Progress For HIV Testing

This just in from my favorite, and cutest, ISBL correspondent, Carlos:

New York Governor David Paterson stands up for the LGBT community. Again.

The Latino Commission on AIDS recognizes the leadership of Governor Paterson, Senator Thomas Duane and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried, in achieving a tremendous public health victory for the Hispanic communities with a new HIV testing law.

The decision to sign into law the Gottfried/Duane “Act to Amend the Public Health Law in Relation to HIV Testing” will contribute to expand HIV testing for all New Yorkers, and it will institute significant advances in making HIV testing routine, such as:

• It requires offering an HIV test in all public and private health care settings thereby establishing the offer of an HIV test as the standard of care.
• It extends the required offering of HIV screening to individuals ages 13-64 years old.
• It requires that informed consent be obtained prior to performing an HIV test.
• It facilitates routine testing by permitting flexibility in how informed consent is documented where rapid technology is used.
• It requires that when an HIV test is positive, with the patients’ consent, the person ordering the test must provide or arrange for follow-up medical care.

This is big news.

HIV is not over.

It is not curable.

It is, however, treatable, if you know you have it and seek treatment and counseling.

New York City is the epicenter of this disease in America. Every single year, more than 1000 New York City residents--three people each day--are diagnosed concurrently with HIV and AIDS. Many of these individuals are considered late testers who have been infected for 10 years or longer, and may have never been offered an HIV test by their health care provider. These "late testers" often receive an AIDS diagnosis when it may be too late to fully benefit from life-extending treatments.

Guillermo Chacon, President of the Latino Commission on AIDS: “This new law will allow us to intensify our ability to provide HIV testing in the context of prevention and education to more communities. The main goal is to dramatically decrease the spread of HIV across New York State and link to care those that are in need.”

File this under: Good news.

It Took A While, But Now It's Here

After nine years of trying, the New York State Senate finally approved a bill that is designed to protect students from bullying; it passed 58-3, with three Republican senators--John DeFrancisco, George Maziarz and Dale Volker--voting against it.

Republicans did, however, attempt to amend the bill to include “cyber-bullying” that might take place off school grounds, something amendment sponsor Senator Stephen Saland called a “glaring omission” from the legislation.

The bill applies to events held on school grounds and at school functions, but only at public schools. It prohibits harassment, “the creation of a hostile environment by conduct, verbal threats, intimidation or abuse that has or would unreasonably interfere with educational performance, opportunities, benefits, or physical or emotional well being, or cause fear for physical safety” an prohibits discrimination based on “actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex.”

“It’s a very important bill for many many reasons to many many people, and it’s a very important bill for, I hope not too many generations....[a] students ability to excel in school is severely hampered by taunting, or intimidation or bullying....If I hadn’t been afraid in schools, I would have done better in school,” said Senator Tom Duane, who is openly gay, and the bill's sponsor.

Republicans pushed for their "cyber-bullying" amendment claiming it was more inclusive and makes the bill better. “If we look at this honestly, we should support this amendment because it’s all-inclusive,” Senator John DeFrancisco, a Republican who does not rank among the chamber’s tallest members, said. “Being still not a very big guy, I like to protect the little guys as well.”

Yet after that, he didn't support the little guy, and voted against the bill.

Hopefully, this bill will get put into law by Governor Paterson, and it will get passed around, state to state to state, because no one, no matter their height, weight, hair color, orientation, language or skin color, should be made to feel anything less than accepted oi n our public schools.

The Anti-Jan-Brewer

While in some southwestern parts of this country the police are stopping brown-skinned folks and asking for papers, in New York state, Governor David Paterson made a rather unexpected move.

He wants to create a board that will consider pardons for immigrant New Yorkers who are on a fast-track to deportation because of old or minor criminal convictions. Paterson said he would like to inject fairness into an "embarrassingly and wrongly inflexible" system that expels immigrants without discretion, without considering the circumstances of a person's life or family, or even holding hearings to consider the possibility that deportation might be unwise or unjust.

Hmmmmm. Fairness. Justice. Listen up, Jan Brewer.

I've known quite a few people who were, or are, here illegally, and the majority of those are hardworking people looking for a break. They pay their taxes, they break no laws--except for overstaying their welcome. Should these people be rounded up and deported back into a country where they have no family, no job, no security? No. They shouldn't. Should they be told they have a time-limit to pursue becoming a legal immigrant to this country? Of course. And those who fail to take advantage of an amnesty program, those who have committed legitimate crimes while in this country, should be sent home.

But rather than force a mass exodus of illegal immigrants--and I'm talking all illegal immigrants, not just the brown-skinned one with the Hispanic names--each case should be studied individually and verdict should be based on the person, not their country of origin. There are illegals in this country from all over the globe, but the focus seems to be mainly on Mexicans. We can't look at the color of skin on an illegal immigrant and use that as a basis for who stays and who goes.

It took the United States a long time to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, and it cannot be fixed in the blink of that same eye. It will take time, but should not be done with racist, fascist governors, or politicians flip-flopping on the issue--yeah, I'm talking to you, john McCain. This change will take time, but it should be done in fairness.

Bravo, Governor Paterson for showing courage and common sense and fairness.

Words Out Of New York

UPDATE: Kyle, from OutLeft, offers up the email addresses for Governor Paterson, and Senators Duane, Hassell-Thompson and Savino so we can write to them and thank them for understanding that equality should not fail:
Governor Paterson HERE.
Senator Duane at: duane@senate.state.ny.us
Senator Hassell-Thompson at: hassellt@senate.state.ny.us
Senator Savino at: savino@senate.state.ny.us
Drop them an email and thank them for doing the right thing.

I always talk about the anger I feel when marriage equality fails, and how we need to be more active, not sit back and regroup for a few years. I've always said, take your money out of the DNC and give to people who truly, actively, support the LGBT community, or to groups that do the same.

Here are a few such politicians who stand by us, so we need to stand by them. They are but a few of the many politicians who understand that this is not about anything other than equal treatment, equal rights for all Americans.


New York Governor David Paterson:

“It is always darkest before the dawn. The darkest day in the history of the American civil rights movement was in 1857 when the Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott, making slavery legal north of the 36th parallel. That was the darkest day for the abolitionists. But when we look back in history, we forget that this was only five years before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862.

I understand the anger; I understand the frustration; I understand the feeling of betrayal; and I understand the profound disappointment of those who came to Albany today thinking they could get married tomorrow. But I am also here to tell you that we are not back to square one.

Governors don’t come to the Senate floor after losing a vote. This one does, because this is a fight that is bigger than one legislative vote. This is a civil rights issue. Marriage equality is as important as the emancipation of any group from oppression and the granting of equal rights to any community.

I believe in my heart that if people had voted their consciences today, we would be celebrating marriage equality tonight. That did not happen. As disappointed as we are today, let’s get up tomorrow and redouble our efforts. We are going to lay the foundation to make people feel comfortable to vote their conscience and not fear political backlash.

Now we know who we have to talk to. We are going to quash the intimidation; we are going to alleviate the pressure; we are going to move this issue back to the floor of the Senate and we are going to have marriage equality in New York State and equal rights for everybody.”

Senator Tom Duane, sponsor of the marriage equlaity bill:

"I wasn't expected to be betrayed, and so I have some justified anger. But it's just going to propel me to - I don't want to say redouble my efforts, because my efforts have been pretty strong - but I'm not going to let up. I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I am let down. I'm betrayed. But I am not going away...Unfortunately, I think there was a contagious lack of backbone that occurred here today. And I’m angry about that and sad about that, but it was contagious. Similarly, the opposite would have meant far more votes than anyone had expected but unfortunately that wasn’t the way it went today."

And we also have Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, who surprised many with her Yes vote. Listen to her speak; pay close attention to the last minute when she says she was not elected to be the moral arbiter for her constituents, but that she was elected to represent them; listen as she says she is going against the teachings of her mother,, her sister, her church to do what's right.
One of my new heroes....Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson.

And to add one more to the mix, here's Senator Diane Savino, a Roman Catholic.....you read that right.....who understands what a civil rights issue is, and how gay marriage does nothing to traditional marriage; straight folks have been screwing that up for eons all on their own:

The Gay News

From the ISBL NewsDesk:

New York Governor David Paterson is once again speaking out about gay marriage in his state:
"People who've lived together for 10, 20, 30 years are waiting, hoping that this legislation will pass while they still have the breath to elicit an 'I do' on the altar, and I think it's time that it happens, and if I have to see legislation fail so I can identify who voted against it to better persuade them, then I'll take that chance. In this case, I have a feeling if it got on the floor it would be voted up."

And the defeat of marriage equality in Maine:
"I think there's this feeling that if legislation fails that it's this colossal loss for the cause. I find it to be motivational. I think that the public referendum in Maine should inspire us that there's more work to do, more persuasion to be made, more understanding to be reached, and more sensitivity to be displayed, and those of us who have been a catalyst for marriage equality have to regroup and work harder."

It's refreshing to see and hear such open and honest discussion about equality, without mucking it up, like a certain asshat in Alabama is trying to do.

DuWayne Bridges, saying the University of Alabama Birmingham's policy of offering health benefits to same-sex partners runs counter to the state's ban on same-sex marriage, has been gathering support for a proposal to block the benefits.

"I don't think the univer­sity should waste money by making a liberal or politi­cally correct statement," he said last week.

Equality is a liberal ideal now? I must have missed that breaking news story.

In opposition to Bridges asshattedness and backwoodsery, is openly gay state Representative Patricia Todd: "We don't know how many gay, lesbian and transgender people there are in the country or even in Alabama, but we know that we're present and we make a contribution and we're not asking for any more or less than any other group of folks. We just want equality."

To paraphrase Harvey Fierstein via SNL: We just want equality, is that so wroooooooong?

And, what else is wrong?

Oh yes, up in Maine, stories are emerging that the Democratic National Committee, which took our donations, put equality on the back-burner up there, while asking the people of Maine to help re-elect Jon Corzine in New Jersey. Nothing wrong with that, really, except the DNC sent fliers and emails to the people of Maine urging them to vote in last Tuesday's election, but failed to mention what the election was about or which way to vote.

Where was the DNC in the battle for equality in Maine? They were too busy working in New Jersey. Think about that, and remind the DNC of that, the next time they hold out their hands for a contribution.

If they can't contribute to equality, I'll give my money to those who can.

And so, while we lick our wounds over Maine and vow to fight on, and while our anger may grow over the DNC, which, by the way, was the first major political party in the U.S. to endorse a homosexual rights platform plank, and its lack of support, either through funds or action in Maine, and as we brace for a marriage equality fight in New York and, perhaps, New Jersey and New Hampshire, I've found a candidate for us.

Congressman Joe Sestak is a Democratic candidate for United States Senate in Pennsylvania:

When we think of the civil rights movement, we tend to think of grainy footage of marches and speeches, Selma, Ala., and the National Mall.
But our generation, too, is a part of that movement and has a critical role to play. It has been a long journey for our country, but we are now close to finally realizing our founders’ vision of a society where all are created equal and endowed with the same inalienable rights.
It’s time to end the discrimination based on sexual identity or orientation that is the only form of institutionalized discrimination still permitted in our society. That is why I am working to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and am committed to equal rights for all Americans.
On Saturday, President Obama will address the Human Rights Campaign. I hope he will use the opportunity to clearly call for the swift repeal of these discriminatory policies. We can get it done this year, and human rights should not be asked to wait.
In my three decades as an officer in the United States Navy, I lost good sailors to the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law -- sailors that I, and the nation, depended on for their training, skills, and courage.
Over the last 16 years we’ve lost 12,500 good servicemembers to this policy. In a time of war, our national security cannot afford to lose these troops, especially high-value specialists and linguists. But more so, our military cohesion depends on honesty and integrity. How can we demand that the 65,000 of our troops who are estimated to be gay act dishonestly and conceal information from their comrades and commanders? No one who serves in defense of liberty should be forced to live a lie.
I cannot imagine denying equal rights to anyone I served with. How can anyone say, we fought and served together, we depended on one another, we risked our lives for this country, but back home you shouldn’t enjoy the rights that you defended?
That’s why I have co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA and require the federal government to extend to the tens of thousands of legally married same-sex couples the more than 1,100 federal rights and benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples, including tax, pension, and benefits rights and the right to take unpaid leave to care for ill spouses. I have sent a letter urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the bill up for a vote and I am circulating a petition to show support.
The struggle for equality has never been easy and it won’t be today. But I am confident. This is a historic and, indeed, an exciting time for America, when we declare once and for all that there is no such thing as equality that doesn’t extend to everyone, that we hold this truth to be self-evident.

Change Is Coming....Every Day

It's quite a shift, I'll say that.

While it was only a month ago that thirty-three percent of Americans favored marriage equality, the number has jumped to forty-two percent.

That is excellent news.

And even better news is that the numbers of people who say that Gay Americans should not be allowed marriage equality has fallen from 35% to 28%; twenty-five percent favor civil unions, which is still less than marriage equality.

I think people are waking up to the idea that marriage equality will not destroy civilization, it will not lessen traditional marriage, it will not be taught in schools, and it will not affect your right to freedom of religion.

This is a great shift, brought about, no doubt, by the victory for equality in Iowa and in Vermont. ..Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington D.C...and by politicians like David Patterson, Gavin Newson, Christine Todd Whitman and others for standing up for marriage equality.

It's a big step in a fight not yet over.

Quote Of The Day

"I think the President has acknowledged that there are several ways in which a civil union between same-sex couples does not accomplish the protections that marriage would...I think that people of religious beliefs, many, feel that the sacred relationship between a man and a woman is the only threshold for marriage, and I respect that point of view. However, we are living in a society of civil law. We separate church and state. And I don't understand why people who profess equal love to what those of us who are heterosexual are engaged in when we get married, why they aren't allowed to do the same thing. And that's why I introduced the bill."

--New York Governor David Patterson

I Know How It Feels

The Dignity For All Students Act, a sweeping anti-bullying bill, sponsored by openly gay Daniel O'Donnell, has overwhelmingly passed in New York's state Assembly.

The new act would afford all persons in public schools an environment free of harassment and discrimination based on actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnic group, religion, disability, sexual orientation, weight, gender, or sex. The bill has been endorsed by Governor Paterson although it has yet to be taken up by the Senate. O'Donnell has called on the state Senate to pass the bill immediately. Only five of O'Donnell's colleagues in the Assembly voted against his bill.

Some folks say this is too much, that bullying is "kid's play," that it's all in good fun. Boys will be boys. Well, as a boy who was bullied in school, I wish there had been some sort of protection when i was a kid. Hell, I would have been happy with a little common sense.

I can remember being in junior high class, and having a teacher ask me a question. I didn't like having the spotlight on me, but I was a shy kid, and shyness breeds manners, so I quietly answered the question; correctly, too, I might add. Then, from the back of the room I distinctly heard someone say Faggot. I heard him; the people around me heard him, because there were giggles. I know the teacher heard him, but he just went on with the lesson as though nothing happened.

I remember being in the locker room changing for gym class, when one of those bullies came up to me. I knew what was coming so I tried to look away, but, of course, that only gives a bully power. He walked right up to me and pushed his face close to mine, and asked, Are you gay?

I stammered and stuttered, knowing however I answered the question would be wrong. No, would get me called a liar. Yes, would probably mean worse. So, I stayed silent, and he asked again.

Are. You. Gay?

I closed my eyes wishing it would all go away and when I opened them again he was even closer. He kept coming closer and then he kissed me, on the mouth. Then he shoved me into a locker and said, I knew it, and ran outside. By the time I got out to the basketball courts he had told everyone that I tried to kiss him.

They say that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger; sometimes. Other times it just makes you afraid to walk the halls alone.