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Friday, February 15, 2019

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Women Don't Get PrEP, They Just Get HIV, Stop Williams Pipeline, Activists Demand on #HIValantines Day.

Report on PrEP! Happy #hivalentines day! Roses are red PrEP is blue. Women can get HIV too!

New York was popping with activity.

In front of the Hearst Building ACT UP was pushing Cosmo to write more about HIV prevention.

Further down 7th Ave San Energy Project was setting up a triple play billboard launch,

message to Governor Cuomo:

Don't Break NY's Heart -- Stop the Williams NESE Pipeline.

I love that this Hallmark holiday has become a massive call to action. Its gonna be a busy morning Monica chimed in on Facebook after I posted a call for ACT UP’s demonstration about PrEP for Valentines.

The whole morning was full of activities. Monica sent out a list of actions she was taking. .

for Valentine's Day, including a morning serenade, complete with a mariachi band, with the fantastic organization, Make the Road, Hand in Hand, at Workman's Circle followed by the Billboard Action in Times Square against Williams NESE Pipeline with Sane Energy Project, a Petition Delivery with Make The Road at Chase Headquarters and Singing Telegrams Brigade/ Break up with Chase in the public atrium across from Grand Central Station for some break up Valentines and singing telegram deliveries to Chase Banks.

I was going to join ACT UP and join a few of those later.

ACT UP’s Women Don’t Get PrEP action built on their Women Don’t Get HIV, They Just Die from It campaign from the years when women were not getting diagnosed because the opportunistic infections they suffered were not recognized as symptoms of HIV.

The women in ACT UP and changed the definition of HIV.

Yet the job is not done.

We still have to prevention women, prevent everyone from getting HIV.

ACT UP writes:

It’s time to hit Cosmo where it hurts. ACT UP New York is taking it to the streets once again and descending to the Hearst Tower to revive its 1988 Cosmopolitan Magazine with an action called “Women Don’t Get PrEP, They Just Get HIV” — a modern spin to the iconic Gran Fury poster, “Women Don't Get AIDS, They Just Die From It” over 30 years later. It’s been over 6 years since Truvada for PrEP was approved by the FDA and Cosmopolitan Magazine still has yet to comprehensively cover the drug in their publication.

WHEN: February 14 // 8:00 AM
WHERE: Hearst Tower (300 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019)

OUR DEMANDS:
- Dedicate a monthly column in the magazine to showcase women and gender nonconforming folks having been denied or never offered PrEP
- Provide an advice column on how to advocate your case to your healthcare provider. Without more women asking, PrEP will stay regulated to the wealthy, mostly urban white men who can access it.
- Hold a teach-in about PrEP at the Cosmo offices.

Early in the morning, I rode to join ACT UP at 57^th Street.

One of the worst byproducts of the Trump Era is activism seems to have moved up town.

I know I shouldn’t complain. But for years I pledged not to go above 14^th street.

This was the third demonstration in a week above 54^th Street. If Trump gets re elected, the rallies will just continue up town near Trump Tower. Groan.

Another reason to stop Trump.

When I got there, the younger AIDS activists held the space outside, in front of the Hearst Building.

“To Halt HIV, Advocates Push for PrEP Outreach for Women,” reported NPR earlier in the week.

An article in Cosmopolitan ran a similar story.

“What everyone should know about HIV prevention drug PrEP: Because some women are at risk and need to consider taking it, too.”

“Cosmo ran this this week,” Ben noted on the page for the action.

“Then our pressure is working,” noted Bran. ‘

“Now they just need to commit to a monthly column about PrEP and how women can advocate for it from their healthcare providers. Then they can livestream the PrEP teach-in they do at their office.

Standing outside, we passed out flyers, held a speak out about PrEP, and chanted:

“Women need PrEP, not debt!”
“Take a step, report on PrEP!”
“_____ women under attack, what do we do, ACT UP, fight back!”
“Sex is your mission, PrEP prevents transmission!”
“Roses are red, PrEP is blue, Women get HIV too.”

Several spoke about the need to beat back Stigma, still impeding effective HIV prevention, today, nearly four decades into this thing. Not enough people are accessing resources such as PrEP. The barriers to healthcare services such as this continue. In the meantime, activists met with Hearst Reps inside.

A few blocks down activists with the Sane Energy Project were organizing their Stop Williams Pipeline: Billboard Launch. When ACT UP was done, I joined them.

I was going to join the Sunshine Movement for their press conference about Climate Change at City Hall before Council Hearings on the topic.

The city is brimming with activity. Amazon just pulled out of NYC because of pressure from civil society. Hopefully, we can create the perfect storm of actions to help the city wake up, address climate, and help people access prevention services which will keep them alive. Its all the same thing. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure. We need a lot of it today.

Riding home from the action, I found myself in front of Jean Michel Basquiat's old apartment in the Bowery. The luminary artist left us after a heroine overdose that could have easily been prevented. The city is full of ghosts, luminaries, and heros trying to make this place livable. Thanks for being out there fighting and painting, acting up and organizing, one zap a time.