Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Associated Press (12.17.06) - Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Marcus Franklin
So prevalent is stigma that at Hill's church's AIDS ministry, one female participant keeps her own HIV-positive status a secret, Hill said. "She has not shared with anyone in her congregation because of stigma. She wants to do that work, she wants to be in the church and she wants to be there not as someone treated like a leper."
Hill first lost a friend to AIDS in 1983 and said in the following years she took part in so many funerals she had to stop attending them "for my own mental health." At that time, GMHC, which is approaching its 25th anniversary, was mainly able only to help clients to die with dignity.
Today, Hill sees her job as someone who helps HIV-positive people overcome the barriers of stigma and discrimination and helps erase ethnic and racial disparities in infection and mortality. Hill is a former assistant commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She has held several powerful positions at GMHC since the mid-1990s. GMHC has a budget of $27 million and assists 15,000 clients, 85 percent of whom are below the federal poverty level. Hill's new position pays $203,000 a year. She was named GMHC's interim executive director in January and appointed executive director in October.
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