Gay Today: World

AIDS Groups Issue Stern Warning
about Names Reporting

New York's At-Risk Communities
Call for Help, not Lists

Reporting Scares Minority Groups
Away from HIV Testing

Compiled By GayToday

New York, New York--Advocates for African-American, Latino, Asian American, gay and other communities threatened by AIDS are warning against HIV names reporting projects being organized by both New York state and federal health officials.

Representatives from the Latino Commission on AIDS, AIDS and Adolescents Network of New York, National Urban League, and others will convene for a news conference today at 1 p.m.

Also today, New York state is expected to release a controversial proposal for enforcing the HIV names reporting and partner notification law passed last year. The release opens a 45-day comment period in which the state should listen and respond to community fears and concerns.

Lambda AIDS Project Director Catherine Hanssens said:

"New York is poised to become an example of the country's worst response to the HIV epidemic. Many people who should be tested and treated will be more likely to avoid the health care system altogether."

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She added, "New York state's proposed regulations are bad science, bad public health policy, and indifferent to the needs of communities at risk for AIDS. The plan will squander sorely needed health care and AIDS prevention resources."

Lambda Executive Director Kevin M. Cathcart said:

"For the poor, the young, lesbians and gay men of all races, undocumented immigrants and many people of color, reassurances about confidentiality are unpersuasive. We fear that what numerous studies have shown will soon come true in New York: mandatory names reporting scares people away from HIV testing and hinders access to effective treatment."

Keith Cathcart

New York state's regulations exemplify the harshest version of the Draft Guidelines on HIV Surveillance recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 100 AIDS service providers and civil liberties organizations signed a joint statement protesting flaws in those guidelines. The statement will be released at today's news conference.

Among the signatories are the Harlem Directors Group, National Minority AIDS Council, Latino Commission on AIDS, former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders and the National Urban League.

Representatives are expected at today's news conference from AIDS and Adolescent Network of New York, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Empire State Pride Agenda, New York Peer AIDS Education Coalition, Gay Men of African Descent, Harlem Directors Group, Latino Commission on AIDS, Gay Mens Health Crisis, and National Urban League.