Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The Bay Area Reporter - August 24, 2000
Terry Beswick
As ranking member of the House Commerce Committee's Health and Environment Subcommittee, Brown is in line to become chair if the Democrats succeed in winning a majority of seats in the House.
Brown made a stop in San Francisco last Saturday on his way to the Democratic National Convention, and took the time to meet with about a dozen San Franciscans to talk about AIDS and health issues within the purview of his committee.
At the hour and a half meeting at the Monarch Hotel on Geary Street, representatives of various AIDS-related groups spoke passionately about the need for increased support for local AIDS programs, including HIV prevention, the Ryan White CARE Act, health care for ex-convicts, and adequate pay for community physicians.
Describing himself at one point during the meeting as "more liberal than Ted Kennedy because he votes for bad trade bills," Brown nevertheless cautioned the group that under the current Republican leadership, there is not the level of concern about AIDS that there was a few years ago.
Brown also suggested that some members of Congress may be less sympathetic to the plight of people with HIV in San Francisco, given the perception that medical advances have turned the tide against the epidemic, and in light of recent reports of increased unsafe sexual behavior among gay and bisexual men from the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
"[Congressman Tom] Coburn has a little bit of the 'blame the victimÆ" attitude, Brown remarked.
A practicing physician, Coburn (R-Oklahoma) is currently vice chair of the subcommittee on health and environment, and has taken the lead on the subcommittee in shaping the CARE Act five-year reauthorization bill.
Many of the meeting participants expressed concern that not enough was being done to stave off a wave of new infections among gay and bisexual men in San Francisco.
"I have zero people in my practice who are practicing safe sex all the time," said Dr. Allison Lavoy, an HIV physician in private practice. "There's something that's happening in the city that's different from five years ago, in that people don't care if they get infected."
"For my younger gay male patients, they look around at all the great looking guys at the gym, and they're HIV-positive," Lavoy said. "People are really tired of hearing about condoms."
Several of those present appealed to Brown for support for the Senate version of the CARE Act reauthorization, which protects San Francisco HIV programs from substantial cuts of up to 25 percent in the House version. The reauthorization is in conference between the two houses and is expected to come to a vote after Labor Day.
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