Washington Blade - December 9, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - Marking World AIDS Day, President George W. Bush said the word "gay," a rarity even during last year's battle over gay marriage and perhaps a first in a positive context. Bush reaffirmed America's commitment to fight the deadly disease around the world. "America still sees an estimated 40,000 new infections each year. This is not inevitable - and it's not acceptable," the president said. "HIV/AIDS remains a special concern in the gay community, which has effectively fought this disease for decades through education and prevention. And the demographics of this disease continue to change. AIDS is increasingly found among women and minorities." The Bush administration has been criticized for moving prevention efforts away from condom use, first championed within the gay community, and instead focusing on abstinence. The president's speech focused on global AIDS, but on the domestic front he vowed to make HIV testing a routine part of health care and to end mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

Washington considers return to name-based HIV reporting

SEATTLE - Thousands of HIV-positive people across Washington state would be affected by a move by the State Board of Health to adopt a name-based reporting system, according to media reports. The board and AIDS advocates agreed in 1999 to compromise and use a name-to-code system to report asymptomatic HIV cases. But the panel is expected to abandon that system and switch to name-based reporting by June, affecting up to 4,000 people statewide who are HIV positive. John Peppert, manager of HIV prevention for the State Department of Health, told reporters that up to $5 million in federal funds may be at risk if the state does not follow reporting requirements preferred by the Centers for Disease Control. The state uses that money for medications, food, housing and other services for HIV-positive people. As of this summer, 43 states and local health departments track HIV cases by confidential name-based reporting, news reports indicate, while 14 such offices, like Washington, use code-based or name-to-code systems.

Study: Many with drug-resistant HIV still have unprotected sex

SAN FRANCISCO - New research shows that a substantial number of HIV-positive people who have proven resistance to antiretroviral drugs are still having unprotected sex, reported AIDSMap.com, the Website of London-based NAM Publications, which distributes HIV/AIDS-related information. The study, published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, found that an estimated 25 people surveyed who have resistance and reported risky sex could have infected up to 72 people with drug-resistant HIV. Data from both the United States and the United Kingdom hints that more and more people are being newly infected with drug-resistant HIV. For the study, researchers from the Study of the Consequences of the Protease Inhibitor Era or SCOPE in San Francisco quizzed 287 people on anti-HIV therapy regarding their sexual behavior. Of those surveyed, 219 identified as gay or bisexual, and 88 percent were men, AIDSMap.com reported.

George Washington professor researches gay adoption

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A psychology professor at George Washington University is leading a research project on the effects that adoption by gay couples has on children, the university's Hatchet, an independent student newspaper, reported this week. Stephen Forssell, working with four students, plans to compare gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples who have adopted and are raising children. "We're just trying to make good research," Forssell told the Hatchet. "No matter what we do, political groups will seize upon whatever supports their view." The three major areas that are the focus of the project are children's well-being, the abilities of the parents, and the quality of the relationship between the parents. "We expect that there will be very few differences between families, based on previous research," Forssell told the student newspaper. "Differences that have come up in the past are minimal. It's not that kids in one family are doing better - just different."

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