to go to their conference, but we’re also not allowed to get their money for HIV prevention programming.” Photo source Source

Sex workers rejected by the U.S. to hold “Sex Worker Freedom Festival” in Kolkata, India

July 23, 2012

U.S. restrictions are preventing many people most affected by HIV/AIDS from attending the International AIDS Conference scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. The United States categorically bans sex workers and drug users from entering the country unless they can obtain a special waiver. Sex workers and their allies are protesting their exclusion by holding a separate conference called the Sex Worker Freedom Festival in Kolkata, India. Speaking ahead of the India conference, Andrew Hunter of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects said the United States is discriminating against sex workers.

Andrew Hunter: “[The U.S.] are the largest funder for HIV services and providing anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines to people with HIV, yet they are completely hypocritical when it comes to the involvement of sex workers in — not only in the International AIDS Conference, but the role of sex workers in controlling the HIV epidemic globally. So, we are not allowed to go to their conference, but we’re also not allowed to get their money for HIV prevention programming.”

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Report: Police spread HIV among transgender women & sex workers with anti-condom harassment campaigns July 23, 2012 A new report has found police in major U.S. cities are confiscating condoms from sex workers, putting them at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Human Rights Watch says police are harassing and threatening transgender women and sex workers, and even arresting them solely for carrying condoms. In at least three cities, prosecutors introduced condoms as evidence at trials. Some sex workers who were afraid to carry condoms reported having unprotected sex or using plastic bags as substitutes. The report also notes widespread profiling and other abuses by police, including reports police in Los Angeles and New York City demanded sex in exchange for dropping charges and coerced women into sex while they were detained.Source

Report: Police spread HIV among transgender women & sex workers with anti-condom harassment campaigns

July 23, 2012

A new report has found police in major U.S. cities are confiscating condoms from sex workers, putting them at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Human Rights Watch says police are harassing and threatening transgender women and sex workers, and even arresting them solely for carrying condoms. In at least three cities, prosecutors introduced condoms as evidence at trials. Some sex workers who were afraid to carry condoms reported having unprotected sex or using plastic bags as substitutes. The report also notes widespread profiling and other abuses by police, including reports police in Los Angeles and New York City demanded sex in exchange for dropping charges and coerced women into sex while they were detained.

Source

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June 06, 2012 HIV-positive Occupy Wall Street protester Jack Boyle has gone on hunger/medicine strike to protest trespassing charges against activists who were arrested at New York’s Trinity Church on December 17, 2011. This means he will withhold from eating and taking medicine that is vital to his health.

June 06, 2012

HIV-positive Occupy Wall Street protester Jack Boyle has gone on hunger/medicine strike to protest trespassing charges against activists who were arrested at New York’s Trinity Church on December 17, 2011. This means he will withhold from eating and taking medicine that is vital to his health.


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