Letters to the Editor

AIDS fight should focus on females

At the 2005 Provincial People’s Health Summit in South
Africa, hundreds of HIV-positive and -negative women described the
challenges they face in their sexual relations.

These women demanded access to female-controlled prevention
methods.

This included the right to terminate pregnancy as well as the
right to have access to contraceptives without the risk of
discrimination or stigmatization.

Since returning from South Africa in 2005, I have reflected on
the American government’s insistence on the effectiveness of
abstinence-only policies.

In light of the critical need for prevention methods to serve
women’s needs, America still has not gathered the will
necessary to re-evaluate what our country is doing to fight HIV and
AIDS.

A report released by the Government Accountability Office this
year showed glaring evidence that abstinence-only policies have
undercut HIV-prevention programs.

Yet the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR) continues to spend a third of its international
HIV-prevention dollars on abstinence programs.

The HIV-prevention strategy of the American government centers
on the ABC model: abstaining from sex, being faithful and condom
use.

PEPFAR’s insistence on this method does not leave space
for meaningful HIV and AIDS prevention programming, nor does it
fully address gender as a determinant of vulnerability to HIV and
AIDS contraction.

In sub-Saharan Africa, women represent 60 percent of those
infected with HIV.

Globally, women are becoming infected with HIV at a faster rate
than men because they are biologically, socially and economically
more vulnerable to HIV infection.

Gender disparities such as lack of economic and social power,
early marriage and gender-based violence contribute to
women’s vulnerability to HIV.

Current U.S. international HIV-prevention policy does not
address these specific vulnerabilities facing many women and
girls.

Tomorrow, we celebrate World AIDS Day.

Every year since 1988, there have been four million new
infections and three million AIDS-related deaths around the
world.

This is the year of AIDS accountability.

Activists and individuals from around the world demand real
accountability from our leaders on HIV/AIDS.

This year, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and 56 original co-sponsors
introduced H.R. 5674, the PATHWAY Act, which will make U.S.
international HIV prevention programs responsive to the needs of
women and girls.

It will remove the requirement that the U.S. spend at least 33
percent of its international prevention funding on
abstinence-until-marriage programs.

In the spirit of AIDS accountability, I urge Congresswoman Nancy
Pelosi to chart a new path to prevention by supporting the PATHWAY
Act.

Since her first run for the House of Representatives, Nancy
Pelosi has maintained that a healthy and educated citizenry is our
country’s best defense.

Taking action on the PATHWAY Act is a meaningful action
consistent with the congresswoman’s stated agenda.

Baylee DeCastro Fourth-year, international development
studies

“˜Coming Out’ article changed my life

I was recently featured on the cover of the Daily Bruin during
Coming Out Week (“Coming out to find peace within,”
Oct. 11).

Although the story was largely about coming out to my mother, I
was still not out to my father and stepmother.

On this past Thanksgiving Day, my stepmother approached me and
told me that my father and stepmother knew I am a lesbian.

While they had speculated that for about a year, the Daily Bruin
article, which my father found online, confirmed what they had
speculated.

They were both very accepting and supportive of my coming out,
to my surprise.

I had struggled to come out to my father for about a year and
half, waiting for the perfect moment.

Little did I know that an article in the Daily Bruin would be
the vehicle to how I would come out.

My experience only further highlights the importance of
featuring personal stories and issues faced by the LGBT community,
which helps combat the social stigmas of being lesbian, gay,
bisexual or transgender and of coming out of the closet.

Not only did the article positively impact my life, but many
students read the article and commented to me afterwards on how it
was great to have such a story featured on the front cover of the
Daily Bruin.

Hey, I was even bigger than the picture of Phil Angelides.

Thanks, Daily Bruin.

Jennifer Partnoff Fifth-year, history and women’s
studies