KICK Executive Director Curtis Lipscomb was among the 35 signers of a pledge that kicks off with LGBT Pride Month, urging broader engagement by the LGBT community to help end AIDS/HIV. Readers can see the letter and sign the pledge at www.wethelgbt.org
Washington, DC - As the nation marks the opening of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, executive directors from 35 LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations from across the U.S. have released a joint letter committing themselves and their organizations to re-engaging the broader LGBT community in the fight against HIV. Affirmations Executive Director Dave Garcia and KICK-Detroit Executive Director Curtis Lipscomb were among the signers.
While issues like marriage equality and employment protections for LGBT workers have taken center stage, HIV continues to ravage the LGBT community. In an excerpt from the video found online, "Over the last 30 years, the [LGBT] community has seen great strides in the movement for full equality. Much of this success is the result of a concerted movement, which was galvanized in response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s…In the decades since our movement has seen incredible victories… Unfortunately, our community hasn't maintained the same momentum in our fight against HIV…Each day, more than 80 gay and bisexual men become infected with HIV in the United States…Despite these alarming statistics, which have galvanized our community in the past, the HIV epidemic has seemed to fall by the way side. Many in our community have simply stopped talking about the issue. This must change."
Despite making up just two percent of the population, gay and bisexual men accounted for more than 63 percent of new HIV infections in 2010. In fact, gay men are the only group in which HIV infections are increasing.
"We are at an important crossroad in our fight against HIV," said National Minority AIDS Council Executive Director Paul Kawata. "The evidence behind treatment as prevention, and expansions in health care coverage that will accompany implementation of the Affordable Care Act, have provided a unique opportunity to end this epidemic, which has ravaged our community for more than three decades. But this will not happen without the full engagement of those most impacted by the disease, and no community has been more heavily affected than the LGBT community. I am thrilled to be a part of this campaign to re-energize the LGBT response and work together to realize the vision of an AIDS free generation."
"As an organization that has been working to combat HIV discrimination since the beginning of the epidemic we are excited to see the LGBT movement re-commit to this work," said Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal. "Because gay and bisexual men and transgender people are disproportionately affected by the epidemic and because we see the effects of discrimination and laws targeting people with HIV for criminalization it is incredibly important for the LGBT community to step up."
"The LGBT community always has been at the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic. As the community most impacted, we are the ones who must step-up and recommit to ending future transmissions. To have a new generation of LGBT young people grow up free from HIV and AIDS will be a fitting legacy to those we have lost to this disease, said National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell.
The entire letter and accompanying video can be viewed online here:
