Openly Gay Public Officials Take HIV Tests to Urge Gay and Bisexual Men to Test Regularly

[w8liftinglady]

And- allow me to include women in relationships with bisexual men.(They always leave us out!)


http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/openly-gay-public-officials-take-hiv-tests-to-urge-gay-and-bisexual-men-to-test-regularly-know-their-hiv-status-124493038.html

SAN FRANCISCO, June 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today California State Senator Mark Leno and San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener took rapid HIV tests at Magnet, the community health center in the heart of the Castro, to remind gay and bisexual men of the importance of being tested for HIV every six months. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gay and bisexual men are the only risk group for which new HIV infections are rising in the United States. One in five gay or bisexual men in major U.S. cities is living with HIV and nearly half are unaware of their positive status.

"Despite the tremendous gains of the past thirty years, gay and bisexual men continue to be infected at alarming rates," said State Senator Mark Leno. "I'm here today on the eve of San Francisco Pride's celebration as a calling to gay and bisexual men to test regularly and know their status so we can beat this epidemic once and for all. We owe it to the courageous leaders who came before us, to the friends and loved ones we lost too soon to this horrible disease, and to each other."

"San Francisco's Castro neighborhood was ground zero for the start of the HIV epidemic, and I'm taking an HIV test at Magnet today because I believe we have the power – and responsibility – to make it ground zero for ending the epidemic," said San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener. "But we can only do that by reducing our risk, by knowing our status, by continuing to support those already affected, and by fighting the stigma and discrimination people with HIV still face."

National HIV Testing Day is Monday, June 27th. Currently, 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV, the highest number in the history of the crisis. More than 56,000 people are infected every year nationwide. Every day in San Francisco, there are roughly two new infections.

[closeupready]

1. News was posted just the other day that HIV rates are falling among gay and bi men in CA.

Also, kind of hard to get motivated to get tested for a virus that is fatal and expensive to treat when you don't have health insurance that covers treatment and meds.

Obviously, when you are a public official, the taxpayer finances your medical treatment, so lack of health insurance isn't an obstacle. But the fact that so many of our elected officials don't appear to realize that many gay and bi people do not even HAVE health insurance just underscores how even in the gay community we have issues regarding bridging socioeconomic class divides.

[Vanje]

2. Rec this post!

[w8liftinglady]

3. Rec as well

I remember when HIV hit the medical and glbt community hard... and we reciprocated with easy access to condoms,testing and treatment...with the intent being prevention.
We have lost this in both the medical and glbt community.I have seen tremendous progress in the treatment of HIV-I hate to see lack of access as the reason for the recurrance.

Here are a few resources for HIV treatment for uninsured/underinsured Americans.
http://www.avert.org/aids-treatment-america.htm

[closeupready]

4. Excellent, thanks for the link.

That's an important part of testing initiatives like this - tell people there are answers if your results are problematic.