Charlie Sheen: Commentary from Australian HIV advocates

On 17 November the news broke that actor Charlie Sheen was about to do an interview in which he would disclose that he had HIV. 

On 18 November this rumour was confirmed, with Sheen announcing that he had been living with HIV since 2011, had an undetectable viral load, and had been blackmailed to the tune of millions of dollars by people to whom he’d disclosed.

Social and online media exploded, and concern about the potentially stigmatising impact on people with HIV was uppermost in the minds of HIV advocates around the world. Organisations such as AFAO and our members rapidly put out media statements or circulated information to encourage the media to report sensitively.

On the positive side, the media circus provided an opportunity to raise awareness about HIV and publicise accurate information to counter the decades-old myths that still circulate.

This blog post links to Australian community media and HIV sector responses to Charlie Sheen’s disclosure.

If you have links to other useful Australian stories commenting on Charlie Sheen, please post them in the comments.

HIV video fest

Mini film festivals were a key part of the Community and Advocacy Hubs hosted by AFAO at ASHM’s last two national HIV conferences, and also at AIDS 2014. 

This year, once again, we had an awesome selection of videos from our members and other HIV sector partners, with the videos running on a continuous loop between Hub presentations.

Here’s a selection from the program. There were so many that we can’t share them all, so make sure you click through to the organisations’ channels for more.

Raise your voice against stigma and homophobia

Speaking out against prejudice is a vital step towards changing community attitudes that stigmatise people with HIV and people who are at greater risk of contracting HIV.

When people raise their voices against stigma, it makes it easier for people who have HIV, who are gay, who use drugs, or are sex workers, to access the information, prevention tools, and treatments and care that they need to stay safe and well. Faith leaders play a critical role in the response to HIV through model compassion and supporting evidence-based approaches to HIV prevention and care.

Doing Debby in Darlinghurst

A print in Difficult Debby's
Whore Love series.

In early June, a collective of sex worker artists who call themselves Debby Doesn't Do It For Free hosted an exhibition of new and old artworks in Darlinghurst, Sydney. 

Difficult Debby explained what it was all about in her post on this blog in the lead-up to the exhibition.

Once the exhibition opened, AFAO Project Officer Jill Sergeant went along. In this photo-essay she shares her experience at a special viewing session for allies to sex workers.

'Beyond the targets': AFAO Members Forum 2015 session one

Day one of the AFAO Members Forum opened with ‘Beyond the targets’, a session focusing on research as a tool to leverage policy goals for the sector.

Debby Doesn’t Do It For Free

The Debby Doesn't Do It For Free interactive exhibition is coming to Sydney from 2 - 6 June.

Opening on International Whore's Day at the Tap Gallery, the exhibition's described as a 'celebration and homage to sex work'. It will include videos, prints, soundscapes, installations, the popular 'Ask a Hooker a Question' booth and more.

The exhibition is put together by the Debbys - an independent sex worker art and performance collective inspired by the 70s porn film Debby Does Dallas. It's a fun opportunity to find out more about sex work and sex workers' lives, politics, advocacy and creativity.

We asked one of the artists, Difficult Debby, to tell us more.

Migration, social disadvantage & health

It's not often you go to a conference which opens with one of the keynotes literally juggling, but Associate Professor Kevin Pottie, from the University of Ottawa, did just that at the recent Migration, Social Disadvantage & Health conference in Melbourne.

He only just succeeded in keeping three balls in the air, which aptly demonstrated the difficulties of ensuring health equity for migrants. The balls represented political will, support and education for health practitioners, and the policy & social determinants of health. It was an excellent start to a conference in which a wide range of engaging presentations and discussions provided ample evidence for the challenges of keeping all of these factors in balance and working together to produce better health outcomes for migrants in Australia and internationally.

Joint launch highlights HIV issues for migrant and mobile populations

Speakers at the launch.

Mobile and migrant populations are an increasingly prominent proportion of Australia’s HIV epidemic in 2014. 

Surveillance data indicates that people born overseas in 2013 have HIV at double the rate of those who are Australian born. The data also shows an increase of HIV diagnoses acquired overseas among Australian born people over the past decade.

Against this background, two documents were launched in Melbourne on 2 December that make important contributions to the response to HIV for people who travel to or from high prevalence countries: The HIV and Mobility in Australia: Road Map forAction, developed by the Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research (WACHPR), the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) and the Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Applied Research and Evaluation Network (SiREN); and AFAO’s HIV and Stigma: A Guide for Religious Leaders.  

Blog Action Day: Inequality and HIV

Indraveer Chatterjee

The global HIV epidemic is characterised by inequality. To name just two dimensions of this: gender inequality fuels the spread of HIV; and unequal access to treatment results in unnecessarily high rates of illness and death in many countries. 

To mark the Blog Action Day theme of inequality this year, we invited Indraveer Chatterjee, Principal Solicitor at the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) to write about how inequality within the epidemic is entrenched by a lack of support for human rights.

This article is based on a presentation Indraveer gave at an AIDS 2014 feedback session at ACON in September.

Invoking faith to fight HIV stigma

Looking back, it’s easy to see that Stepping Up in Faith: the AIDS 2014 Interfaith Pre-Conference (held on 18–19 July) previewed many of the significant topics discussed at AIDS 2014, in particular, stigma, criminalisation, and the need for inclusion and celebration of sexual orientation and gender diversity in faith-based responses to HIV.

For me, the stand out presenters at the pre-conference were those who stressed that faith communities must not only be inclusive and supportive of diversity, but should be advocates for the rights of all vulnerable populations – including  gay men, transgender people and sex workers.

People living with HIV are … celebrating their diversity in the Global Village at AIDS 2014

Suzette Moses-Burton, Executive Director at the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), invites you to participate.

GNP+ is hosting the people living with HIV (PLHIV) Networking Zone at the AIDS 2014 Global Village, which will be home of the “People living with HIV are…” campaign. This campaign celebrates the diversity of people living with HIV.

We will be asking people to complete the sentence with a word or phrase of their choice. For example, “People living with HIV are … brilliant, campaigning for our rights, mums, doctors, decision makers, not criminals …” The possibilities are endless!

Whether you are living with HIV or know someone who is, we are calling on everyone at the conference, and members of the public passing through the Global Village, to stop by the PLHIV Networking Zone, and add their statement to the campaign, whether it is light-hearted or carries a serious message.

Zero discrimination: stigma and HIV

Zero Discrimination Day on Saturday, 1 March, is an opportunity to challenge the stigma that is associated with HIV, and with marginalised groups who are disproportionately affected by HIV, such as gay men, injecting drug users, and sex workers.

This UNAIDS campaign seeks to ‘celebrate everyone’s right to live a full and productive life with dignity—no matter what they look like, where they come from or whom they love.’

To mark Zero Discrimination Day, AFAO Policy Analysts Jill Sergeant and Michael Frommer report back on a workshop on HIV, stigma and research priorities at the Centre for Social Research in Health Promises and Limitations conference, held at the University of NSW, 20-21 February.

FOREPLAY - The final push towards three zeros

A series of community events was held across two days in the lead up to ICAAP11, to allow community delegates to come together and network, and to be discuss key issues related to HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific.

The first of these events was FOREPLAY, a one day community pre-conference hosted by APCOM on 17 November.

Addressing human rights for orphans affected by HIV in Nepal

Children at the Punarbul Plus school.

Volunteer Rachel Tyne brings you this update on Punarbal Plus, a School in Nepal that provides educational opportunities and a supportive environment for HIV-positive and affected children, who are unable to access mainstream schooling due to stigma and discrimination. AFAO's small grants program funding supported core operational costs for the program from May 2008 until 2012.

We're family too

I was privileged to attend the launch on 10 April of the "We're Family too" report on a community consultation on the impact of homophobia in Arabic speaking communities. The report also draws attention to the discrimination experienced by same sex attracted (SSA) people of Arabic speaking background in the gay & lesbian communities and offers recommendations for how these issues may be addressed.

"We're Family Too", launched by NSW MLC the Hon. John Ajaka, was produced by ACON's Lesbian & Gay Anti-Violence Project under the guidance of a steering group which included a wide range of community representatives.

Living well: addressing stigma and social isolation

Presenters in this session at the Positive Services Forum highlighted a range of projects addressing stigma and discrimination amonst a variety of groups.

The policy environment: jurisdictional intersections

Session Two at the AFAO Positive Services Forum focused on current issues for people living with HIV, which include e-health, health reform, immigration, criminalisation and discrimination.