Agency Highlights
GMHC's Public Policy work benefits the lives of everyone infected
or affected by HIV and AIDS
It has long been GMHC's mission to amplify the voices of HIV-positive
people so that they can better achieve meaningful change in their
lives through grassroots organizing, lobbying, and effective advocacy.
In addition, GMHC has held firm to the belief that federal, state,
and local governments must keep HIV and AIDS prevention and care
a fully-funded priority. This past year, GMHC's public policy actions
reached all levels of government to defend, protect, and maintain
the stream of resources available to HIV- positive people and their
right to a quality life.
By leading a demonstration last July at the XIV International
AIDS Conference in Barcelona, GMHC issued a loud salvo in the HIV/AIDS
community's ongoing battle with the federal government to demand
that more attention be paid to domestic and global AIDS issues.
The demonstration was just one example of GMHC's national leadership
role in forming and maintaining significant coalitions of AIDS
organizations, like the AIDS Action Council, whose Board GMHC chaired
during the year, and the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership (FAPP),
of which GMHC is a founding member. Through its leadership roles
in AIDS Action Council and FAPP, and through its membership in
organizations like the National Minority AIDS Council and Cities
Advocating for Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR) Coalition, GMHC influences
federal AIDS public policy on issues of prevention, research, treatment,
care, and housing. One highlight of the year was organizing — in
tandem with our coalition partners — several days of extensive
lobbying in Washington, D.C. on HIV prevention, Medicaid, and federal
funding.
During the year, GMHC responded vigorously to shifts in federal
HIV/AIDS public policy that threatened to undermine an effective
response to the epidemic. GMHC established and chaired the HIV
Prevention Defense Working Group, which challenged lawmakers and
government officials to protect the value of current HIV prevention
strategies. As part of this important fight, GMHC remained strongly
opposed to the federal government's attacks on HIV prevention,
such as its heavy focus on abstinence as the primary means of preventing
HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. We also worked with
our local partners that were targeted by the federal government
for punitive financial audits — an imminent threat to all
organizations who promote condoms as an effective means of HIV
prevention, and who use sexually realistic approaches in their
prevention messages. The impact of the events of September 11,
2001, and a sluggish economy continued to be exhibited in state
and citywide fiscal fatigue, increased unemployment, and pervasive
budget tightening. Mindful of both the reality of reduced resources
and increasing needs of people affected by AIDS, GMHC renewed its
fight against dramatic cuts in essential federal, state, and local
AIDS funding — like Medicaid, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program
(ADAP), and funding for communities of color — successfully
preventing potentially devastating shortfalls in services and health
care for thousands of men, women, and children.
GMHC's Public Policy and Volunteer Departments, in conjunction
with the Open Society Institute, brought interns to GMHC from various
countries in Eastern Europe as part of the Eastern European Fellowship
Program. The fellows brought valuable insights to GMHC and received
important on-site training in treatment advocacy, grassroots organizing,
and service provision. Bringing these skills back to their home
countries, the fellows in the program increased the capacity of
their regional AIDS organizations.
GMHC actively works to empower its clients with information and
resources to better manage their own care. On the front lines of
the effort to make Medicaid enrollment and coverage stipulations "user
friendly," GMHC continued to offer its SNiP Tips — a user's
guide to New York State's Medicaid Special Needs Plans. GMHC also
continued to hold workshops and forums every week to help clients
understand the complicated system of health entitlements and eligibility.
Similarly, GMHC's flagship publication, Treatment Issues, offered
scholarly information on HIV treatment options, advocacy, and policy.
The men, women, and children affected by HIV and AIDS, both here
and around the world, are all too often the people least likely
to have their voices heard or their needs met. Through sophisticated,
passionate, and committed public policy analysis and advocacy,
GMHC continued to assist HIV-positive people and people living
with AIDS in their efforts to be heard.
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© 2004 Gay Men's Health Crisis
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