The HIV Prevention
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Fighting Homophobia to Fight HIV

January 22, 2009

We know and, increasingly, research shows that stigma and discrimination against LGBTQ people put us at disproportionate risk for HIV infection throughout our lives. Saving the lives of LGBTQ people means more than HIV prevention programs - it requires changing the hateful environment we live in.

Institutional policies at the highest levels of government - such as the "No Promo Homo" Helms Amendment's censorship of HIV prevention materials, the CDC's reluctance to research the realities and resiliencies in LGBTQ communities, and the U.S. government's refusal to really count LGBTQ people at all—marginalize sexual minorities, demonize sexual diversity and engender the homophobia, transphobia, and anti-queer stigma that made gay men so vulnerable at the very beginning of the epidemic.

As we enter a new political era, it's time to reunite across movements and address the ways that institutionalized fear and hatred of sexual diversity make our communities more vulnerable to HIV. Please join us to discuss how concerned community members can join forces in 2009 to escalate our efforts after decades of discrimination and marginalization!


Sean Cahill - Gay Men's Health Crisis





Kenyon Farrow - Queers for Economic Justice & NGLTF




Barbara Warren - The LGBT Community Center




Alvin Starks - Philanthropic Strategist & Researcher






The January Community Forum was held at the LGBT Community Center, and other co-sponsors included African Services Committee, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Center for HIV Law and Policy, Community Education Group, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Conscious Contact of New York, Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), Harm Reduction Coalition, Harlem United, Hombres Latinos De Ambiente (HOLA), Love Heals, Manhattan HIV/AIDS Care Network, National Coalition for LGBT Health, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), The LGBT Community Center, Queers for Economic Justice.