Atlantans march for HIV

by Bob Roehr

for the Bay Area Reporter

Hundreds of demonstrators took to Atlanta's main drag, Peachtree Street, in the twilight of December 4 in an HIV prevention rally and march. The event coincided with the 2007 National HIV Prevention conference, which many were attending.

Prevention Justice Mobilization, a new national coalition of individuals and organizations, organized the march, and hopes to reinvigorate advocacy for HIV prevention.

"CDC, can't you see how to stop HIV," people chanted at the rally in Woodruff Park.

"We are here because we know there is no plan to save our lives," said Philadelphia's Waheedah Shabazz-El. "We know that HIV prevention is more than just a condom. HIV is not just a virus, it is a product of social injustice."

Atlanta AIDS advocate Jeff Graham criticized "public health officials who are afraid to speak the truth about how to prevent HIV out of fear of reprisals from politicians. And service providers, myself included, who are afraid of ruffling the feathers of either those public health officials, or those politicians out of fear that our already tenuous funding will be cut if we speak the truth."

Read the rest.

And see photos of the march/rally courtesy of LifeLube here.