Ready for Action?
1. Respond to the census by October 5! Find out why your response matters here.
2. Sign and promote the National LGBTQ+ Anti-Poverty Action Network’s petition calling on the candidates to take action in the next presidential term to “dismantle barriers to social and economic justice for LGBTQ+ people.”
The main recommendation is that the next administration form an inter-agency LGBTQ+ Anti-Poverty Task Force to address the wide-ranging social and economic factors contributing to LGBTQ+ poverty and discrimination, which are compounded and even more pronounced for transgender and gender nonconforming people and those who experience systemic racism, xenophobia, sexism and ableism.
And now the news…
Health Care Access
National Hispanic/Latinx Health Leadership Network unveils a policy agenda addressing HIV in Hispanic/Latinx communities
The National Hispanic/Latinx Health Leadership Network released a health policy agenda following a two-year community-driven process resulting in recommendations for addressing the HIV, viral hepatitis, and STI epidemics while considering the cultural and linguistic needs of Hispanic/Latinx communities.
A few of the recommendations include:
- Ensure specific funding allocation to build the infrastructure of organizations most impacted by HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and other health disparities. These include trans-led and LGBT Hispanic/Latinx organizations that address the unique needs of these communities.
- Distribute HIV, hepatitis, and STI awareness and prevention (e.g., U=U) messaging and materials in Spanish and English to the most impacted populations.
- Invest in addressing HIV, hepatitis, and STI stigma through English- and Spanish-language social media campaigns produced in collaboration with the target populations.
President Trump issues executive order on prescription drugs cost
President Trump issued an executive order (EO) which attempts to lower the costs of prescription drugs by directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to begin the process of requiring Medicare to pay the same price for prescription drugs as those sold in other nations.
This EO comes after negotiations over drug pricing between the Trump administration and PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s lobby, broke down following the administration’s request for pharmaceutical companies to issue $100, one-time savings cards, dubbed “Trump Cards,” to seniors before November.
Experts agree that this drug pricing EO is beyond the scope of the president’s powers and unlikely to work within the current Medicare structure. Most believe that it is extremely unlikely that consumers will see changes in the prices that they pay for drugs.
Even if the president had the power to do this, the administrative process would take several months, the resulting rule is likely to be challenged in court, and the plan does not ensure that a majority of consumers will receive any cost savings.
COVID-19 vaccine trials will now include people living with HIV
The Phase 3 trials of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines will allow people living with HIV to enroll. Activists led this effort by urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Congress, and drug companies to alter protocols barring people living with HIV from participating in these trials.
Companies put these policies in place due to misguided fears that people living with HIV would have an impaired immune response to the vaccine. Activists and researchers quickly stepped in to point out that many people living with HIV and receiving antiviral treatment do not have suppressed immune systems and that there was no scientific reason to leave them out of vaccine trials.
Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights & Justice
An ICE detention center in Georgia performed forced sterilization on immigrants
On September 14, Dawn Wooten, a Black nurse working at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Georgia, filed a whistleblower complaint describing “jarring medical neglect” within the facility, which included a doctor described as the “uterus collector” performing hysterectomies on immigrants without their knowledge or consent.
Sterilization has long been a tool used against marginalized communities including women living with HIV, BIPOC people, sex workers, and people with disabilities. PWN issued a statement condemning this human rights abuse, which provides actions you can take now!
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing
On September 18, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away due to complications from cancer. Justice Ginsburg was a feminist icon, who co-founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project and profoundly changed the way courts and society view gender discrimination. Because of her work as a lawyer, women can serve on juries, can open credit cards and bank accounts in their own names, and cannot be excluded from state funded institutions.
As a Supreme Court Justice, she was involved in landmark decisions upholding the Affordable Care Act, recognizing same-sex marriage, and extending employment discrimination protections to LGBTQ communities. She also wrote powerful dissents in cases obliterating the protections of the Voting Rights Act, failing to recognize the gender pay gap, and permitting corporations to opt out of providing birth control to employees.
As with any of our idols, her legacy is not unmarred by complications. However, her work has paved the way for women to fiercely advocate for equal rights for themselves and others, and for that we thank her.
Justice Ginsburg’s death has resulted in a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set a new precedent by refusing to hold hearings on President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, saying presidents could not fill a vacant Supreme Court seat in a presidential election year. However, McConnell has chosen to not abide by his own precedent without justification and plans to replace Justice Ginsburg prior to the November election.
President Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has expressed opposition to LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, the Affordable Care Act, among other issues. Her presence on the court could erect barriers to accessing de-stigmatizing care, housing, safe spaces, and employment opportunities for women and people of trans experience living with HIV.
If confirmed by the Senate for this lifetime position, she could radically alter the Court’s decisions for many years. PWN has released an action alert, with steps you can take to help prevent Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Economic Justice
The Senate fails to pass a COVID-19 relief package
Senate Republicans’ “skinny stimulus” bill failed to pass this month with Democrats unanimously opposed to it. The bill was inadequate to meet people’s needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it reduced the amount of the federal unemployment benefits, did not provide a second round of stimulus checks, shielded businesses who forced employees back to work from liability, and failed to provide financial aid to state and local governments. It seems unlikely that lawmakers will pass a relief bill before the November election, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to keep the House of Representative in session until a new stimulus bill passes. A bipartisan group of House members has released a compromise offer, but it unlikely to become law.
CDC announces eviction moratorium
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced a nationwide eviction moratorium on September 4, 2020. This temporary ban is intended to prevent individuals who fail to pay rent from being evicted or removed from where they are living through at least December 31, 2020.
In order to be protected by the moratorium, each adult listed on the lease, rental agreement, or housing contract must complete a declaration form like the one here. Even if you file a declaration form, the protections from it are shaky, because some states are still allowing landlords to file eviction cases, and there are reports of courts incorrectly informing tenants that the moratorium does not apply to them.
Further, it is important to note that this does NOT cancel or stop rent, it ONLY prevents a landlord from evicting a tenant who is unable to pay rent during the moratorium period. Once the moratorium ends on January 1, 2021, landlords can evict tenants for failing to pay any amounts due.
We must continue to push to cancel rent to prevent hundreds of thousands of renters, especially BIPOC renters, from being evicted in January or being pushed further into debt. If you or someone you know is experiencing these kinds of issues, you can contact your local legal aid office.
For more information, please check out this fact sheet.
Ending Criminalization
Williams Institute issues report on HIV criminalization in Missouri
The Williams Institute has released a report which compiles data on HIV-related criminal offenses in Missouri.
Missouri has five HIV-related felonies, which require only that a person have knowledge of their HIV status but do not require actual transmission, intent to transmit, or conduct posing a risk of transmission. The report found that people who are already incarcerated are usually targeted for prosecution and are also disproportionally Black men. You can access the full report here.
Ending Violence Against Women and People of Trans Experience Living with HIV
President Trump bans federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from conducting race and sex sensitivity training
President Trump signed two executive orders this month aimed at preventing race and sex sensitivity training. The first is a memorandum to federal agencies, while the second is an executive order which places a provision in government contracts threatening to cancel them if the contractors “inculcate” employees with trainings about race or sex stereotyping, white privilege, unconscious bias, or systematic racism.
The executive order calls these trainings “offensive and anti-American” and claims that “[o]ur Founding documents,” which included provisions for continuing the slave trade and the three-fifths compromise, “rejected these racialized views of America.”
The antiracism trainings that the Trump administration is attacking center the active role each person must undertake to work against racism and engage in an honest reckoning with the country’s history. These orders make it so that many organizations which rely on government funding, such as nonprofits, universities, and employers, will have to choose between receiving necessary funding and training employees to provide informed service and combat racism.
This order also risks making programs which receive these funds less accessible to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities who do not feel safe because of the lack of informed training for employees. Further, it ignores the realities of our systems and history as a country.
LGBTQ Rights, Safety, and Justice
California LGBTQ Bills
The California Legislature passed a package of bills that support the lives and health of LGBTQ+ individuals which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on September 26.
- AB 2218: Increases access to holistic and inclusive health care services for transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex (TGI) people across California by funding grants to organizations serving people who identify as TGI. The TransLatin@ Coalition co-sponsored this bill and has successfully organized actions to push Governor Newsom to sign it.
- SB 132: Prior to this bill’s passage, prison officials in California almost exclusively housed people of trans experience according to their sex assigned at birth, despite their requests to be housed according to their gender identity. This practice was both unsafe and did not affirm people’s identities. This bill, also co-sponsored by the TransLatin@ Coalition, requires that officials place trans+ individuals in housing based upon their gender identity and their own stated health and safety needs.
- SB 1255: The Equal Insurance HIV Act requires disability and life insurers to treat people living with HIV the same as any other chronic, manageable condition. It also requires insurers to maintain strict confidentiality for personal information obtained through HIV testing.
Election Updates
Disenfranchisement in Florida
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a Florida law requiring people with felonies to pay court fines and fees prior to registering to vote is constitutional. This law disenfranchises BIPOC and low-income people. You can read more about the decision here.
NYT mail tracker
The New York Times has been collecting data to see how fast or slow the mail is around the country. They will be positing updates as the election gets closer. Check it out here.
Colorado USPS election mailer lawsuit
The Colorado Secretary of State has file a federal lawsuit against the Postmaster General claiming that a mailer that was sent to voters provided them with misleading information about voting by mail and was an attempt to disenfranchise them. Click here to learn more.
