Bay Area Reporter - June 11, 2009
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com

Aguilar volunteers with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to teach HIV prevention to other students and takes part in the agency's El Grupo support group. She said she is worried the nearly $68 million cut to the state's Office of AIDS would imperil the support services she and other HIV-positive teens turn to for help living with the virus.

"I am going to Sacramento to protest because other kids might be at risk. I want my voice to be heard for those kids who could be affected," said Aguilar, who was born with the virus.

Paul Pratt, whose drag persona is Pollo Del Mar, said he is most worried about the $12.3 million cut to the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The reduction in state funding to the $362 million program would jeopardize its federal allocation, leading to a reduction in the medications it pays for as well as how many people can enroll in ADAP.

"My life depends upon keeping ADAP fully intact," said Pratt, who has been HIV-positive since 2001.

Speaking at a rally in front of City Hall prior to the departure of five buses filled with local AIDS agency staffers and people living with HIV and AIDS headed for the rally on the steps of the state Capitol, Pratt teared up as he beseeched lawmakers to reject Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed AIDS budget cuts.

"I had an opportunity to talk to Mark Leno and I said to him, 'Please tell me these cuts to ADAP won't happen.' He said to me 'Over my dead body.' I told him I hope you're right because it is going to be over my dead body and other people's bodies who rely on ADAP to stay alive," said Pratt.

AIDS advocates are hopeful that Leno, a state senator who sits on the Legislature's Budget Conference Committee, and his colleagues will find a way to deal with the state's $20 billion budget deficit without having to slash funding for ADAP or AIDS programs. The committee is expected to vote Friday on the cuts to health programs, and both chambers must then ratify the budget.

"At a minimum we are confident we can prevent the ADAP cut and some additional general fund cuts," said Project Inform Executive Director Dana Van Gorder, who attended the Sacramento rally. "We are working with Senator Leno and working closely with his Senate budget committee staff."

One proposal is to tap into ADAP's reserve funds from a rebate program pharmaceutical companies pay into to "keep ADAP whole and conceivably protect other line items we are worried about," added Van Gorder. "Everything is a moving target right now."

Leno and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) will be taking part in a live Internet town hall forum from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday, June 15 to discuss the proposed budget cuts. The senators will answer budget questions e-mailed by the public. Questions can be submitted through the Senate Majority Caucus Web site at http://democrats.sen.ca.gov.

The webcast can be viewed via livestream at http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/townhall/.

Contra Costa celebrates Pride

At its meeting Tuesday, June 9 the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors, for the first time, unanimously adopted a Pride proclamation. The Richmond City Council is expected to follow suit by passing its own Pride proclamation at its meeting Tuesday, June 16.

Several LGBT groups, including the Rainbow Community Center in Concord, Contra Costa Equality, Ryse Youth Center, and Ally Action, pushed the board to declare June as LGBT Pride Month in the East Bay county, which stretches from Martinez through Walnut Creek.

"Having worked with youth in West Contra Costa County for the past 10 years on social justice issues, this is a pivotal moment in the county's history. What this resolution says to our LGBTQQ youth is that they are a valued and integral part of this community," stated Kimberly Aceves, Ryse co-executive director.

Passage of the Pride resolution, though, was bittersweet, said the groups, coming after the state Supreme Court's decision last month to uphold Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage. The Contra Costa supervisors refused to join in the lawsuit brought forward by other cities and municipalities that had sought to invalidate the anti-gay measure.

Supervisor John Gioia of West Contra Costa County was the only board member who voted to join the lawsuit, despite the fact that a majority of voters in the county voted against Prop 8.

"Celebrating Pride Month in Contra Costa will be an important way for the LGBT community to come together after Proposition 8 and the recent court decision, to re-affirm our pride in how far we've come, and our place in the larger community," stated Leslie Stewart , a co-founder of Contra Costa Equality and chapter chair of Marriage Equality USA.

Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings around 10 a.m. for Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column features an interview with Mayor Gavin Newsom about the effort to repeal Prop 8.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail mailto:.

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