Archived Release: June 2005

Being Alive People with HIV/AIDS Action Coalition Applauds Senator Kuehl and GLBT Legislative Caucus for Courageous Work Opposing SB 945 (Soto, D-Ontario)

LA’s Largest Consumer Organization of People Living with HIV/AIDS Cites Growing Opposition to HIV Names Reporting Bill as Victory for Civil Liberties and Personal Protections of Confidentiality

Being Alive People with AIDS HIV/Action Coalition, LA’s first and largest membership organization and service provider created and operated by people living with HIV/AIDS, expressed its profound gratitude to the California Senate Judiciary Committee for its rejection of Senate Bill 945, a bill that would allow the reporting of HIV infection by healthcare providers and labs by the name of the patient to local health officials and the state Department of Health Services. With growing statewide opposition to the bill, Being Alive led a broad-based coalition, including the City of West Hollywood, ACLU, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to educate the community about its negative impact.

According to Quinn Callicott, President of the Board of Directors of Being Alive, “I would like to personally congratulate Senator Sheila Kuehl and members of the GLBT Caucus for asserting strong leadership in opposing SB 945. The creation of a government registry with the names, social security numbers, and other identifying information of people living with HIV disease is an unacceptable invasion of privacy that could lead to further stigmatization. This bill would have a severe chilling effect on access to services for already disenfranchised and unduly impacted communities such as gay men of color and undocumented immigrants.”

“As people living with HIV/AIDS, we recognize the critical importance of federal dollars in the delivery of care services to our community. However, we do not believe that the best way to ensure continued federal funding is by collecting statewide data at the expense of those we are supposed to serve and protect. It’s like saying that the best way to balance the federal budget is by raising taxes on the working poor. It’s unfair and doesn’t make sense. The CDC needs accurate data, not names. There are other solutions that have not been fully explored, such as modifying the unique identifier system and compelling the federal government to accept California’s current data through the upcoming reauthorization process for the Ryan White Care Act,” says Demetri Moshoyannis, Executive Director of Being Alive.

A broad-based coalition opposes SB 945. It represents numerous government, health, HIV/AIDS, consumer and community organizations throughout California, and it includes the following (among others):

Government Entities and Elected Officials

* City of West Hollywood City Council (Duran, Guarriello, Heilman, Land, Prang)

* City of West Hollywood Human Services Commission

* City of West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board

* GLBT Caucus (Goldberg, Kehoe, Kuehl, Laird, Leno, Migden)

Service Providers and Civil Rights Groups

* ACT UP of Southern California

* ACLU of Southern California

* AIDS Research Alliance

* Being Alive Los Angeles (consumer organization)

* Being Alive South Bay (consumer organization)

* Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (Alameda and LA Counties)

* Gay and Lesbian Clergy Association (Los Angeles)

* Metropolitan Community Church (Los Angeles)

* National Council of Jewish Women

* San Francisco AIDS Foundation

* Women At Risk (consumer organization)

Community Leaders

* Rabbi Denise L. Eger (Rabbi, Congregation Kol Ami*)

* Cleve Jones (Founder, AIDS Memorial Quilt*)

* Reverend Neil Thomas (Senior Pastor, West Hollywood*)

* Phill Wilson (Executive Director, Black AIDS Institute*)

* Affiliations are used for identification purposes only and do not necessarily convey an affiliation’s position, unless otherwise stated.

Additionally, thousands of individual people living with HIV/AIDS and others concerned with the passage of SB945 have signed petitions expressing opposition to the bill and what it stands for.