Bay Area Reporter - May 18, 2006
Bob Roehr

"The voices of people with AIDS must be heard. We must not allow our society, or our country to normalize AIDS," said Frank Oldham in opening , the annual inundation of advocates that hit Capitol Hill May 8-10.

The number of those lobbying Congress was down a bit from previous years. But earlier participation had been stimulated by numerous travel stipends; the crew this year had all paid their own way. They were more disciplined, experienced, and motivated.

Oldham quoted recent criticism by Vice President Dick Cheney of the restriction of rights in Russia and made the association: "If the Ryan White CARE Act is not reauthorized at $2.56 billion, our rights are restricted. If the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] does not receive an increase in funding for prevention, our rights are restricted. In fact, until health care becomes a right, our rights are restricted."

"AIDSWatch is the time that we come together to fight for more funding so that people living with HIV disease can have access to care and services that allow them to have long, healthy lives," said Kathie Hiers, co-chair of the Southern AIDS Coalition.

"It's a time that we try to educate our elected officials about the importance of safe, decent, and affordable housing for people living with AIDS ... It is a time when we can demand that HIV education and prevention be based on science, not on some unrealistic expectation that abstinence is the answer."

Gene Copello, Ph.D., director of the AIDS Institute in Washington, D.C., reminded the participants that in speaking to Congress, "We bring a wealth of 25 years of experience. We go in with the knowledge that what we have done with the dollars the federal government has given us has been very well spent."

Copello is a former top AIDS official in the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

"Ultimately, health is national security, just as much as the war on terror, just as much as the war in Iraq. The folks up on the Hill have to understand that. They are responsible for our health. ... Like Silence = Death, Flat Funding = Death too," he said.

Copello said resources have not kept pace with the number of people living with HIV and that has created some tension within the community of AIDS advocates. "We need to be sure that our government doesn't divide us. We need a unified message around increasing resources. We are the hope for change, the agents of change. No community is safe from AIDS until all communities are safe from AIDS across our great country."

Reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act, which funds the largest portion of AIDS services in the U.S., had been stalled as a small group of House and Senate committee leaders from both parties try to work out comprehensive modifications to that legislation. A draft proposal was released late last week.

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