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Tom Coburn, Co-Chair
Former Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) received a 0% Congressional voting rating in all three of his terms from the Human Rights Campaign. In addition to his poor record on issues of concern to the gay and lesbian community, Coburn consistently voted against needed HIV/AIDS legislation. Coburn also called for the firing of the Director of the Centers for Disease Control because the CDC promotes condom use to prevent transmission of the HIV virus. Rich Tafel, Executive Director of LCR, has called Coburn’s past votes "morally wrong and politically dangerous." (Washington Blade, May 07, 1999)
Louis Sullivan, Co-Chair
Dr. Louis Sullivan was HHS Secretary for President George Bush. Sullivan is known for addressing HIV/AIDS issues in communities of color, and for supporting needle exchange efforts. However, as HHS Secretary, Sullivan extended the Bush Administration’s ban on allowing HIV-positive people, and gays and lesbians, from entering the country. Sullivan also encouraged HIV-positive people, and gay men, to stop having sex. As HHS Secretary, Sullivan argued for guidelines that would have prevented HIV-positive surgeons and dentists from operating, and he repressed a government study on suicide among gay teens so that it would not be linked to the Bush Administration. Sullivan’s relationship with a scam artist, who claimed to have a vaccine for AIDS, was used to swindle millions out of investors before Sullivan realized that the vaccine did not exist.
Pat Ware, Executive Director.
Ware’s appointment is disturbing due to her advocacythat undermines safe-sex education and that shifts away money from prevention efforts in the gay community.
Ware has been associated with anti-gay organizations such as the Family Research Council and is most closely linked to her work with Americans for a Sound HIV/AIDS Policy (ASAP), which has since changed its name to the Children’s AIDS Fund. ASAP was an abstinence-only organization opposed to most HIV/AIDS education and prevention measures. ASAP also lobbied against including HIV and AIDS in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Ware herself is a strong abstinence-only proponent, lobbying against any effort that promotes education and protection over abstinence. Ware is also opposed to condom use. Pat Ware has advocated that the government shift away funds from groups that serve gays and towards abstinence-only education. At the 2000 Republican Convention in Philadelphia, Ware referenced the "innocent babies" infected with HIV, a comment that implied that others are "guilty" victims of the epidemic.
Joe McIlaney
Dr. Joe McIlaney is the founder and director of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health (MISH) in Austin, Texas. MISH is an abstinence and anti safe-sex organization. Dr. McIlaney is most noted for his repeated attacks against the idea of using condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Among his books, McIlaney co-wrote The Myth of Safe Sex with James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family (which runs a prominent ex-gay ministry). McIlaney frequently interprets medical statistics for his own liking, and those interpretations are often used by anti-gay groups. On November 15, 2001, McIlaney testified before Congress to promote abstinence. McIlaney also enjoyed influence over the state health curriculum while George W. Bush was Governor of Texas.
Anita Smith
Anita Smith is the co-founder of the Children AIDS Fund (formally Americans for a Sound HIV/AIDS Policy). Smith has stated that her organization "believes abstinence is the only true prevention." (Family Voice,July/August 2001). Smith’s organization lobbied against including HIV/AIDS status in the Americans With Disabilities Act. The organization has also pushed to take money from prevention efforts in the gay community and reassign it to less effective efforts. Smith has also worked extensively to promote abstinence-only programs.
Smith has appeared in articles by the Concerned Women for America, who have lobbied to keep gay men off the council. Referencing potential appointments to the council, Concerned Women for America stated:
"What we have here, frankly, is a power struggle between homosexual white men who have used all the government AIDS programs fundamentally to fund their subculture and political activities, versus the other dominate demographic group who’s suffering from AIDS, - namely, black women." (Battle Underway of AIDS Panel, Family News in Focus. October 29, 2001).
Joseph Jennings
Joseph Jennings is a motivational speaker, and former gang leader, who travels the country speaking to children about drugs and violence. Jennings’ background in HIV/AIDS comes mostly from telling teenagers to abstain from sex. Jennings is a frequent speaker for Acquire The Fire youth conferences. Acquire The Fire, organized by TeenMania Ministries, promotes among other issues, religious conversion as a cure for homosexuality and sexual abstinence until marriage.
These aren't a couple "cultural conservatives" - this is a entire gang of fringe right bigots. This is sick.
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(via Polstate)