News
2007-06-30
Parsing the Dems
on HIV/AIDS
Last night's
debate marked the first time this Democratic Party
presidential debate season that candidates were not
asked about
Last night's
debate marked the first time this Democratic Party
presidential debate season that candidates were not
asked about their positions on same-sex marriage or
“don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The eight
Democratic candidates for president appeared together on
stage at Howard University, an elite African-American
college in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night. The
event was moderated by television and radio
personality Tavis Smiley and broadcast by PBS. With the
Reverend Al Sharpton, entertainer and civil rights
activist Harry Belafonte, and Princeton professor
Cornel West in the auditorium, the debate was squarely
centered on issues confronting the African-American
community.
Primary topics
concerned issues such as racism, poverty, and the
criminal justice system, with the candidates promising to
improve various social inequities. It may have been a
welcome reprieve for former senator John Edwards, who
had spent the week explaining that he still supports
civil unions even though his wife proclaimed that she is
“completely comfortable with gay marriage”
last Sunday in San Francisco.
During the
debate, however, Edwards made a vague reference to the Los
Angeles LGBT Center he had visited earlier in the week. When
the candidates were asked about containing the spread
of AIDS among African-American teens, the former
senator mentioned a recent visit to a “medical
center in Los Angeles” that cared for AIDS patients.
Edwards was not
the only candidate who shied away from mentioning the
LGBT community, even within the context of a discussion on
AIDS. Illinois senator Barack Obama, who is
African-American, seemed the only person willing to
broach the subject. Playing his
favorite role as truth teller, Obama said, “One
of the things we have to overcome is a stigma that
still exists in our communities. We don’t talk about
this, we don’t talk about it in our schools,
sometimes we don’t talk about it in our
churches. It has been an aspect sometimes of our homophobia
that we don’t address this issue as clearly as
it needs to be.”
Obama only
mentioned the term “AIDS” once during his
one-minute answer and never uttered
“HIV.” He also did not offer any specifics on
how he would fight the AIDS crisis in America.
With the other
candidates, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said
there’s a “moral imperative to fight this
disease both nationally and
internationally.” He then added,
“We have to use needles” as well as
“comprehensive education” to prevent AIDS
cases among African-Americans. He did not say how,
why, or under what condition those needles should be
used, or what kind of education—whether it is sex
education or drug prevention.
Edwards spelled
out a three-point plan for combating AIDS. First, he
supported better funding for “finding a cure for
AIDS, so we can end this scourge once and for
all.” Second, he wanted
to fully fund the Ryan White Act and make treatment
available for anyone with AIDS. Finally, he believed
Medicaid should completely cover the costs of AIDS
drugs and treatments.
As for the other
presidential hopefuls, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich
suggested sex education at an earlier age as well as better
overall health care in America, while former senator
Mike Gravel of Alaska said the true
“scourge” in the African-American community
was the "war on drugs." Connecticut
senator Christopher Dodd offered school-based clinics
for young people to talk candidly about sex
education. He also mentioned
better access to health care.
Then came New
York senator Hillary Clinton. “Let me just put this
in perspective,” Clinton said. “If
HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white
women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an
outraged outcry in this country.” The reaction among
African-American women in the crowd was so loud and
strong, she almost couldn’t finish the
sentence.
The senator
continued to say she was working on Edwards’s
Medicaid proposal as well as increasing funding for
the Ryan White Act. “The Bush administration
has kept [spending] flat,” said Clinton, who has been
a key broker on the issue in the Senate.
“Disgracefully so.” The former first
lady then ended her comments, saying, “If we
don’t begin to take [AIDS] seriously, and
address it the way we did back in the '90s—when it
was primarily a gay men’s disease—we will
never get the services and the public education that
we need.” Again, the New York senator’s
comments drew loud applause.
Delaware senator
Joe Biden blamed the “white community” for not
properly educating blacks about AIDS prevention. He
also said there was a culture of denial among
African-Americans. “The fact of the matter is, the
community is engaged in denial. No one wants to talk about
it in the community, and we don’t have enough
leaders in the community and outside the community
demanding that we face the reality.” As Biden
finished his answer, the camera cut to the Reverend Al
Sharpton for a reaction shot. He was not
clapping.
The next
Democratic presidential debate will take place on July 23 in
Charleston, S.C. (Patrick Range McDonald, The
Advocate)
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