August 2002

Commission Identifies HIV/AIDS Issues for General Convention

Meeting in Minneapolis April 25, 2002, the Executive Council Committee for HIV/AIDS identified issues that will guide its triennial report to Executive Council:

  • HIV and AIDS have not moved to Africa and Asia. They are running rampant through the United States, with some U.S. communities infected at rates comparable with South Africa.

  • AIDS is still fatal. In fact, though death rates for U.S. men have gone down 18%, death rates for U.S. women have actually gone up 3%. AIDS is the leading cause of death for Latina women aged 25–44.

  • HIV/AIDS is preventable only if we speak out honestly about how it is transmitted. That means talking about sex and drugs, subjects that very few are comfortable talking about. But silence really is death in this epidemic.

  • Honesty is also needed to remove the stigma. People are still being fired, evicted, and physically attacked when itÕs learned they’re HIV-positive. This is a Justice issue.

  • Classism is as dangerous as racism. The populations hit hardest are those that are also hit hard by economic discrimination. As Salvation Army Medical Adviser Major Herbert Rader said, “People are not always marginalized because they have AIDS; some have AIDS because they are marginalized.”

  • The drug efficacy rate is only about 50% for African-Americans, and women have a similar problem. Minorities and women are not proportionally included in clinical trials.

  • Generic prevention approaches do not work. Within each group—men having sex with men, minorities, seniors—there are subgroups that must be approached with cultural sensitivity.

  • Many groups have been totally forgotten: people who live in rural areas, people in jail.

  • The degree of denial by both religious and political leaders is deplorable.

The spotlight needs to be turned onto our own back yards: People with AIDS are living much longer now, but then many die suddenly. In some communities, children are being raised by their great-grandparents, because two intervening generations have died.

The church, including the Episcopal Church, is not doing its job. Perhaps a more coordinated approach is necessary. The Committee is investigating how to work with the Committee on Racism and minority associations within the Church to get HIV and AIDS on the agenda for discussion in every church and to support the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition’s educational efforts.

Resolutions are being prepared for General Council that will call for HIV/AIDS education in confirmation preparation, in marital counseling, in counseling for blessing of same sex unions, in seminaries, and in nursing homes. In every venue, the Church must choose to be honest.