Washington Blade - September 17, 2004
Dyana Bagby

A Kerry administration would also stop flat-funding the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, the federal funding community agencies rely on to provide services to those with HIV, Vanessa Kerry told those attending the conference of the National Association of People with AIDS here on Sept. 10.

Kerry, 27, daughter of the Democratic presidential candidate, is taking time off from her third year at Harvard Medical School to campaign for her father.

NAPWA officials invited representatives from the Kerry/Edwards and Bush/Cheney campaigns to participate in the conference, held Sept. 9-12. But only Vanessa Kerry responded, said Terje Anderson, NAPWA's executive director.

Kerry said her personal interest in HIV and AIDS came after seeing many HIV-positive people without insurance and without proper medication come to the emergency room while performing her clinical rotations.

"This is an issue very close to my heart," Kerry told a group of nine HIV-positive AIDS activists - some gay, some heterosexual and one transgendered - during a roundtable discussion before her NAPWA speech.

"It's extraordinary we still have to wage the battles we are as far as policy is concerned. The fact the current administration is letting ideology control the debate over science is what makes me saddest," she said.

Kerry stressed "science not ideology" when asked how her father's administration would approach HIV prevention, compared to the Bush administration's focus on abstinence until marriage.

"My father says we need the courage to be realistic, on what young people are doing or what anybody is doing. Some are worried if you're going to use the word 'condom,' or if you don't use the word 'abstinence.' It doesn't have to be one or the other - it can be both," she said.

In a Sept. 13 conference call, Kerry also said she has friends with AIDS and has had friends die from AIDS. The call was with members of the gay media to specifically talk about the NAPWA conference, according to officials with the Kerry campaign.

Ryan White funding

In 2001, the Ryan White CARE Act was funded at $1.8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. In 2002, the funding was increased to $1.9 billion, and for 2003 the funding was slightly more than $2 billion.

Funding for 2004 remains at $2 billion, and President Bush has requested nearly $2.1 billion for 2005.

The nine AIDS activists who met with Kerry before her Sept. 10 speech said they want more money put into the CARE act. With the increasing costs of health care and the rising number of people diagnosed with HIV, this flat funding amounts to a cut in funding, they said.

"I am a product of the Ryan White CARE Act," said Michael Banner, program manager for Our Common Welfare, an HIV organization in Decatur, Ga. Banner said the federal funding opened access to a substance abuse program and he is now living proof of the program's success.

"We're doing a disservice if we identify people with HIV and then tell them we can't put you anywhere," Banner said.

Other activists raised concerns about funding for programs in rural areas, programs for young people, and the stigma associated with AIDS among African-American and Asian communities.

"This is a raging epidemic in our own country, and we're not talking about it," said NAPWA board member David Munar of Chicago, telling Kerry he is disappointed AIDS is not currently part of the national dialogue by either Bush or John Kerry. "This issue touches a lot of lives."

Vanessa Kerry (right), daughter of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, speaks with Judi Clark, who is HIV-positive, during the National Alliance for People with AIDS conference in Atlanta last week. (Photo courtesy NAPWA)

Kerry said her father - an original co-sponsor of the Ryan White CARE Act in 1990 - is committed to providing additional funding to ensure local HIV agencies are fully supported. He also wants to double funding for HIV/AIDS programs globally and in the U.S. and continue to fund research to find a vaccine, Vanessa Kerry said.

The Bush/Cheney campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In a news release posted on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Web site, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson states that since fiscal year 2001, the Bush administration has spent more than $7.7 billion in CARE Act funding to help some 530,000 people access vital HIV/AIDS care and services each year.

The release also says President Bush has requested nearly $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2005 for the CARE Act, an increase of more than $270 million over fiscal year 2001 funds.

'Shackled by ideology'

At the NAPWA conference, Vanessa Kerry blasted the Bush administration for its "ideology before science" approach to the prevention of HIV, noting, among other things, Bush's focus on promoting abstinence over safe sex. During her speech, she also thanked "gay Americans" for their activism.

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson reported that since fiscal year 2001, the Bush administration has spent more than $7.7 billion in CARE Act funding to help some 530,000 people access HIV/AIDS care and services each year.

"You're not talking about family planning, you're not talking about education, realistic prevention among young people, minorities or whomever is most impacted," Kerry said about Bush's focus on abstinence. "I'd like to see someone actually speaking the truth and I don't see that happening."

While Kerry said abstinence does work in preventing AIDS, it is "irresponsible" of the Bush administration to not fund programs that support safe sex as well. "And that's not pro-life," she added.

The Republican platform adopted at the party's convention in New York earlier this month embraces the "ABC" approach to HIV prevention: abstinence, be faithful, and condoms, though the official GOP document avoids mention of the "C" word.

The platform also endorsed the president's doubling of funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage prevention programs "to promote healthy relationships."

Global AIDS fight

Kerry, who has also studied in sub-Sahara Africa and witnessed first-hand the ravages of AIDS globally, said it is crucial for the U.S. to continue to fund international programs, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.

President Bush has pledged $15 billion over five years to combat AIDS in Vietnam and 14 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

But critics say the money comes with strings attached: it goes to countries that support the abstinence-first policy. Also, they say the money currently can only buy brand-name drugs that have been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

The FDA has yet to approve cheaper generic drugs that have already been approved by the World Health Organization.

According to the WHO, there are 40 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS; of these, 2.5 million are children younger than 15. Nearly 5 million people are newly infected with HIV each year; more than 95 percent live in developing countries. Almost 50 percent of newly HIV-infected adults in 2003 were women and 50 percent were young adults in the 15û24 years age group.

Unsafe sexual practices are the predominant mode of transmission of HIV worldwide, accounting for up to 90 percent of infections, according to WHO statistics.

A John Kerry administration would stop flat-funding the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, his daughter Vanessa said this week.

"We cannot fight an epidemic if we are shackled by ideology," Kerry said.

Vanessa Kerry has spoken to gay media outlets in the past and Kerry campaign officials said the presidential candidate and his family would continue to speak with gay media as part of the campaign's effort to include gay Americans.

Kerry granted two 15-minute interviews this week to gay media: former Blade editor Lisa Keen, and Advocate News Editor Chad Graham. The campaign has declined to make the candidate available for any other questions from the gay press.

During the Sept. 13 conference call, Vanessa Kerry said the rising rates of HIV in gay and bisexual men must be addressed. She was also outspoken in her support for gay marriage, noting that she and her father, who supports civil unions but not gay marriage, continue to debate the issue.

John Kerry also does not support a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Vanessa Kerry noted. But the presidential candidate does support similar constitutional bans on gay marriage in states such as Missouri and Massachusetts.

"He is committed to equal rights [for gay men and lesbians] under the law, and he knows I support gay marriage. It is a debate we continue to have and, at least in the fair sense, he is willing to listen," she said.

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