&
CAROLIN
Have a good THANKSGIVING . NOVEMBER 28
noted . notable . noteworthy GLBT issues
stay
safe.
stay
alive.
Log Cabin Republicans’
happy days are here 6
“ Visitas de Hospitar’
Documenting Courage
LGBT Vets’ web site
Great heart, great help
Charlie says thanks
i
Wells & Wells
first couple to have their
announcement printed in
The Charlotte Observer
Q-POLL
www.q*notes.com
Do you count
your blessings?
.YES! .NO
.NO...
but I’ll start today
Q*POLL RESULTS . 32
Justice for
Brandon
Teena
PACE
±7
VOLUME 17 . ISSUE 14
SINCE 1904
Justice for
Marcus
Wayman
WWW.Q-NOTES.COM NOVEMBER 23.2002
World AIDS Day: December 1
Pholo credits: AVERT website. An international orgonization based
in the UK, dedicoted to AVERTing HIV/AIOS throughout the world
Individuol photo credits: "
South African mother & children: Ketan Jo$hi
United Notons Building 2001: UK/DPI
AIDS Memorial QUILT: Phil/CDC
Woman with AIDS in Chino: UNAiDS/Nooromi
Hear these photographs. Speak to their message. And act.
South rising again: 40% of ail new US HIV cases
16 southern states underfunded, NC
ranks 50th in help for HIV/AIDS
patients; 800 on list waiting for
medication money
CHARLOTTE — On November 14, officials
in the area of health from a 16-state region of
the South urged both state and federal
legislators to consider a more proactive
stance in their approach to dealing with the
AIDS crisis.
Officials from Delaware to Texas attended
the three-day conference at the Sheraton
Charlotte Airport Hotel. Among the officials
was former US Surgeon General, Dr. David
Satcher.
Racial and economic demographics as
well as cultural conservatism were two of the
reasons cited for the disproportionate
number of both existing and new HIV
infections across the region.
“it’s not popular to talk about our
differences and single out Southerners as not
being able to talk about problems well or not
being as accepting of different lifestyles and
different sexual orientations,” the chief of the
NC Department of Health and Human
Services’ communicable disease' programs.
Steven Cline, told the Charlotte Ofaserver.“But
we think that might be part of the puzzle in
the South.”
At the conference, officials released the
Southern States Manifesto, a plan that suggests
a more assertive approach in convincing
legislators to increase funding against HIV
and AIDS as well as creating new ways of
providing outreach and treatment for people
within high-risk groups.
“We need a lot more changes,” former US
Surgeon General Satcher said in his keynote
address. "That's what this Southern States
Manifesto is all about.”
The manifesto calls for increased federal
HIV/AIDS funding, enforcement of laws that
require doctors to report HIV/AIDS cases and
more work with community groups.
Problematic areas that need to be
addressed, according to the group, include
the fact that more people have AIDS in the
South than any other single region in the
country — in fact, the South accounts for as
much as 40 percent of total cases; the fact
that higher rates of new HIV and AIDS cases
are seen in the South than any other single
region; and the fact that the South also has
higher incidence of other sexually transmitted'
diseases. Statistics were provided by a report
by national health care philanthropy, the
Henry |. kaiser Family Foundation.
The rate of other sexually transmitted
disease bears special significance because
people with sexually transmitted diseases are
more susceptible to HIV infection, and vice
versa, noted Dr. Peter Leone, medical director
for the NC Health Department’s HIV/STD
prevention and care programs.
The disease is striking most maliciously in
minority communities. More than half the
people with AIDS in the South are African
American even though only 20 percent of the
South’s population is made up of that racial
group. Among the hardest hit are minority
females in rural areas.
The fear of many people in small towns
and rural areas is that being identified as
HIV/AIDS patients will result in
stigmatization so they often avoid screening
and treatment, health officials said.
And their fears are not unwarented, said
Kathryn Whetten, a Duke University
researcher. She co-authored a recent book
that tells the stories of 25 people living with
the disease in rural Eastern North Carolina.
sea CONFERENCE on 15