In the News…

Brian Theobald, July 8, 2007

LAST TABOO

New York - HIV+ Encouraged to Run for Office

In the last several years, nearly every definable special-interest group of any kind has shattered the myth that its members are unqualified for higher public office. And yet, one group apparently still faces the prejudice of much of the American voting public.

Jack Kennedy broke the taboo about a Catholic winning the White House. Mitt Romney is facing down those who believe his Mormon religion is anti-Christian. Shirley Chilsholm became the first woman and black seriously to run for the nation's highest office.

Now, a new campaign in New York is seeking to break what may be the last remaining negative stereotype about fitness for public office. A New York-based non-profit organization, the Grassroots Initiative, just kicked off a campaign to encourage HIV-positive New Yorkers to seek public office. A series of public service print announcements are going out to community centers and support groups throughout New York City. Featuring a diverse cross-section of people with masking tape X-ed over their mouths, the PSAs' tagline reads "Our Numbers Alone Don't Give Us A Voice."

Over 100,000 New Yorkers are infected with the virus, and, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, many do not become aware of their HIV-positive status until they contract full-blown AIDS. The city has the highest AIDS rate in the country. Meanwhile, cases in the black and Hispanic communities are rising at an alarming rate, and now make up over 80 percent of new diagnoses.

Many of the campaign's advocates see putting people with HIV in positions of power as an important first step towards education, prevention and change. POZ magazine, one such supporter, will spotlight the campaign's efforts on its website, www.POZ.com.

"It's critical to have HIV positive people in a position to directly shape the governmental policies that affect those of us living with HIV/AIDS," Editor Ronald Hofmann said in a press release.

Grassroots Initiative president and founder Jeff S. Merritt, however, is perhaps more pragmatic and even-handed in his approach.

"I don't think it's an issue of whether a political candidate is positive or not," he told EDGE in an interview. "By itself, that's not going to make anyone a better elected official on any grounds. What we want to make sure is that there are no barriers preventing people from entering into the political process and that every segment of the population is well represented. The HIV community in New York is very large and their voice just isn't being heard."

While Merritt's organization is specifically focused on ensuring equal access to the political system, staking no claim in public affairs themselves, many supporters and like-minded reformers are quick to draw a link between the need for HIV-positive candidates and policy reform.

"The experience of living with HIV and fighting for affordable insurance, health care and government health services is not unlike many others in the community with other chronic conditions who face the same daily challenges," says J.W. Arnold, an executives with PRDC, an issues-advocacy firm. "Fortunately, health care is going to be a big issue in the 2008 elections that can work for gay and HIV-positive candidates, mobilizing voters in the same way that gay marriage worked against gay and progressive candidates in 2004 and 2006."

Hoffman says a call for HIV-positive officials is especially important "in an era when our federal government fails to address such issues as the need for non-abstinence only sex-education...and universal access to health care." He also claims a need for greater funding for the Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, implemented in 1990 to improve the quality and availability of care for low-income and uninsured individuals and families affected by HIV.

When New York Senator Tom Duane (D) became the first openly gay member of the Senate, he also became the highest-elected out-HIV-positive official in the United States. Duane has been forthright about his condition ever since his election to the New York City Council in 1991. During his tenure in the Senate, he has fiercely advocated for better HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment for all New Yorkers. He co-sponsored a bill that would mandate that health professionals offer all patients between the ages 13 and 64 HIV testing as a standard part of diagnostic services. Duane could not be contacted at press time.

"HIV is often perceived as a disease that will force you to just write-off the rest of your life," Merritt says. "With this campaign, we're hoping to show that that's not true. As you have individuals with HIV run for office, it starts to draw attention to the fact that these are everyday people who have full lives ahead of them."