July 15th, 2011 at 11:12 am » Comments (0)

Please call your Congressional Members and ask them to join the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus. We must have voices from our representatives in this caucus.

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Click above to find your Congressional Representative

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Join the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus

AIDS remains one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time. An estimated 33.4 million people live with HIV/AIDS and more than 25 million people have died since 1981. Worldwide, an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2009, and in the United States, someone is newly infected with HIV every 9.5 minutes.

Despite the severity of the challenge, the unprecedented global response to AIDS has passed important milestones, dramatically expanding access to prevention, care, and treatment.  Thanks to bipartisan efforts in Congress, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) have reduced the burden of HIV and AIDS in numerous countries and have put us on track to eliminating pediatric AIDS. Within the United States, through initiatives like the Ryan White CARE Act and the development of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy, we are poised to put HIV and AIDS on the long term road to elimination.

The Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus (formerly the Congressional Task Force on International HIV/AIDS) was created to examine methods by which the United States can maintain global leadership in the response to the epidemic.

In the 112th Congress, the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus will explore five thematic areas:

• Implementation of the US National HIV/AIDS Strategy
• Financing for Bilateral and Multilateral HIV/AIDS programs
• The state of HIV/AIDS research
• The role of Faith-Based Organizations
• The 2012 International AIDS Conference to be held in Washington, D.C.

Members of the Caucus will receive advance notification of HIV/AIDS related activities and developments, including Member roundtables, staff roundtables, briefings and events.

To join the Caucus or for more information please contact Jirair Ratevosian (Lee), Andrew Adair (McDermott) or Stephanie Hammond (Franks).

July 10th, 2011 at 3:56 pm » Comments (0)

For Immediate Release

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July 8, 2011

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – On Friday, July 8, 2011, the AIDS Action Coalition (AAC) joins the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama and others to challenge Alabama’s comprehensive immigration law, House Bill 56 (HB 56), on multiple constitutional grounds and seeks injunctive and declaratory relief to prevent serious harm that Plaintiffs and countless fellow Alabamians will suffer if the law goes into effect.

The AIDS Action Coalition as a course of business cares for clients living with HIV/AIDS from all walks of life.  In HB 56, it will be illegal for the AIDS Action Coalition to care for people with HIV disease who are undocumented.

Mary Elizabeth Marr, Executive Director of the AIDS Action Coalition stated, “We as an organization find it incomprehensible that we would not provide care for people who are infected with HIV/AIDS, regardless of their immigration status.  Besides the fact that as medical professionals, we provide care for people in need; this is a public health situation.  If people living with HIV/AIDS are denied healthcare and medications, then they are more likely to infect others in the community.”

There are several exemptions from liability, but they appear to be inapplicable to the AAC.  The exemptions are limited to “First Responders” and “Protective Services Providers” when those individuals are acting in their professional capacities.  Protective Services Provider is defined to exclude ongoing clinical treatment.

The AIDS Action Coalition operates the Davis Clinic providing comprehensive primary healthcare, medication assistance, case management, laboratory services, mental health, transportation, translation – all these services are provided for people living with HIV/AIDS.  AAC also provides free, confidential testing for HIV and education/outreach in the community.

The mission of the AIDS Action Coalition is to end the suffering of those living with HIV through education, prevention and direct service. For more information about AAC visit www.aidsactioncoalition.org.

July 6th, 2011 at 9:22 pm » Comments (0)

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GA:  States in limbo on illegal immigration http://www.ajc.com/news/states-in-limbo-on-996789.html — For many Georgians who want the state to apprehend immigrants who entered the country illegally, it’s a matter of upholding the law, pure and simple. “I have to think of it in the aspect of the rule of law, and what is right and what is wrong,” Norcross activist Judy Craft said last month. “Illegal is illegal.” For the four federal judges who have temporarily blocked efforts of Georgia and three other states to begin apprehending illegal immigrants, it’s also a matter of upholding the law, pure and simple.

2. CA:  Immigrant advocates sue LA Co. over deportations http://www.kpsplocal2.com/news/state/story/Immigrant-advocates-sue-LA-Co-over-deportations/Fz5A9p0fc0C1hBQSBteE2w.cspx – Immigrant rights advocates have filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to get information about the department’s participation in immigration enforcement programs and data about deportations.  The National Day Labor Organizing Network, the National Immigration Law Center and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles filed their petition Tuesday and plan to serve Sheriff Lee Baca with a summons on Thursday.

3. TX:  Prove citizenship for driver’s license http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/politics/prove-citizenship-for-drivers-license — A last-minute addition to a budget bill passed this week at the Texas Capitol will affect most Texas adults – and the way you get your driver’s license.  Currently, when you go to get your license or renew it, DPS officers are allowed to ask for proof of your citizenship or legal status in the country – with something like a passport or birth certificate.

4. MD:  E-signatures challenged by Md. ACLU, defended by Utah ACLUhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/29/state-aclu-challenges-e-signature-petitions/ — Two months before the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union questioned the legality of a website used to collect signatures opposing the state’s Dream Act, the group’s Utah chapter filed a lawsuit demanding that its state allow online signatures for referendum efforts.

5. GA: Immigration law already hitting Georgia farmers http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/52381/ — It takes almost 80,000 workers to harvest Georgia’s crops, according to the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Grower’s Association. A number of these workers are migrants or immigrants, coming from other states or countries to work the fields for a season or two. But when Georgia House Bill 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011, goes into effect Friday, farmers might be hard-pressed to find workers.