Watch: MTV presents Pedro

The HBCU Program got this alert from the HRC Communications Department:


In 1994, Pedro Zamora captured the hearts of millions on MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco as the first-ever openly gay, HIV-positive main character on a national television show. Pedro is an intimate bio pic tracing his humble Cuban immigrant roots to his courageous rise to national prominence as the most recognizable HIV-AIDS activist in the United States. The world premiere of Pedro provides us with a unique opportunity to begin an honest discussion about the realities of sexually transmitted infections.

To carry on Pedro’s fight, we want to encourage all sexually active people to get tested. To make this as easy and fun as possible, we set up an SMS code so all anyone has to do is text their zip code to 49809 and they will get a text back with the location of the nearest testing center. In addition, everyone who texts that SMS code will automatically be registered to win a trip for 2 people to the 2009 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles! Not a bad deal for doing something we should all be doing anyway right?

Watch the trailor here!

Human Rights Campaign Recognizes Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

More than 26 years after its discovery, HIV/AIDS continues to change the face of human health like no other modern illness. Today we know that women and female adolescents account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses - and the infection rates among women of color are even more alarming. In 2004, the CDC reported these shocking statistics (.PDF) about HIV/AIDS:

• is the leading cause of death for black women (including African American women) aged 25–34 years.
• the 3rd leading cause of death for black women aged 35–44 years.
• the 4th leading cause of death for Hispanic women aged 35–44 years.

That same year, HIV infection was named the 5th leading cause of death among all women aged 35–44 years and the 6th leading cause of death among all women aged 25–34 years. Only cancer and heart disease caused more deaths among women.

Khadijah Tribble, Executive Director of Pediatic HIV/AIDS Care and member of the HRC Diversity and Inclusion Council, writes about the significance of the day and what it means to all of us working for equality and justice.

Find the article after the jump...

Police Candidate Sues for HIV Discrimination

Don't let anyone tell you the stigma around HIV/AIDS is dead. An Atlanta man is suing the police department for job discrimination because of his status, the Advocate reports:

A man who applied to be police officer in Atlanta is suing the department after higher-ups claimed he could not be admitted because he is HIV-positive. Suing under the pseudonym Richard Roe, the applicant said the department violated his privacy and that it has a history of not accepting officers who have HIV, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday.

City officials say the department did not turn Roe away because of his HIV status, but city documents sent to the the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that Atlanta disqualifies potential officers with blood-borne diseases, such as HIV. "Diseases passed through the blood present a hazardous condition and as such are disqualifying conditions," the city wrote to the EEOC about Roe's case.

Atlanta Human Resource Department director Alfred Elder said that Roe disqualified himself because he did not return phone calls from a police recruiter.

The Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits employers from firing or denying employment to those with HIV.

Roe was working another job within the department when he applied to become an officer in 2006, according to court documents. He claims he was told that the routine blood test was strictly for drug use. The department says Roe was notified that he was also being tested for HIV. The doctor administering the test told Roe he was HIV-positive and that the police department does not hire people with the virus. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

You can find the original article after the jump...

HIV-Positive Man Sues McDonald's for Wrongful Termination

A man is suing a McDonald's restaurant in Dyersville, Iowa, allegedly it fired him because he is a gay man with HIV. Daniel Carver claims he was promised a promotion and a full-time schedule, which he did not receive, according to the Dubuque Telegraph Herald newspaper. A manager punched him in the stomach, and another employee called him a "faggot rat" and slapped him with a slice of cheese, Carver alleges. Additionally, he claims he received death threats from other employees. Though he reported the problems to a manager, the incidents continued. He was fired in February 2008, after almost four months of employment.

He has filed his claim with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. The commission has sent Carver, 46, a right-to-sue letter, prompting him to file suit in the Dubuque County district court.

Iowa law prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Since the law was enacted in 2007, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission has received six complaints for gender identity discrimination and eight for sexual orientation discrimination, according to the Telegraph Herald. State law also bans discrimination against an employee who is HIV-positive. The state's department of health reports that nearly 2,000 Iowans have HIV. (The Advocate)

Find the article here.

GOP accused of ignoring domestic AIDS issue

HIV/AIDS groups are accusing Republican presidential candidate John McCain of ignoring the growing rate of new HIV cases in the US.

The Republican National Convention concluded last week with no mention of the domestic AIDS epidemic and only passing reference to the epidemic overseas. Neither McCain nor his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, mentioned AIDS in their remarks to convention delegates.

The Republican Convention was held one month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new estimates indicating that the HIV infection rate in the United States is 40 percent higher than previously thought.

Every year, more than 56,000 Americans become infected with HIV, a rate that has not fallen in eight years and is higher than it was for most of the 1990s, according to the CDC.

Find more after the jump...

Black Churches Take on AIDS Issue

By Alice Turner 16:09, August 18th 2008

Black churches across the country are starting one by one to tackle one of the most important problems of black Americans today: HIV/AIDS. While African Americans, and especially black gay men, are leading by far new HIV infections, the churches serving mainly black Christian communities have remained more or less silent on the rampant spread of the deadly disease.

One of the reasons why pastors have tried to sidestep this delicate issue is that Christian faith does not approve of unfaithfulness and homosexuality, the main reasons behind HIV transmission. This has led in some extreme cases to reverends rejecting HIV positive faithful, telling them to ask forgiveness for their sins (which allegedly caused them to become infected).

Now, things are slowly changing and homophobia is often condemned too by church leaders, as communities open up to those hit by the disease who are yearning for moral and spiritual support from their fellows.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced early this month that the number of Americans who are infected with HIV has been undercounted for almost a decade. It appears that in 2006 there were at least 56,300 new HIV infections, significantly more than the 40,000 estimated in previous years. As expected, gay men are the most affected by new HIV infections.

Also, late last month, a report by the Black AIDS Institute has found that the United States spearheads the global response to HIV/AIDS abroad, but neglects problems with the disease at home, especially among black people. The so-called "Black America," which is made up of some 39 million African Americans, would rank 16th in the world in the number of people living with HIV. Blacks present a gene variant, which, while ensuring a higher level of protection against some types of malaria, increases the vulnerability to HIV infection.

The "Second-wave" of HIV

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study Thursday that could indicate a "second-wave" AIDS epidemic, The Washington Post reported.
Positive HIV status among young gay men has been rising 12 percent each year since 2001, the study showed, with the steepest increase among young, black men.
"These men represent a new generation that has not been personally affected by AIDS in the same way that their older peers have," Richard Wolitski, acting director of HIV/AIDS prevention at the CDC, told the Post.
Not enough is being done to prevent the spread of the infection, according to Phill Wilson, head of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. "When you see a 15 percent yearly increase, that is an epidemic that is out of control," Wilson told the Post. "And yet we don't see a response that recognizes it is an epidemic out of control."
Ron Simmons, president of Us Helping Us, an AIDS organization for gay black men, suggested that powerful antiretroviral therapy might have lessened the fear of AIDS within the gay community.
"I can remember going to a funeral every four or five days. Now if you talk to some of these young men, they say, 'If I do get infected, I will simply take the blue pill or the pink pill, like my friend,'" Simmons told the Post.

Article by The Advocate published 6/30/08

Black AIDS Institute Tests Celebrities

AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black women aged 25-34 years and the Center for Disease control estimates over 260,000 people in the U.S. are infected with HIV and don't yet know it. Of those, up to 46% of Black gay men may already be HIV-positive. The Black AIDS Institute - our nation's first organization dedicated to reducing HIV/AIDS among Black people - will be kicking off their second annual "Test 1 Million" campaign on Friday with a few notable celebrities. Eric "Lil E" Wright ," Jimmy Jean-Louis from "Heroes", Coolio , Harold Perrineau from "Lost" and "Oz", Brian White from "The Family Stone" and "Stomp the Yard" and Doug Christie & his wife Jackie - among other notable Black stars - will be setting the stage and an example for Black folks everywhere. The message: Get tested and get tested often. The immediate goal: 1 million people tested by the end of the day - June 27th.

Click here for more information