ACTION: Sign on to the 2009 Gay Men's Health Agenda TODAY

Dear friends,

The Gay Men's Health Agenda 2009 is now available for you to review and download at http://is.gd/k7nN .

We are seeking sign-ons, both individual and organizational, to the agenda.

We will be presenting the agenda to advocates, policy-makers, and other key stakeholders as the new Obama Health and Human Services administration takes shape. Your sign-on will make a difference.

The Gay Men's Health Agenda 2009 was created when Project CRYSP – a Chicago Department of Public Health gay men's health collaboration among four agencies – began soliciting input from a variety of stakeholders across the country in April 2008. Stakeholders were asked to share their vision of a 2009 Gay Men's Health Agenda – to list the objectives and strategies needed to advance our health and well-being. Participants, representing a wide spectrum of organizations and demographically diverse individuals, submitted the policy initiatives, advocacy objectives and the activities they felt were essential to a comprehensive gay men's health agenda for 2009. Submitted in the form of blog posts, the ideas were published on the LifeLube blog – a gay men's health and wellness portal – with comments and discussion strongly encouraged.

An analysis was conducted of the ideas presented through this process and an overview of the process and collected input was presented to 200 gay, bisexual and transgender men's health leaders and advocates at the closing session of the 2008 National Gay Men's Health Summit in Seattle, October, 2008. Feedback and additional ideas were recorded during the extensive open discussion portion of the session. Finally, additional feedback was solicited on the Gay Men's Health Ning-- http://gaymenshealth.ning.com . This process informs the entire document.

As a new Administration and Congress set a course for America, with a focus on health care reform, leaders of the gay men's health movement join with the National Coalition for LGBT Health and other allies in advocating for policies and resources to advance the health and well being of gay, bisexual, and transgender men.

If you have already added your own name or that of your organization, THANK YOU!

If you haven't yet, email gaymenshealthagenda@gmail.com no later than 5:00pm Wednesday, March 4th to ensure that you and/or your organization is listed as an endorser.


Please forward this request far and wide. Any questions can be addressed to gaymenshealthagenda@gmail.com.


Sincerely,

The Gay Men's Health Agenda Working Group

Cornelius Baker
Chris Bartlett
Stewart Landers
Kaijson Noilmar
Jim Pickett