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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE December 18, 2009 • www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
Housing, gay-targeted info sought at AIDS town hall
by Anthony Glassman
Cleveland-The White House is holding AIDS town hall meetings around the country, and Cleveland hosted theirs on Thursday, December 3, two days after World AIDS Day.
The meetings are organized by the Office of National AIDS Policy and the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of HIV and AIDS Policy. Their goal is to get community input and recommendations in three main areas: reducing HIV incidence, increasing health care access and reducing health disparities.
The Cleveland event, which was originally to be held at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland's offices on Euclid Avenue, was moved to First United Methodist Church just blocks away, both to allow more participants to be admitted and to allow the event to be webcast on www.usestream.tv.
About 150 people attended in person, said AIDS Taskforce executive director Earl Pike, and at least 30 more participated via satellite from remote locations around the state.
"There were people from as far away as Cincinnati who drove up, and virtually every region of the state was represented," Pike said.
Christopher Bates, the director of the HHS AIDS office, spoke to community members, organizers and service consumers at the meeting, then listened to their comments and concerns.
Testimony was limited to 90 seconds per person to maximize the number who could speak, and speakers covered every topic
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from the need for needle exchange programs to the importance of teen sex education.
"The thing that we heard that came up
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Health and Human Services Office of HIV and AIDS Policy director Christopher Bates.
time and again nationwide is the lack of safe and affordable housing," Pike said. “An-
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other thing that's come up a lot is the neglect of gay and bisexual men in recent prevention efforts."
He pointed to Jeffrey Crowley, the head of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, who has noted that the biggest health disparity in the nation is that gay and bisexual men make up three percent of the population but are 53 percent of newlydiagnosed infections. Crowley himself is openly gay.
Antonio
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That alone is seen as significant, as Ohio is one of only a few large states with no LGBT state legislator, which is an important step toward passing equality legislation.
This is not lost on Antonio, who said, "Any time someone brings life experience to a position and serves as an equal and a colleague, the level of understanding increases and that makes a difference."
"I have lived discrimination and inequality," Antonio said, "with most of those issues tied to economics."
Antonio and her partner Jean Kosmac have two daughters, Ariel and Stacey.
"Ohio has a long way to go to have fairness and equality for all, especially LGBT people," Antonio said.
That, however, will only be part of Antonio's campaign.
As she has done as a Lakewood councilor, Antonio wants to spend most of her time on economic development.
"My main motivation for running is to do all I can to fix school funding and continue developing strong educational policies and help create jobs," she said.
Antonio has a vision for Ohio, especially the northeastern part, to develop "innovative, sustainable, and green" employment opportunities.
Antonio said she will need $100,000 to $120,000 to run her campaign, which the Victory Fund is already helping her to raise.
Representatives from Health and Human Services expressed their admiration for the turnout, telling Pike that it was a fairly good size.
In addition to the webcast, the event was also sent out on the short-message site Twit-
ter.
"We actually had three people who were sending out tweets all night, so there were tweets going into the tweetosphere," Pike noted. "Nobody had ever done that."
Two other possible candidates have voiced interest in the seat. One is former state senator Dan Brady, whose intention to run was expressed to a reporter through his wife, Cleveland councilor Dona Brady.
Brady, also a supporter of the LGBT community, backs marriage equality and in 2003, was the first to introduce a bill that protected gays and lesbians from discrimination in employment. Brady left the Senate in 2006 due to term limits.
Antonio says she's a better choice than Brady because she says, he's retired and has been out of public life for a while, while she is more current on the issues and the work of the people.
"I respect the past record Dan Brady has," Antonio said, "but I'm for the future, for bringing fresh ideas and a new culture."
The name of Lakewood Councilor Thomas Bullock is also circulating as a possible candidate for the seat.
"I am humbled by the many calls I have received from people throughout the district, asking me to run for this position," Antonio said.
In addition to the LGBT community, Antonio has had strong support from labor, women, progressives, members of social change and arts communities.
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