HIV/AIDS council members resign in protest of Donald Trump
Source: LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger · Saturday, June 17, 2017
Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned this week in protest of Donald Trumps apathy towards the epidemic and his attempts to take health care access away from people living with HIV/AIDS.
The PACHA was created in 1995 during the Clinton Administration to provide recommendations about the governments response to the HIV epidemic. The Bush Administration continued the councils charter and during the Obama Administration the council created and monitored the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal, wrote in Newsweek about why he and five of his colleagues decided to leave the PACHA. The Trump Administration has no strategy to address the on-going HIV/AIDS epidemic, seeks zero input from experts to formulate HIV policy, andmost concerningpushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease.
Schoettes cites several incidents that showed that Trump doesnt care about HIV/AIDS policy, including his refusal to meet with HIV advocates during his campaign, the removal of the Office of National AIDS Policys website when he took office, or his continued failure to appoint someone to head the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.
But most of all Schoettes is concerned about Trumps attempts to take health care access away from the poor and the working class by repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Before the ACA, many people with HIV couldnt even buy health care (forget about affording it) because HIV is a pre-existing condition. Medicaid was difficult to access because a person had to have AIDS to be considered disabled and get coverage.
Read more: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/06/hivaids-council-members-resign-protest-donald-trump/
pbmus
(12,422 posts)Hekate
(90,690 posts)...and depart with your integrity and self respect intact. Don't be hopeful, don't be deluded, and above all, don't be a collaborator.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)I stopped counting at 13,
because to count,
you must stop and remember each one for the tally,
and it hurt too much.
dembotoz
(16,804 posts)Just stop being gay stuff.
briv1016
(1,570 posts)Neither article mentioned how new members join.
bluedye33139
(1,474 posts)One positive sign is the fact that his budget did not attack the Ryan White Appropriations. But in general he does not want to think about or look at the fact that there are Americans with HIV.