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Op-ed: AIDS Funding Cuts Especially Sharp for Men of Color

BY Daniel Tietz

Ellie Foldes hands out free condoms to passersby during a free HIV testing event at by the Whitman-Walker Health in Washington, DC. Whitman-Walker Health held the event to observe National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

One day more than 30 years ago in New York, 80 gay men met in writer Larry Kramer’s apartment to discuss the deadly disease that was spreading throughout their community. From this meeting came the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, today simply GMHC, the first-ever community health organization of its kind.

In 1987, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a poignant reminder of the thousands who died from the disease, was displayed on the National Mall for the first time. In April 1990, Congress passed the Ryan White AIDS Memorial CARE Act, providing unprecedented federal funding for HIV/AIDS care and treatment.

In 1995, President Clinton held the first ever White House Conference on HIV/AIDS, and created the Office of National AIDS Policy, delivering a memorable speech in which he articulated exactly why fighting the disease had to be a national priority.

These are all milestones in the history of HIV and AIDS in America, milestones that illustrate years of progress and growing awareness that silence and inaction in the face of this epidemic literally was death, in the words of a classic activist slogan. But today, much of that awareness has receded from not only the public consciousness, but from the priorities of the funders, notably LGBT funders, that once devoted so much of their time and money to fighting the disease.