Important news from our brothers and sisters across the pond:






















Uganda Protest: Stop persecuting gays!

Ugandan High Commission in London picketed

Protest against outings and harassment of Ugandan LGBTs

London, 22 September 2006 - Thirty protesters picketed the Ugandan High Commission in London today (22 September 2006), in protest at the persecution gay and lesbian
Ugandans. They were from the National Union of Students LGBT campaign and from the queer rights direct action group OutRage!.

The protest was prompted by Uganda’s latest homophobic outrage: the outing of 58 alleged lesbians and gay men.

The protesters chanted: “Uganda! Stop persecuting queers! Human rights for all!”

They handed in a letter to the Ugandan High Commissioner, urging respect for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans.

“Uganda is the new Zimbabwe. President Yoweri Museveni is the Robert Mugabe of Uganda – a homophobic tyrant who tramples on democracy and human rights,” said Peter Tatchell of OutRage!, who attended the protest.

“Uganda's anti-gay laws were imposed by the British colonialists who occupied the country, stole its wealth and abused its people. The time has come to ditch this oppressive, divisive, imperialist legislation. The Ugandan government should accept the diversity of humanity, including the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

“One of the hallmarks of an enlightened, democratic society is live-and-let-live. Majorities should respect minorities, even if they don't always agree with them.

“Ugandans should be judged by the quality of their character, not by their sexual orientation,” said Mr Tatchell.

The main organiser of the protest, Claire Anderson of the NUS LGBT campaign, added:

“We call on individuals and groups, LGBT or otherwise, to protest against the intimidation, arrest and torture of LGBT people in Uganda. You can email a protest to: info@ugandahighcommission.co.uk

"We handed a letter of protest to the Ugandan High Commisioner calling on his government to respect the provisions enshrined in the Ugandan constitution giving citizens rights to equality and freedom, and to respect the clauses of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) monitored by the UN, which allow the right to privacy, free from discrimination,” said Ms Anderson.

Uganda outlaws male homosexuality, under laws originally imposed by the British colonisers in the nineteenth century. Offenders can face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Lesbians and gays are subjected to vigilante violence by homophobic mobs, especially in rural areas where most of the population live. They get little or no police protection.

The government has banned same-sex marriage. In 2004 Radio Simba was fined for airing a debate on gay issues. State-funded HIV campaigns stress abstinence and ignore gay and bisexual men. The government refuses to promote safer sex and condoms to same-sex partners. The director of the UN AIDS agency was expelled from the country for having discussions with gay rights campaigners.

In July 2005, the home of lesbian activist, Victor Juliet Mukasa, was raided and searched illegally by local government officials. They confiscated gay rights documents, and arrested a friend who was staying in the house. Earlier the same year, the play Vagina Monologues was banned on the grounds that it promoted “unnatural sex acts, homosexuality and prostitution.”

The latest outrage is an outing campaign by the Ugandan tabloid newspaper, Red Pepper, which is reportedly owned by the half brother of the homophobic President, Yoweri Museveni. President Museveni has urged the police to hunt down and arrest gays and lesbians.

Red Pepper has outed 58 alleged lesbian and gay people in the last two months; and has urged readers to send more names, so they too can be outed. The paper also published a list of underground gay venues, exposing them to the risk of homophobic attack.

Recently, Red Pepper carried an article with the headline 'Jinja Cops Hunt For Gays,' in which they reported a police manhunt to arrest homosexuals in the city Jinga.

Letters of protest should be addressed to:

The Ugandan High Commissioner
Uganda House
58-59 Trafalgar Square
London WC2N 5DX.
Fax: 020 7839 8925.
Email: info@ugandahighcommission.co.uk

Click here for photos of the protest (available for use without charge).

Further information:

Brett Lock, OutRage! 0770 843 5917

Claire Anderson, NUS LGBT Campaign 078 45 605 152

NYT Omission: Iraq Study Group Met w/NYT's Friedman

The New York Times on September 20 printed a story about the Iraq Study Group's recommendations on security issues in the war-torn country and some attention was given to the people who met with and advised the group:

The group, formed at the request of Congress and with the approval of the Bush administration, visited Iraq for four days this month. Members said they had met with more than three dozen Iraqi officials, including Mr. Maliki. The group has also met with Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Panel members expect to meet soon with an Iranian official, whom they did not identify, with the Saudi ambassador to the United States and with the foreign minister of Syria.

What the Times failed to report was that the Iraq Study Group also consulted with New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman and he wasn't the only journalist who met with the group.

The Iraq Study Group has posted a document listing all of the people they spoke with, including American and Iraqi politicians, generals, charity executives and writers.

What fascinated me about the list of names was the fact that in addition to Friedman, the group also sought advice from other journalists, including Thomas Ricks and George F. Will of the Washington Post, George Packer of the New Yorker magazine, Mark Danner of the New York Review of Books, and William Kristol from the Weekly Standard.

While there may be nothing ethically wrong with journalists consulting with U.S. advisory panels, I firmly believe the Times has a journalistic responsibility to inform readers when reporting on such panels that a Times columnist, and other journalists, gave advice to the panel that is offering suggestions about Iraq to President Bush and Congress.

At the same time, I wish media ethicists would weigh in on whether it is ethical for columnists and journalists to give advice to any government advisory panel, and what duty the journalists and their employers have to inform readers when such advice is offered to such panels, even if the journalists don't write about their talks with the panels.

Bottom line for me? Better for the Times and other publications to err on the side of full transparency and disclosure regarding who's giving advice to the Iraq Study Group.

Clinton's DOMA Turns 10; Gay Marriage Leaders Silent

This week marked a sad, but important anniversary in the effort to secure equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, but none of the major national gay groups called attention to it. Thursday, September 21 was the tenth anniversary of President Bill Clinton signing the Defense of Marriage Act into law. If memory serves, I believe he signed DOMA late at night, without any photographers or members of the public present.

One might think gay advocacy groups would mark a decade of this hateful antigay law, but a survey of such groups' web sites shows complete silence on this anniversary.

The Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Freedom to Marry organization, the Log Cabin Republicans, the Marriage Equality group -- all were silent as the tenth anniversary of Clinton signing DOMA came and went.

A few questions need asking. Why didn't the gay groups use the anniversary date to educate the American public about the marriage discrimination gays and lesbians face? Would it have been so terrible for the advocates to hold town hall meetings or organizing a political lobbying day on DOMA? Do we gays not know how to use important anniversaries to advance our vital issues?

And finally, I believe the gay and lesbian community must learn to take full advantage of things like the tenth anniversary of Clinton shamefully signing DOMA, if only because we can use the anniversary as a natural hook for reporters to write stories and remind people that the battle to win marriage equality is far from over.

SF Sunshine Czar: NIH HIV CAB Complaint Hearing Set

This message from the director of the city's sunshine task force came my way this morning, and, you should pardon the metaphor, is a great ray of sunlight that may help open up the NIH's HIV vaccine trials CAB in San Francisco:

Re: SOTF Complaint Confirmation: 06017 _ Michael Petrelis vs DPH-CAB

Thank you for contacting the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. This E-mail is to confirm that your complaint against the Department of Public Health-Community Advisory Board for alleged failure to post meeting notices and agendas on the web and local publications, and failure to post agendas and minutes of its meetings, have been received.

Please refer to complaint number 06017 when submitting any new information and/or
supporting documents pertaining to your complaint. A hearing is scheduled as follows:

Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Location: City Hall, Room 406
Time: 4:00 p.m.

Your attendance is required at this meeting/hearing.

Any additional support documents to be considered by Committee Members, prior to the meeting, must be submitted by 4:00 PM Monday, October 4, 2006.

Attached for your information is the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force's complaint process.

If you have questions please feel free to contact me at the number below.

Frank Darby, Administrator
Sunshine Ordinance Task Force
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
City Hall, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
OFC: (415) 554-7724
FAX: (415) 554-7854
SOTF@sfgov.org

Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to this hearing in a few weeks.

BAR: NIH's HIV Vaccine Panel Needs Sunshine


This is the real adversary...






...not Hank Wilson.
(Photo credit: Jane Philomen Cleland)














The Bay Area Reporter deserves much praise from the gay and AIDS communities today for the paper's news story and editorial on a federally-funded HIV community advisory board that is terrified of sunshine and public participation and scrutiny.

The balanced and informative story, written by reporter Matthew S. Bajko, and the fantastic "time to hold the CAB accountable to sunshine ethics" editorial, penned by editor Cynthia Laird, delve into the efforts of longtime AIDS activist Hank Wilson and myself to attend the CAB's meeting this week, and to also get copies of the CAB's minutes, and the responses from HIV vaccine expert and government employee, Dr. Susan Buchbinder.

It says a lot about what is wrong with San Francisco's AIDS Office and HIV researchers, who receive millions in taxpayer dollars to conduct vaccine trials, that the affected communities are not granted the privilege of observing the CAB's work and that researchers are putting tremendous energy into keeping the public away.

Someone needs to remind the CAB members that the adversary we all must fight is HIV, not activists who wish to learn more about the CAB's inner workings.

Here are choice excerpts from the BAR story, followed by passages from the paper's editorial:

A policy by an advisory panel on HIV research made up of community members not to allow the public into its meetings has prompted a complaint with the city's sunshine task force.

The health department's HIV Research Section Community Advisory Board last week posted the time and location of its latest meeting (Tuesday, September 19) on its Web site after AIDS activist Michael Petrelis had inquired about where and when the CAB met. But a day after posting the information, research section staff deleted it and posted a note saying that the CAB meetings "are private and open only to members." [...]

"Maybe it's time for the C in CAB to no longer stand for 'community,' but instead 'closed.' Let's be honest this CAB is a Closed Advisory Board," said Petrelis in an e-mail.

Dr. Susan Buchbinder, director of the research section, initially had informed Petrelis he would receive the information he had requested by Tuesday. But by last Friday, she sent him an e-mail saying she would in fact not be producing the records and that CAB meetings were only open to members. She also said federal guidelines do not require the CAB to hold open meetings.

In a phone interview this week, Buchbinder defended the closed-door meeting policy, saying it is needed in order to protect both the private health information of CAB members as well as proprietary information about the companies involved in the research that is shared with the CAB. The department currently has two research projects under way, one an HIV vaccine trial and the other an efficacy trial on a potential new HIV prevention tool.

"We are allowed to do that. It is a closed meeting with a small group of community members who have gone through an extensive training program so that allows us to delve into deeper issues in our research," said Buchbinder. "In exchange the companies that make the vaccines we test allow us to discuss with our CAB information that would otherwise not be publicly disclosed." [...]

The complaint committee of the city's Sunshine Ordinance Task Force is set to hear Petrelis' complaint on October 10. Frank Darby, the task force's administrator, said he was unsure if the CAB falls under the purview of the city's open meeting laws. He said it depends on if the CAB is deemed a policy body or a passive body if it must allow the public to attend its meetings.

"Right offhand I don't know myself what the status of that body is," said Darby. "If it is a passive body it may not be open to the public." [...]

Buchbinder declined a request from the Bay Area Reporter to attend Tuesday's meeting, saying only CAB members could extend an invitation. She did agree to ask the CAB if a reporter could attend its next meeting to discuss the closed-door policy. [...]

Longtime AIDS activist Hank Wilson, who also attempted to attend a CAB meeting, said the meetings should be public.

"They should have as a given a public comment period and anyone from the community is welcome to come and make a statement or ask for feedback. It shouldn't be a controversy at all. To me it is shocking to find out that this isn't in place," said Wilson, who was threatened with arrest for trying to speak at a CAB meeting several years ago. "We have a right and certainly a responsibility to monitor what is happening to us." [...]

And here are sections from the Bay Area Reporter's terrific editorial about sunshine ethics and the HIV vaccine trials CAB:

San Francisco is one of the most progressive cities in the country – supposedly open to every opinion, and having a public commission or advisory board for just about every agency – but you wouldn't know it from the way the folks over at the Department of Public Health are shutting out citizens from their community advisory board meetings. The health department's HIV Research Section Community Advisory Board has been up and running for several years, but when local gay activists Hank Wilson and Michael Petrelis starting asking about the body, it was revealed that Dr. Susan Buchbinder, who runs the CAB, doesn't want the general public to attend its meetings.

Buchbinder, in an e-mail to Petrelis, said it's the health department's view that the CAB "is a private volunteer group of community members. It is not open to the public." Never mind that the CAB was established as part of a federal National Institutes of Health grant. And never mind that Buchbinder sits on not one but two NIH-related AIDS advisory committees. And never mind that the www.bethegeneration.org Web site has listings by city (under the heading "Get Involved") for those seeking to participate in AIDS vaccine efforts, including joining a CAB in San Francisco. [...]

Now, Buchbinder maintains that the CAB isn't public. We disagree. And while we haven't heard a definitive answer yet from staff of the city's Sunshine Task Force, it's just good public policy that the CABs should be open to all, whether its required by the city's administrative code or not. By its very name, a CAB implies "community."

This lack of transparency, however, is nothing new at the health department. Back in 1998, the B.A.R. filed a complaint with the city attorney's office about the HIV Prevention Planning Council after the paper alleged that the HPPC violated the state's Brown Act. After two months of legal research and discussion, the council finally voted to abide by the state's open meeting law. The city attorney's office said at the time that because of the unique way the HPPC was established – as part of a grant requirement by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – it did not legally have to follow the Brown Act. So, while there does seem to be murky legal ground with respect to committees run by DPH, we think the input the research section CAB receives from the community would be beneficial. But that's not happening right now.

Thanks so much, Matthew S. Bajko and Cynthia Laird, for letting the BAR's pages serve as a small dose of disinfectant sunshine over the musty and secretive CAB.

Oakland's Dellums, Like SF HIV Panel, Hates Sunshine Laws

When the issue is public advisory panels organized to make suggestions to politicians and set health care or HIV policy, I think there should be no fear of sunshine and full openness. After all, the panels are ostensibly set up to bring about transparency, and hopefully, better understanding by the public into the workings of government and research. Just try telling this to former U.S. Congressman and Oakland's mayor-elect Ron Dellums.

Today's Chip Johnson opinion column in the San Francisco Chronicle takes Dellums to task for his advisory panels' rather vampire-like operations:

Depending on whom you ask, as many as 800 Oakland citizens applied for more than four dozen committees that Mayor-elect Ron Dellums established to create a blueprint for his administration-to-be -- the centerpiece of which he said would be a completely open government process.

But the people serving on those committees since Dellums' election have not been announced. And while some of their meetings have been held on the third floor of Oakland City Hall, very little information has been released to the public -- or to the media.

Meetings held in public buildings are open to anyone who wishes to attend them. But these gatherings, unlike City Council meetings, for example, do not have to be publicly announced under state open meetings laws, because Dellums, who created the citizen groups, won't take the oath of office until Jan. 8.

As with the fraternal order of Masons, you apparently have to be a member to know what's going on. [...]

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Dellums and his panels were advised by San Francisco's HIV vaccine trials CAB, community advisory board, which is doing a fabulous job of keeping the gay community and the public in the dark. Count Dracula couldn't do a better job of keeping the sunshine away.

The Chronicle's Chip Johnson points out how a lesbian is involved in the Oakland panels, but isn't doing much to provide information:

Peggy Moore, a onetime City Council candidate who worked for Dellums' campaign, heads a committee that is expected to identify the issues, concerns and desires that are unique to Oakland's substantial gay, lesbian and transgender community.

But Moore is being mum. On Monday, she declined to be interviewed and deferred all questions about the task force's work to Dellums' campaign staff. And calls to two other committee members were not returned.

Why are Dellums and SF HIV vaccine researcher Dr. Susan Buchbinder so committed to avoiding sunshine? Between Dellums and Buchbinder, the Bush administration could learn much about government secrecy and lack of accountability and transparency, something that is a mark of shame for the mayor-elect and the community researcher.

WBAI Radio: Gays & Iran Debate, 9/18 @ 11 AM ET

This alert came my way tonight from the good folks at Gay City News, New York's premier gay weekly and a paper that has provided a much-needed forum not only about gays in Iran and the hanging of two gay teens in 2005, but also a must-read publication that breaks many stories on gays around the world, thanks to the writings of Doug Ireland.

Scott Long, who directs the LGBT rights effort at Human Rights Watch, Paul Schindler, editor in chief of Gay City News, and others discuss and debate the situation facing gays in Iran, and how Western activists can best be helpful in a one-hour live program on WBAI radio, which is the New York City affiliate of Pacifica Radio. Brad Taylor hosts the program.

Tune in: 11 A.M., EASTERN DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, Monday, September 18.

The program can be heard in NYC at 99.5 FM and is also streamed live on WBAI.org, and the live streaming option is at the upper right hand side of the WBAI home page. The program will also be available for some number of days afterward on the WBAI archives, which can also be accessed from the station's home page.

New SF HIV Report: No Increases in 5 Years

The new HIV report for the city of San Francisco represents a truly remarkable development in the effort to control and prevent new infections:

"The current HIV/AIDS epidemic is characterized by no apparent increases in HIV infection rates over the past five years, and with considerable decreases in some populations. A number of factors may account for these trends. San Francisco's community-based prevention and treatment responses deserve some credit, bringing our per capita rate of AIDS incidence down from the highest in America to its present rank as number seven." (From the executive summary of the report, page 12.)

When I read this passage, my initial reaction was pride in my gay community for contributing to the decline and stabilization of HIV stats. But when I put the report aside and cruised the web looking for any publicity from the DPH on the new stats, or an acknowledgement from any of the vast array of AIDS groups on the stats, I experienced deep cynicism at the overwhelming silence from DPH and AIDS Inc.

I think when you have a five-year period with flat or dropping HIV, in a city that was allegedly experiencing sub-Saharan levels of new infections, it is something the press should report on and the affected community show know about, if only to keep things stable or decreasing. Also, if we assume for a moment that the sub-Saharan claim was indeed true, it's then incumbent on the DPH to explain how we so quickly went from sub-Saharan levels of infections, to a five-year period of stable rates.

Five years equals a fifth of the entire span of the AIDS epidemic, it also equals a twentieth of a century. Really, it's a significant amount of time no matter how you slice it, yet, AIDS Inc may be ignoring the new report because it could affect federal funding levels for the city. With Congress still grappling with reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act for another five years, I can somewhat understand why bureaucrats here are hesitant to promote any HIV stats document that could potentially lead to a reduction in federal grants.

However, the fears of losing funds should not prevent AIDS Inc and DPH officials from keeping the community up to date on HIV infections and sharing proof that prevention messages and sero-sorting are helping to reduce rates. I can think of no legitimate reason why the new HIV report should not be in the news and under debate in the gay community.

If any American city, and perhaps any region in hard-hit Africa or Asia, put out an epidemiology report showing a five-year stretch of time in which HIV is flat or falling considerably for certain populations, it is cause for discussion for many reasons.

First, if San Francisco is seeing stable rates, are there other cities with similar stats? I suspect AIDS experts will say no, because they only like to see this city used as an example that applies to other cities only when infections are climbing, not dropping. Second, after a quarter-century of AIDS in the gay community, our advocates have a profound responsibility to share all data with us, especially when it reveals control of HIV. Informing the gay community of any sustained flat infection rates, I believe, will offer positive strokes to sexually active gay men for their safe sex behaviors and also encourage them to continue practicing sex that doesn't spread infections.

Little more than six years ago, with millions of dollars at stake as Congress considered reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act, HIV experts in San Francisco alleged that there were around 900 new infections in 2000 and one expert, Dr. Willi McFarland, told the SF Chronicle, "These are sub-Saharan African levels of transmission."

As is their habit when HIV or STD rates are supposedly rising, San Francisco AIDS officials used the local stats to sow alarm in gay communities across the nation.

Who can forget this quote from UCSF's Tom Coates in the same Chronicle story? "This is a harbinger of what is going to happen all over the country. What happens in the HIV epidemic usually happens here first."

As if to validate the alarm reported in the Chronicle, the New York Times ran a page-one story on the subject the next day. Neither the Chronicle nor the Times stories in 2000 raised any doubts about what the experts claimed, and, of course, no skeptics of the scary HIV stats were quoted by either paper.

Now six years on, comes the latest HIV/AIDS epidemiology report for San Francisco, published on the DPH web site in late August, but not yet reported on by any news outlet nor touted by a single HIV organization. Silence is not golden when the topic is new HIV infections.

SF HIV Vaccine "Community" Panel: Citizens Barred, Minutes Withheld

No, it doesn't surprise me in the least that the head of HIV vaccine trials research in San Francisco is keeping citizens out of the supposed "Community" Advisory Board meetings and won't be sharing with the public any of her minutes or agendas in the near future.

What shocks me is that Dr. Susan Buchbinder, who has received millions in federal grants for her HIV research and expert advice, has been running her CAB without any real transparency for its entire existence. I believe the CAB came into existence 4-5 years ago, and not once has any of its meetings been publicized or open to the general public.

Not only that, apparently no one at the dozens of well-funded AIDS advocacy groups in town has yet to ask, on behalf of the community they claim to represent, for the CAB to allow community scrutiny and input into its activities.

I'll be responding to Dr. Buchbinder's efforts to bar the public from her CAB by contacting the appropriate people in the U.S. Senate and at the National Institutes of Health first thing Monday morning. Yes, complaints must be lodged in order to bring transparency and community involvement to San Francisco's full participation in HIV vaccine research.

Click here to read about the "private" CAB.

My recent exchange of emails with Dr. Buchbinder:

August 25, 2006

Dr. Susan Buchbinder
Director, HIV Vaccine Trials
San Francisco Department of Public Health AIDS Office

Dear Dr. Buchbinder:

Pursuant to the full provisions of the federal Freedom of Information Act, the state Brown Act and the local Sunshine Ordinance, I hereby formally request copies of the following documents:

1. Minutes of all meetings of the HIV vaccine trials Community Advisory Board;
2. All documents handed out to members of the CAB at the meetings.

I am seeking these records for the time period from January 1, 2004, through the date of this request.

As you may know, FOIA, the Brown Act and the Sunshine Ordinance require you to provide me with the requested documents within ten to fourteen days.

Furthermore, as a journalist reporting on HIV/AIDS issues for my blog, The Petrelis Files, which is at http://petrelisfiles.com/, I also ask for a fee waiver of all search and copying costs.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 415-xxx-xxxx.

A prompt response is respectfully requested and appreciated.

Regards,
Michael Petrelis


Sept 11

Dear Mr. Petrelis,

We are working towards meeting your public records request of August 25th. On behalf of the Department of Public Health, I am hereby notifying you of our need for a 14-day extension of time under Government code section §6253 c. The reason for the extension, as provided in section §6253 c: (b)Search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount ofseparate and distinct records included in a single request and; 3. Consult with another component of the agency or with another agency that has a substantial interest in the response to the request.

You will receive your information on a rolling basis as it is collected and all of it will be available by close of business day, September 19, 2006.

Sincerely,
Susan Buchbinder


Sept 12

Dear Dr. Buchbinder:

I have checked your CAB web site for HIV vaccine trials and there is no information posted there about where and when the CAB meets. Can you please tell where and when the September CAB meeting will take place?

Regards,
Michael Petrelis


Sept 13

Michael,

It is my understanding that our Director of Community Education, Matthew Florence, had already responded to your request about the time and location of the CAB meeting. In case you did not receive that information, the next CAB meeting will be held on Sept 19 at 6pm in room 330A at 25 Van Ness Avenue.

Susan


Sept 13

Matthew Florence
CAB Administrator

Dear Mr. Florence,

I have published your note on my blog regarding next week's CAB meeting. Thanks for sharing that public info with me. However, I notice on your site, http://www.helpfighthiv.org/board.htm , that despite federal sunshine laws, there is no information available about the CAB meeting next week and the agenda.

Can you please tell me why the HIV trials vaccine CAB in San Francisco is in apparent violation of federal open meeting statutes? Also, what is the reason why the CAB's agendas and minutes are not posted on your site?

Best,
Michael


Sept 15

Mr. Petrelis,

Upon closer review of the status of our Community Advisory Board, it is the San Francisco Health Department's position that this is not a public meeting body as defined by Section 67.3 of the San Francisco Administrative Code. Therefore, I will not be producing the records you requested. Please note that CAB meetings are only open to CAB members.

Susan Buchbinder

Uganda Drafts Law to Execute HIV Infectors

Last week a story circulated on the Reuters wire from India about an HIV positive woman forced to abort her fetus and a man with AIDS stoned to death. Now comes this story out of Africa and I sadly expect USA HIV/AIDS groups, of which there are hundreds, maybe thousands, to remain utterly mute.

From AllAfrica.com:

In 1999, an HIV-infected 30-year-old man named Fred Mwanga shocked the country when he raped a three-month-old baby in a Kampala suburb.

Even more upsetting, Mwanga's action was not an isolated incident. The rate of HIV-infected adults sexually abusing the nation's most vulnerable citizens is rising. As these ill men prey on the minors, they spread the deadly HIV virus. Already one in 10 Ugandans is HIV-positive or has full-blown AIDS.

Now, however, the Ugandan government is drafting a bill to execute offenders who knowingly infect minors with HIV.

If passed, any HIV-infected person who performs a sexual act with another person who is below the age of 18 years commits a felony called 'aggravated defilement' and, if convicted by the high court, will be executed, Elioda Tumwesigye, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDS said in August. Defilement refers to the act of sex with a child 18 years or younger, with or without consent.

People like Mwanga could face death if Parliament passes this legislation.

Human rights groups in Uganda believe the bill is off target. Instead of putting unnecessary emphasis on death sentences, more effort should go to fighting HIV/AIDS and in AIDS awareness campaigns, they say. [...]

What will it take for USA HIV advocates to realize that silence = death for many people with HIV or AIDS around the world and for the well-paid advocate to loudly call attention to and condemn the abuses faced by PWAs beyond our borders?