The Republican Party Slashes HIV/AIDS Funds in a New Appropriation Bill

They are trying to wipe us out, and we will fight till the end.

I didn't want to write a harmful blog, but it's my duty. As the title says, the Republican Party is proposing an appropriation bill to cut significant HIV/AIDS funds. We condemn the new labor, health, and human services appropriations bill that cuts billions of dollars in life-saving programs, and we will not go down quickly. We will fight till the end of us.

It is disgusting and shameful that these people that call themselves followers of Christ (at least most of them) are doing this to people that are suffering from this human condition, and that we all know that the essential services that people living with HIV and AIDS receive like access to treatment and much more is less of a burden to the system because if we are thriving by have access to treatment and becoming undetectable, we cannot pass HIV sexually to anyone. That and much more will affect people living with this condition and as we know, if people fall through the cracks of the system and become detectable because of loss of services, many will die, they will be able to pass HIV, and HIV will not stop with us!

I ask myself in my belief as a follower of Christ, what would happen if he was alive today? As we all know, he was a poor man, a refugee, a son of a carpenter. Pretty much, they would probably kill him all over again!! As they believe that health is a privilege and not a human right, which is terrible and disturbing, so pretty much the only people that deserve to live healthy lives in their minds and beliefs are people that can afford healthcare. And as we know, people are struggling. Many are suffering from being homeless, and the last thing that we need is to add more burden and stress to people that are already struggling and that are living with this condition.

A friend of mine (known in social media as "AIDS baby") and I want to brainstorm a way to emulate Act Up New York and stage our 'dead' bodies in Washington if needed. We need to vote these people out because if we continue to be complacent, this will come to bite us in the ass. Look what is happening already to the LGBTQI community here in the state of Florida, Texas, and many more places. The hatred is real. The discrimination is real and now they want to go after people living with HIV/AIDS.

This reminds me of the late 80s and early 90s and not too long ago me having to fight along with other activists for the waiting lists for ADAP in my state of Florida. I fought to get people their life-saving medication and we succeeded. Many were falling sick - and I am talking about American citizens that paid their taxes. It was disgusting to me and unreal. That's why I hate when people call places around the world like Argentina, for example, that have access to health care for all, "Third World" countries and the United States is doing this in this allegedly "first world" country. What kind of country does this to their citizens? In Argentina, it doesn't matter if they're citizens of Argentina or elsewhere; they give medication to undocumented immigrants because health is a human right. As I said, they are not as wealthy as the United States, so spare me with this "Third World country" BS.

According to Paul Kawata, in his article in POZ, the cuts that they're planning to do in the appropriations bill are as follows:

• Double-digit cuts to the budgets for the Centers for Disease Control (18%) and Department of Health and Human Services (12%)
• $3.8 billion cut from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget
• $238 million cut from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, the nation's safety net for HIV care and treatment
• $226 million cut from the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP)
• $32 million cut from the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund
• Eliminates funding for Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.; Title X; and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
• Keeping funding levels flat for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which provides FDA-approved medications to low-income people with HIV

As Mr. Paul Kawata said, "If House Republicans had it their way, there would be another AIDS epidemic in America". Never forget that it took a very long time for President Reagan to utter the word AIDS!!!!

Never forget we saw a whole generation of young men, wiped out unnecessarily. I know, I almost was one of them as a 35-year long-term survivor. I cannot believe that this is even a reality. Act up! Fight back, because we all know that silence equals death. Together we stand, divided we fall.

love and light,
Maria Mejia