GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE Pride Guide 2011

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A lot has changed in 30 years, but much is the same

by Tracy Jones

On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report published a report of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in five previously healthy young men in Los Angeles. This report was later acknowledged as the first published scientific account of what would become known as human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Thirty years later, the CDC estimates that more than 1 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2008. Since then, new diagnosed cases have stabilized to 56,000 each year. Getting better, but not good.

Since the first published case, much has changed but lots of things remain painfully the same. Early in the epidemic, a newly

diagnosed patient could die within a few months. The process of dying was often painful and the illness ravaged the body.

In the 1990s, new medications improved care and slowed the progression of the disease. In the beginning, the regimens were expensive and adherence was challenging.

Fast-forward twenty years, we find treatment and care have improved and patients receiving appropriate antiviral medications, along with routine care, experience a life expectancy on par with someone without HIV.

But this illness is still no day at the beach. Stigma, depression, isolation and poverty are often mainstays in the lives of those living with HIV and AIDS. However, for

some folks, community and family support bring a balance.

Our early Pride festivals and parades were the touchstones for people affected by HIV and AIDS. It was the place where everyone was accepted. This year's Pride festivals must be reminiscent of that time. The HIV and AIDS community still needs your support because the tide of new infections has not stemmed. This is coupled with crippling funding cuts to prevention efforts nationwide. Today, all too often, students report little or no discussion of HIV transmission in schools. This lack of information, we know, can translate to new infections.

The theme for this year's Pride is Unity-Equality for All: Celebrating Our

Allies, and there is no better way to show unity than to get tested. National HIV Testing Day is June 27, and locally we will honor the day on June 24 at two community recreation centers, Zelma George on the east side and Gunning Park on the west side. Testing I will also be offered onsite at the Cleveland Pride festival.

In celebration of unity during this year's Pride we must also remember the fight of equality for all of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters because there's so much work to do on this front.

Pride for 30 years, why? Because Pride never takes a holiday, that's why.

Tracy Jones is the CEO of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

A commemoration of 30 years of HIV and AIDS

by Judith Pindell

In commemoration of 30 years of HIV and AIDS, the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland is hosting a month-long virtual event on' their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AIDSTaskforce.

View videos posted by celebrities, elected officials, community leaders, and caring community members. We encourage everyone to join the Taskforce by posting your own short video reflecting on the thirty years of HIV and AIDS.

The beginning

The Center for Disease Control published findings. in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on June 5, 1981, detailing the first cases of what we now know as AIDS. As this devastating illness spread across the country, it was becoming increasingly apparent that AIDS was becoming a problem in Ohio, and in particular, Cleveland.

In 1982, Cleveland community members came together to respond to the crisis. The led to the creation of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, incorporated in 1984, making it Ohio's oldest AIDS service organization. The Taskforce has evolved into the largest provider in Northeast Ohio of

non-medical services to people infected, affected and at risk of HIV and AIDS. The mission of the AIDS Taskforce is to "provide a compassionate and collaborative response to the needs of people infected, affected and at risk of HIV/AIDS. This is accomplished through leadership in prevention, education, supportive services and advocacy." The Taskforce serves individuals and families in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties, while advocacy efforts influence administrative and legislative AIDS policy statewide.

HIV and AIDS today

Over the past thirty years, the Cleveland community lost countless friends and activists who paved the way for increased research, access to medication, and rights to basic medical care and dignified treatment we have today.

Now in 2011, people with HIV face a different reality from that in the 1980s, when those infected could anticipate a rapid onset of illness and death. Thankfully, people with HIV now live longer, healthier

lives due to advances in medical care and treatment. Significant medical advances made in recent years now mean that people with HIV can measure their life expectancy in years and decades instead of weeks and months.

But progress also poses new challenges. For all of the advances in medication and regimens, access to them and to services have been severely hampered by the economic recession, creating a waiting list for

Ohio

Take action, join the cause

Let your voice be heard to help fight the stigma and remove barriers to medication and services for those living with HIV and AIDS.

Use your laptop, phone, flipcam, etc. and upload your video to the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland Facebook ok page, www.facebook.com/AIDSTaskforce anytime before June 30. After these videos have

may be

life-saving drugs for the fiy. As of June 10, first time inted on the AIDS Taskforce of Greater and throughout fe the country. As of Jun there are 450 Ohioans on the Ohio HIV Drug Assistance Program waiting list, according to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors.

Stigma, discrimination and myths about the disease still exist, despite what we know about HIV and AIDS. Limited resources for education, care, and services continue to make these challenges more difficult. Historically, our community has taken the lead in overcoming adversity by uniting and supporting each other, as we have throughout the pandemic. The AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland still needs your involvement and support.

edited to create a documentary style video that will be posted on the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland's website.

Please feel free to answer one or both of these questions:

• What is your earliest memory of HIV or AIDS?

• What does the 30-year mark mean to you?

Judith Pindell, MSSA, LSW, is director of public policy and advocacy for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

Records may be broken at Synergyfest swim meet

by Todd Urban

Cleveland-Two swimming world records set right before your eyes? The potential is there for an Illinois relay team that has already set the masters records in a short course 25-yard pool. During the Synergyfest Swim Meet over the July 29-31 weekend, the relay of four men will be competing in both the 400 and 800 meter freestyle relays and hopes to establish not only United States Masters records, but world records for the events.

Swimming, one of the main sports of Synergyfest, will take place at Cleveland State University's Robert Busbey Natatorium. It will be the inaugural swimming

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competition associated with the event and hopes to draw as many as 200 swimmers. The meet is being marketed not only in the Midwest, but across the nation and Canada to LGBT teams and non-LGBT teams alike.

The events will start at 9 am on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday and spectators can wander from the pool right over to the other eight events, such as volleyball and tennis, that will be held in adjacent facilities.

Co-hosting the meet is the year-old LGBT Cleveland Aquatic Team, along with the Yonger established Ohio Masters Team. The Cleveland team has been participating in competitions and had great success in April

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with only five swimmers at the All-Out Swim Meet in Toronto. Currently the team has a roster of over thirty swimmers with ages ranging from 20 to 72 and practices are held on Tuesdays at CSU from 7-8 pm.

If you are interested in volunteering to help at the swim meet, or even other sports, contact Amysynergy@live.com. If you would like to know more about Cleveland's LGBT Swim Team contact Toddrurban @aol.com.

Todd Urban is the founder of Cleveland Aquatic Team and the secretary of the Cleveland Synergy Foundation board of directors.

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