Bay Area Reporter - June 28, 2007
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Roland's appointment to the $172,000-a-year position Thursday, June 21. An Oakland resident and Democrat, Roland, 45, identifies as bisexual.

Roland is an expert in antiretroviral drug resistance, post-exposure prevention, and organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. Roland replaces former AIDS office chief Michael Montgomery, who retired a year ago.

She will oversee the state's $422 million HIV/AIDS budget and help set policy guidelines over everything from the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and HIV prevention strategies to disbursement of federal AIDS funds.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter , her first since being selected, Roland said she is excited to oversee the AIDS Office as the state's DPH undergoes a restructuring.

"Being able to fulfill my personal passions around HIV but do it in a vibrant, exiting time in public health in California is just thrilling," she said.

Roland remained tight-lipped about what policies she will advocate for in her new position, especially when it comes to such controversial topics as the distribution of condoms and HIV testing in prisons or needle exchange programs.

She did allow she was "excited" to see the AIDS office's recent move to fund needle exchange programs. For now Roland's first priority is to get acquainted with the state agency, it's staff, and officials at the county level.

"I have some ideas about the things I want to explore. At this stage my plan is to go into this office with an open mind and understand what is happening," she said. "It will become clear once I am there for a while what directions make sense to go in."

Mark Cloutier, San Francisco AIDS Foundation executive director, praised the governor for selecting someone with not only an "intense commitment to those affected by HIV/AIDS" but "enormous technical knowledge about treatment and prevention."

"Dr. Roland brings one-of-a-kind qualifications to Sacramento," said Cloutier. "The foundation first worked with her when she was a talented AIDS activist in the late 1980s. Subsequently, she has become a highly respected clinician with genuine understanding of the needs of low-income and marginalized people with HIV and AIDS."

Since 2005 Roland has been an associate clinical professor of medicine at the Department of Internal Medicine for the University of California, San Francisco's Positive Health Program (HIV/AIDS Division) at San Francisco General Hospital. She currently serves as vice chair for the American Academy of HIV Medicine board of directors.

Roland is also a member of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care and serves as a California representative to the Center for Disease Control's Medical Monitoring Project on behalf of the Office of AIDS. She also serves on the California AIDS Drug Assistance Program Medical Advisory Committee.

Roland grew up in Berkeley and attended San Francisco State University. She earned a doctor of medicine degree from the University of California, Davis. Today the AIDS epidemic is vastly different from when she entered the field, Roland said.

"Twenty years ago our friends were all dying. There was nothing we could do about that. This is a completely different time," said Roland. "The people being impacted by HIV now are similar and different to the people being impacted 20 years ago."

Roland grew up in a progressive and politically engaged household. Her father went to prison fighting for civil rights; he was jailed with Dr. Martin Luther King. At age 13 Roland joined in the United Farmworkers' fight to unionize.

Then in 1987 she began to volunteer with the first AIDS agencies in the city as she watched her friends get sick and quickly die from the new and poorly understood disease.

"I was depressed and trying to figure out how to deal with this," recalled Roland, who served as ACT UP/SF's representative on a community constituency group formed by the National Institutes of Health in the late 1980s.

As for where her loyalties will lie in her new role, especially as San Francisco faces severe cuts in its federal AIDS funding, Roland said she intends to be fair and not pit areas against each other.

"I am a Californian. I am not a San Franciscan," said Roland. "No one will receive preferential consideration."

Roland plans to maintain her Oakland home and rent an apartment in Sacramento.

Out appointees list grows

Roland's appointment adds to the growing list of LGBT people Schwarzenegger has tapped for political positions and seats on public oversight bodies.

After the B.A.R. reported last week that the governor had appointed six LGBT people to such posts - albeit without ever disclosing their sexual orientation - more names of out appointees surfaced.

Log Cabin California Director James Vaughn , who provided five names when asked in late May if the governor had made any gay appointments, said he received several e-mails last week from other gay Republicans who had been hired themselves or provided additional names. The list includes at least six known gay or lesbian commissioners and a dozen LGB people to administration-level posts.

Schwarzenegger has hired at least eight gay and lesbian people to positions on his own staff.

As for state commissions, San Diego resident Andrew Poat , a Republican and member of the public policy committee for the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center, sits on the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. Fellow Republican Rory Diamond, also from San Diego, serves on the Student Aid Commission.

Out lesbian lawyer Angela Bradstreet , a Democrat who came out against her party's gubernatorial candidate last year and voted for Schwarzenegger, is now the labor commissioner for the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The Sausalito resident began the $134,000-a-year position Monday, June 25.

Other out high-ranking administrators include Business, Transportation and Housing Agency Secretary Dale E. Bonner; state Public Defender Mike Hersek; Department of Parks and Recreation General Counsel Bradly S. Torgan; Trey Luzzi, director of the Office of Court Compliance for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; and Department of Food and Agriculture deputy secretaries Kim Myrman and Eric Stein .

Alice breakfast highs and lows

The politicos were out in force Sunday for the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's annual Pride breakfast at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. And with the speechifying came the inevitable highs and lows.

Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), chair of the budget committee, noted that for lawmakers to "get a dime" out of the Assembly they have to go through "a gay man," meaning either him or Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), chair of appropriations.

Freshman state Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), for whom Supervisor Ed Jew once volunteered, said he was "glad to be out of City Hall." Jew, of course, was charged with nine felony counts by District Attorney Kamala Harris in connection to an investigation about whether he actually lives in District 4, which he represents on the board.

Not to be outdone, gay District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty said, "I love being in City Hall," and wouldn't trade it for Sacramento.

Showing off his comedic roots, gay Supervisor Tom Ammiano elicited laughter from attendees when he suggested that Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Chris Daly - who last week were embroiled in a public war of words over Daly's unfounded accusation that the mayor used cocaine and Newsom's adamant denial - "should celebrate Pride and have make-up sex!" Ammiano also praised Board President Aaron Peskin: "Aaron's a great guy - he lives where he says he lives."

Openly gay city Treasurer Jose Cisneros raised eyebrows when he introduced Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting as "my partner in crime" and said the men controlled some $4 billion in city funds.

Mayor Newsom, who took the stage shortly afterwards, poked fun at Cisneros's choice of words, given the recent investigations swirling around City Hall.

Former Supervisor Leslie Katz, who it was previously reported might be eyeing a run for the District 9 seat next year, put that idea to rest when she told the B.A.R. that she no longer lives in the district. She has moved to District 8, where there is already a long list of potential LGBT candidates eyeing a run in 2010.

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Cynthia Laird contributed to this report.

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