The American Academy of
HIV Medicine, a new group of AIDS clinicians, announced in October that
it has recruited 500 doctors serving about 100,000 HIVers. The group
plans to unify the diverse backgrounds of HIV specialists ranging from
internists to oncologists and to advocate for improved, more
coordinated treatment. "There hasn't been anyone to represent the
special needs and views of this field," said treasurer Stephen Boswell,
MD, executive director of Fenway Community Health in Boston. "Until
now."
Project Inform won a
court order of protection in November against the HIV denialist group
ACT UP/San Francisco for threatening its staff and clients at an April
meeting. In a separate case, a jury also found the group guilty of
criminal assault for spraying the city's health director with Silly
String at a prevention meeting. Project Inform founder Martin Delaney
compared the group's tactics to militant anti-abortion activists who
use threats of physical assault to convey their message. "In my view,
this is a form of terrorism," he said. Because the jury deadlocked or
acquitted ACT UP/SF members on more serious charges, including battery,
the group also claimed a victory.
A public relations firm hired by Schering-Plough to build awareness
of its hepatitis C treatment through the creation of state
patient-advocacy coalitions -- the manufactured grass-roots strategy is
known in the biz as "Astroturf" -- threatened to sue a bona fide
advocate, Brian Klein, for slamming the strategy as "unethical and
misleading." In October, lawyers for the Perry Communications Group in
San Francisco vowed to take "whatever necessary legal action" to
prevent Klein, head of the Hepatitis C Action and Advocacy Coalition,
from further criticism. Klein responded by publicizing the threat in a
mass e-mail.
Mario Poulin, a New Hampshire HIVer who was refused a routine
urology examination, brought a bias complaint against his doctor in
November. "I felt like a disease," Poulin said. The incident took place
on April 6 at the office of Gary Dunetz, MD. Although cases challenging
the "direct threat defense" have been won by PWAs nationwide, Poulin's
lawyers at the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders said that
unfounded fears about HIV still plague many medical settings.
AWARDS
The National AIDS Memorial Grove, a seven-acre reserve in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, recei
The National AIDS
Memorial Grove, a seven-acre reserve in San Francisco's Golden Gate
Park, received $500,000 funding from the state, presented by California
assemblywoman Carole Migden. An endowment pays for maintenance by a
city gardener, but much of the leafy glen's upkeep is done on monthly
Saturday afternoons, which draw up to 300 volunteers. "Gardening is
meditative," executive director Thom Weyand says. "Working close to the
ground becomes cathartic. It's about renewal."
DEATHS
Parks Mankahlana, who served as spokesperson both for Nelson Mandela in the first post-apa
Parks Mankahlana,
who served as spokesperson both for Nelson Mandela in the first
post-apartheid elections and for President Thabo Mbeki, died August 24
at the age of 36. Although he was credited with expanding press access
after decades of restrictions, Mankahlana became a lightning rod for
controversy during last year's debates about AIDS dissenters, when he
said that the Durban Declaration affirming that HIV causes AIDS
belonged "in the trash." The cause of death still remains unknown,
despite calls to the government to confirm or deny rumors of AIDS.
Michael Rosano, a New York city and state political insider
and leading advocate for PWA and gay rights, died October 12 after a
brief battle with melanoma. Rosano, 42, was an ACT UP regular for years
and held many positions with elected officials in New York before
joining the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Anti-Violence Project as
political director. In 1998, he moved to Albany to serve as press
secretary for state Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor. "Despite
being an insider," says activist and friend Bill Dobbs, "Michael had
guts, and he wasn't afraid to open his mouth."
