Health Care Access
Justice Amy Coney Barrett confirmed
After more than 62 million Americans have voted, and with only 8 days to go until Election Day, the U.S. Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. This process–an illegitimate power grab–took only 30 days from start to finish, breaking rules and norms along the way. This confirmation undermines the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and dishonors the legacy of the late Justice Ginsburg and the voters in this election.
During her confirmation hearing, Barrett misrepresented the stakes of the Affordable Care Act case, refused to say that the case ensuring birth control access was correctly decided, and also refused to answer questions about abortion access, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, and climate change.
From positions she’s taken in the past, we know that Justice Barrett is not right for our communities. Barrett’s confirmation is a devastating blow to anyone who wants a fair-minded Supreme Court. PWN remains committed to defending our communities and fighting for a Supreme Court that represents us, understands us, and works for us.
ANEA releases Community Roadmap
The ACT NOW: END AIDS (ANEA) coalition has released an updated executive summary of its community-driven policy paper, Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States: A Roadmap for Federal Action.
This updated executive summary recognizes that in light of the 2020 elections, the covid19 pandemic, and the public health crisis of racism, the only way to end HIV is through disruptive innovations led by people living with HIV and the communities most affected by the virus. It calls on the next presidential administration to center human rights in the nation’s response to HIV and to recommit to ending HIV by 2025.
Much has changed since the first Roadmap was released in 2018. PWN is proud to be a participant in the 2020 update, which recognizes that ending the epidemics also requires addressing the co-occurring challenges faced by our communities of racism and COVID-19.
O’Neill Institute releases two issue briefs on the COVID-19 and HIV epidemics
Covid19 has already led to some new ideas for how to care for people living with HIV. Just this month, the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown University released two briefs on this topic.
The first, Big Ideas: Integrating Telehealth into HIV Services Systems Can Help to Sustain Improved Outcomes, examines how telehealth services, which people have used more often due to the pandemic, could be used to deliver care and prevention services to people living with HIV in the long term.
The second, Big Ideas: Supporting HIV Programs Through COVID-19 and Beyond Is Critical to Improving Health Equity, gives policy recommendations for making the public health response to HIV and COVID-19 more equitable, as well as how to fight covid19 and continue that momentum forward to also fight the HIV epidemic.
HIV Policy Lab monitors HIV-related laws and policies
The HIV Policy Lab online platform–the product of a collaboration between universities, the United Nations, and civil society organizations–was recently unveiled.
The Policy Lab gathers and monitors the laws and policies that countries have adopted which affect people living with HIV. This public resource is intended to improve HIV policies around the world by partnering with governments, public health officials, financing agencies and civil society groups to change policies rooted in an outdated understanding of HIV and to see which policies work best.
The Policy Lab recognizes that HIV-related laws and policies have life and death consequences, and that there is a need to “measure them, evaluate them, and change them to meet the evolving context on the path towards ending the global AIDS pandemic.”
Some policies they track include:
- Decriminalization of syringes, same-sex sex, sex work, drug use and HIV;
- Non-discrimination protections;
- A right to health care; and
- Policies to reduce gender-based violence.
This is great tool to see what policies have been implemented, how they are working, and to encourage local, state or federal governments to consider changing policies as well.
H.R. 8015: The Delivering for America Act
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has struggled to deliver the mail in recent months since the Trump Administration made a series of changes such as removing mail processing machines and limiting overtime hours.
These mail disruptions not only impact an individual’s ability to vote by mail in the upcoming election, but also risk the health of millions of Americans who receive their lifesaving medications by mail. Many people living with HIV are among those who receive medications by mail, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, where even simple trips to the pharmacy carry risks.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed The Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015, which provides funds and other resources to USPS so it can continue to provide essential services. The Senate has not taken any action to pass the bill, putting the health of everyone who receives their medications by mail at risk.
AIDS United has more information here about actions you can take to help ensure that USPS has the funding it needs to continue its life-saving functions.
Economic Justice
Covid19 relief languishes in Senate
As covid19 cases surge around the country, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell revealed that he warned the White House not to negotiate a stimulus bill with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
This comes after prolonged negotiations over the fourth coronavirus relief package between the Trump Administration and House Democrats. During this process, House Democrats have consistently stated that the White House’s proposals fail to meet the needs of the people who are suffering from the effects of the pandemic.
Majority Leader McConnell feared that any agreement on a stimulus package could disrupt Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation process. This is an incredible abdication of responsibility when people are suffering around the country from the recession caused by the pandemic, hospitals are filling up around the Midwest, and state and local governments are running out of funds to provide even basic services. This includes the federal programs for people living with HIV, like HOPWA and Ryan White, which have run out of their emergency funds provided by the first covid19 relief package. Additional resources to fund these programs is necessary to ensure people living with HIV have access to housing and care.
Court rules people in prison are entitled to CARES Act stimulus checks
On September 24, a U.S. District Court decided that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Treasury Department must stop denying incarcerated individuals their CARES Act $1,200 stimulus checks based on their incarceration status.
People in prison are disproportionately Black and non-Black people of color and tend to be from low income communities, which already suffer from a lack of resources and a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19. These are also the same communities most heavily impacted by the HIV epidemic.
By allowing these individuals to access the stimulus checks that they are rightfully owed, this court order will ensure that the CARES Act helps those most vulnerable, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The law firm that litigated the case along with the Equal Justice Society has set up a website with information about to obtain a CARES Act check if you or someone you know was denied a stimulus check because they were incarcerated.
You can also begin the process yourself through the IRS using the Non-Filers tool if the person who was/is incarcerated made less than $12,200 as an individual or $24,400 while jointly filing in 2019.
If the person who was/is incarcerated already filed a claim which the IRS rejected, the IRS should automatically reprocess the claim by October 24. You can check the status of your check here.
Your paper claim must be filed by November 4, 2020, but you may file your claim online until November 21, 2020.
Black South Rising releases its policy agenda
Black South Rising, a collective of advocates, community and organizational leaders, and Black people living with HIV, has released its policy agenda. It focuses on advancing, building, and sustaining Black HIV leadership in the South. It recognizes that HIV is a symptom of the structural racism, social determinism, and trauma at the root of health and wellness disparities among Black people.
The agenda demands:
- Black leadership and representation.
- Human rights and social justice.
- The divestment and dismantling of destructive systems and institutions.
- Funders changing how they resource community projects, programs, and interventions
- Implementing workable solutions to address root causes.
- Accountability
You can read the full agenda here.
Building Movement releases On the Frontlines report
The Building Movement Project’s has released a new report, On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism, which examines how the upheaval of 2020 affected people of color-led (POC) nonprofit organizations and their communities, programs, leadership, and financial sustainability.
POC-led nonprofits lead the advocacy and organizing efforts for equity and justice, while also being on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The communities they work within tend to be the same communities most at risk for contracting and facing obstacles to care for HIV.
The report contains recommendations to strengthen POC-led nonprofits, leaders of color, and their communities. This is essential to ensure that the organizations leading the efforts to dismantle systemic racism and provide for the most vulnerable communities are sustainable long term.
Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
Service members challenge policies that discriminate against people living with HIV
Five U.S. military service members living with HIV have sued the Air Force in court challenging the Trump Administration’s discriminatory policies. Some of them were going to be discharged from their positions and others were denied commissions because of their status.
People living with HIV are not permitted to enlist in the U.S. military and those diagnosed after enlistment can only remain employed if they follow strict regulations. For example, they cannot be deployed overseas or commissioned as an officer, denying them promotions based solely on their HIV status.
The policies which deem people living with HIV “unfit fit for military service” are not based in the science of U=U and are discriminatory. By allowing these policies to continue, the military is perpetuating harmful stigmas about people living with HIV.
LGBTQ Rights, Safety, and Justice
Toolkit for providing HIV prevention services to transgender women of color
The CDC has released its Toolkit for Providing HIV Prevention Services to Transgender Women of Color! This toolkit is designed to assist community-based organizations and other HIV prevention organizations in adapting their services to provide care to transgender women of color that will help ensure their health and wellbeing.
It covers topics such as:
- Hiring and supporting transgender women of color staff
- Creating transgender-affirming environments
- Engaging transgender women of color in HIV prevention and treatment
- Providing primary care (including HIV care) to transgender women of color
Rest in power, Monica Roberts
Monica Roberts, the founder of the award-winning blog TransGriot, passed away this month. Monica noted the disproportionate impact that HIV had on transgender women before many others and advocated for the trans community to have access to the resources it needed to address the epidemic.
She also reported on violence against people of trans experience long before it was covered in the mainstream media, in part by uncovering the identities of victims of violence who were dead-named by the police and media outlets.
Her work in advocating for and telling the stories of women of trans experience has helped foster both acceptance and understanding of transgender people within the HIV community and beyond. Her contributions to the community were great and she will be missed immensely.
Ending Violence
Breonna Taylor and police violence against women
Nearly 7 months after Breonna Taylor was murdered in her apartment, the world discovered that the prosecutor who investigated her case did not recommend murder or manslaughter charges to the grand jury for her death. It is worth noting that since 2015, 48 Black women have been killed by the police, and only two of those officers have been charged.
Black women face intersecting oppression that leads to a devaluation of their work and their bodies. These systemic injustices are the reason we also see disproportionate numbers of Black women living with HIV.
The failures of the system in Breonna Taylor’s case only solidifies what we already know: This country’s co-occurring epidemics will never be fixed until we listen to Black women, honor Black women, and value Black women—including paying them what they are worth.
PWN has recently announced our new initiative: Celebrate and Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement. PWN and other HIV organizations will join together in activities that honor and celebrate the role of Black women in the movement, communities, and our families.
The event will be held on March 12, 2021, but the amazing Black staff members of PWN-USA hosted a fantastic kickoff Facebook Live earlier this month to discuss why we need to celebrate Black women and how they like to be celebrated and honored.
Election Updates
Sentencing Project releases new report revealing extent of disenfranchisement of Black people
The Sentencing Project released its Locked Out 2020 Report , which found that 5.2 million people cannot vote in the 2020 election because of a felony record. It also found that 1 in 16 Black individuals of voting age are disenfranchised, which is 3.7 times greater than the rest of the population.
These numbers mean that over 6.2% of the adult Black population is disenfranchised compared to 1.7% of the non-Black population.
Technical Difficulties on Registration Websites
Multiple states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Virginia, have faced technical difficulties with their voter registration websites during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
You can read more about these incidents of voter suppression here.
Iowa Supreme Court Nullifies 70,000 Absentee Ballots
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in the Trump Administration’s favor and found that the Secretary of State could invalidate about 70,000 absentee ballots because they had been filled out in advance with voters’ personal information.
Extension of Voter Registration Deadline in NC
A federal court ruled against the Trump campaign and allowed North Carolina to allow absentee ballots to be returned nine-days after Election Day. However, the court also ruled that absentee ballot envelopes must be signed by a witness. You can read more here.
