Coronavirus lockdowns in the Middle East are trapping LGBT+ people with abusive families, advocacy groups have warned.
Coronavirus is hitting the Middle East hard, and as the death toll passes 1,000 in Iran alone, governments in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Algeria have all implemented emergency restrictions.
While it’s hoped these measures will be effective in slowing the spread of the virus, they’re disastrous for many LGBT+ people who are being forced to remain in unsafe home environments.
The Thomson Reuters Foundationheard that many LGBT+ advocacy groups in the region are now having to step up their support for those struggling amid the coronavirus lockdowns.
“The environment we live in unfortunately can be aggressive toward LGBT+ people,” said Omar Al Khatib of the Palestinian LGBT+ group alQaws, which is based in Jerusalem where LGBT+ people often live with families that do not accept them.
“Staying at home can eliminate their access to private spaces and increase bullying,” he told Reuters.
In Palestine, the authorities have closed places of worship and social spaces that usually offer some respite, like coffee shops and clubs, meaning that escaping the pressure at home is no longer an option.
This pressure has been heightened by a nighttime curfew that’s been implemented in the city of Bethlehem.
But with business closures and money worries on the rise, the situation isn’t much better for many LGBT+ people living alone – often because they’ve been rejected by their families.
“The state of quarantine creates a feeling of isolation and fear, and that they are completely on their own so it’s not safe for them,” said Khatib.
We have all been watching the rapidly deteriorating situation caused by the recent global outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. We have been monitoring local, state and federal announcements and guidelines encouraging hand washing and social distancing.
No one knows how long this emergency will last, but it is certain there will be significant disruption and pain inflicted on many in our community. We also know the public, our sponsors, our vendors, and our parade participants depend upon us to produce a safe and healthy Pride for the whole community, including those in people in vulnerable risk categories.
We are saddened by the fact that our community is forced to endure yet another emergency and realize that many of our Sonoma County friends and neighbors are facing unemployment and many of our local businesses are temporarily forced to close and may never reopen.
With so many headwinds and unknowable factors before us, we have determined that the best for Sonoma County Pride and for our community is to align with public health policy and official health agency guidelines and take a proactive, responsible stance in support of those efforts.
The Sonoma County Pride Board of Directors met on March 20, 2020, and made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Pride Festival & Parade scheduled for June 6, 2020, and focus our efforts on helping those in need as a result of this terrible pandemic.
Despite our disappointment, LGBTQI+ Pride is not just a weekend party, it’s a state of being that never ends. Even now we are planning a new community event with hope for the future. Assuming the situation allows for events by early summer, join us as we all celebrate and renew our spirits together:
· July 26: Pride Youth Picnic and Pet Parade at Rincon Valley Community Park – Great food and drink, games, entertainment, pet contests, and adoption
· October 10: SCP Wine Festival in Old Courthouse Square – Food, music, silent auction and 100+ wineries pouring some of the best wines produced in Sonoma County
· October 11: National Coming Out Day Party & LGBTQI+ History Celebration in Old Courthouse Square AIDS Quilt display, SC LGBTQI history exhibit, music, food, entertainment, community speakers and more.
A Sonoma County resident died Friday after contracting the coronavirus and being hospitalized for serious illness, marking the first known death in the county from the fast-moving disease that has led California Gov. Gavin Newsom to ask all Californians to stay home.
Interim Public health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said she received the news of a death “with great sadness,” the same day the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus among Sonoma County residents doubled to 22. A source with Sutter Santa Rosa confirmed the person died Friday afternoon.
The increase in confirmed cases foretells a rapid escalation of the virus’s spread in the community, just one month after the first person with coronavirus was hospitalized in this county in late February.
“We need to be prepared for a worsening situation here over the next week,” said Mase, noting that “every case infects another three, so the more cases we have the more cases we get, so this is exactly what we expected.”
The number of coronavirus cases in the United States is ticking steadily upward, and with it are Americans’ collective anxiety levels. But stockpiling massive caches of toilet paper and bottled water for insular forts will only lead to more shortages and more stress. Instead, the best way for us all to prepare is by looking out for one another.
Here are some ways that you can help your community make it through the chaos—and the virus too, if it does hit closer to home.
Donate to your local food bank
As the virus spreads, food banks could face additional pressures. David May, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, said that the group currently distributes 1 million pounds of food per week. But May noted that it was also preparing for the possibility of increased demand in case of virus-driven school closings or an influx of workers struggling to get by on fewer hours than usual.
When donating to your local food bank, consider starting with your wallet instead of your pantry. Donating money not only gives food banks flexibility over which supplies—including fresh foods and paper products—to offer but also lets them decide when to refresh their stocks.
Offer assistance to at-risk neighbors
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the elderly and people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease to be at higher risk from the coronavirus. If you’re in a lower-risk group, reach out to your higher-risk neighbors and community members and ask them how you can help, whether by picking up prescriptions and groceries or offering other assistance. Even if they’re already fully stocked, simply sharing your plans with one another can be helpful, particularly as people spend more time at home instead of out.
“It can be very isolating for individuals if they’re staying away from the places they normally go,” Herman Schaffer, the assistant commissioner for community outreach for the New York City Emergency Management Department, told me. “Some assistance is also just [providing] community, being able to talk to someone, and connect to information.”
Plan to stay in touch from afar
As COVID-19 spreads, we’ll continue to see more people asked to work remotely or from home, more school closings, more cancelled events, and other measures associated with social distancing. Start putting a plan in place now for how you’ll stay in touch with loved ones, friends, classmates, and co-workers, even when you’re not physically seeing them.
If the idea of a day of back-to-back Google hangouts and phone calls is adding to instead of relieving your anxieties, remember that there are a lot of ways beyond a call or a video chat to keep in contact. I like to challenge distant friends to virtual matches on a chess app and to share the occasional photo from my day via group text. Scheduling an hour to game online with a friend or swapping recipes in your group chat are small measures, but they let people know that you’re thinking about them, even when you don’t see them.
Stay up on your local news
Many cities (including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle) offer an emergency alert system, so start by checking with your municipality to find out how to sign up for text, email, or voice alerts. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to get even more local. Get in touch with your neighborhood groups and local community organizations to find out what efforts are already underway. If you or your kids attend school, check to see what kinds of plans are in place in case of closures and how best to stay informed of any changes. Sign up for neighborhood listservs and message boards so that you’ll be able to share your surpluses, pool your expertise, and call on your neighbors for help when you need it, too.
Stock up, then stop
It’s tempting to respond to footage of panicked shoppers sweeping shelves of toilet paper into their carts by mentally tabulating how many pallets you might be able to stuff into your own closets. But panic buying just contributes to shortages—and more panic. If you already have 30 days’ worth of prescriptions, food, and household supplies at home, stop shopping.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading voice of medical authority as the world confronts the coronavirus, is no stranger to viral epidemics — nor protesters who once displayed him in effigy in frustration amid new infections and rising death tolls.
At the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the early 1990s, Fauci was at the frontlines as director of the National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, a role he began in 1984 and continues to this day. During that time, Fauci’s research contributed to the understanding of HIV’s destruction of the immune system and therapy that has significantly contained the disease in more recent years.
Now, as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Fauci has provided sage advice, calmed fears, and — at times — acted as voice of accountability for the Trump administration amid efforts to contain COVID-19.
As the coronavirus epidemic began to unfold, Fauci himself compared the situation to the early days of the HIV epidemic — as well as other diseases — because “there’s still a lot that’s unknown.“
“It’s not that different than the very early years of the HIV epidemic, of the anthrax attacks, of the concern about the pre-pandemic bird flu,” Fauci said March 9 on CNN’s “New Day.” “Everything has a little bit of a different twist to it. It’s not exactly the same, but there’s always that uncertainty that gets people very anxious.”
Under Fauci’s leadership, NIH in 1987 developed AZT, or zidovudine, the first antiretroviral approved for the treatment of HIV, although the epidemic continued. After more research, when combinations of drugs were seen to be effective against HIV, NIH cleared the way for more effective therapy in 1996.
Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV & Hepatitis Policy Institute, was among the advocates fighting HIV/AIDS who hailed Fauci’s work both then and now.
“No one does a better job at explaining and conquering infectious diseases, whether it is HIV/AIDS or coronavirus, than Tony Fauci,” Schmid said. “Not only is he one of the world’s top infectious disease doctors but he knows how to articulate complicated issues and on top of it, understands how to address them utilizing an all parts of society approach. He has been there since the earliest days of the AIDS crisis and can take all of what he has learned and done over the years, including working with presidents of both parties, to now deal with the coronavirus.”
But it wasn’t always a happy relationship with HIV/AIDS activists. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic raged and continued to the claim the lives of thousands of gay men, Fauci was the target of activists who accused him of not moving quickly with new medicines to fight the disease.
According to the article, written by veteran Blade reporter Lou Chibbaro, Jr., more than 1,000 demonstrators marched through the sprawling grounds of the NIH “using placards, costumes, bull horns and red-colored tape to draw attention to their demand for faster government action on AIDS research programs.”
One photo taken at the event by the Blade — but never published until now — shows three protesters dressed in black robes and skull masks in the style of the Grim Reaper.
The three hold a large coffin-like box with letters reading, “Fauci: Resign Now — Release Compound: O.” Another holds a sign reading, “120,000 AIDS Deaths, Courtesy NIH.” Another holds up a pole within a bloody head mask on top and a sign underneath designating the effigy as “Fauci.”
“Scores of drugs and alternative treatments languish untested while more than 200 new cases of AIDS are diagnosed each day,” stated ACT UP in papers distributed at the demonstration.
Police reportedly arrested 61 protesters during the four-hour demonstration and charged them with trespassing, including five members of ACT UP/D.C.
Following the demonstration, Fauci reportedly said he was sympathetic to ACT UP’s cause, but believes its allegations were untrue. Further, Fauci was quoted as saying NIH implemented recent changes to direct more resources to fight infections diseases like HIV/AIDS.
ACT UP protest at the National Institutes of Health on April 21, 1990. (Washington Blade archive photo by Doug Hinckle)
A chief critic of Fauci was Larry Kramer, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who helped found ACT UP in the late 1980s and remains hostile to this day. As recently as 2015, Kramer in an op-ed for The Advocate faulted Fauci for failing to live up to his promise to find a cure for HIV infection. (Kramer didn’t respond to a Blade email this week to comment on Fauci’s approach to the coronavirus.)
Kramer’s harsh words may be persiflage. Fauci was quoted in a 2012 article in the New Yorker about Larry Kramer as saying he’s come to regard the activist as a friend, crediting his work with instituting a major change in medicine against infectious diseases.
But to say the relationship between HIV/AIDS activists and Fauci was entirely frosty would be inaccurate. On Dec. 22, 1990, also as reported by the Blade, when President George H.W. Bush met with gay men with AIDS at NIH, Fauci was among those who took part in the discussion.
Also at the meeting was first lady Barbara Bush and George Bush, Jr., otherwise known as future President George W. Bush. It was the first time “a sitting U.S. president formally met with open gays,” the Blade reported at the time.
The presidential party, Fauci reportedly said, listened to the gay men in attendance and sat in on a support sessions for people undertaking NIH’s experimental AIDS drug trials. Some of the men had HIV, some had developed AIDS, the Blade reported.
The elder Bush shook hands with each of the men and presented them with a commemorative presidential tie pin, according to the Blade.
“He was really touched,” Fauci was quoted as saying. “This was not just a formality. He was really interested.”
The meeting, Fauci reportedly said, was open to the White House press corps and news photographers took photos of the elder Bush shaking hands with the men.
“But much to his disappointment, Fauci said, almost all the photos appearing in the nation’s daily newspapers the next day were of a different part of the NIH visit — when the president cradled babies with AIDS in the NIH pediatric ward,” the Blade reported.
Asia Russell, executive director of the New York-based group HealthGAP, was among the HIV/AIDS activists at the time and told the Blade this week that work was responsible for pushing Fauci into supporting the community.
“Dr. Fauci has been the target of AIDS activists’ campaigns and protests in the past, and those protests delivered results — they helped him see how access to the benefits of science is not neutral, it’s driven, or hindered, by politics, and that remains true today,” Russell said.
Thirty years after the massive protest at NIH, the nature of the virus inspiring fear among the public and responsible for the deaths of thousands worldwide has changed, but Fauci’s work has not.
Russell said Fauci in his role within the White House Coronavirus Task Force has brought to the fore shortcomings in the Trump administration’s approach to COVID-19, which she said “has been a disgrace.”
“It’s an embarrassment that Dr. Fauci, a trusted voice in public health, has to testify before Congress and make the rounds on the Sunday shows to contradict the lies the president is telling,” Russell said.
(Washington Blade photo by Chris Johnson)
In media appearances and testimony before Congress, Fauci has made clear the severity of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, President Trump has falsely said Americans are at “low risk” of contracting the disease, predicted “it will go quickly” and said testing was available to everyone.
“It is a failing. Let’s admit it,” Fauci said last week in the testimony before the House on the lag in testing availability. Days later, Trump declared under questioning in a Rose Garden press conference he would “not take responsibility” for the delay in tests, which weren’t delivered on a massive scale until last week.
When Trump said a vaccine for coronavirus would be ready in two months (which the White House retconned as a reference to an Ebola vaccine), Fauci told the reporters it would be more like 12 to 18 months even on an expedited basis.
Fauci has also given credit to Trump, who continues to tout his travel ban on China amid early reports about the coronavirus of the evidence of his prescience about the danger. Addressing reporters last week in a White House gaggle, Fauci said that move “absolutely” made a difference in limiting new infections in the United States.
Amid self-imposed quarantines, travel bans and recommendations people not meet in groups with more than 10 people, Fauci has also reassured the American public any perception the federal government is overreacting is misplaced.
“I’ll say it over and over again: When you’re dealing with an emerging infectious diseases outbreak, you are always behind where you think you are if you think that today reflects where you really are,” Fauci said. “That’s not word speak. It means: If you think you’re here, you’re really here, because you’re only getting the results; therefore, it will always seem that the best way to address it were to be doing something that looks like it might be an overreaction.”
Michael Ruppal, executive director of the AIDS Institute, said Fauci is a trusted voice because “his communication is straight forward and direct and isn’t convoluted by political spin.”
“Dr. Fauci has been a trailblazer and leader in the HIV/AIDS pandemic since the beginning,” Ruppal said. “He has been a trusted federal partner to the HIV/AIDS community, and we appreciate having him continue to lead efforts at NIH after all these years and advancements. Dr. Fauci has been thrust forward as the federal face of the U.S. response and his integrity and honesty speaks for itself throughout his handling of this uncharted and unprecedented territory regarding COVID-19.”
But Fauci isn’t the only member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force who cut their teeth on epidemiology during the time of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Among them is Deborah Birx, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator & U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy at the State Department, whose three-decade-long career has focused on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research and global health.
At a White House briefing on Monday, Birx recalled the fight against HIV/AIDS during the height of the epidemic, urging Americans to exhibit the same tenacity in the struggle against the coronavirus.
“We had another silent epidemic: HIV,” Birx said. “And I just want to recognize the HIV epidemic was solved by the community: the HIV advocates, and activists who stood up when no one was listening and got everyone’s attention. We’re asking that same sense of community to come together and stand up against this virus.”
Russell had favorable words for both Fauci and Birx in their approach to the coronavirus pandemic amid her general criticism of the Trump administration.
“The administration’s delays, dissembling, and political games are killing people,” Russell said. “Dr. Fauci and Ambassador Birx know that activists are watchdogging this effort and are ready to raise the alarm.”
Also on the White House Coronavirus Task Force with a history of HIV research is Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control. In addition to his work against the coronavirus, Redfield is seen as the point-person for the Trump administration’s plan to beat HIV/AIDS in the Untied States by 2030.
In an interview last year with the Washington Blade, Redfield credited the LGBTQ community for coming forward to participate in testing during the early of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, saying that led to medical advances that helped thwart the disease.
But Redfield notably hasn’t been present at the White House briefings with the rest of the coronavirus task force. Meanwhile, media reports have indicated White House officials have blamed him for the sluggishness in the rollout of coronavirus testing capabilities.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere rejected the notion Redfield’s absence was of any significance. “CDC is based in Atlanta, which is where Dr. Redfield is needed, and he’s actively involved in the work of the task force and stopping the spread of COVID-19,” Deere said.
Following Monday’s COVID-19 mandate that all bars must shut down and all restaurants must close dining rooms, workers across California are suddenly finding themselves unemployed — or dangerously near it.
Servers and bartenders have been on the minds of many since Monday’s announcement, as tipped workers will suffer tremendously from the closure of dining rooms. But they’re only the latest group of workers affected by COVID-19’s rapid spread. Staffers at music venues, hotels, the convention center, trade shows, and more are finding themselves without work.
This has left countless individuals wondering — what are my options? Here’s a quick resource guide for those affected.
I just got laid off. What government assistance do I qualify for?
Legislators are working on different relief programs for workers, but none have been approved yet. Unemployment benefits through the State of California are your best bet right now. You’re eligible if you lost work due to no fault of your own. You also need to be available for work, actively looking for work and ready to accept work immediately. Check out the state’s resource guide to learn all eligibility requirements, and apply.
I haven’t lost my job yet, but my hours have been cut. Can I still get unemployment?
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order on March 12 waives the one-week unpaid waiting period, so you can collect unemployment benefits for the first week you are out of work. Unfortunately, the money doesn’t come in any faster. But at least you’ll be getting paid for all the time you’re out of work.
Home to the largest homeless population in the country, California officials are rushing to get tens of thousands of people off the streets and into shelters and tents to slow the spread of the coronavirus among one of the most vulnerable and difficult-to-reach groups.
There has been only one confirmed death among California’s estimated 150,000 homeless people, but authorities believe that without swift intervention, it’s only a matter of time before the virus sweeps through homeless encampments and gathering spots where people are in close proximity and can’t practice proper hygiene, like hand-washing.
Los Angeles has suspended an ordinance requiring tents to come down at night and has lined up dozens of trailers to use as isolation shelters. A charitable group in San Francisco was passing out tents so people could use them to separate themselves from others. Both cities also are using recreational centers and other large, open indoor spaces to create emergency shelters that have more space between beds.
Mel Tillekeratne, a leading Los Angeles homeless advocate, said Thursday that people living in encampments are “beginning to feel the fear” over the virus. He’s the founder of the Shower of Hope, which contracts with local governments to provide pop-up stations with showers and other services for homeless people.
“They’re asking, ‘How can I get hand sanitizer?’ ‘How can I get information?’” Tillekeratne said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed state and local officials to rent hotel rooms and deploy travel trailers to house the homeless. Lawmakers have given the Democratic governor up to $1 billion to spend on the crisis, and on Wednesday he announced the first $150 million would go to local governments to house the homeless.
A significant portion of the homeless population is addicted to drugs or alcohol or is mentally ill, conditions that in the past have made them resistant to accept help.
Newsom has said he is not worried about that, adding that the state has “the capacity to encourage people off the streets.”
“I think there’s a lot of mythology about resistance; I think it’s wildly overstated,” Newsom told reporters this week. “I’m not ratcheting up a mindset of enforcement police state.”
Tillekeratne said it’s hard to imagine a scenario where authorities are rounding up homeless people exhibiting signs of the coronavirus and forcibly bringing them to shelters. However, he acknowledged that some won’t want to go.
“Not everyone’s going to want to come in. But if we can target those that are the most vulnerable, we can fill a lot of beds,” Tillekeratne said.
Ron Lawrence, president of the California Association of Police Chiefs, said in cases where people refuse to comply, police have the authority to enforce health orders to prevent the spread of disease. Disobeying is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail.
Joseph Giacalone, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former New York City police sergeant, said police could take into custody people who are showing severe virus symptoms but refuse to accept help.
“They’re a threat to themselves and others at that point,” he said.
Giacalone said police would likely be allowed to use force if necessary to transport the person to a hospital if they are showing obvious signs of medical distress. In the case of COVID-19 symptoms, he said the person would likely need to be having severe respiratory problems or issues walking or moving.
“A runny nose isn’t going to cut it,” he said.
The number of homeless people up and down the West Coast has surged in recent years, and Seattle and Portland, Oregon, are among the cities also taking steps to protect them.
Volunteers and agency workers have fanned out in the Portland area to visit around 2,000 homeless people, Multnomah County spokesman Denis Theriault said.
“People have told us they were worried they might have been forgotten, that it was nice that someone was just giving them a little bit of something,” he said.
For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover.
In California, Sacramento is among more than 15 counties that have ordered virtually everyone to stay home. For the homeless, that means limiting encampments to 10 people or fewer. Sheriff Scott Jones said that as a last resort, people who refuse could be issued citations but that they would be jailed “in only the most extreme cases.”
In San Francisco, officials are waiting for travel trailers to arrive from the state to isolate homeless people who test positive for the virus. They are seeking 3,500 hotel rooms to quarantine people who need it.
Trent Rhorer, San Francisco’s Department of Human Services director, said it’s difficult for officials to protect the homeless in traditional shelter settings. About 2,000 adults are in shelters where social distancing isn’t possible. An additional 19,000 people live in low-income housing with shared bathrooms and kitchens.
Rhorer said the city plans to monitor people in shelters, hoping to identify those with symptoms who need isolation.
At least one homeless person has died from the coronavirus. Officials in Santa Clara County, at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, said they are trying to figure out where the person lived and whom they were around.
Andrea Urton, chief executive of HomeFirst, which operates the county’s largest homeless services center, said people are sleeping on shelter beds about 3 feet (1 meter) apart, alternating head-to-toe directions to reduce the possibility of infection. The center isn’t accepting new clients.
Two people who showed signs of illness were taken to a motel with a “box of medical supplies and a food box so they can isolate,” she said.
“When this thing started, we went into full crisis mode,” Urton said. “There’s a huge sense of urgency, and I think everyone is doing everything they can.”
Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco, said she wants to see the city commandeer empty hotel rooms. She said some shelters have more than 100 people on the floor. Others are in bunk beds in close quarters, all while sharing bathrooms.
“They’re still allowing people to come in for one night at a time — it’s absolutely insane,” she said. “(Homeless people) are really nervous. They want to prevent the spread of the virus, and they’re not being given the opportunity to do so.”
___
Associated Preporters Don Thompson and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento. Janie Har and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, contributed reporting.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday night that the shelter-in-place order already in effect in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County will now be extended to the entire state and its 40 million residents.
The order allows for essential businesses—such as banks, grocery stores, pharmacies, food banks and gas stations—to remain open. Restaurants can also remain open for delivery and pickup only. Bars are among the non-essential businesses that will close.
Individuals can also leave their houses to take a walk or go for a jog so long as they are practicing the requisite precautions when coming into contact with another individual.
Newsom did not state how long the order will remain in effect.
Another crisis, another urgent call for blood donors, and another probably futile call on the Food and Drug Administration to fully lift the ban on gay men giving blood.
Since the coronavirus crisis began, 2,700 blood drives have been cancelled and there have been 86,000 fewer blood donations as of March 16, the American Red Cross reports.
We now face a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations during this #coronavirus outbreak. Make an appointment to help patients counting on lifesaving blood: https://rdcrss.org/2weMYZI
Gay men were, until 2015, forbidden from donating blood. This “lifetime ban” dated back to all those having gay sex from 1977 onwards. In 2015, the FDA said it was OK for men who have sex with men to donate blood, but not if they were sexually active. Only those who had abstained from sex for a year could give blood.
“Ultimately, the 12-month deferral window is supported by the best available scientific evidence, at this point in time, relevant to the U.S. population,” Dr. Peter Marks, deputy director of the FDA’s biologics division, said at the time, according to Reuters.
“It is ridiculous and counter to the public health that a married gay man in a monogamous relationship can’t give blood, but a promiscuous straight man who has had hundreds of opposite sex partners in the last year can,” said Jared Polis, then a Democratic congressman and co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, and now the governor of Colorado (making him the nation’s first out-gay man elected as governor).
Polis was right; like so many things about the discrimination LGBTQ people face it is often the sheer absurdity of the discrimination that is most offensive. Everything—from the blood ban to discrimination in the workplace, to “religious freedom” being used to chip away at rights and freedoms—comes down to a fierce disgust of LGBTQ people; the sex they have, or the biology they possess. That disgust is then translated into discriminatory law-making.
According to a recent study, there has been no significant increase in HIV infections from blood transfusions in the US since the FDA’s 2015 rule change.
The gay blood ban came into place in 1983, in the fledgling days of AIDS. It said everything about the priorities of the Reagan administration that it was so quick to exclude gay men from donating blood, and so utterly negligent when it came to caring for them as they died in their many thousands.
The blood ban set the tone for that administration’s callous disregard when it came to AIDS care, treatment, and prevention. It was LGBTQ activists and allies who forced the Government to act; and even then gay people and people with HIV were relentlessly stigmatized and demonized. The continued blood ban, and its ridiculous 12-month celibacy clause, is a shameful hangover from that.
To suggest that only gay men who have not had sex for as year are “clean” enough to give blood is homophobic.
As GLAAD reported in 2018, “The FDA screens every unit of blood donated for infectious diseases prior to entering the donation pool. Current tests for HIV are able to detect the presence of the virus with high precision within 11 days after infection.
“Based on this science, a 12-month deferral for MSM does not make any sense; furthermore, the test is able to detect HIV with such a high precision that only 1 in 3.1 million units of blood infected with HIV will make it past the screen. Therefore, opening up blood donations to MSM donors would not cause a significant difference in HIV transmission risk from blood transfusions.”
How is a gay man’s sexual behavior effectively patrolled, and deduced by the FDA? Truth serum? Lie detector? The presentation of clean underwear that can be carbon-dated?
What would stop any man simply lying about who they sleep with to give blood? What stops a promiscuous straight guy from lying? How would the FDA know? One of the curious ironies of the FDA’s policy is that it relies on a gay man’s honesty to perpetuate the discrimination the FDA is executing against him. We have to do the right thing, so the FDA can do the wrong thing to us.
If the FDA’s blood ban is based on an assumption of gay promiscuity, it follows that it automatically assumes that straight men do not sleep around; and that their heterosexuality does not need to be patrolled or pre-judged. Please, FDA, share with us how you know so much about each individual blood donor’s sexual behavior with no prior knowledge, without asking them anything, and without testing their blood?
Enlighten us: What is it about sexually active, heterosexual blood donors that automatically—no knowledge required—makes them preferable over a gay man whose sexual behavior you have no clue about?
GLAAD notes that while it may be true that “MSM blood donors have a higher risk of contaminating blood supplies due to disproportionately high rates of HIV as compared to other groups in the U.S…the MSM population is not homogenous.”
The blood ban, as it extends to each individual person wanting to donate, is simply predicated on assumptions and stereotypes; and as GLAAD says, on stigma rather than science. What does the FDA mysteriously know about gay and straight people, and how and when and with whom they have sex, before they’ve even filled in the requisite forms?
The real message of the gay blood ban, and it is a message echoed in prejudice and prejudicial laws aimed at LGBTQ people, is that gay sex is bad; and that the sex a gay person has is all that they are, and all you need to know about them to discriminate against them.
It also presumes an incredibly narrow definition of what “gay sex” might involve. What if you are a gay man who does not have penetrative sex, but nevertheless considers the sex you are having to be sex? What if you have penetrative sex, and that sex is safe?“The issue isn’t the amount of sex gay men have or the kind of sex they are having, but the questions the FDA asks of all donors, gay and straight”
“Too bad. Go away,” the FDA says, knowing gay men’s bodies and minds before they have even spoken to them. “We don’t want your blood.”
The FDA wants men who have sex with men to renounce having sex; then they’re OK. It doesn’t want men having sex with women to do this. Or women having sex with men. Everything about the ban places straight sex on some kind of purer pedestal than gay sex.
Surely, the issue isn’t the amount of sex gay men have or the kind of sex they are having, but the questions the FDA asks of all donors, gay and straight, about the sex they’re having and with who they’re having it.
In 2015, when the ban was partially lifted—with that all-important 12-month celibacy clause—gay men were told they were kind of good enough to be blood donors, but kind of not.
If the FDA really wants gay blood, it should be on the same basis that it accepts heterosexual blood. Make giving blood equal for all. Make everyone go through the necessary hoops to ensure the blood supply is safe.
Until then, the “gay blood ban” remains in place—and no patronizing pat on every virginal gay man’s head changes that.
Safeway, Whole Foods Market and other local grocery stores have set up hours for seniors and people with underlying medical conditions to shop away from crowds during the coronavirus pandemic.
Safeway has announced that it is reserving its stores from 6-9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for customers who need to shop away from crowds.
“During those times, we ask that you avoid shopping so that the stores can be available for senior citizens, and other at-risk members of our community such as pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems,” Safeway said in a statement on its Facebook Page.
Whole Foods Market throughout Sonoma County are opening their doors from 8-9 a.m. every day for customers who are 60 years and older, according to a news release. Stores also will close up to two hours early to give employees time to sanitize and restock shelves. Click here for more information, and click here for a list of store locations and hours.
Target is reserving its first hour every Wednesday for seniors and people with underlying medical conditions, according to its website. In Santa Rosa and Petaluma, the stores will open to these shoppers from 8-9 a.m.
Oliver’s Market is opening its doors to seniors from 6-7 a.m. every day. It also is offering seniors a 10% discount, according its website.
Nugget Market (500 W. Napa St., Sonoma) will offer senior hours from 6-8 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning March 24. During that time, anyone who is at least 65 years old or has a medical condition can shop. Click here for more information.
Petaluma Market is opening its doors at 6 a.m. for seniors and people who are immunocompromised to shop, according to its website.
Raley’s is not offering special hours but is assembling bags of groceries for seniors available for store pickup beginning on Saturday, March 21. Seniors have two options: a $20-bag of groceries that includes produce and pantry items or a $35-bag that includes ready-to-eat meals. The groceries will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, and people will be limited to one bag per family per day. Get more information here.
Trader Joe’s and Lucky are not offering special hours for seniors.
Although these hours are intended to keep people at higher risk of coronavirus away from crowds, some experts also have expressed concern that the stores could be overcrowded at these hours as well.
If you’re worried, it’s best to have a family member or friend shop for you, Dr. Alysa Krain, who specializes in geriatric medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told The Washington Post.
“It was a good idea in general, but it’s a little bit dangerous if it’s not controlled,” Krain told the publication.
Safeway 406 N Main St, Sebastopol Open 6am-10pm everyday Senior Shopping Hours 6am-9am Tuesday and Thursday Delivery and pick up available out of the Marlow Store
Lucky’s 776 Gravenstein Hwy N, Sebastopol Open 6am-10pm No special senior shopping hours
Community Market 6762 Sebastopol Ave #100, Sebastopol Store closed Curbside pickup available 707-407-4029
Fircrest Market 998 Gravenstein Hwy S, Sebastopol Open Mon-Sat 8am-9pm and Sunday 9am-8pm No special senior shopping hours
Raleys (on Fulton Rd) 1407 Fulton Rd, Santa Rosa Open 6am-11pm Online shopping and delivery through ecart
Other options: Instacart What is Instacart? Customers shop for groceries through the Instacart mobile app or Instacart.com from the company’s more than 350 national, regional and local retailer partners.The order is shopped and delivered by an Instacart personal shopper.
Amazon prime with whole foods delivery If you are am Amazon Prime Member, you can click on the link below to find out more about grocery delivery through Whole Foods. If you use this option, please consider using Amazon Smile. A portion of the proceeds can benefit the Sebastopol Area Senior Center. Here’s how to use Amazon Smile.You must enter in Sebastopol Area Senior Center for proceeds to benefit the Senior Center.
