Category: HIV & AIDS
Posted inAging, City Hall, Health, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+

Medicaid and Other Cuts Threaten Older LGBTQ+ Adults in SF

Avatar photo by Madison Alvarado

The Trump administration is attacking LGBTQ+ rights nationwide, and San Francisco has declared itself sanctuary city for transgender people. But even as the city anticipates an influx of newcomers, older trans adults already living here face discrimination and threats to their health as the federal government cuts funding for crucial programs and erases data about their demographic groups. 

Advocates expect LGBTQ+ seniors in particular to be negatively affected by the gutting of Medicaid, funding cuts at every level, and the erasure of key data focused on gender identity and sexual orientation. San Francisco’s population of older adults has been growing rapidly, which strains limited resources.

Posted inCoronavirus, Health, History, HIV & AIDS

Reporter’s Notebook: The Epidemic She Didn’t Expect to See

Avatar photo by Mel Baker

Mel Baker shares an excerpt of an interview with Dr. Monica Gandhi in which they discuss the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gandhi is a professor of medicine and associate division chief of HIV, infectious diseases, and global medicine at UCSF and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and author of “Endemic: A Post Pandemic Playbook.”

Posted inFrom the Newsroom, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+

Reporter’s Notebook: The Rebellious Legacy of ‘Lesbian Money’

Avatar photo by Mel Baker

When we report a story, it can involve numerous interviews, sources speaking on background or deep dives into government or corporate records. But sometimes it’s amazing what a small object can reveal. 

Like the rubber stamp recently discovered by Liana Wilcox, producer of the San Francisco Public Press’ podcast “Civic,” when she was helping her mother clear a storage area.

“I was with my mom going through some of her keepsakes and found a stamp that read ‘Lesbian Money.’ My mom told me that she found it in our old church’s basement,” Wilcox said, adding that she feared the rubber stamp had a sinister connotation.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, History, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+

After SF Visit, AIDS Quilt Heads to South to Raise Awareness

Avatar photo by Mel Baker

The AIDS Memorial Quilt was unfurled recently in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for its largest display in a decade, marking the start of a campaign to educate the public about a disease that, since 1981, has infected 1.2 million people nationwide. 

While new HIV infections in the United States have been in decline, the disease continues to take a disproportionate toll on racial and ethnic minorities, men who identify as gay or bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. The highest rates of new infections and numbers of untreated people are found in the South. 

Organizers estimated that 20,000 people visited the San Francisco quilt display June 11 and 12. This fall, sections of the quilt will be taken on a tour of the South for “large displays in city centers, as well as smaller displays in rural, non-metro areas,” said Dafina Ward, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition. New names will be added to the 35-year-old quilt during the tour, she said. 

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+

Biden Administration Refocuses National HIV Response

Avatar photo by Mel Baker

After two years of focusing on COVID-19 pandemic response, the Biden Administration is renewing attention to other ongoing public health challenges, including HIV and AIDS. The response is led by Harold Phillips, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. The San Francisco Public Press spoke with Phillips this month when he came to San Francisco to participate in events tied to the display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Golden Gate Park.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Health, HIV & AIDS

While SF Fought COVID, HIV Prevention Stalled

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Over the past several months, health care providers have been warning San Francisco officials that while the city was focused on fighting COVID-19, rates of HIV infection and related illnesses were creeping in the wrong direction.

From the very beginning, and throughout the HIV epidemic, which began in 1981, San Francisco led the way in prevention, care and treatment that came to be recognized around the world.

Posted inCommunity, Health, HIV & AIDS, LGBTQ+, Opinion, Social Justice

Long-Term AIDS Survivors Launch Advocacy Movement

by Hank Trout

AIDS2020: Virtual, the biannual conference of the International AIDS Society, held in early July, marked a turning point for long-term HIV/AIDS survivors — and not a good one. Five of us in San Francisco who have been on the front lines of the fight for our LGBTQ and HIV communities from the very beginning, left the event feeling sidelined and fed up. So, we met to discuss the myriad issues confronted by us long-term survivors. The result: The San Francisco Principles 2020, which we hope will be the seed for a new movement.

Posted inCoronavirus, Health, HIV & AIDS, Homelessness

City Clears Homeless Residents From Notorious Tenderloin Alley

by Brian Howey

Like most of the homeless residents on Willow Street Tuesday morning, Leif Skorochod was headed for either a city-sanctioned tent camp or the barracks-style homeless shelter at Moscone Convention Center after city workers arrived early that morning and gave them a choice: Accept shelter or leave. Homeless Outreach Team members discussed placement options with tent residents while Public Works crews tossed items into truck beds. At least two residents received hotel rooms because they have underlying health conditions. The rest of those the Public Press spoke to were either headed to Moscone or a sanctioned camp site.

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