Petrelis Files

Dybul, US HIV Envoy, on Immigration Ban; Goosby Berated for High Salary

(Ambassador Mark Dybul)

There were so few people in the Koret auditorium at the San Francisco main library yesterday, about 15, for the forum with Ambassador Mark Dybul, the U.S. envoy for HIV/AIDS, that I thought I was in the wrong room.

Several of the audience members were executives from the SF AIDS Foundation or staffers from the State Department, and besides myself, the only community member in attendance was black transgender activist Veronika Cauley. Don't know why more people weren't in attendance.

(Activist Veronika Cauley)

In any event, during the Q&A I asked Dybul what he was doing to lift the U.S. HIV travel and immigrant ban, which, I pointed out, was implemented under President Clinton, and he was eager to respond.

He said he was working within the constraints of the law to enact a "blanket waiver" and that the State Department is communicating with the executive branch about the HIV ban. Dybul's response was very diplomatic and his vocal tone contained much earnestness. Nothing newsworthy came from him.

But of course, I was pleased to deliver a message to him and the State Department, that at least one AIDS activist in San Francisco cared enough to show up for the forum and raise the issue of the deplorable HIV ban.

(Bureaucrat Dr. Eric Goosby)

I also berated Dr. Eric Goosby, executive director of the SF AIDS Foundation's Pangaea Global HIV/AIDS Foundation and former top HIV advisor to the Clinton White House, who was a member of the panel on the stage with Dybul.

Goosby made $248,242 as head of Pangaea, according to the group's FY 2004 IRS 990 tax report, which I pointed out was not his current salary that could only assume was more than what he earned two years ago, and that such a pay-scale level was shameful, given that so many PWAs lack basic things like drugs and access to drugs.

He stared intently at the microphone in front of him as I made reference to a report in the New York Times last week about criticism over the salaries of two aides to Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank.

From the NYT:

A large amount of the discontent over Mr. Wolfowitz has focused on his top aides, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, both of whom worked with him on defense issues in the Bush administration. Bank officials have claimed that they have been given too much power and that their salaries, in excess of $200,000, are too high.

Goosby choose not to respond to my criticism, which is standard practice for the over-paid, in my opinion, leaders at the SF AIDS Foundation and its Pangaea affiliate.

Finally, after the forum ended I spoke privately with Dybul and said he should aggressively push inside the Bush administration to lift the HIV ban. And I said thanks for bringing his family members, including his partner Jason Claire and his mother-in-law to his swearing in ceremony, a symbolic but nonetheless step forward for gays at the State Department.