aids2031 is a consortium of partners who have come together to look at what we have learned about the AIDS response as well as consider the implications of the changing world around AIDS.

Based on innovative thinking, critical analysis and public debate, aids2031 will create the report An Agenda for the Future–charting options to achieve the best possible outcome for the future.

aids2031 is about mobilizing the global AIDS response to include a long-term view and take into account the consequences of our actions as well as inactions.

aids2031 is not about what we should do in 2031, but what we can do differently now, to change the face of the pandemic by 2031

THERE ARE STILL A FEW OPENINGS FOR THE FREE LEGAL CLINIC WITH WESLY TAYLOR, ESQ. MR. TAYLOR, AN ATTORNEY WITH THE HEALTH LAW INSTITUTE AT JRA, LOCATED AT 25 WEST STREET IN BOSTON, VISITS THE AGENCY ONCE A MONTH TO OFFER ADVICE ON CIVIL MATTERS SUCH AS WILLS, PROBATE, ETC. TO SCHEDULE A SESSION WITH MR. TAYLOR, EMAIL CHERYL CARTER AT CCARTER@AIDSPROJECTWORCESTER.ORG OR CALL HER AT 508.755.3773.

I was privileged to attend a conference in Chicago IL on March 26^th and 27th.  It was a great conference and afforded me the opportunity to represent the agency (AIDS Project Worcester) and the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force.  Lisa Weinberg Esq., myself, and Pastor Judith Hanlon were the only participants attending from Massachusetts (Worcester).

We sat on a panel which address strategies to reach the LGBT & HIV+ individuals and also challenges that LGBT & HIV+ immigrants/refugees face.  One major position of the panel discussion was that there was a need to foster greater community partnership with CBOs and ASOs.

Synopsis of My Presentation

My name is Linford Cunningham and I am an American Refugee who currently works at AIDS Project Worcester, Inc.  I am also cofounder of the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force.  I have worked with the LGBT and HIV+ community since 1993 and was formerly employed at Jamaica AIDS Support For Life and Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays.

*Some Difficulties/Challenges

·         Finding Legal Support

·         Fear of being reported to Immigration due to HIV status

·         Lack of Psycho-social Support

·         Inadequate Social Support

·         Fear of remaining within ones own culture due to sexuality and further rejection

·         Fear of being an Advocating sparking country reprisals/backlash

·         Basic Needs *Clothing, Shelter, Food*

·         Lack of Psychological/Metal Support to address PTSD, etc.

·         Spiritual Support

*Some Outreach Strategies (Which were elaborated on)

1.       Expansion of funding criteria and possibilities to address the challenges.

2.       Networking and partnerships needs to be established or strengthened to address growing/emerging needs.

3.       Public Awareness Campaigns

4.       Empowering Refugees/Asylees/Immigrants

Personal Highlights

·         During the conference I learned that the US currently has an agreement with Mexico where if the US is deporting a Mexican Immigrant they have to provide medical services in the form of suitable medication so that the deportee can have access to quality care upon their return.

·         I also learned that the interviewing process “Know your Rights?” which is usually conducted at the detention centers lacks privacy and at most did not allow for individuals to share their primary reasons for entering the country legally or undocumented.  I also learned that a request for release on humanitarian grounds could be submitted on behalf of HIV+ detainees where possible and it can be justified.

·         I also learned that there were ways individuals could be brought into the US via United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR); however, this process can be very tasking and has its own challenges around prejudices and biases on the part of the UN field officers.

·         In addition we addressed in brief the issue of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) which proposes changes to address the needs of immigrants and LGBT individuals.  Currently only Senator Edward Kennedy from MA has not re-signed to the proposed bill.

In general it was a great conference.

If you have any questions please feel free to post to this blog.

Linford

 Mary represented what society would label as filth, worthless or a deviant because she did not fit the norm, she was a prostitute, a drug user, and was HIV positive.  She was not pretty – in her own words – she had missing teeth, gray skin, and it was rare when her hair was clean and combed. The only way she felt she could be validated as a woman was through sex, and drugs. But you know what I’ve asked myself time and time again?  How can you not have passion for what we do? With all their problems, and issues, and challenges, every time our clients walk through that door or call us on the phone, their humanity calls out to each of us, looking for validation through us, asking us to recognize their humanity when no one else will or does.

On our first meeting Mary came in wearing her famous cowboy hat and leather jacket.  She accessed mental health and case management services at the agency.  I  remember the countless times  after that first time when the mental health provider and I sat with her many nights after hours and talked with her,  listening  to her rhetorical cries, because no one other than us seemed to care.

The holiday seasons were extremely difficult for Mary, and the year 2000 was no different, she came in crying hysterically because she wanted to see her daughters. However, her family had shunned her because of her HIV status and the way she lived her life. That Christmas The only way she could see her children was through a window in her mother’s house while her children played in her sister’s house next door.

Every year she would plead with her family that she wanted to spend time with her daughters. “I won’t infect them. I just want to hold them and tell them I love them.” But that opportunity was never given to her by her family.

By the next holiday season rather than sitting across from Mary, and helping her through her pain, I would be standing in front of her casket. You see Mary was murdered that Christmas day, her voice still recorded in my voicemail cancelling our appointment for Christmas Eve, and the call to reschedule never came in.

Mary died that weekend, killed at the hands of her boyfriend for $170 that her pimp had told him she had stolen from him, she was left to die with a crushed her skull, under a dirty blanket with her mouth, hands, and feet bound.

We attended Mary’s funeral.  It was amazing to see her lying there in a beautiful cashmere sweater, with her hair and make-up done professionally. There was no sight of her trademark cowboy hat or leather jacket. There were pictures of her surrounding her casket – pictures of her smiling with beautiful white teeth and clean skin, pictures of her before the disease and drugs and hard life. Those pretty pictures were her family view of her. But you know what? They didn’t know her.  They didn’t know about her pain, what she wanted or needed.

As a provider, my heart was filled with sadness because I knew this was just one of many Marys I would encounter through my work. I had to learn how not to personalize the pain I felt at her death. While I only knew her in instances of crises – those instances showed me so much of what love and humanity should be and how it is represented in a person.

She taught me to look beyond the external aspect and appreciate the person – what every person - has to offer. She offered me the true meaning of humanity. That despite her imperfections as she called them she had a genuine need to give love even if it was in the wrong manner. She deserved acknowledgement as a human and to give that back to other people.

Her family came from wealth and status, they drove new trucks and vehicles, but nothing of that world mattered to her, because they couldn’t accept her as she was. Had she been given the opportunity, she would probably be alive today. All she wanted was a chance to feel human and have that worth acknowledged and appreciated.

The message I want to convey to providers is that we will encounter many clients like Mary, and we should never lose sight of what brought us to do the work we do, because it is the driving force behind our ability to help these individuals that society looks upon as worthless. We give them value, a voice; we give them the status they are so desperately seeking. We become many things to them that society as a whole refuses to give them.  Society has too many norms and standards that they feel they can’t measure up to.

As a provider, it’s important to be able to have a support system in place when you lose a client – no matter how that loss occurs. And each of us has to identify what our limits are – how much we can handle and what we have to let go of in order to continue to be effective. 

The best journeys in life provide us with a new way of seeing the world.  My work at AIDS Project Worcester has been part of that journey which has taught me to be thankful for the life that I have, and the life of others. 

Priscila

Transgender Equality Lobby Day

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 from 10 am - 1 pm at the Massachusetts Statehouse - Grand Staircase

Those against our equality, our right to safety, and justice are organizing their own campaign of lies about what this bill really means, this means education, preventing discrimination, and justice for hate crime victims. Now is the time to come out and meet your legislator, be seen at the statehouse, tell your story. We need to be visible, for our family, friends, and allies to be visible.

Please come educate your legislators about the bill “An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes” and the experiences transgender people, family, friends, and allies face in Massachusetts without statewide laws inclusive of gender identity and gender expression. At 10 am we’ll kick off Lobby Day with a panel of speakers including policy makers, transgender people, and family members, as well as light refreshments and a short lobbying training. All the necessary materials will be provided.

Please make an appointment with your legislators to meet with them on lobby day. To do this:

1. Find out who your Representative and Senator are 2. Get the office number and email for your State Representative and your Senator 3. Check to see if your legislators are current co-sponsors.

If so, you will be thanking them for their support.

If not, you will be meeting with them to ask for their support.

Please RSVP for this event at info@masstpc.org.

For more information or assistance with locating your legislators contact MTPC at info@masstpc.org or 617-778-0519 or visit http://www.masstpc.org

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) and co-sponsored by:

AIDS Action Committee

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts Bay State Stonewall Democrats Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth (BAGLY) Boston Dyke March Dorrington & Saunders and Associates East Coast FTM Group, Northampton, MA Family Equality Council Fenway Community Health and The Fenway Institute Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project GLBT Youth Support Project and Health Care of Southeastern Mass Greater Boston PFLAG Human Rights Campaign International Foundation for Gender Education Join the Impact MA Keshet LGBT Aging Project Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women (MassNOW) Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (MLGBA) Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC)

Matahari: Eye of the Day

National Association of Social Workers (NASW-MA) MassEquality Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus (MGLPC) The National Council of Jewish Women National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter The Network/La Red North Shore Alliance of GLBT Youth (NAGLY) People to People

Please repost

Gunner Scott

Director

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition PO Box 301897, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

617-778-0519

gscott@masstpc.org

http://www.masstpc.org

The point of this day is for consumers, mental health professionals, and their allies (and these titles often overlap!) to come together and celebrate the healing power of the arts. All the information is below.

I will be co-facilitating a movement workshop (also noted below) during the day. I am not sure about the time, but I can promise you that if you are interested, I will let you know more. I can also promise you that my movement workshops have been deemed both “really fun” and “not boring” by the patients, children, and fellow grad students who have experienced them thus far.

I hope some of you can come, and if you can’t, that you will spread the word!!

Peace out,

Alexia