Young, Gay, Latinos Left Behind In The Battle Against HIV In the Bronx

Despite Donald Trump saying that he intends to end HIV transmissions in the United States by 2030 , The Guardian looks at the ways communities can be overlooked. Communities like the young, gay, Latinos in the Bronx whose HIV rates are significantly higher than their peers.

The latest CDC HIV Surveillance report says HIV rates have been increasing largely among young, gay and bi Latino men under 30.

Particularly moving is their story of a 19-year-old, HIV-positive man named Hector from the Bronx who tells his mother he’s gay for the first time after learning about his HIV status.

The good news: The US Department of Health has listed the Bronx as one of its target counties to reduce HIV rates.

But the Trump administration adds to the problems of people on the margins with HIV. It’s difficult to end HIV/AIDS when they are the most highly targeted of Trump’s anti-immigration hatred and vitriol

From The Guardian: In the very same State of the Union speech in which Trump made the HIV/AIDS announcement, he also spent a considerable amount of time railing against immigrants and demanding trans troops be thrown out of the army. “It doesn’t help when at the highest level government, somebody said: ‘We don’t want any more trans in the army,’ Guillermo Chacon, the president of the Latino Commission on AIDS said, in an interview at the Oasis Latino LGBTS Wellness Center in Manhattan. The center welcomes everyone (S is for straight) but specifically targets the Latino community. Chacon continued: “The signal you send is that it’s OK to reject people who are different from you.”

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