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SHAMEFUL: Carson Admits He’s Ignoring Protections for LGBTQ People in Homeless Shelters

May 17, 2018 Aaron Rodriguez Human Rights Campaign, Social & Civil Issues

Today, HRC criticized Secretary Ben Carson’s shameful admission that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is delaying important resources protecting LGBTQ people in homeless shelters. Carson testified today during a budget hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, HUD, and related agencies.

“Ben Carson today testified before Congress that he is ignoring protections for LGBTQ people in homeless shelters, and defended his inaction by citing debunked and mean-spirited claims about transgender people that completely lack merit,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “The level of ignorance he has consistently shown as the nation’s top housing official is deeply alarming, and has clear consequences for LGBTQ people who experience disproportionate rates of homelessness. When homeless shelters become unwelcome spaces for LGBTQ people, the consequences are devastating.”

Ben Carson has a long history of opposing LGBTQ equality and has been key a figure in the Trump-Pence Administration’s efforts to attack the civil rights of LGBTQ people. Only two weeks ago, Carson floated a new HUD Department mission statement that removed mention of fighting discrimination in housing. Last year, HUD withdrew a notice requiring emergency shelters receiving HUD funding to post information about LGBTQ people’s rights to access shelter safely and in accordance with their gender identity.

During a separate budget hearing today, Betsy DeVos defended the Department of Education’s refusal to investigate reports of discrimination against transgender students in direct conflict with federal court rulings. Last month, HRC called out the Department’s decision to advance the dangerous Trump-Pence anti-LGBTQ agenda.

HIV Outbreak in Milwaukee Underscores Importance of Funding Critical Prevention Programs

April 15, 2018 Charles Girard Human Rights Campaign, Social & Civil Issues

Milwaukee health advocates are calling for the restoration of funding to combat the epidemic of HIV and STDs in the wake of a shocking uptick in their city. More than 125 people, including teenagers, recently contracted HIV and/or syphilis, a situation that the National Coalition of STD Directors characterized as “a symptom of under-resourced STD programs.”

In 2012, Governor Scott Walker signed an abstinence-only sex education bill, which experts like Advocates for Youth say are ineffective at stopping sexual activity or reducing teen pregnancy. Reinstating evidence-based in-school sexual health education programs, which Walker cut, is also essential to addressing the epidemic. Wisconsin has also rejected expanding Medicaid, which provides critical health care to at-risk populations.

News of the epidemic comes just two months after the Trump-Pence administration proposed to slash more than $60 million for HIV & AIDS prevention programming from the federal budget.

“These numbers are alarming and clearly indicative of a disturbing gap — not only in the provision of services, but in public education among Milwaukee’s young people,” said HRC Wisconsin State Manager Wendy Strout. “The failure to fund critical prevention programs leads to outbreaks like this, ultimately costing us more in terms of dollars and lives than any public education campaign ever would. To achieve an AIDS-free generation, we must fight for it. Here, and across the nation, we must insist that our elected officials treat this epidemic like the national emergency it is, and ensure that cities and states have the tools to combat it.”

The outbreak in Milwaukee exemplifies what sexual health advocates already know: failure to fund critical prevention programs can have devastating effects — just ask Mike Pence.

During his term as governor of Indiana, Pence repeatedly ignored warning signs that there was a potential for an infectious disease outbreak of HIV in his state, and fought against programs designed to slow the surge of HIV cases in the state’s hardest-hit communities. It was only under enormous pressure that Pence was dragged “kicking and screaming” into taking action.

“As we have seen before in places like Indiana, in order for the public to stay safe and healthy, communities need comprehensive, fully-funded, evidence-based public health programming. HRC hopes that the Milwaukee community, working with leading HIV & AIDS prevention experts, can curb this outbreak, get those affected the treatment that they need, and put in place more community health resources to prevent a similar public health crisis in the future,” said Peter Cruz, HRC Foundation Associate Director of HIV & Health Equity.

To learn more about the HIV epidemic and HIV prevention and treatment, visit What Do I Do? A Handbook to Understanding Health & HIV, a resource by HRC and AIDS United.