HEALTH VIEWPOINT

by Rich Arenschieldt

FALLOUT

The election aftermath reveals bleak prospects for AIDS funding

In just a few days, as the newly elected officials take office in January, the political landscape in America will resemble bombed-out Afghanistan. The liberals, mere shells of their former selves, will be hiding behind burkas, covertly trying to carve out an agenda from the barren conservative turf. The right-wingers will be strutting and swaggering across the dusty hills of the country they control.

Well, Afghanistan and Texas are a lot closer than you think. As the result of political redistricting and aggressive campaign tactics by the repugnicans, Texas lost most of its gay-friendly legislators, including our cherished Debra Danburg. Suddenly the Dems in Texas are adrift. Their "Look, I'm a fiscally-and-morally-conservative Democrat" strategy has netted them exactly nothing and will yield Texans, especially those facing serious health issues, even less.

Adoption, civil unions, and AIDS funding, issues Texas gays and lesbian have been fighting for, are now as dead as a minnow in Buffalo Bayou. I've always thought of gays and Jews as having one thing in common: a persecution complex. That's been something I have dismissed, attributing it to our propensity to kvetch.

On November 6, I awoke to a new realization: We are being persecuted.

In the days prior to the election, I had given the American public far too much credit. In quiet rationality, I knew these salient facts: America didn't really elect Bush, the Supremes Courted him; his "smaller government" policy was now in ruins thanks to the sudden omnipresent oversight of everything everyone does and says by the new behemoth, Department of Homeland Security; and, finally, most Americans didn't want their sons and daughters returning to Sandusky, Ohio, in body bags in order to protect the USA from terrorism that we couldn't possibly foresee, or effectively defend ourselves from, in the first place.

Never before have I miscalculated in so grand a manner. As it turns out, liberal America had done the same. What suddenly occurred to me was this: Politics took a hard right-hand turn shortly after Monica Lewinsky's lips left President Clinton's genitalia. Everyone marveled at how Clinton had survived such an assault (I'm sure the presidential penis remained unscathed). He may have lived through it, but two years later, the Democrats got bitten hard.

Now we face fallout of bioterrorist proportions. Typical Republican politics have ceased to exist. They have been usurped by a new philosophy of governing, one that now focuses on what people do, instead of what they need. In this paradigm, absurdities abound: Welfare enticements favoring marriage force poor mothers into abusive relationships. Revocation of planned parenting funding decimates sexually transmitted disease counseling and pregnancy termination options. Paltry "level" funding is proposed for national health crises that are exploding exponentially. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, and other agencies can't possibly spend the "terrorist threat" windfalls recently appropriated by Congress.

The chilling realization is that I am part of a group that doesn't do the right thing. As far as the Republicans are concerned, my 20 years of paying taxes, owning property, and not burdening society mean zilch. Overnight, I'm lumped into a group that does nothing but bang each other and spread HIV, then expect the government to pay for my medical care and support me. This is how I am viewed by the current political power structure. To them, I contribute no resources and drain the system. As a result, the mighty and powerful are now weary of me.

Obviously, I retain no political influence. Surely someone so disenfranchised would develop a legislative machinery to keep such politically hawkish maniacs at bay. As part of a welfare system that provides a "subsistence only" survival, I would be part of a motivated populace exercising its only power: the vote. This hasn't happened. Instead, I am like an invalid being nursed by uncaring relations who will only rejoice in my demise.

Do you think anyone in the White House (or Austin) care about men and women dying of AIDS? If so, why would they refuse to increase funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), whereby thousands of Texans obtain anti-HIV meds?

Here's a little-known legislative fact about ADAP that will make you an insomniac. Romantically named a "sunset" provision, it states: In the event that the ADAP program does not live within established budgetary guidelines, it can be abolished by the Texas legislature.

It's time for HIV-positive men and women to take a hard left. Otherwise, your last sunset may be nearer than you think.

Rich Arenschieldt is the director of education and outreach at the Center for AIDS: Hope & Remembrance Project (www.centerforaids.org).