Kelly Robinson brought a list of grievances against Donald Trump to the night of the State of the Union, but cuts to HIV funding and the impact on her community loomed large.
“I’m here for all the transgender people who have been kicked out of the military and all the people with HIV who have been denied PrEP medication,” Robinson said. “We’re here tonight for our communities because we have to remind our country, lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, queer people, that we’re always here and we’re not going anywhere. This is our country too.”
Robinson, beginning The Black Queer Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign attended the State of the Union address as a guest of California Congressman Robert Garcia. A behind-the-scenes event held on the National Mall provided a clear-eyed assessment of the challenges facing LGBTQ+ America under President Donald Trump’s administration. anti-trans boast Inside the U.S. Capitol.
Robinson specifically mentioned the Trump administration’s significant cuts in funding aimed at combating the country’s ongoing HIV epidemic. Killed $258 million In funding HIV vaccine research, Guts HIV Prevention Program Fund through the state and provide the put. 127,000 lives exposed to potential dangers Millions of new infections.
“It’s outrageous that they would cut billions of dollars from HIV prevention and put it into building more ICE detention facilities,” Robinson said. “We need health care. We need food. We don’t need mass incarceration. And it’s certainly not normal for this government to kill American citizens.”
Funding cuts will have a disproportionate level of impact on Black Americans, a demographic group in the United States. highest risk The HIV-infected group is worst access Care should be given, including PrEP, which can contain the spread of the virus.
Increasingly, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, such as the Black AIDS Institute, SisterLove, and other community organizations, are filling these gaps in the Black community. But many such organizations remain dependent on federal grants and have been forced to seek other forms of income as governments dry up public health programs.
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said Timothy Jackson, senior director of policy and advocacy at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Illinois PBS affiliate They say they are concerned that cuts to federal funding could jeopardize care for existing program beneficiaries.
“There’s no money coming from the federal government,” Jackson said. “How do we take care of those people? The first priority is how do we maintain access to care and prevention for people living with and vulnerable to HIV?”
Antoine Pollard, Director of Community Engagement us who help us In the greater Washington, D.C., area, the group said it is seeking greater collaboration with health care providers as federal resources dwindle.
“This is impacting many organizations across our region and country. It is unfortunate that we are at a time like this, but we must continue to fight to end the HIV epidemic by 2030,” he said.
“We’re partnering with the Washington Institute for Health Research, the Black Equity Center. All of these organizations are stepping up.”
Areas like Miami have some of the highest rates of new HIV infections in the country and are most disproportionately black. 64 percent of AIDS-related deathslocal health workers are finding new ways to fill funding gaps.
said Dr. Elizabeth Sherman of the Miami-based HIV Medical Association. south florida sun sentinel Resources, both public and private, must be directed to the communities that need them most.
“It’s important to know which populations are experiencing increased rates of HIV infection, so we can target interventions to target them,” she said. “When they cut back on the number of people overseeing surveillance, it hampers our ability to limit transmission before it starts to spread.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
