Subject: SF mayor forgets gays w/AIDS when asking Clinton for money
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 20:05:27 EST

[Dear friends,

The following letter was distributed at the December 21 meeting of the SF Ryan
White CARE Council.

As you can plainly see, the words gay men, homosexuals, bisexual men, queers,
men who have sex with men, gay youth, gay runaways, and men in those
categories who also use injection drugs, weren't important enough to include
in Mayor Brown's request for more AIDS dollars for programs in SF.  

According to the latest AIDS surveillance report of the SF Health Department,
as of September 1998 gay men comprised the largest category here.  Table 1,
AIDS cases by transmission category, shows gay and bisexual men are 79.5
percent of the total, along with gay men who are IDU's and account for 10.7 of
cases, for a grand total of 90.2 percent of AIDS cases in SF.

I think this omission is unequivocal proof of how explicitly AIDS in America
has been de-gay-ified.  If San Francisco's Democratic mayor can turn to DC for
more federal AIDS funding and not mention gays with AIDS once, I wonder how
other less 'friendly' mayors deal with gay and AIDS when they approach
Clinton.

If you think gays with AIDS in SF, along with other people with AIDS in SF
deserve full federal funding for programs, then please call Mayor Willie Brown
at (415)-554-6141 and tell him so. And if you live here, think about voting
the Other Slick Willie out of office next year.  Thanks  --mp]
-----------------------------------------------------------

December 12, 1998

The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to thank you for your leadership on domestic and international
AIDS issues in the past year and to ask for your support for increased funds
for the Ryan White CARE Act and international AIDS programs in FY2000.

The Ryan White CARE Act is an important program for San Francisco.  Recent
estimates show that more than 15,000 persons, or about one in 50, are living
with HIV disease.  The epidemic is increasingly impacting younger people.  And
as you know, communities of color, particularly African-Americans, Latinos and
Native Americans, are disproportionately affected in San Francisco and
throughout the country.

At the same time, there are needs that we do not have the resource to meet.
The cost of care in San Francisco is significantly higher than many other
jurisdictions.  The cost of housing, coupled with a one percent vacancy rate,
results in a housing wait list comprised of more than 4,000 San Franciscans,
and we must do better in the area of HIV testing, especially among youth, to
ensure that all persons with HIV disease have access to care.

You can help meet the needs of persons living with HIV disease in San
Francisco and throughout the country by directing the Office of Management and
Budget to propose increases in vital programs provided through the CARE Act.

Title 1, which provides assistance to America's urban centers, received $505
million in FY99.  An increase of $120 million, for a total of $625 million, is
necessary to respond to the escalating need for HIV primary medical care,
increases in the cost and complexity of care, and the need to better serve
communities of color.  In San Francisco, our award is administered by the
Department of Public Health and is utilized to provide a wide variety of
services including case management, treatment advocacy, housing,
transportation, peer support and child care.

Title III, which provides resources to enhance primary care at existing
medical providers, received $94 million in FY99.  The San Francisco Community
clinic Consortium, a coalition of nine non-profit community health centers, is
the Title III grantee.  A number of these health centers specifically serve
communities of color.  One example is the Mission Neighborhood Health Center,
which is directly funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Their culturally competent services ensure that Latinos, including immigrants
with limited English proficiency, receive necessary primary and HIV specialty
care.  Similar services are provided to Native Americans through the Native
American Health Center.

Title IV serves women, children, youth and families impacted by HIV disease.
In FY99, Title IV received $46 million, and with an increase of $15 million
this year, will help people in need all across the country.  This innovative
program is designed to provide family-centered care, ensuring that all members
of a family -- whether biological or chosen -- have access to lifesaving
treatments and state-of-the-art research.  In many ways, the tremendous
success in reducing perinatal HIV transmission can be attributed to Title I
programs.

Health Initiatives for Youth, San Francisco's lead Title IV grantee, convenes
a network of youth serving agencies through it Project AHEAD.  These agencies
provide a wide variety of services to a diverse set of young people.  For
instance, the Center for Young Women's Development's Street Survival Project
provides direct services to young women on the streets.  The Center is also
funded through my Criminal Justice Council.  Recently, Larkin Street Youth
Center, a program serving homeless and runaway youth, successfully competed
for federal funding through Title I's historic Adolescent Initiative.

On the international agenda, much remains to be done.  With 75 percent of
global AIDS cases in sub-Saharan Africa, and virtually no treatment available
to person with HIV disease in "developing countries," America must do more to
meet this challenge.  My administration has partnered with a number of cities
including Manila and Mexico City through our Office of International Trade and
Commerce, to provide technical assistance to their governments and non-
governmental agencies combating AIDS.  Providing additional recourse for this
work is crucial.

I am hopeful that you will consider these requests as the process of
developing your budget move forward.  If your staff needs additional
information, they may contact Bill Barnes, my Advisor on AIDS and HIV Policy,
at (415)-554-5101 or Karin Carlson in my Legislative Affairs Office at
(415)-554-6414.  I look forward to hearing from you on these important issues.

Sincerely,

Willie L. Brown, Jr.
Mayor

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