A meeting recently took place in the heart of Chicago's Loop. The purpose of the meeting was to pull together a Midwestern conference under the umbrella of Equality Across America. In attendance were about 25 individuals; I wish those attempting to pull this conference off in the Midwest all the best.

Unity will be the key to the success or none success of this Midwestern conference. While I applaud the efforts of the individuals involved I feel that there was underrepresentation from various quarters of the community. The Chicago community alone is very diverse culturally, politically and religiously. If these three elements are not welcomed to this conference without qualification, I doubt whether the event will resonate with the daily lives of LGBT people either in Chicago or the Midwest.

LGBT Catholics, gay Democrats or even gay Republicans should all be welcomed if they are not welcomed to take part in this conference I fear the goal of the conference will not be achieved which is to promote equality for all LGBT people.

It is our hope that the conference organizers do not commit the event itself to a collective suicide by becoming cliquish in their outreach. The idea is great and worthy of encouragement.

I do not wish to put criticism over action; therefore, we will take a cautious attitude as far as our involvement, and continue to report on the development of this conference. We should always strive for justice in politics; the conference should not be a place to pit justice against politics.

[ Editor's note: The conference will take place March 12-14 in Chicago. ]

Joe Murray

Rainbow Sash Movement

Awareness

Dear Colleague:

March 10, 2010, is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. On this day, we recognize the unique risks HIV/AIDS poses for women and girls; raise awareness of the disease's increasing impact on this population; and encourage women and girls to know their HIV status by getting tested for HIV.

Although HIV disproportionately affects men, more than a quarter of diagnoses of HIV infection in 2007 in the United States were among women and girls aged 13 years and older. The most common ways in which women are infected with HIV are through heterosexual sex with an infected partner and by sharing injection drug works ( needles, syringes, etc. ) used by someone with HIV. Eighty percent of new HIV infections in American women and girls result from sex with an infected male partner. More than 278,000 women and adolescent girls in this country are living with HIV; and almost 94,000 American women and girls with AIDS have died since the epidemic began. Moreover, women and girls of color—especially Black women and girls—continue to bear a disproportionately heavy burden of HIV/AIDS. In 2007, for female adults and adolescents, the rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses for Black females was nearly 20 times as high as the rate for white females and nearly four times as high as the rate for Hispanic/Latino females. Although relatively few cases were diagnosed among Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander females, the rates for these groups were higher than the rate for white females.

Women face unique challenges that may place them at risk for acquiring HIV. For example, a woman is significantly more likely than a man to contract HIV infection during vaginal intercourse. Furthermore, women may lack control and financial autonomy in their relationships, making it difficult to refuse sex, negotiate condom use, or insist on fidelity. This lack of control may result in unprotected sexual activity that places women at greater risk for contracting HIV. In addition, due to limited financial resources, some women may engage in high-risk activities like having sex for money, which also significantly increases their risk for HIV.

While this observance day serves as an unsettling reminder of the impact of HIV on women and girls in the United States, it also reminds us of the importance of HIV prevention. There are many things that can be done in order to reduce the burden of the epidemic among women and girls. These include promoting and protecting women's human rights, re-examining gender roles, increasing awareness of HIV and access to treatment, and encouraging women to get tested for HIV. Getting tested for HIV is a crucial step since early diagnosis of HIV increases opportunities for treatment and prevention, allowing women and girls to live longer, healthier lives.

Women and girls who are at risk for or living with HIV need the facts about how HIV is transmitted and can be prevented. CDC supports a range of proven interventions for women and girls, including Sister to Sister, RAPP and WILLOW. Information about these and other interventions is available at www.effectiveinterventions.org . For more information on HIV/AIDS among women and girls, please visit www.cdc.gov/features/WomenGirlsHIVAIDS/ .

Sincerely,

Jonathan H. Mermin, M.D., M.P.H.

Director

Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention

National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral

Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention