#1, September 2008

This is an archived copy of a Positive Life NSW newsletter. To subscribe to our newsletters, click here.

US ban on HIV positive travelers to be lifted, but not yet!

On July 30 th, the US President signed into law a multimillion dollar AIDS relief bill that also ends the twenty year ban on entry of foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV. A repeal of the ban by the President does not yet clear the way for travel to the US by people with HIV because the department of Health and Human Services placed HIV on a list of diseases in 1987 barring entry to the US.

Reversing this regulation may take months and not happen before the new President is in the White House. US advocacy groups are pressing for the ban to be lifted.

Homophobia continues to fuel the spread of HIV

Prejudice, stigma and hostility towards men who have sex with men (or MSM) have only worsened the spread and impact of HIV. In many countries sexual activity between men is a criminal offence and hostility and human rights abuses are common. Despite MSM accounting for a significant number of infections in many poorer and middle income countries, prevention programs which target this group have been woefully inadequate.

Want to share with the media your experience of living with HIV?

Positive Life NSW is recruiting articulate people with HIV from a range of backgrounds, to effectively represent a personal perspective about HIV in public - particularly through the mainstream media (radio, print, TV etc) - during World AIDS Day 2008 and beyond.

You will be trained and supported to ensure your safety, during and after working with the media. You will also be encouraged to develop your presentation skills and knowledge about HIV, including the range of issues that impact on the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV in NSW.

If you are interested in being trained and supported for this new, ongoing and exciting role, call Lance (02) 9361 6011 or email: lancef@positivelefe.org.au

Happy Birthday HIV

TWO YEARS: LAUGHTER & TEARS
Don’t they grow up so fast! My HIV is two years old and I think I’ve got the little bugger toilet trained, under control and undetectable. Not seen and not heard? … Someone said that homosexuality, ‘the love that dare not speak its name has become the love that just won’t shut up!’ It seems now (in this neck of the woods at least) that its bastard child, HIV gives me ever more cause for speculative chatter. These days I’m more concerned about early onset dementia from depression than I am about late onset HIV, but let me tell you a thing or two I’ve found out about both!

Making decisions about work?

Positive Life NSW will be hosting Making it work: Employment and HIV on Wednesday September 10th from 6pm to 8.30pm at the Y Hotel 5-11 Wentworth Avenue Sydney.

Are you HIV positive and currently working (either full time or part time) and would like to know more about your rights at work? Would you like to know more about work and finances? Or perhaps you are thinking about making a change to your career or to your working hours? Maybe you are thinking about returning to work and want to know more about what is involved and what to expect. There will be a panel of speakers and a chance to ask questions and discuss issues. The forum is funded by a grant from South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service. To RSVP phone Harry on (02) 9361 6011 or email: harryr@positivelife.org.au

Read Positive Life’s recent submission to the Federal Government on Employment

A warm welcome

Talkabout spoke to Kate Reakes, the new coordinator for Poz Het (Positive Heterosexuals), about support for people living heterosexually with HIV.

What brought you to Poz Het?

I’d been living in Northern Ireland for eighteen months and the bad weather and the lack of summer was starting to get to me. I was looking at the web to see what was happening back home, found this position and here I am. My background was in mental health and drug and alcohol, and I’ve always had a keen interest in HIV and sexual health.

Read this new Talkabout article and find out more about what’s happening at Poz Het