Marion Barry joins American Public Health Association members and community leaders to advocate for jobs, housing, drug treatment and youth programs

Faced with one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in the country, DC community members have organized a day of events on Saturday, November 3, 2007, to demand change and encourage local activism.

Led by DC Fights Back (DCFB) and the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA), participants will meet at 12:00 pm at the corner of MLK Avenue, SE and Malcolm X Avenue, SE and march to the Washington Highlands Library at 115 Atlantic Street, SE by 2:00. At the Washington Highlands Library, Marion Barry will join other city officials, local residents, American Federal Government Employees Union Local 12, HIV Activists and American Public Health Association (APHA) meeting participants to Speak Out on HIV/AIDS.

The march and speak out will demand that the DC Government develop a comprehensive strategy to combat the factors, including a lack of jobs and affordable housing, that have led to the epidemic.

"We are marching East of the River because we believe that the people and communities most affected by the epidemic must always be at the forefront of policy efforts aimed at a solution,” said George Kerr, co-chair of DC Fights Back. “Further, we know that the fight against HIV cannot be separated from the fight for basic human and economic rights."

Following its tradition of involvement in leading public health issues at national conferences, MWPHA with DCFB, invited the APHA to participate and engage in direct action to aid local efforts to fight HIV/AIDS and begin to remedy health disparities.

The community dialogue continues and expands what began in May when over 100 community members gathered for the first Speak Out to develop a plan of action to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

About D.C. Fights Back:

DC Fights Back is a network of people living with HIV/AIDS and their allies working to engage our communities and ourselves in every aspect of HIV advocacy to ensure the best possible treatment and care for people living with HIV/AIDS; and the best possible science-based HIV prevention

About the Metropolitan Public Health Association:

The Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association is the local chapter of the American Public Health Association. The American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world and has been working to improve public health since 1872. The Association aims to protect all Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats and strives to assure community-based health promotion and disease prevention activities and preventive health services are universally accessible in the United States. APHA represents a broad array of health professionals and others who care about their own health and the health of their communities.

Download the flyer for this event

Forbes Magazine reports that Hillary Clinton has signed the 08 Stop AIDS platform, committing to support $50 billion dollars by 2013 to fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Clinton joins John Edwards & Bill Richardson in supporting $50 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS globally. Edwards released his plan to fight HIV/AIDS in September which included the $50 billion goal and other 08 Stop AIDS goals, though he has not formally endorsed the platform. Bill Richardson endorsed the platform earlier this year.

While Obama released his plan to fight HIV/AIDS in October, it did not include the $50 billion commitment. AIDS activists who have talked to him on the campaign trail report he has been unwilling to commit to a specific amount.

Unlike Obama & Edwards, the Clinton campaign has not yet released their own HIV/AIDS agenda. Activists had planned to target Clinton at a protest at the October 30th Democratic Presidential Debate. With news of the Clinton endorsement of 08 Stop AIDS, the demonstration will focus more broadly on raising awareness of HIV/AIDS in the 2008 campaign.

With Sam Brownback, the darling of the religious right, pulling out of the race for the White House, the right appears to be giving Mike Huckabee a second look. Frontrunners Giuliani and Romney are suspect among the "republican wing of the republican party" due to their past history of tolerance towards the LGBT community. Huckabee, however, has an anti-gay track record. And as a Baptist Minister, he has instant credibility with the right.

So while Brownback considers endorsing Giuliani, Mike Huckabee continues to say all the things the religious right wants to hear, including support for federal funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.

Overwhelming evidence tells us abstinence-only programs do not work. Even a 10-year study funded by Congress itself, shows that they these programs don't work, and they might as well be throwing the money out the window.

Huckabee, however, recently told the Christian Broadcasting Network:"Abstinence education provides a valuable counterweight to peer pressure and the message young people get from the popular culture encouraging casual relationships and separating sex from love, commitment and marriage. I do not believe in teaching about sex or contraception in public schools. That is the responsibility of parents. "I am disappointed that funding for abstinence education is not likely to be renewed by the Democrat Congress. This reversal only emphasizes how important it is for Republicans to take back Congress and win the White House with an authentic conservative in 2008."I miss the America I grew up in where the Gideons gave Bibles to fifth graders instead of school nurses giving condoms to eighth graders. With so much at stake, it's important that we return to the core values and guiding principles which have made our country great."

In fact, the metaphor-inclined Huckabee, recently went so far as to compare safe-sex to domestic violence and drunk driving. Huffington Post reports that at a recent campaign stop, Huckabee was asked if his religious views would get in the way of funding HIV prevention. His answer in part:

"If we really are serious about stopping a problem, whether it's drunk driving...we don't say "Don't drive 'as drunk'?" ...This is an illogical thing that we apply to that one area that we don't apply to any other area. And I'm open-minded to all the arguments, if someone can convince me a little reckless behavior is OK. Maybe that's the message. But it would seem to me that if we're consistent in saying reckless behavior is undesirable we should ask people to move their behavior to the standard and not move the standard to the behavior...We don't say that a little domestic violence is OK, just cut it down a little, just don't hit quite as hard. We say it's wrong."

You can see the video of the exchange here

The following is a reprint of the Barack Obama Plant to Fight HIV/AIDS, released in October, 2007

Barack Obama, Fighthing HIV/AIDS Worldwide

“We are all sick because of AIDS - and we are all tested by this crisis. It is a test not only of our willingness to respond, but of our ability to look past the artificial divisions and debates that have often shaped that response. When you go to places like Africa and you see this problem up close, you realize that it's not a question of either treatment or prevention – or even what kind of prevention – it is all of the above. It is not an issue of either science or values – it is both. Yes, there must be more money spent on this disease. But there must also be a change in hearts and minds, in cultures and attitudes. Neither philanthropist nor scientist, neither government nor church, can solve this problem on their own - AIDS must be an all-hands-on-deck
effort.” -Barack Obama, World AIDS Day Speech, Lake Forest, CA, 12/1/06

BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDS

There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS, including more than 1 million people in the U.S., with nearly 8,000 people dying every day of AIDS. Barack Obama believes that we must do more to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as malaria and tuberculosis. In 2006, Obama traveled to Kenya and, along with his wife Michelle, took an HIV/AIDS test to encourage African men and women to be tested for the disease. Obama believes in working across party lines to combat this epidemic and joined Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle. As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in the fight against AIDS.

HIV/AIDS IN AMERICA

Develop a National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Obama has pledged that, in the first year of his presidency, he will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care, and reduce HIV-related health disparities. His strategy will include measurable goals, timelines, and accountability mechanisms.

Fix the Nation’s Health Care System: 47 million Americans are uninsured in this country. Barack Obama is committed to signing universal health care legislation by the end of his first term in office that ensures all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage. Obama’s plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American; modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters. His health plan will ensure that people living with HIV have access to lifesaving treatment and care.

Fight Disparities: HIV has hit some communities harder than others. For example, while African-Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 49 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases. AIDS is the leading cause of death in African-American women aged 25-34, and the third leading cause of death in African-American men in the same age group. In 2005, 64 percent of women living with HIV/AIDS were black. Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing differences in access to health coverage and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a major role in addressing disparities. He will also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs and diversification of the health workforce.

Improve Quality of Life for Those Living with HIV/AIDS: Obama is a strong supporter of the Ryan White Care Act (RWCA), which provides critical access to life-saving treatment and care for over half a million lowincome Americans with HIV/AIDS. The RWCA is one of the largest sources of federal funds for primary health care and support services for patients with HIV/AIDS. The bill was named after Ryan White, an Indiana teenager whose courageous struggle with HIV/AIDS helped educate the nation. Throughout the reauthorization process of the RWCA, Obama worked closely with RWCA service providers, the Chicago Department ofPublic Health, and the Illinois Department of Public Health to analyze and find ways to improve the program for Illinois and for the nation. Obama will continue to protect the multifaceted care upon which RWCA beneficiaries depend.

Assure Adequate and Safe Housing for Those Living With HIV: Obama supports increased funding for Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) and other pertinent housing programs. These programs aim to assure that adequate and safe housing is available for all disabled and low-income people with HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

Expand Funding for Research: Barack Obama will expand funding for research, especially for prevention options including a vaccine and microbicides. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections. Obama led an effort with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and others to introduce the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses.

Promote AIDS Prevention: In addition to assuring access to treatment, Obama believes we need to increase the focus on preventing new infections. We cannot keep pace with treatment needs if we don’t also focus on prevention. This means pursuing a strategy that relies on sound science and builds on what works. Obama supports comprehensive sex education that is age-appropriate. He supports increasing federal appropriations for science-based HIV prevention programs. Obama supports the JUSTICE Act, which would prevent transmission of HIV within the incarcerated population. He also supports legislation that would lift the ban on federal funding for needle exchange as a strategy to reduce HIV transmission among injection drug users and their partners and children.

Bring Medicaid Coverage to Low-Income, HIV-Positive Americans: Obama is a co-sponsor of the Early Treatment of HIV Act, which would provide Medicaid coverage to more low-income, HIV-positive Americans.

GLOBAL HIV/AIDS

Reauthorize and Revise PEPFAR: The U.S. has dramatically increased funding for global HIV and AIDS programs through the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), but the program has faced controversy. Obama believes that our first priority should be to reauthorize PEPFAR when it expires in 2008 and rewrite much of the bill to allow best practices – not ideology – to drive funding for HIV/AIDS programs.

In addition, Obama supports adding an additional $1 billion a year in new money over the next five years to strengthen and expand the program to Southeast Asia, India, and Eastern Europe, where the pandemic is expanding.

Increase Investments for HIV Treatment: Barack Obama is committed to increasing U.S. investments in the capacity building needed to ensure that poor countries are able to develop the health care infrastructure necessary to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, promote basic health care, reduce the spread of malaria and TB, and prevent and, if necessary, contain the spread of avian flu and other pandemics.

Increase Contribution to the Global Fund: Obama supports increasing U.S. contributions to the Global Fund for AIDS, malaria, and TB so that our assistance is coordinated with aid provided by other governments and private donors and so that the burden on poor countries is reduced.

Provide Access Through Trade: Barack Obama believes that people in developing countries living with HIV/AIDS should have access to safe, affordable generic drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. He will break the stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on these life-saving drugs. Obama supports the rights of sovereign nations to access quality-assured, low-cost generic medication to meet their pressing public health needs under the WTO’s Declaration on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). He also supports the adoption of humanitarian licensing policies that ensure medications developed with U.S. taxpayer dollars are available off-patent in developing countries.

Achieve the Millennium Development Goals: As president, Barack Obama will double U.S. foreign assistance from $25 billion per year to $50 billion per year to ensure the U.S. does its share to meet the Millennium Development Goals, including halving the number of people who die of tuberculosis and/or are affected by malaria. In 2005, Obama cosponsored the International Cooperation to Meet the Millennium Development Goals Act. Barack Obama will target this new spending toward strategic goals, including helping the world’s weakest states to build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth. He will also help weak states to fight terrorism, halt the spread of deadly weapons, and build the health care infrastructure needed to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS as well as detect and contain outbreaks of avian influenza. Obama will dedicate as much funding to HIV/AIDS as possible – without cutting into other critical foreign assistance programs – to ensure a comprehensive fight against this global pandemic.

Reduce Debt of Developing Nations: Developing nations are amassing tremendous amounts of foreign debt that limit their economic development and make investments in public health, education, and infrastructure extremely difficult. Debt in Sub-Saharan Africa stands at $235 billion, 44 percent of the region’s gross domestic product and an increase of 33 percent since 1990. Obama would work with other developed nations and multilateral institutions to cancel remaining onerous debt while pushing reforms to keep developing nations from slipping into fiscal ruin. Obama also would better coordinate trade and development policies to use the full range of America’s economic power to help developing nations reap the benefits of the global trading system. Obama cosponsored the Multilateral Debt Relief Act of 2005 to provide multilateral debt relief to Heavily Indebted Poor Countries.

Barack Obama has shocked and disappointed many of us with the news that he will appear with an anti-gay evangelical gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. McClurkin was a favorite of George Bush, during his 2004 campaign. His work promoting anti-gay ballot measures in 2004 mobilized right-wing voters.

America Blog writes: "Funny how Obama is a big supporter of civil rights when blacks are being maligned, but not so much when gays are the victims. Kind of puts his screw up over General Pace's homophobia in a whole new light."

Pams House Blend writes: "McClurkin believes one can pray away the gay, that it is a choice, and, according to Keith Boykin, Donnie McClurkin compares gays and lesbians to liars."

And from Truth Wins Out: "We strongly urge Obama to part ways with this divisive preacher who is clearly singing a different tune than the stated message of the campaign," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "We can only hope that Obama is unaware of McClurkin's anti-gay history and will swiftly condemn such intolerance. Real leadership includes standing up to those who drive wedges between the American people."

Still, Obama continues to back Donnie McClurkin. He released the following statement on his website:

"I have clearly stated my belief that gays and lesbians are our brothers and sisters and should be provided the respect, dignity, and rights of all other citizens. I have consistently spoken directly to African-American religious leaders about the need to overcome the homophobia that persists in some parts of our community so that we can confront issues like HIV/AIDS and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country.

I strongly believe that African Americans and the LGBT community must stand together in the fight for equal rights. And so I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin's views and will continue to fight for these rights as President of the United States to ensure that America is a country that spreads tolerance instead of division."

It is hard to grasp why Obama would choose to continue to appear with someone who has a track-record of attacking the LGBT community. Given the General Pace Incident, it's only natural that LGBT community members would be concerned by Obama's decision to stand on stage with an anti-gay minister Donnie McClurkin. Top Democrats have been telling us what we want to hear for years, but actions speak louder than words. And this action is troubling.

Barack Obama is best advised to pull Donnie McClurkin out of the gospel concert lineup. If he insists on moving forward with McClurkin, however, he should make a genuine effort to show the LGBT community that we are welcome.

Unfortunately these kinds of debates often play out as "evangelicals vs. gays" or "African Americans vs. gays". This means that unfortunately, LGBT Christians and LGBT African Americans are left out of the debate.

Let's change that.

Obama can demonstrate that the LGBT community is welcome at this Gospel Concert, by inviting an LGBT Gospel Choir to perform alongside the other performers. I know here in Washington DC, we have an amazing gospel choir at the Washington DC Metropolitan Community Church. I would venture to guess that at least one of the Metropolitan Community Churches in South Carolina has an excellent gospel choir as well.

If Barack insists on keeping Donnie McClurkin at this gospel concert, he must demonstrate that LGBT folks are welcome and part of this event. LGBT community members need a president who will do and say the right things not just at LGBT community forums, but all the time. At this moment, Obama has an opportunity to demonstrate that.

Washington, DC - Today, the National Stonewall Democrats issued a call for Congressional Democrats to support a proposed amendment which would restore protections on the basis of gender identity to HR 3685. The amendment is being proposed by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). Jon Hoadley, Executive Director, stated:

"National Stonewall Democrats supports efforts by Congresswoman Baldwin to amend HR 3685 to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity. We strongly urge all Democratic Members to vote for such an amendment because of its strategic and moral importance. It would be unacceptable for any Congressional Democrat to vote against an amendment that restores gender identity protections.

The Democratic Leadership has repeatedly indicated that it supports passage of the most inclusive bill possible, and swift adoption of this amendment will achieve that goal. We applaud the support of Congressman Frank for this proposed amendment. We urge the Democratic Leadership and Party organizations, such as the Democratic National Committee, to use the full force of their influence to secure support for this amendment.

We also support this effort by Congresswoman Baldwin because it allows Democrats to be placed on record for their support for the inclusion of gender identity in non-discrimination law. This amendment allows our members to thank Democrats who stand with the entire LGBT community while holding others accountable for their votes."

HR 3685 was approved by the House Committee on Education and Labor. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) has secured commitments to offer an amendment to this bill that would restore protections on the basis of gender identity.

National Stonewall Democrats was at the center of early organizing efforts to save gender identity within the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Working with organizations such as the Task Force, the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Stonewall Democrats quickly helped organizers build a coalition that has now grown to more than 300 organizations.

National Stonewall Democrats was at the center of early organizing efforts to save gender identity within the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Working with organizations such as the Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality, Stonewall Democrats quickly helped organizers build a coalition that has now grown to more than 300 organizations.

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National Stonewall Democrats is the only national organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Democrats, with more than 90 local chapters across the nation. NSD is committed to working through the Democratic Party to advance the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Representing Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District since 1999, Tammy Baldwin is the first out lesbian and the first openly gay non-incumbent ever elected to Congress.

In the 1960s, while confronting segregation, discrimination, obstruction of voting rights and physical violence, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. often borrowed the words of another pastor, an abolitionist from Boston named Theodore Parker, to inspire and give strength to those in the civil-rights movement. In the fight for full equality, both Dr. King and Rev. Parker reminded their flock what I believe is equally true and relevant today as we discuss the gay rights movement in America: ''The arc of the moral universe is long...but it bends toward justice.''

You may wonder how I can say that in 2007, when LGBT Americans are still the victims of violent hate crimes and discrimination; still unable to serve openly in the armed forces; still unable, in many states, to adopt children; still unable in 49 states to marry; still denied the full and equal rights that citizenship grants and morality demands.

Gay History Month is an appropriate time to step back from our daily struggles and frustrations to assess how much progress we have made in recent years. Despite political setbacks and sadly, still, hate crimes against the LGBT community, young Americans are growing up in ever-more tolerant times. Ten years ago, Ellen DeGeneres announced she was gay on national television and cynics predicted it would end her career. Earlier this year, Ellen hosted the Academy Awards where a billion viewers around the world were not only entertained by this openly-gay and hugely popular comedian, but then they heard Oscar-winner Melissa Etheridge publicly thank her own wife and their four children.

Today, you can go into almost any bookstore and find aisles of gay and lesbian literature. But one of my friends (now in his mid-'60) reminded me that when he was in college and beginning to question his own sexual orientation, the only mention of homosexuality came in textbooks next to adjectives such as ''deviant,'' ''aberrant'' and ''criminal.''

I grew up in the progressive city of Madison, in the birthplace of ''progressivism,'' Wisconsin, and I had gone to one of the best public school systems in the country, yet no one had ever uttered the words gay or lesbian in a class. Never mind that there was no gay/straight student alliance or anything remotely like it. There were no openly gay characters on TV. No same-sex partners in advertising. No same sex marriage or civil union announcements in the society pages of the New York Times or any other newspaper. No protections against discrimination for LGBT people in housing or at work. At the time, not so long ago, ''queer'' was a curse word and ''being queer'' was a curse.

Well into the 20th century, our nation's and the world's history was never whole and truthful because the role of LGBT people in shaping that history was, quite simply, ''the greatest story never told.''

To some of you, the idea of a society so limited for LGBT people is as foreign as a world without cell phones, iPods or computers. But for those of you who remember the darkness and loneliness of life in the closet, those memories are still fresh and raw.

All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement. We are no more -- and no less -- heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century; and the labor organizers, Freedom Riders, Stonewall demonstrators and environmentalists of the 20th century. We are ordinary people, living our lives, and trying as civil-rights activist Dorothy Cotton said, to ''fix what ain't right'' in our society.

LGBT Americans have far to go to achieve full acceptance or full equality, but we have witnessed a sea-change in societal attitudes toward gays and lesbians since my own days as a college student. And that change is being driven not in the legislature, but in our workplaces, our schools, our places of worship, and our communities.

All successful movements of change have much in common. They're not as spontaneous as they may appear. Each involves citizenship training, grassroots organizing, advocacy and, most important, a faith that each of us can make a difference, and a faith that our democracy provides us with those tools.

And, yes, they take a long time. And sometimes we have to take a few steps back before we can again move forward.

But from the movements for civil rights, for suffrage, for trade unions, for environmental protections, we can learn the strategies and tactics, the patience and forbearance needed to achieve equal rights for LGBT Americans.

Above all, we can be sustained by the knowledge that, indeed, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

October 15th is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, a day to talk about HIV/AIDS in the Latino Community.

Latinos in the United States continue to be affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, accounting for a greater proportion of AIDS cases than their representation in the U.S. population overall, and the second highest AIDS case rate in the nation by race/ethnicity. Studies have shown that Latinos with HIV/AIDS may face additional barriers to accessing care than their white counterparts (read the fact sheet here).

To learn more, visit the National Latino AIDS Awareness Day website at www.nlaad.org.

Here in Washington DC, folks are gathering this morning at All Souls Church for a forum on HIV/AIDS in the Latino Community. This afternoon I hope you'll join us for a spanish language presentation on HIV vaccine research.

The statistics on HIV and black gay men are sobering. A 2005 CDC study, conducted in 5 large US cities, found that HIV prevalence among black MSM (46%) was more than twice that among white MSM (21%). (citation). It's hard to imagine that in these cities almost half of all black gay men are living with HIV.

When it comes to HIV prevention, what works for white gay men does not necessarily work for black gay men. There's still a lot we need to understand about what is fueling these high HIV rates and what we should be doing about it.

Fortunately, the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition (NBGMAC), which formed shortly after this data was released, has been working hard to improve the health and well-being of black gay men through advocacy that is focused on research, policy, education and training. NBGMAC is housed in Washington, DC at the offices of Us Helping Us.

NBGMAC will continue to their work at the October 24th meeting of the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OAR). The OAR meeting will focus on challenges of HIV infection in racial and ethnic communities in the United States.

Dr. Leo Wilton will present a summary of the Black Gay Research Agenda for the NBGMAC and the Black Gay Research Group. The meeting will be held at 5635 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852 in the Terrace Level Conference Center.

It's an important step forward in advocating for the HIV research needs of black gay men, and you can be there. The meeting is open to the public. Time will be allowed for public comment at the end of the meeting. If you can attend and would like to attend, please contact Christina Brackna at (301) 402-8655 for additional information .

On Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. ET, a discussion with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will be webcast live during the next “Health Care 2008: Presidential Candidate Forum.”

John Edwards was among the first candidates to be part of these web forums. He used his appearance as an opportunity to launch a detailed and comprehensive plan to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad.

Let's make sure Hillary Clinton answers our questions about her plans to fight HIV/AIDS. Viewers are welcome to submit questions for the presidential candidates. Questions will be presented to the panel of journalists for consideration. Click here to submit a question about HIV/AIDS to Hillary Clinton for the live forum.

The “Health Care 2008: Presidential Candidate Forums” will allow each Presidential candidate to discuss in detail his or her vision about health reform and the uninsured with a panel of leading health journalists from “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,” ABC News, National Public Radio, and The Wall Street Journal. The Forums are being organized by Families USA and the Federation of American Hospitals, produced by MacNeil-Lehrer Productions and hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in its Barbara Jordan Conference Center. The Foundation’s health news and information site, kaisernetwork.org, will provide a live webcast of each forum. Shortly after the live webcast, an archived webcast, transcript and podcast will be available.

For a list of upcoming forums and to watch archived webcasts of previous forums, visit presidentialforums.health08.org.

Local Bloggers are speaking out on marriage equality for same-sex couples and challenging conventional wisdom about the push for civil marriage rights in the District of Columbia.

The Malcontent doesn't understand why, given the political support, marriage equality has not moved forward in the District. The Malcontent questions the logic that we should wait until DC is free from being controlled by Congress, writing "Maybe we should also wait until there are gays on Mars, until all bigotry and hatred is banished everywhere, and we all live on Gumdrop Mountain at the mouth of Stoli River."

The DCist asks the obvious question. Do we really need to be concerned about Congressional oversight now that the Democrats are in Contro? DCist writes: "could this, like the ban on District spending for needle exchange programs ... be one more issue the District could theoretically make up its own mind about now that Democrats control Congress?"

Scott's Take suggests that both Democrats and LGBT activists share responsibility for the lack of progress: "It's an unhappy standoff -- the gay establishment doesn't want to make their friends in the Democratic Party uncomfortable and the Democratic establishment doesn't feel it needs to carry water for it's gay constituents because, after all, where else are we going to go?"

Michael at Bloggernista, is ready to move beyond this standoff: Michael writes: "I agree with D.C. Council member Jim Graham when he says that we need to move forward on the issue of gay marriage in D.C. I am working with few activists including Lane Hudson, Donald Hitchcock and Paul Yandura to do just that."

Michael is a founding member of DC for Marriage.

While campaigning in Iowa, Cate Edwards stated her support for marriaqe equality for same sex couples. Her father, Presidential Candidate John Edwards, supports civil unions for same sex couples, but has not gone as far as to support full marriage equality.

Cate is the second member of the Edwards clan to come out in favor of marriage equality. John Edward's wife Elizabeth Edwards stated her support for marriage equality last June at a breakfast reception organized by the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club in San Francisco.

The Iowa Independent reports that Cate Edwards shared her views while campaigning in Iowa, appearing with Edwards supporter James Denton (Desperate Housewives). Cate Edwards, currently enrolled in Harvard Law School, stated "Children don't always agree with their parents -- it might be a little creepy if they did."

In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Jenna Bush states that after spending time in working with people living with HIV, she oppposes the Bush Administration domestic policy of abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education. Jenna says she supports a more comprehensive "ABC" approach (abstain, be faithful, use a condom).

There is no scientific evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, those that censor information about contraception, are effective. In fact, Congress funded a 10-year study of these programs which shows they do not work. Over the years Congress has wasted 1.5 billion dollars of taxpayer money on these programs that have no measurable effect.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Congress recently funded yet another extension of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.

read the newsweek article here

A statement from Donna Rose in response to the recently announced Human Rights Campaign position on ENDA:

Community. Integrity. Leadership. Vision. These are the foundational pillars of Equality. These are the values that draw many of us into advocacy roles. Those tenets provide a clear roadmap when things like politics, expediency, agenda, and power cloud the picture as they so often do. They pave the way to the moral high-ground, and those who follow them with trust and patience will ultimately find their efforts rewarded.

My name is Donna Rose, and I am the first and only openly transgender member of the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign. I am the national co-chair for Diversity. I am the co-chair appointee-elect for the Business Council. I have spoken at events around the country on behalf of the organization, and I am a respected advocate for the transgender community.

My participation on the HRC Board has been a heavy burden. The relationship between HRC and the transgender community is one scarred by betrayal, distrust, and anger. I have become a focal point for much of that frustration and I accepted that responsibility with the hope that I could help to change it. In some very real ways I think I have been able to do that, or at least to help make that happen, and am tremendously proud of all we have achieved.

HRC has done some wonderful work to support the transgender community. Workplaces around the country are recognizing the unique challenges faced by transgender employees and are moving in record numbers to protect them as valued members of an inclusive workforce. Educational tools to help demystify our lives and to provide a human perspective have paved to way to a better understanding of who we are and our challenges. We have set high standards and we have held others accountable to them. The question at hand is whether we, as an organization, hold ourselves accountable to those same high expectations.

Transgender is not simply the 'T' in GLBT. It is people who, for one reason or another, may not express their gender in ways that conform to traditional gender norms or expectations. That covers everyone from transsexuals, to queer youth, to feminine acting men, to masculine appearing women. It is a broad label that cannot be confined to a specific silo of people. It is anyone who chooses to live authentically. To think that the work that we are doing on behalf of the entire GLBT community simply benefits or protects part of us is to choose a simplistic view of a complex community. In a very real way, the T is anyone who expresses themselves differently. To some it is about gender. To me, it is about freedom.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is a core piece of legislation. It would guarantee that GLBT people will not get fired from their jobs because of discrimination and prejudice. It makes a strong statement that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable, and it recognizes the critical role of employment and career as something more than simply a paycheck. It is a source of pride, of achievement, of belonging, of security, and in a very real way it is a validation of person-hood.

Unemployment and under-employment is the single most significant issue facing transgender people today. The high-profile case of Susan Stanton, city manager from Largo, FL who was fired early this year after an exemplary 17-year career there simply because she was outed as being transgender, demonstrates the continuing experience that many of us continue to face each and every day in workplaces around this country. Although workplaces have made tremendous strides in enacting supportive policy, bad things still happen and the overall message being sent is that we're somehow expendable. In years past these things happened quietly, going unnoticed. Those days are numbered.

That's why ENDA is so important. It is more than simply a statement that it's not ok to fire GLBT people for reasons unrelated to work performance. It's a statement that we are a community. It's recognition of people who may not express their gender in traditional ways does not affect a person's ability to contribute as simply another part of a diverse workforce. It's a validation of those foundational pillars that line the moral high ground. And, it's recognition that each of us has value, and none of us will be left behind.

The current situation regarding ENDA is nothing short of a politically misguided tragedy. A tool that could and should be a unifying beacon on the heels of the historic passage of fully inclusive Hate Crime legislation has been split. Transgender brothers and sisters again find themselves separated, isolated, and disempowered. People in positions of power have decided that their personal legacy and the promise of political expediency are more important than protecting our entire beautiful community. The time is here to make a strong statement to demonstrate to them that they are wrong.

In 2004 the HRC Board voted to support only fully-inclusive Federal legislation. That decision paved the way to my participation with the organization, and was a significant step in the healing process. Since that time we have worked together tirelessly towards a goal of Equality for all. Less than a month ago HRC President Joe Solmonese stood before almost 900 transgender people at the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta to pledge ongoing support and solidarity. In his keynote address he indicated that not only would HRC support only a fully inclusive ENDA, but that it would actively oppose anything less. That single pledge changed hearts and minds that day, and the ripple affect throughout the transgender community was that we finally were one single GLBT community working together. Sadly, recent events indicate that those promises were hollow.

An impressive coalition of local and national organizations has lined up to actively oppose the divisive strategy that would leave some of our brothers and sisters without workplace protections. This effort has galvanized community spirit and commitment in ways few could have imagined, and it has demonstrated to those who would divide us that anything less than full inclusion is unacceptable Organization after organization has seized the moral high ground knowing that this is a historic opportunity that cannot be squandered, and that it is our moral obligation to ourselves and to generations that will follow to make a loud, clear, unmistakable statement that we are a community and we will not be divided. There is a single significant organization glaringly missing from that list. The Human Rights Campaign has chosen not to be there.

It is impossible to remove passion and emotion from what has happened. Indeed, those are the fuels that propel us. That being said please know that this entire situation has affected me deeply and profoundly. Still, I will not sling mud at the organization to who I have given my heart, my energies, and my trust. I will not give in to my frustration and disappointment that Joe's words of less than a month ago have proven to be hollow promises. This unfortunate turn of events has forced me to make some very difficult personal decisions about integrity, character, community, and leadership. Although I can find any number of logical and personal reasons to continue in my capacity as a board member, I cannot escape the moral implications of the decision before me. Using that as my guide, as difficult as it is for me to make, the decision is an obvious one.

I hereby submit my resignation from my post on the Board of the Human Rights Campaign effective Monday Oct. 8, 2007. I call on other like-minded board members, steering committee leaders, donors, corporate sponsors, and volunteers to think long and hard about whether this organization still stands for your values and to take decisive action as well. More than simply a question of organization policy, this is a test of principle and integrity and although it pains me greatly to see what has happened it is clear to me that there can only be one path. Character is not for compromise. I cannot align myself with an organization that I can't trust to stand-up for all of us. More than that, I cannot give half-hearted support to an organization that has now chosen to forsake the tenets that have guided my efforts from day one.

I align myself and my energies with the groundswell of community sentiment that has universally stood to oppose this divisive strategy. I wish my friends and colleagues from the Human Rights Campaign the best, and I expect that time will prove their decision to take a neutral stance and to fracture our community to be short-sighted and misguided. I accept the notion that we all want the same thing. It's just that I couldn't disagree more with this destructive strategy to get there. I urge the board and the leadership to reconsider their position and the join a unified community that supports a single all-inclusive bill.

History teaches painful lessons. Any celebration of rights gained at the expense of others is not a celebration. It is a failure of effective leadership. It is to offer the promise of a tomorrow that you know in your heart will never come. It is to choose to turn your back on those who need you most, who do not have the voice or the stature to speak for themselves.

The time is here for leaders to lead, for those who say they stand for community to act forcefully and with purpose. Anything less is to forsake the pillars of Equality for the empty promise of something less. The word that we have for that in our language is "Courage". It's the kind of courage it takes for GLBT people to show up for work each and every day, living authentically, wondering if that will be their last day. I call on my brothers and sisters at the Human Rights Campaign, for Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Frank, and for equality-minded leaders everywhere to lead by example and to do the right thing.

In Solidarity for Equality,

Donna Rose

From the National Center for Transgender Equality

(Washington, DC) - This has been an extremely busy week here as we've celebrated the historic victory of the hate crimes bill, the first transgender-inclusive legislation to pass both houses of the U.S. Congress. At the same time, we have had to respond to the extremely disturbing news that the sponsors of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act are moving to split the bill into two new pieces of legislation - one for sexual orientation and another for gender identity.

We oppose any version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that does not include both sexual orientation and gender identity. Transgender people are among the most marginalized and vulnerable groups within the LGBT community. In a 2006 survey of transgender people conducted by the Transgender Law Center, 57% reported being discriminated against in employment and 60% earned less than $15,300 per year. The entire country has an interest in seeing the transgender community thrive in the national economy. Without protection against discrimination, that is nearly impossible.

Members of our community have been busy all week taking a stand for our civil rights through our calls, e-mails and networking. We made a difference with the hate crimes bill and we can't stop yet on ENDA. We are asking you to sign a petition right now urging the House leadership to keep a transgender-inclusive ENDA. Click here to sign. It only takes a minute. We need to have our voices heard together on this critical issue. NCTE is co-sponsoring this petition with the Transgender Law Center.

We will keep you updated in the coming days about other steps you can take to help pass ENDA, legislation that is vital to the well-being of the transgender community. Thank you for all that you've done ... we must keep going until we have our civil rights.

The National Center for Transgender Equality is a national social justice organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people. The National Center for Transgender Equality is a 501(c)3 organization. For more information, please visit www.nctequality.org.