HASA client Abrams shares his housing nightmare at the Saturday rally

A spirited rally last Saturday targeted landlord Hank Freid for illegally converting commercial single room occupancies (SROs) meant for low-income people, many with HIV, into hotels for tourists.

"It's a crime and a shame," said Eric Abrams, a HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) client who is suing Freid to stay in his room at Freid's Broadway Hotel on Broadway & 101st Street. More than 50 people attended the rally, organized by the Goddard Riverside West Side SRO Law Project, New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), City Councilmembers Melissa Mark Viverito and Gail Brewer, the Housing Conservation Coordinators and the West Side Neighborhood Alliance, and included a skit featuring a HASA representative throwing money at a scary, giant Freid.(see below).

In 2005 and 2006, Freid illegally used the government's hefty investment—up to $2,400 a room for HASA clients—to turn three properties into cash-only tourist hotels where Abrams and other permanent residents aren't allowed to use amenities like a computer lounge. For pictures of the discrepancies in conditions, click here. HASA pays Freid $2,100 a month for Abrams' apartment. And while that's already pricey, Freid now gets $159 a night for a single room from unsuspecting tourists. (Incidentally, Freid doesn't get high marks from past guests).

Although there are many properties in New York being turned into hotels, Freid, ranked #5 on Housing Here and Now's "Worst NYC Landlords" list, has long been one of the most egregious violators of city policy, and advocates are trying to take him to task. "He took HASA money and didn't invest in this building," said Yarrow Willman-Cole, a tenant organizer at Goddard Riverside West Side SRO Law Project. "His buildings have long had all these drug problems and crimes. And now he's trying to improve his image? It's, like, 'Wait, back up!' It's illegal. He's still bending the laws and getting away with this."

Freid told the New York Observer, that he caught heat both when he housed people with AIDS and when he kicked them out. "I was only trying to help, and it backfired on me," he said. "So I went the other way."

Bullied out the door

When Abrams moved into the Broadway Hotel in July 2003, he was one of 80 people with HIV/AIDS living there as part of a "memorandum of understanding" (MOU)—essentially a gentleman's agreement that allows either HASA or the landlord to back out at any time. Abrams is now the only HASA client in the Broadway Hotel. His rent-stabilized neighbors have diminished to about a dozen, with many former tenants living on the streets because of the lack of affordable housing in the neighborhood.

Before being turned into a hotel, like many SROs in the city, the Broadway Hotel was a mecca for crime, and conditions were unsanitary. Abrams said he could "buy drugs and sell AIDS meds at the same time." Nonetheless, it was better than the permanent housing HASA offered him, where doors didn't lock in neighborhoods that felt unsafe. "At a certain point I had to start living my life right now," he said. Through a private lawyer, Abrams has been in housing court for more than a year in order to stay at the Broadway Hotel, despite threats to evict him. Tenants have been locked out of the building, offered repeated buy outs and otherwise bullied into leaving. Tenants at Freid's Malibu Hotel worked with Housing Works lawyers after they were given 30 days to leave. The case settled out of court.

Bloomberg and the City Council are making some attempts to stop the despicable practices of landlords like Freid. In October a judge ruled on a case, brought by the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement that three converted SROs were illegally converted into hotels because of zoning violations. Councilmember Gail Brewer is also sponsoring a bill (Intro 534) that would substantially increase penalties for landlords that flout these rules from a one-time fee of $800 to $10,000 per converted unit.

Complications

New York City, and particularly HASA, has had a complicated relationship with SROs long before the issue of illegal hotels. In 1987 the city contracted with commercial landlords to provide homeless and low-income people with access to no-frills housing, with shared bathrooms and kitchens. The Comptroller issued a scathing audit way back in 1999,. Since then there has been some improvement in the SRO conditions."

"The central problem we used to have was substandard conditions in the building. Now the landlords are willing to put it more resources, but for newcomers or tourists, not for the residents," said John Raskin, at the Housing Conservation Coordinators.

According to Barbara Brancaccio, HRA executive deputy commissioner, "These facilities offer several advantages at a reasonable cost to the City as it works collaboratively with clients to identify and secure the most appropriate, sustainable long-term housing option."

HASA has done a better job at placing people in long-term housing in recent years, reducing its dependence on SROs. HASA had 940 clients in SROs in April 2008, down from 1,1182 clients in SROs in 1998. In addition HASA has MOU agreements with 37 SRO facilities, down from 72 in 2004.

NYCAHN organizer Jeremy Saunders said, "SROs are notorious for not being well-maintained, for drug use, and other flaws. And landlords are making a lot of money off of SROs. But at the same time, we need them,"

Epstein, Steinberg and Cohen at the Housing Works Bookstore Café

On Tuesday influential authors Helen Epstein (The Invisible Cure and Jonny Steinberg (Sizwe's Test) spoke to a packed house at the Housing Works Bookstore Café about what is hindering AIDS prevention and treatment efforts in Southern and Western Africa. The discussion, moderated by Jonathan Cohen of the Open Society Foundation, was one of the AIDS advocacy components of the Housing Works Bookstore's 10th anniversary celebration. For a list of upcoming 10th anniversary events click here.

Before the event got underway, Housing Works President and CEO Charles King took a moment to explain the role the bookstore played in Housing Works ability to provide services in Downtown Manhattan. The Housing Works Bookstore Café was founded ten years ago in conjunction with Housing Works' syringe exchange program on Crosby Street. “Crosby Street was the toilet of SoHo," King said, and neighbors complained about the needle exchange. King promised that "far from making Crosby Street worse, we would contribute to its gentrification." And he was prophetic. Today everyone from fashion glamazons to Housing Works’ clients to world-famous literati flock to the Bookstore’s chic Soho location. As Cohen noted, "I think every needle exchange throughout the world should have a bookstore attached."

Seeing clearly in Africa.

Steinberg and Epstein have been widely praised for breaking through the piles of books on AIDS in Africa with fresh ideas about the epidemic. Steinberg is a white South African who in Sizwe's Test followed a man in a South African village where antiretrovirals were newly introduced. Epstein's The Invisible Cure argues that the AIDS epidemic's spread in Africa is largely due to the fact that both men and women are likely to have more than one partner concurrently.

During her remarks Epstein noted that well-meaning Western prevention efforts don't address the issue of long-term multiple partners. She said prevention efforts are too focused on "commercial sex workers and truck drivers," when one study showed that for black South African women in one village the chances of contracting HIV were the same whether they were a commercial sex worker or not.

"South Africa has incredibly low numbers of commercial sex workers. Yet a lot of programs target them. That's important, but it's done at the expense of things that are putting everyone at risk," Epstein said. She also criticized abstinence and condom campaigns for not addressing the fact that most people are getting infected by long-term partners and don't see themselves as being at risk.

"Throughout South Africa, there were billboards promoting condom use that made it seem like AIDS is about raucous, reckless people. Where really it's the pastor with two wives," Epstein said. An American scientist who once worked on an unsuccessful AIDS vaccine, Epstein passed out packets explaining the scientific reasoning why concurrent sex partners are more likely to pass along the virus than in Western countries. In the West, where serial monogamy dominates, HIV is largely spread through sex work, intravenous drug use and men who have sex with men.

Steinberg noted that prospective South African President Jacob Zuma has four wives and cemented his stature as a populist figure after being acquitted for the alleged rape of an HIV-positive woman. Zuma said that as a Zulu it was his duty to pleasure a sexually aroused woman, a claim that many African men agreed with. "He was speaking to men who feel marginalized," Steinberg said. According to Steinberg, both men and women have concurrent relationships, but for women it is more of an open secret. "It's a practice so well-tolerated as long as it's done in silence," Steinberg said. "But AIDS lit up a trail because a woman came home with a disease."

But Steinberg said that white people telling black people why they are getting AIDS is politically touchy, especially in South Africa. He noted that only 30 percent of people in South Africa who choose to get treatment when it's available are men. "And here we are saying African men are the problem," Steinberg said.

Epstein, a believer in the power of information, noted that in Uganda, infection rates fell from 18 percent in 1992 to six or seven percent today. Though there has been a lot of discussion around the abstinence, monogomy and condoms prevention campaign—the so-called "ABC" strategy— "the success is not from abstinence," Epstein said, "but a strong home grown, feminist campaign, talking about sexual behavior and women demanding monogamy from their husbands."

Housing for people with AIDS is necessary in every country

When you're at the International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Mexico City in August, don't miss the "International Summit on Poverty, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS" satellite session: This first-of-its-kind meeting will create a strategy for addressing homelessness and poverty as significant barriers to fighting the AIDS epidemic.

The two-hour summit is organized by the National AIDS Housing Coalition, Housing Works and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, with committee members from Thailand, China, Kenya, South Africa, the U.S. and Canada. Participants will work together to develop and present to the IAC a declaration demanding adequate housing as a fundamental human right and an essential element of effective HIV prevention and health care.

"People living with HIV/AIDS globally always name housing as a priority, but it's often neglected when developing policy," said Housing Works Director of National Advocacy Christine Campbell. "You can't treat people with HIV/AIDS if they're not housed, or if they don't have water. If people don't have a place to take their medication, it's all for naught."

You don't have to wait until August to get involved with the Poverty, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS satellite meeting. Just contact Christine Campbell at campbell@housingworks.org or 202-408-0305.

Activists smile after charges dismissed

After almost six months and three court appearances, charges against twelve AIDS activistS who blocked traffic in Manhattan to demand federal intervention in Puerto Rico's AIDS crisis have been dismissed. In November the "Broadway 12" lay down on Broadway in lower Manhattan near the Health Resources and Services Administration's New York offices, snarling traffic for almost an hour. On Wednesday, when police officers neglected to show up to in New York Criminal Court, a judge said the group was free to go.

The activists say they are ready to get arrested again to force HRSA to take control of Puerto Rico's Ryan White funds. The mismanagement and fraud of these dollars has gone on for years while people living with HIV/AIDS are denied access to treatment and prevention. This week more information surfaced regarding the commonwealth's AIDS chaos. Puerto Rico's Office of the Controller revealed that it has no record of a Pharmaceutical Benefits Manager (PBM) that was ostensibly managing $78 million in AIDS Drug Assistance Program funds.

Municipalities hire a PBR to control costs of medications. The controller's revelation contradicts information that the the Puerto Rico Department of Health told the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Congressional Hispanic Caucus members and the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pension committee that it has a contract with McConnell Valdes, LCC. That contract may violate rules against no-bid contracts and flout a federal drug pricing policy called 340B that gives deep discounts to agencies that purchase medications in bulk. The discounts are supposed to go to help either buy more drugs or improve program infrastructure and are for federal programs. Jorge Delgado Rivas, assistant to Puerto Rico's Secretary of Health would not comment to the Update.

There have been recent glimmers of hope that HRSA will clean up Puerto Rico's mess. Last month HRSA responded to a letter from activist José Colón. The letter from HRSA's Deborah Parham Hopson stated HRSA "understands and shares your deep concern and frustration with the challenges of the care and treatment systems" in Puerto Rico. But she did not recognize advocates' demands that HRSA appoint a third party intermediary to oversee Puerto Rico's federal AIDS funds.

What do we want? GENDA!

The chilly weather in Albany didn't stop more than 1,000 LGBT people their allies from attending the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Equality and Justice Day Tuesday for a whirlwind of rallies, workshops and lobbying. The activists were in the state capitol to demand passage of the Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Act (A.6584/S.3753), the Marriage and Same Sex Couples in New York Act (A.8590/S.5884), and the Dignity for All Students Act (A.3496/S.1571).

GENDA—the only one of the three bills that has yet to pass in the Assembly—would protect all people on the basis of gender identity from discrimination in health care, housing employment and public accommodations. The legislation has more than 70 sponsors in the Assembly, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has blocked it from coming to the floor for a vote. On Wednesday the Assembly Government Operations committee votes 7-2 in support of the bill. The only dissenters were Assemblymen Jack Quinn and Joseph Saladino. Saladino argued he doesn’t want children in his district to have a "transsexual teacher" and that "our society isn’t ready for that." Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples responded, "It's a shame we have to be debating human rights here. I don't understand why it needs discussion." The bill is now heading to the Codes Committee.

No one expects the Republican-controlled Senate to consider the bill until the Assembly passes it.

"The problem is one person in the Assembly," said New York Transgender Rights Organization state director Joann Prinzivalli. "Unfortunately, unless the members fight to tell the Speaker to bring GENDA to a vote, it won't move." Prinzivalli and others say that Sheldon has refused to let members vote on the legislation in order to protect “marginal" members whose reelection bids could be damaged by their support for GENDA.

All day long during their constituent visits, LGBT folks asked their Assembly members not just to cosponsor GENDA but to actively persuade the Speaker to pass the bill. "Maybe ten years ago it would have enough for them to sponsor our bills," said ESPA executive director Alan Van Capellle at a rally outside the Capitol. "But now we need to ask 'What are you going to do to make sure that bill gets to the floor?'"

Silver spokesperson Dan Weiller couldn't comment on Silver's position on GENDA or if the Speaker will bring it for a vote. However, he did tell the Update that "we had a positive meeting with the Empire State Pride Agenda on Tuesday."

Speaking up

Sean Johnston lives in Rochester and recently transitioned to from female to male. "I wasn't involved in GENDA advocacy before, but now it's personal," Johnston told the Update before heading off to lobby GENDA supporter Assemblywoman Susan John, as well as Senator John Robach, a Republican who was not yet a cosponsor. "I hope to change his mind," Johnston said.

Jeffries (second to left) and some of the Housing Works crew

At a packed meeting with Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries—a Brooklyn Democrat who cosponsored all three of the LGBT bills on the day’s agenda—Housing Works client Matthew Gordon asked, "How will you make sure Silver brings GENDA to a vote?"

Jeffries responded, "There's no reason Silver should be holding it up, but some members are reluctant to take a tough vote on a one-house bill knowing that the Republican-controlled Senate won't bring it to a vote," he said. "But I believe we should be taking a stand anyway."

Djia Xi, a transgender Housing Works client told Jeffries, "The lack of equal protection is holding us back from contributing fully to society. No one can under the abuse we all suffer just to go out in public. The law wouldn't make any suffering go away, but it would provide us protection."

Jeffries agreed. "When you're talking to large parts of the country, that's an important issue to bring up. I happen to think it's a moral argument but others are more persuaded by economic arguments."

Xi was impressed by Jeffries. At the Afternoon Report Back, where advocates gathered to note lobbying successes and failures, Xi was the first hand up. "I think Assemblyman Jeffries should become [U.S.] Senator Jeffries," Xi said.

Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell and Sen. Tom Duane also addressed the crowd. "If we had the Dignity for All Students Act when I was in school, I probably would have gotten straight A's," Duane said, prompting laughter. “But seriously, it would have meant a lot if I could have gone to school without being worried about being picked on because of what I knew was different about me." The Dignity for All Students Act would "establish policies and procedures affording all students in public schools an environment free of harassment and discrimination based on actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnic group, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex."

Hating on hate crimes?

Transgender issues were well-represented all day, including a Transgender Caucus and a Transgender 101 training, led by activist Donna Rose. Housing Works had a strong presence at these events, having sent some 50 mostly transgender people up on a bus from New York.

Talk of the inclusion of gender identity in the state’s hate crime statute was notably absent at the day’s trans events. Last week, a controversy broke out about the inequities of hate crime laws at a community forum. GENDA would add gender identity and expression to hate crimes protections. "There are people for hate crimes, and people against it, but when we come to Albany we can present a united front to get GENDA passed," Housing Works case manager Lourdes Hunter said.

Prinzivalli was blunter. "It's a good idea to support GENDA even if you are philosophically opposed to hate crimes," she told the 75 people at the opening caucus. “You can work with the nice conservative Republicans to repeal the hate crimes law altogether."

Janet Johnson (left) introduced Waters at the AIDS At Home rally

At AIDSWatch's "AIDS At Home" rally on Tuesday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) called for a national AIDS strategy to stem the tide of the epidemic in the U.S. The U.S. requires all countries receiving millions from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funds to create a national strategy for fighting AIDS, but here at home there are only piecemeal efforts to fight the disease.

"America can—and must—do more to fight this disease and to help those who are living with HIV/AIDS. I agree with those gathered here that we need a comprehensive national strategy to end this epidemic and to address the needs of everyone in America who is affected," Waters said. The rally was sponsored by the National Association of People with AIDS and the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA). Other speakers included Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen (D-VI), POZ editor-in-chief Regan Hoffman, NAPWA executive director Frank Oldham, and C2EA members Greg Fordham and Chakena Conway.

The call for a national AIDS strategy was a running refrain at NAPWA's 16th annual AIDSWatch from April 28 to 30. "We need to stop nickel and diming Congress based on what we need," said HIV-positive C2EA national organizer Larry Bryant.

Despite tornadoes in Virginia, 450 people—80 percent of whom are people living with HIV/AIDS—from almost every state gathered in D.C. to share their voices with legislators. At this AIDSWatch, NAPWA observed the 25th anniversary of its founding in 1983 when the Denver Principles were drafted. The groundbreaking Denver Principles demanded that people living with HIV/AIDS be involved in AIDS policy decision-making and given respect by the government and other institutions. "That was really the beginning of the movement as we know it," said NAPWA board chair David Munar.

Legislators listen

In the spirit of the Denver Principles, the AIDSWatch training sessions were co-led by policy directors and people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to lobbying for a National AIDS Strategy, the participants demanded their legislators pass the Early Treatment for HIV Act, impose a moratorium on proposed Medicaid changes, pass the Microbidicide Development Act, repeal the HIV entry ban, eliminate funding for abstinence-only education, increase HOPWA housing, and increase funding for HIV/AIDS.

The Illinois contingent met with Durbin, the second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, who supported all of the above proposals. "It was a fantastic visit and he's absolutely on top of the issues," Munar said. Munar was also impressed by Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), a rocket scientist by trade and the replacement for former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Foster was supportive of health care reform and the expansion and the preventive benefits of HIV treatment. The AIDSWatch contingent also met with Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).

Also a highlight: Rep. José Serrano's (D-NY) staffer confirmed that the representative will be introducing a bill to lift the federal ban on needle exchange next week.

Sen. Hillary Clinton staffer Ann Gavaghan "knew the issues we had and what we needed," Conway said. Conway visited New York legislators with a group from Gay Men's Health Crisis. "We put out our call to action and a lot of people were listening," she said.

Some office visits weren't quite so successful. Fordham, the C2EA Virginia co-chair, met with Rep. Thelma Drake's staffer, who didn't know about the federal immigration ban in people with HIV. "It was like going to see Alex P. Keaton," Fordham said.

HASA clients are ending up at the back of the rental line

AIDS housing providers are demanding that the city level the affordable-housing playing field for poor people living with AIDS. This week, advocates sent a letter to the New York City Human Resources Administration (NYCHRA) and the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) asking for a long-overdue rate increase for HASA scatter site housing. Because HASA reimburses landlords at woefully outdated rates, HASA clients are losing out to tenants eligible for Section 8 housing.

"HASA's payment standards are now grossly outdated, and their declining value has become a major impediment to securing adequate housing for clients seeking private market apartments," read a letter sent Monday to NYCHRA Commissioner Robert Doar and HASA Deputy Commissioner Matthew Brune and signed by housing providers including the African Services Committee, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Harlem United, Housing Works and the New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN). The Scattersite II Coalition sent a separate letter to HRA/HASA Director of Housing John Ruscillo also asking for a rate increase.

Currently, HASA provides rental assistance at 2002 levels, while Section 8 housing rates have increased 17 percent since 2002. Providers want HRA to peg its level of enhanced rental assistance to 110 percent of the Housing and Urban Development established fair market rents (FMR) and index the rental assistance to FMR levels in the future. The FMR for a one-bedroom in New York counties is $1,185. HASA's current rate for a one-bedroom is approximately $940. If HASA raises its rate according to advocate demands, that amount would rise to $1300 for a one bedroom.

Advocates have long lobbied for the HASA increase, but, according to Marina Oteiza, program director at Weston United Community Focus Program and one of the founders of the Scattersite II Coalition, the city always points the finger at the feds' flat funding. The time for excuses, however, has passed. "For a while, clients were still kind of managing," Oteiza said. "Slowly but surely, we were trying to stay competitive and housing stock kept diminishing and diminishing."

Insiders say that HRA knows its rates for HASA aren't competitive and have to do something—the question is, will they raise rates high enough to remedy the problem?

"We need to make sure it's more than a token increase," said NYCAHN co-director Sean Barry.

For more information about getting involved with this effort, contact Sean Barry at barry@nycahn.org or Marina Oteiza at moteiza@westonunited.org.

HHS Secretary Leavitt owes Long Island some moola

In a victory for people living with AIDS in Long Island, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Monday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should not have denied Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) status to Long Island during the 2006 reauthorization of Ryan White funds. While a lower court will have to decide the specifics, Nassau and Suffolk Counties stand to recover at least part of the $1.6 million that was lost when the jurisdiction was downgraded to a Transitional Grant Area from an EMA.

According to the 2006 reauthorization, to qualify as an EMA, there are two requirements: 1) have more than 2,000 new AIDS cases during the five year period leading up to 2005 and 2) have a cumulative total of 3,000 or more living AIDS cases during that period. During the reauthorization HHS decided that because Long Island no longer meets the first requirement, with only 1,505 new cases in the relevant five year period, it no longer qualified as an EMA. However, Long Island still fits the second requirement.

A lower court agreed with the HHS decision, but in Nassau v. Leavitt the Court of Appeals reversed it, ruling that the 2006 Act's language, in Section 300ff-11(b) means that Long Island still qualified as an EMA. Judge John M. Walker Jr. wrote in his opinion, the Act "allows a qualified metropolitan area to continue its EMA status until it fails both of two requirements for three consecutive fiscal years."

"The Court of Appeals decided Long Island shouldn't be penalized for controlling the spread of AIDS," said Peter Clines, the attorney who represented Nassau and Suffolk counties and various Long Island AIDS service organizations in the suit against HHS.

It is now up to a lower court to decide how much additional funding Long Island will receive, and when that will happen. Victoria White at the Long Island Minority AIDS Coalition (LIMAC), one of the plaintiffs in the case, said that people living with AIDS need that money sooner rather than later. Because of the loss in funding, The groups LIMAC advocates for had to cut back day programs, transportation, and other crucial support services.

"We're not sure when we'll get the money or how soon we'll have to spend this money," White said. "We're hoping we can go back to providing services such as helping people find housing and providing rides to medical appointments."

Because Long Island's situation is so unique, this court case doesn't directly affect any of the other EMAs that lost money in 2006. But with a new reauthorization process coming up in 2009, San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Ernest Hopkins said, "this is definitely a case to watch."

A 2006 Thai protest fighting drug laws

Back in 2003, the Thai government launched a massive war on drugs, leading to the extrajudicial killing of thousands of Thai drug users. Suspects were beaten, tortured and forced to confess to false accusations. Many drug users were and continue to be systematically denied access to medical care, including HIV medications. It's estimated that half of people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand are IV drug users.

Now, it seems the Thai government is renewing its terrifying assault on drug users. According to the Thai Network of People Living with AIDS and the Thai AIDS Treatment Group (TTAG), the Prime Minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej, announced last month that the police would have special powers to track down drug users in order to reduce the demand for drugs. The interior minister of Thailand was quoted as saying "for drug dealers, if they do not want to die, they had better quit staying on that road. Drugs suppression in my time as interior minister will follow the approach of [former Thai Prime Minister] Thaksin. If that will lead to 3,000 to 4,000 deaths of those who break the law, then so be it. That has to be done." (For more on the situation in Thailand click here.)

Join activists in the U.S. who are showing solidarity with their Thai brothers and sisters at a symbolic die-in at noon on May 6 in front of the Thai Embassy at 1024 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC. Before the die-in there will be a rally featuring TTAG Executive Director Paisan Suwannawong and TTAG Policy and Development Director Karyn Kaplan. Suwannawong, a former heroin addict who is living with HIV, founded an organization called the Thai Drug Users' Network partly to bring attention to the Thai government's human rights violations against drug users. He gained worldwide attention when he secured a speaking spot at the 2004 International AIDS conference in Bangkok.

The growing list of groups sponsoring the D.C. action includes ACT UP Philadelphia, the American Medical Student Association, DC Fights Back, Health GAP, Housing Works, Proyecto Sol Filadelphia, and the Student Global AIDS Campaign.

To endorse the action or if you have questions, e-mail Kaytee Riek from Health GAP at kaytee@healthgap.org.

Diane and Reggie Williams

The locations just get better and better—but the love, family spirit and activist dedication to ending AIDS are always the beating heart of the best activist party of the year, the Keith D. Cylar Awards and Benefit Gala. This year Esther Boucicault, Gloria González, Diane Williams, Paul Davis and Asia Russell were honored with Cylar Awards at the regal Times Center on Thursday, April 17. The honorees' incredible stories of bravery in the face of AIDS stigma (told in three different languages) prompted standing ovations, laughter and tears. The gala was the culmination of a week's worth of activities associated with the Cylar Awards, given to AIDS activists who demonstrate extraordinary courage and commitment in the fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The award is named for Keith Cylar, the cofounder of Housing Works and a legendary AIDS activist who died of AIDS-related complications in 2004.

Special guests included the ceremony emcee, TV personality and celebrity stylist Bev Smith, POZ editor-in-chief Regan Hoffman, CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston, Assembylman Dick Gottfried, and 1998 Miss America and current star of Broadway's Legally Blonde star Kate Shindle, who hosted the cocktail party before the awards ceremony.

Chair of the Housing Works board David I. Cohen introduced Smith, a master improviser who immediately broke the ice with a well-timed crack about a useful trip to the open bar. After an invocation by Reverend Violet L. Dease, Housing Works President and CEO Charles King presented a tribute to 2006 National AIDS Activist Awardee winner Stephanie Williams, who died last October. With her friend Karen Bates, Williams spearheaded the creation of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS chapter. "Stephanie was one of a handful of women in the state who was open about living with the virus," King said, choking back tears. "She told anyone who would listen that she had HIV, often doing impromptu outreach to young people on the streets. Her generosity was seemingly boundless."

Esther Boucicault, International AIDS Activist Award

After the moving tribute, Pinkston gave a powerful history of Boucicault's work in Haiti and introduced her daughter Michele Maegnan. Maegnan was one of three children who would introduce an activist parent that night. King later remarked to the Update, "This year's Cylar Awards was particularly special because it so visibly highlighted the roles of families impacted by the AIDS epidemic, and the strength that families give to advocacy."

Boucicault accepts award

The quadrilingual Maegnan introduced her mother and gave her mom a fierce, lingering hug before Boucicault accepted the $10,000 Cylar Award amid a rousing standing ovation. In a series of interviews in 1998, Boucicault became the first person in Haiti to publicly discuss living with HIV. For more than a decade, she has run the successful Fondation Esther Boucicault Stanislas, the only organization in Haiti that provides psychosocial services to people with AIDS. "This special occasion which fills me with great joy also strengthens me to see the light and bright sun that lightens new horizons in the world of AIDS," Boucicault said in French as a screen above her displayed her words in English. Before leaving the stage Boucicault invited her fiancé Cesar Vincent to join her. Also HIV-positive, Vincent met Boucicault when he received services at her foundation. He and Esther were a powerful pair when they hit Capitol Hill last week with the other Cylar awardees.

Gloria González, U.S. AIDS Activist Award

Next up POZ Editor-in-chief and Kenneth Cole anti-stigma-campaign model Regan Hoffman introduced González, a former injection drug user from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, who now works to organize injection drug users in the shooting gallery she frequented as an addict. "Gloria's work makes it clear that there is no coherent government policy for syringe exchange, treatment, support and housing of injection drug users," Hoffman said. González plans to use her $10,000 prize to develop a cohesive program that addresses the complex social problems that lead to drug abuse.

Hoffman and González

González's 12-year-old son introduced his mom in English that improved astronomically in only days in the U.S. "I love you, baby," he said, blowing González a kiss. Like Boucicault and all the awardees that night, González got a standing ovation

González gave a speech in Spanish (also translated on a projection screen) in which she commented, "In a community that could be in any part of the developing world, I take food, clothes and words that inspire to sustain those who live in deplorable conditions. Frankly, many pets live better lives than my friends in Fajardo. And because of so much bureaucracy to change, it is almost impossible for them to escape those living conditions. But it is possible when we fight the system," she said.

Paul Davis and Asia Russell, Virginia Shubert Courage Award

Davis and Russell share an embrace

Smith introduced Housing Works cofounder Ginny Shubert as a woman who "needs no introduction," leading Shubert to joke, "Next year, I'm going to demand an introduction." Shubert then gave the award named after her to Health GAP's Davis and Russell. Seeing an unmet need for global treatment activism, the pair were part of a small cadre that formed the now powerful Health GAP out of ACT UP Philadelphia, much as Shubert, Cylar, King and Eric Sawyer (who attended the awards) formed Housing Works as an outgrowth of ACT UP New York.

Health GAP's work has had a profound influence on the U.S.'s commitment to the fight the global AIDS epidemic and the group now has offices in both D.C. and Geneva. Davis joked that "we work with boring, soulless disgusting people you'd rather spit on then talk to," and said that Cylar had taught him "the strategic beauty of the crowbar and the crack, and that audacity opens doors rather than closing them." Russell graciously praised Housing Works, adding, "When Housing Works gives you an award, you must be doing something right." Then to rousing cheers she chanted, "Act up! Fight back! Fight AIDS!"

Diane Williams, Housing Works AIDS Activist Award

Last but not least, Williams received the $5,000 U.S. Activist Award. When Smith first introduced Williams' handsome 19-year-old son Reggie, she cracked, "I'm about to become a cougar!," dramatically fanning herself. Reggie, a graduate of Housing Works' summer youth program and a Columbia University student, handled himself with poise, as he spoke about growing up as part of the "Housing Works family." He introduced his mother as one of Housing Works' most passionate grassroots activists who gets arrested at nearly every civil disobedience action she can. "Mom, you are a true AIDS warrior, and I know that Keith is smiling on you right now. You inspire all of us with your courage," he said.

Williams then bravely shared that courage with the audience, which she moved to tears with her story of her infant daughter Veronica's AIDS diagnosis and death. Williams, who was diagnosed with HIV shortly after Veronica, told of the brutal stigma she and her daughter endured in the hospital for a year and a half: Hospital workers would leave food trays outside Veronica's room out of fear. Williams had to teach herself how to insert Veronica's feeding tube and draw blood because nurses refused. "This is why I go to the rallies and protests," Williams said. "Because I don't want no women or child to be treated like I was treated. I go to remind myself that there is someone that is newly infected out there, and they don't know where to go or what to do like I was."

King concluded the ceremony with remarks in Spanish, English and Creole, leaving the audience with this final thought: "None of the awardees has found fame, much less fortune. Rather, they are ordinary, even humble. When confronted with AIDS each one has chosen to act not once, but again and again, on behalf of others."

'Continuing the fight'

Bill Keyes, the partner of last year's Housing Works Activist Award winner, the late Mark Hayes, and Cylar's mother Anna Patton, attended the ceremony. Both said they were proud that the pioneering work of their loved ones continues.

"When I saw Housing Works in the news in Albany last month fighting the budget cuts, it was like seeing Mark continue the fight," Keyes said.

Patton concurred. "I feel very joyful. To Keith, this really wouldn't have mattered. He'd be proud but he'd go right on doing what he was doing."

To donate to the Cylar Award fund, click here. ]]> 2008-04-30T01:40:03Z 2008-04-25T05:00:40Z tag:www.hwupdate.org,2008:/update//2.1155 2008-04-25T05:00:40Z

diana d.scholl@housingworks.org State Debate over GENDA hate crimes language dominates community forum but advocates intent on State Assembly passage

Sklarz and Hunter talk GENDA

A Tuesday forum and panel to mobilize the transgender community and its advocates around the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) bill in New York City became contentious when some panelists and audience members voiced their opposition to the portion of GENDA that amends New York State hate crime law to include gender identity. The Audre Lorde Project and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project—as well as many audience members who spoke—are opposed to the hate crimes measures as a tool in the "prison industrial complex" that can actually be used against transgender people.

"We see queer people get arrested for nothing at all. Hate crime legislation disproportionately affects African-Americans who are already overrepresented in the criminal justice system," Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) Staff Attorney Gabriel Arkles said to applause. Arkles told the Update that the SRLP decided to raise the issue now because the organization hadn't before realized that GENDA included a hate crimes provision.

GENDA's lead sponsor in the Assembly, Dick Gottfried, attended the forum, which took place at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. He called opposition to the hate crimes component "unfortunate." "If I could, I'd have [prison] sentencing levels in New York go down, but I do believe there should be a structure," Gottfried said. "If I punch you in the nose for the purpose of taking your wallet, I'll get a longer sentence than if I just punched you in the nose. And if I punch you on the nose for the purpose of taking your civil liberties, it should be treated as more severe." Like Arkles, he received applause.

Despite this unexpected disagreement, hundreds of transgender folks and their supporters will descend on Albany on Tuesday to push the State Assembly to pass the legislation. More than 1,000 people are expected to be in the state's capital for the annual Equality and Justice Day. Along with pushing GENDA, participants will be lobbying for legislation on marriage equality, safe schools for LGBT youth, and more funding for LGBT health and human services needs.(For more information contact the Empire State Pride Agenda at 212-627-0305.)

"We just need to be clear what we put on paper, and it's very important for us to create positive change," said Elizabeth Rivera, the program coordinator of TransJustice at the Audre Lorde Project and one of Tuesday's panelists. Rivera cited the case of the Jersey 4, where four young, black lesbians who were on trial for attempted murder after a fight escalated with a man who verbally abused them because of their sexual orientations.

A closer look at the hate crimes provision

GENDA makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and expression in areas like employment, housing and public accommodations and all other areas that are protected by New York law. Gender identity is protected by New York City Human Rights Law, leading to cases such as Bumpus v. the New York City Transit Authority, which is currently being battled in court.

Since the introduction of The Hate Crimes Act of 2000, it has been standard practice in New York State that when new categories are protected from employment discrimination, they are also added to hate crimes legislation. (Sexual orientation had already been added to the Hate Crimes Act before the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) passed in 2002).

Housing Works supports GENDA as written. Housing Works case manager and counselor Lourdes Hunter, who was one of Tuesday night's panelists, told the Update. "I understand the conflict with hate crimes laws, and I don't want to live in a society that supports a corrupt criminal justice system," she said. "But if someone attacks me because I'm transgender, they should get the book thrown at them just as they would for other minority groups. Hate crime laws should apply to everyone."

Supporters of hate crimes protection were quieter than those against it, letting dissenters speak their piece.

"A community forum is a place for people to express their issues about the issue at hand," said the Empire State Pride Agenda's new GENDA organizer Casey Chanton. "The issues raised in the forum will be addressed within the coalition and will determine a process for this to be passed."

But Director of the New York Transgender Rights Organization Melissa Sklarz, who has worked for the passage of GENDA for six years and was also a panelist at the forum, was less sure.

"I've never heard this issue raised until today," Sklarz told the Update. "It's disappointing and upsetting for parts of the community to come up with reasons not to support GENDA."

But will it pass?

GENDA has had a long battle. In December 2002 SONDA passed in New York, but Sen. Tom Duane's amendment to include gender identity was denied after a Senate debate. Sklarz recounted on Tuesday that, after that setback, Housing Works President and CEO Charles King turned to a crowd of dejected transgender advocates, smiled and said, "Don't worry, we'll have our own bill. We'll call it GENDA." The late Housing Works state issues organizer Mark Hayes became one of the bill's biggest champions, and every year transfolk and allies have gone to Albany to promote passage of this bill. Six years later, GENDA has 71 cosponsors on the Assembly side. And according to public opinion polling , 78 percent of New Yorkers support GENDA.

So what's the hold up with Assembly passage? Last year, Speaker Sheldon Silver blocked GENDA to protect Democrats, so-called "marginals"— in danger of losing their seats. This year, however, Silver's staff has for the first time agreed to meet with Empire State Pride Agenda about GENDA. The meeting gives advocates promise that the bill could at least pass in the Assembly. Advocates aren't pushing for GENDA to get through the Republican-controlled Senate.

The inability to vote on the bill last year despite the support of many Assembly members frustrates Gottfried. "I'm annoyed. There's no excuse for the Assembly not to pass this," Gottfried said.

Like Gottfried, Hunter and Sklarz are ready to move forward. "We've gone too long without equal access to jobs, health care, and other issues of equality that are important for all New Yorkers," Hunter said. "GENDA is important to remedy this."

Said Sklarz, "We told legislators, we don't expect you to change the culture. We'll change the culture, you just change the laws to support us."

]]>