Activism: * Internet Training; * San Francisco Workshop; * Needle Exchange Sept. 17; * California Prison HIV Care
"Out and Proud on the Internet: Acting Up from Home and Making a Difference On-Line (Utilizing the Internet as a Grassroots Tool)," a one-evening workshop September 9 in West Hollywood, is sponsored by the City of West Hollywood and other organizations. A "live cyber simulcast will be hosted by Outbox." For more information, check that Web site.
Advocacy in a New Era: A Workshop for HIV/AIDS Advocates in a Time of Change and Hope, by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, HIV Advocacy Network, will take place September 13 and 14 at the AIDS Foundation. There is no fee for the workshop, but a $10 fee for those who choose to attend a luncheon with Todd Summers, Deputy Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. For more information, see http://www.sfaf.org/policy/hiv_advocacy_network.html, or call the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, HIV Advocacy Network, 415/487-3034, fax 415/487-3089. Online registration is available; preregistration is requested. Enrollment is limited to 100.
A major national demonstration urging lifting of the nine-year-old ban on Federal funding of needle exchange will take place September 17 in Washington D.C., at the Health and Human Services Building, 4th and Independence Avenue SW (Federal Center metro stop). For more information, call Chris Lanier of the National Coalition to Save Lives Now, through the Harm Reduction Coalition, 212/213-6376 ext. 17, or email ncsln@dti.net.
Note: As this issue went to press, AIDS Action Network issued an alert that there is likely to be a Congressional amendment against needle exchange. "Contact your representatives who are Democrats or moderate Republicans who are supportive of programs addressing HIV/AIDS. Tell them you have heard that there may be an amendment offered during debate of the Labor/HHS appropriations bill (H.R. 2264) that would eliminate the Secretary of Health's authority to allow federal funding for syringe exchange programs. Urge them to oppose the amendment and to keep politics out of public health." (You can reach your Representative through the House switchboard, 202/225-3121, or either of your Senators through the Senate switchboard, 202/224-3121.)
Prisoner advocacy organizations and AIDS activists are seeking reforms of "appalling" medical neglect, unsanitary living conditions, and degrading punishments at the California State Prison at Corcoran, in Central California -- where a prisoner died on August 29 after being turned away from the HIV clinic for a month, being told nothing was wrong. They want an investigation of that death and of inadequate HIV care, and want inmates with serious medical conditions transferred to other prisons, such as the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, where they receive "excellent" care.
Recently there was a settlement in a lawsuit to improve seriously inadequate HIV care at women's prisons throughout the state.
For more information, contact Judy Greenspan, HIV/AIDS in Prison Project, Catholic Charities of the East Bay, 433 Jefferson Street, Oakland, CA 94607, phone 510/834-5657 ext. 3150, email judyg@igc.org.
