Health Care Access

HRSA Awards $99 million to end the HIV epidemic in the United States

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced that it was awarding nearly $99 million through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program as part of the Ending the Epidemic (EHE) initiative.

The funds will be awarded to 61 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients and will be used to link people living with HIV who are newly diagnosed or not in care to care, treatment, support services, workforce training and technical assistance. The recipients are in 39 metropolitan areas and 8 states, including Dallas, Oakland, Alabama, and South Carolina. You find all of the recipients on HRSA’s website.

As PWN has previously explained, the EHE initiative is sorely lacking in many aspects, including addressing social determinants of health, ensuring meaningful involvement of people living with HIV, and its reliance on molecular HIV surveillance.

We continue to push to these priorities in our ongoing advocacy to the federal HIV response and planning process. To read more about PWN’s current policy priorities for funding federal programs, check out our recent letter to the Biden-Harris Administration.

Gilead and Merck agree to work together to develop a long-acting HIV treatment

Gilead Sciences and Merck have entered an agreement to develop a long-acting HIV treatment. The companies plan to combine two experimental drugs, Gilead’s lenacapavir and Merck’s islatravir, into a two-drug regimen that would allow people living with HIV less frequent, oral, or injectable dosing.

We must advocate for the inclusion of women and people of trans experience in these studies. An AMFAR analysis found in 2016 that that women only represent 19% of the participants in antiretroviral treatment studies, even though they account for over half of the people living with HIV worldwide. Women, especially BIPOC women, face barriers to participating in trials, such as caregiving responsibilities, jobs with inflexible shifts, and medical mistrust.

Economic Justice

Status of COVID-19 stimulus

How will the third stimulus bill, also known as the American Rescue Plan, directly affect your life?

Here are some of the key provisions in the bill:

  • Direct cash payment of $1,400 for individuals, $2,800 for joint filers, and $1,400 for each dependent under certain income thresholds
  • 15% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits through September 2021. This is about $28 more per person, per month.
  • Expanded and improved unemployment benefits, notably a $300 weekly increase in unemployment benefits through September 6
  • Funding for schools, public health, state and local government aid, and rental and utility assistance

You can review the details of the plan here.

DHS public charge rule permanently blocked nationwide

In a huge victory for immigrants in the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) decided to stop defending the Trump administration’s 2019 public charge rule in court. This means that the lower court decision barring the public charge rule will remain in place.

This decision is a direct result of one of President Biden’s early executive orders, which asked administrative agencies to review the public charge rule. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State, and DOJ continue to review the rule, but the DHS Secretary has spoken out stating that the public charge rule is not “in keeping with our nation’s values.”

Advocates, including those at PWN, have fought to rescind the public charge rule since it was implemented in August 2019. It sought to restrict immigration based on likelihood of needing public programs and had severe consequences for immigrant communities by intimidating them from and punishing them for accessing public programs to which they were entitled, like health care, housing, and nutrition programs.

It is a huge victory that this legal battle will end and continue to push for the full rescission of the rule.

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice

Anti-abortion bills in 2021

So far in 2021, over 380 anti-abortion bills have been introduced in 43 states. As of February, eight abortion restrictions and bans had already been enacted, including one in South Carolina which banned abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy and has been temporarily blocked by a federal court.

Many of these bans and restrictions that are passed into law are likely to be challenged in court, much like the ban in South Carolina. This places abortion rights and access in a precarious position, as nearly three in ten of all active federal judges were appointed by the Trump administration, which made no secret of its interest in overturning the right to have an abortion.

Some anti-abortion bills are in states where PWN is engaging in legislative work include:

  • Texas has multiple anti-abortion measures moving forward, which range from SB 8, a six-week abortion ban, to SB 650 which bars local governments, specifically Austin, from paying to support someone seeking an abortion by providing for childcare or transportation costs.
  • Legislators in Pennsylvania plan to introduce a six-week abortion ban bill; a final disposition bill, which would compel women to provide burial services for fetal remains; and a bill that seeks to prohibit abortions over a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Ending Criminalization

Virginia HIV modernization bill signed into law by governor

Virginia Senate Bill 1138, a bill which modernizes Virginia’s HIV criminalization laws, passed both the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates and was signed into law by Governor Northam on March 31.

PWN Virginia State Lead Deirdre Johnson, who is also the co-founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration (ECHO VA) coalition, PWN Policy Director Breanna Diaz and Policy Associate Tyler Barbarin, Equality Virginia, and the Sero Project dedicated countless hours to meeting with community stakeholders and supporting organizations, drafting bill language, and reaching out to and meeting with state legislators to make this happen.

Unfortunately, in order to pass through the House of Delegates, an amendment was made to the bill that reinstated a felony charge for cases where intent can be proven and where actual transmission occurred. (The existing law does not require transmission.)

The original bill scrapped all criminal penalties for a full repeal; the bill was first amended in the state senate to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor.

While the final bill that passed sets a higher bar for prosecution (proving both intent and transmission) and is therefore an improvement over the existing law, PWN and our partners are extremely disappointed in the Virginia legislature’s insistence on retaining a felony, which can destroy the lives of the accused and their family. Criminalization is never an effective public health strategy and disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. We will advocate for this felony to be eliminated in the future.

LGBTQ Rights, Safety, and Justice

State LGBTQ+ legislation and the Equality Act

The 2021 state legislative sessions have been marked by a number of anti-LGBTQ legislation, including a large number of anti-trans bills. There seem to be four main categories of bills:

  • Bills prohibiting heath care for transgender youth;
  • Bills excluding transgender youth from athletics;
  • Bills creating restrictions on identification documents; and
  • Religious exemption bills.

You can find the bills in your state using the ACLU’s legislative tracker.

Not all of the news is bad though! The Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month and is headed towards a full vote in the Senate.

It is unclear exactly what effect this would have on each of the state anti-trans bills, but it would offer LGBTQ people federal protections against discrimination in housing, employment, credit lending, public services and accommodations, among other things.

Be sure to contact your Senators and tell them why the Equality Act is important to you!

Former ICE detainees demand the release transgender people from ICE custody

In a letter to President Biden and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, 36 formerly detained transgender people have demanded the immediate release of transgender people, people living with HIV, and people with medical conditions from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody due to a history of inhumane treatment.

Many transgender immigrants come to the United States due to persecution in their home counties, only be met by harassment, discrimination, and violence in ICE detention.

The letter also cites the inhumane use of solitary confinement under the guise of protection people of trans experience as well as the denial of medications and medical assistance for people with medical conditions, including HIV.

The letter can be found on here on Medium and you can sign this petition to lend your support to transgender people, people living with HIV, and people with medical conditions in ICE custody.


New report shows the unequal treatment of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system

The Prison Policy Initiative released a new report, Visualizing the unequal treatment of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system, which shows that LGBTQ people are overrepresented at every stage of criminal justice system.

It also found that once incarcerated, LGBTQ individuals are subject to particularly inhumane conditions and treatment. LGBTQ people are more likely to be put into solitary confinement, usually under the pretense of “protecting” them, as well as being more likely to be victimized by other incarcerated people and staff.

However, it is important to note that there are well documented harms that result when placed in solitary confinement. While the report notes that data on transgender people is more difficult to obtain, the same effects are seen there and are especially pronounced for BIPOC transgender individuals.

The report suggests a few solutions to the over-criminalization and policing of LGBTQ people including:

  • Eliminating discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing, employment, and other realms
  • Eliminating homelessness among the LGBTQ population
  • Ending the criminalization of sex work
  • Enacting drug policy and sentencing reforms


Ending Violence

Defundpolice.org launched

A new website called DefundPolice.org was launched this month! DefundPolice.org is a comprehensive web resource where organizers can find information about defund campaigns across the country, a legislative database, a resource hub with reports, toolkits, and factsheets, a library of trainings, and a budgeting tool that helps calculate the costs of policing versus community-based safety strategies.

The website was created though the collaboration of the Community Resource Hub, Movement for Black Lives, Critical Resistance, Interrupting Criminalization, Freedom Labs, Database for Police Abolition, ACRE, Advancement Project, Alliance for Educational Justice, and Black Lives Matter Canada.