Immigrant project launches
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'The Lion King'
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Out congressional candidates
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Wolfgang Tillmans
The
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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 53 • No. 47 • November 23-29, 2023
SF World AIDS Day event to honor Olympic diver Louganis Washington Blade/Michael Key
by John Ferrannini
Carl Schmid is executive director of the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute.
US, SF increase PrEP uptake, but disparities remain by John Ferrannini
A
little over one-third of people nationwide who could benefit from PrEP were on it in 2022, but there continue to be major disparities among white, Black, and Latino Americans, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Numbers from San Francisco show a much larger proportion of people on PrEP than nationally, and show the same racial and ethnic disparities, but less dramatically so. PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, refers to the use of antiviral drugs to prevent people exposed to HIV from becoming infected. The pill Truvada was first approved for PrEP use in 2012 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; since then the FDA has also approved the pill Descovy for some groups, and the drug Apretude as an injectable treatment. “It is a huge disparity,” Carl Schmid, a gay man who is the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute, told the Bay Area Reporter. “I think we need outreach to the community – the Black community, the Latino community, women. I think right now there probably isn’t enough.” The data in the CDC’s “Core Indicators for Monitoring the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative”, show that of the 1.2 million people believed to be eligible for PrEP, the number using it rose from 20% in 2021 to 36% in 2022. The largest uptake occurred among white Americans. In 2021, 78% of those eligible were on PrEP, and in 2022 that rose to 94%. However among eligible Black Americans – only 11% of whom were on PrEP in 2021 – it’s only 13%. Uptake among eligible Latino Americans rose 21% to 24%, and among eligible women from 12% to 15%. These disparities aren’t new, as the B.A.R. has previously reported over the years. In 2021, the CDC reported that HIV infections had declined, but that racial disparities remained among PrEP users. Also that year, the CDC released a report showing that Black and Latino gay and bisexual men were not seeing the same improvements in reducing HIV rates and PrEP use as their white counterparts. See page 10 >>
A Light in the Grove attendee placed a candle in the Circle of Friends at the National AIDS Memorial Grove at last year’s event. Courtesy NAMG
For 1st time, SF public library circulates LGBTQ center books
by Matthew S. Bajko
W
hen the city debuted the New Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library in 1996, it also christened the opening of the reading room for what was then known as the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center. Yet anyone who wanted to read the books in the third floor space had to do so at the library in the Civic Center near City Hall. None of the LGBTQ titles in the collection of what is now known as the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center could be checked out and taken home. That is, until now. As of November 8 the nearly 1,000 books on the reading room’s shelves are allowed to circulate among the public. “We are hoping that increases the enjoyment and access of the amazing LGBTQ books we have,” said Cristina Mitra, the Hormel Center’s program manager. It is not just library users in San Francisco who can check out a Hormel Center (https://sfpl.org/locations/main-library/lgbtqia-center) book or have it be sent to their neighborhood library for them to pick up. Any user of a California or Nevada public or academic library that is part of the free LINK+ (Link Plus) cooperative exchange system can now borrow one of the center’s books. Adding the Hormel Center to the library network has been in the works for a while, Mitra told
Matthew S. Bajko
Cristina Mitra, the Hormel Center’s program manager, stands in its third floor reading room, where the books on the shelves can now be checked out by library patrons.
the Bay Area Reporter during a recent interview at the city library. But its implementation coincides with a recent burst of activity by conservative groups to have LGBTQ books banned at school and public libraries and removed from the shelves. In response to the book banning at libraries, the San Francisco library has been posting to its website a list of those titles that have come under attack in other library systems. In doing so, it is also noting it
has the books for people to borrow. “On a personal level it is heartbreaking,” Mitra said of the LGBTQ book backlash. “Professionally, it is also appalling because so many book bans are at schools; I was a children’s librarian.” In San Diego, during Pride Month in June, two library users had purposefully checked out all of the LGBTQ books at one branch library in the city. See page 11 >>
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The
the
Richmond Review Community newspaper for San Francisco’s Richmond District since 1986
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T
he Olympian dubbed the “greatest diver in history” will be recognized at the National AIDS Memorial Grove’s World AIDS Day commemorations, which will also include its Light in the Grove benefit the night before. Louganis, a gay man who has been living with HIV since 1988, will receive the grove’s National Leadership Recognition Award at 1 p.m. Friday, December 1, during the grove’s public observance. Previous recipients of the award have been former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Louganis was the second diver – and only man – in history to sweep the diving events in two consecutive Olympiads, in 1984 in Los Angeles, and in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, leading him to be dubbed “the greatest diver in history.” He told the Bay Area Reporter that he is honored to be recognized after years of being involved with the grove. See page 10 >>
The
Sunset Beacon
Community newspaper for San Francisco’s Sunset District since 1991