News

Obama announces initiative to develop HIV cure

President allocates $100 million for NIH research against disease

Published

11 years ago

December 2, 2013

President Obama announced $100 million in funding for NIH to develop an HIV cure (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).

President Obama announced on Monday he’s redirecting $100 million at the National Institutes of Health for a new initiative to develop a cure for HIV as part of his vision for an “AIDS-free generation.”

Obama made the announcement when speaking before a group of HIV/AIDS advocates at a White House event observing World AIDS Day in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

“The United States should be at the forefront of new discoveries in how to put HIV into long-term remission without requiting live-long therapies, or better yet, eliminate it completely,” Obama said.

In a fact sheet published after the event, the White House clarified the $100 million would be distributed over the course of three years and would catalyze further research for new therapies to improve outcomes for people with HIV.

Rowena Johnston, amfAR’s vice president and director of research, said in a statement after the event the administration’s efforts to find a cure for HIV would build off previous successes in the past year.

“This year, we saw a series of breakthroughs in HIV cure research that have brought us more clarity than we’ve ever had on the precise steps and tools needed to finally end AIDS,” Johnston said. “We cannot achieve the President’s goal of an AIDS-free generation without continued investment in the research necessary to ultimately help us find a cure for this disease.”

The event was part of the rollout for a new White House report on confronting HIV/AIDS, titled “Improving Outcomes: Accelerating Progress Along the HIV Care Continuum.” The report describes the state of the epidemic, makes recommendations going forward and highlights local successes as well as public-private partnerships.

In his remarks, Obama said significant progress has made in confronting HIV/AIDS since Congress first allocated funds to fight the disease in 1983, but certain communities continue to be affected more than others, including LGBT people and the D.C. area.

“Here in the United States, we need to keep focusing on investments to communities that are still being hit hardest, including gay and bisexual men, African-Americans and Latinos,” Obama said. “We need to keep up the fight in our cities — including Washington, D.C., which in recent years has reduced diagnosed infections by nearly half.”

As Assistant to the President on Domestic Policy Cecilia Munoz pointed out at the start of the event, the Centers for Disease Control has reported gay and bisexual men account for two-thirds of all new HIV infections in the United States.

Obama said after his remarks were over, he would sign into law the PEPFAR Stewardship and Oversight Act of 2013, which reauthorizes and extends funds under the Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to confront HIV/AIDS overseas.

The PEPFAR program, Obama said, has exceeded goals set two years ago to help 6 million people across the globe receive treatment for HIV/AIDS by the end of 2013. As it stands, Obama said the program has helped 6.7 million people receive treatment.

As part of the related effort to maintain the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria, Obama said the United States will contribute $1 for every $2 pledged by other donors over the next three years, up to $5 billion total.

“Don’t leave our money on the table,” Obama said. “It’s been inspiring to see the countries most affected by this disease vastly increase their own contributions to this fight — in some cases, providing more than donor countries do. And that ought to inspire all of us to give more, to do more, so we can save more lives.”

Other accomplishments Obama touted was an end to waiting lists for drugs under the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Two years after the Department of Health & Human Services announced that Obama directed $35 million to end the wait lists for federal drugs for HIV/AIDS, Obama said wait lists have since been eliminated.

“At one time, the needs was so great that over 9,000 people were on the wait list,” Obama said. “We vowed to get those numbers down, and I’m proud to announce that, as of last week, we have cleared that wait list. We are down to zero.”

Other initiatives Obama mentioned included old accomplishments, such as the lifting of the HIV travel ban, and new efforts, including the signing of the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, or HOPE Act, which enables HIV-positive people to donate organs to others with the disease.

Additionally, Obama said early next year the United States will host a meeting with worldwide partners — including governments, the Global Fund, U.N.-AIDS, and civil society — to “sit around one table and develop joint HIV prevention and treatment goals for the countries where we and the Global Fund do business.”

“We’ll hold each other accountable, and we’ll continue to work to turn the tide of this epidemic together,” Obama said.

Carl Schmid, deputy director of the AIDS Institute and attendee at the event, praised Obama for the new initiatives, but said more work is necessary, particularly to address the HIV/AIDS infection rate among gay men.

“We are not making progress when it comes to gay men and more must be done,” Schmid said. “We hope that the Administration along with the states and community based organizations follow the Strategy and, as was discussed at the White House today, follow the science and the epidemic, and for the US, that means a greater focus needs to be on gay men.”

A number of high-profile members of the Obama administration were present at the event, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy Grant Colfax, Assistant to the President on Domestic Policy Cecilia Munoz and Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.

In remarks that followed Obama’s, Kerry compared the international alliances that have formed to confront HIV/AIDS to similar alliances that have effected change at a global level.

“We are the nation that faced down the Soviet Union with the force of our ideals and our alliances, and without resorting to the force of arms,” Kerry said. “Now, no exaggeration, in our own time, in this generation, in our fight against AIDS – yes, in a different way, but no less important – we are able to engage in an initiative that can help define our nation and the global spirit.”

Jarrett maintained the administration is committed to confronting HIV/AIDS both at home and abroad because successful efforts overseas requires attention to the epidemic within U.S. borders.

“HIV remains a priority for the administration, and for the president, both here and abroad,” Jarrett said. “We’re committed to PEPFAR and the Global Fund, and to ongoing implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy because the global response also requires a sustained national response to the epidemic right here at home.”

Also present at the event was HIV/AIDS advocate Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). In an apparent ad-lib from his remarks when he mentioned he would soon sign legislation to continue funding for PEPFAR, Obama recognized excitement from Lee as she applauded and said, “Count on the legislator to applaud legislation.”

After the event, Lee told the Washington Blade she was proud of Obama’s efforts in confronting HIV/AIDS and looks forward to his continued leadership to create a world without the disease.

“I think everything that this administration is doing is leading us to that, and fighting for an AIDS-free generation, and that’s the next step,” Lee said.

Obama concluded his remarks by articulating his vision for an “AIDS-free generation” in which all people can protect themselves from infection and all people with the disease have access to treatment.

“That’s the world I want for my daughters,” Obama said. “That’s the world that all of us want for our families. And if we stay focused, if we keep fighting, and if we honor the memory of those that we’ve lost, if we summon the same courage that they displayed, by insisting on whatever it takes, however long it takes, I believe we’re going to win this fight.”

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U.S. Military/Pentagon

Pentagon urged to reverse Naval Academy book ban

Hundreds of titles discussing race, gender, and sexuality pulled from library shelves

Published

46 minutes ago

April 16, 2025

Christopher Kane

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Lambda Legal and the Legal Defense Fund issued a letter on Tuesday urging U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reverse course on a policy that led to the removal of 381 books from the Nimitz Library of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Pursuant to President Donald Trump’s executive order 14190, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” the institution screened 900 titles to identify works promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” removing those that concerned or touched upon “topics pertaining to the experiences of people of color, especially Black people, and/or LGBTQ people,” according to a press release from the civil rights organizations.

These included “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “Stone Fruit” by Lee Lai, “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” by James W. Loewen, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, and “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.

The groups further noted that “the collection retained other books with messages and themes that privilege certain races and religions over others, including ‘The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan’ by Thomas Dixon, Jr., ‘Mein Kampf’ by Adolf Hitler, and ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad.

In their letter, Lambda Legal and LDF argued the books must be returned to circulation to preserve the “constitutional rights” of cadets at the institution, warning of the “danger” that comes with “censoring materials based on viewpoints disfavored by the current administration.”

“Such censorship is especially dangerous in an educational setting, where critical inquiry, intellectual diversity, and exposure to a wide array of perspectives are necessary to educate future citizen-leaders,” Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer and LDF Director of Strategic Initiatives Jin Hee Lee said in the press release.

Federal Government

White House sues Maine for refusing to comply with trans athlete ban

Lawsuit follows months-long conflict over school sports in state

Published

1 hour ago

April 16, 2025

Christopher Kane

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Justice Department is suing the state of Maine for refusing to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Wednesday.

DOJ’s lawsuit accuses the state of violating Title IX rules barring sex discrimination, arguing that girls and women are disadvantaged in sports and deprived of opportunities like scholarships when they must compete against natal males, an interpretation of the statute that reverses course from how the law was enforced under the Biden-Harris administration.

“We tried to get Maine to comply” before filing the complaint, Bondi said during a news conference. She added the department is asking the court to “have the titles return to the young women who rightfully won these sports” and may also retroactively pull federal funding to the state for refusing to comply with the ban in the past.

Earlier this year, the attorney general sent letters to Maine, California, and Minnesota warning the blue states that the department “does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law.”

According to the Maine Principals’ Association, only two trans high school-aged girls are competing statewide this year. Conclusions from research on the athletic performance of trans athletes vis-a-vis their cisgender counterparts have been mixed.

Trump critics and LGBTQ advocates maintain that efforts to enforce the ban can facilitate invasive gender policing to settle questions about an individual athlete’s birth sex, which puts all girls and women at risk. Others believe determinations about eligibility should be made not by the federal government but by school districts, states, and athletics associations.

Bondi’s announcement marked the latest escalation of a months-long feud between Trump and Maine, which began in February when the state’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, declined to say she would enforce the ban.

Also on Wednesday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the findings from her department’s Title IX investigation into Maine schools — which, likewise, concerned their inclusion of trans student-athletes in competitive sports — was referred to DOJ.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department pulled $1.5 million in grants for Maine’s Department of Corrections because a trans woman was placed in a women’s correctional facility in violation of a different anti-trans executive order, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture paused the disbursement of funds supporting education programs in the state over its failure to comply with Title IX rules.

A federal court last week ordered USDA to unfreeze the money in a ruling that prohibits the agency from “terminating, freezing, or otherwise interfering with the state’s access to federal funds based on alleged Title IX violations without following the process required by federal statute.”

United Kingdom

UK Supreme Court rules legal definition of woman limited to ‘biological women’

Advocacy groups say decision is serious setback for transgender rights

Published

3 hours ago

April 16, 2025

Michael K. Lavers

The U.K. Supreme Court (Photo by c_73/Bigstock)

The British Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled the legal definition of a woman is limited to “biological women” and does not include transgender women.

The Equality Act that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity took effect in 2010.

Scottish MPs in 2018 passed a bill that sought to increase the number of women on government boards. The Supreme Court ruling notes For Women Scotland — a “feminist voluntary organization which campaigns to strengthen women’s rights and children’s rights in Scotland” — challenged the Scottish government’s decision to include trans women with a Gender Recognition Certificate in its definition of women when it implemented the quota.

Stonewall U.K., a British advocacy group, notes a Gender Recognition Certificate is “a document that allows some trans men and trans women to have the right gender on their birth certificate.”

“We conclude that the guidance issued by the Scottish government is incorrect,” reads the Supreme Court ruling. “A person with a GRC (Gender Recognition Certificate) in the female gender does not come within the definition of ‘woman’ for the purposes of sex discrimination in section 11 of the EA (Equality Act) 2010. That in turn means that the definition of ‘woman’ in section 2 of the 2018 Act, which Scottish ministers accept must bear the same meaning as the term ‘woman’ in section 11 and section 212 of the EA 2010, is limited to biological women and does not include trans women with a GRC.”

The 88-page ruling says trans people “are protected by the indirect discrimination provisions” of the Equality Act, regardless of whether they have a Gender Recognition Certificate.

“Transgender people are also protected from indirect discrimination where they are put at a particular disadvantage which they share with members of their biological sex,” it adds.

Susan Smith, co-founder of For Women Scotland, praised the decision.

“Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex,” she said, according to the BBC. “Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”

Author J.K. Rowling on X said it “took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court.”

“In winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK,” she added.

It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. @ForWomenScot, I’m so proud to know you 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💜🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🤍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 https://t.co/JEvcScVVGS

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025

Advocacy groups in Scotland and across the U.K. said the ruling is a serious setback for trans rights.

“We are really shocked by today’s Supreme Court decision — which reverses 20 years of understanding on how the law recognizes trans men and women with Gender Recognition Certificates,” said Scottish Trans and the Equality Network in a statement posted to Instagram. “The judgment seems to have totally missed what matters to trans people — that we are able to live our lives, and be recognized, in line with who we truly are.”

Consortium, a network of more than 700 LGBTQ and intersex rights groups from across the U.K., in their own statement said it is “deeply concerned at the widespread, harmful implications of today’s Supreme Court ruling.”

“As LGBT+ organizations across the country, we stand in solidarity with trans, intersex and nonbinary folk as we navigate from here,” said Consortium.

The Supreme Court said its decision can be appealed.