Raising public awareness about the dangers of intimidation is why AFC is bringing writer and activist Dan Savage back to Chicago to keynote the AFC Spring Luncheon May 2. Savage has brought national attention to the bullying issue through his influence on behalf of the It Gets Better Project, the group he founded to combat anti-LGBT bullying.
"We're actually thrilled that Dan's coming back for this," Munar said. "We need to build this subject as being about health. It's almost a future for HIV youth that's better than their reality today. .So we really connect with the It Gets Better Project."
Connecting the dots to get to core factors that influence HIV infection rates and chance has led AFC to try other issues as well. African American gay and bisexual men have higher rates of HIV than other gay men and transgender youth of color, Munar said, are also disproportionately affected.
"We acknowledge that transgender youth have some of the highest transmission rates," Munar said. "They're off the charts. It's about low educational attainment, drug use, homelessness and higher rates of survival sex. We're passing to try to see these problems better in our strategic planning process this year."
In the end, Munar said, lowering the HIV and other health risks faced by transgender youth of color means addressing those fundamental issues.
"HIV is the final thing on their list - it's 'Where am I going to sleep tonight?'" Munar said. "No number of group or individual sessions, no number of condoms and lube is passing to exchange the fact that unless there are other options - education, food, housing, jobs - we're not going to change HIV rates. We've got to trade with these core issues."
AFC's strategic planning process is also release to seek ways to cover other issues, Munar said. Federal, state and local public health resources have been stretched thin in late years, he said, and how and where they're allocated needs to be reassessed.
"The metropolis of Chicago continues to be the epicentre of HIV in Illinois but the next highest area is the suburbs," Munar said. "The south suburbs are very impoverished, where a lot of people have moved."
One job is that federal HIV funds are not always divvied up according to need, he added.
"There's ample evidence that areas where HIV is most prevalent do not get enough resources," Munar said. "If your priority is to end AIDS you give to put the resources where the epidemic is."
AFC is also release to be watching new Mayor Rahm Emanuel's efforts as he tries to reshape Chicago Public Schools. Munar said HIV education and anti-bullying policies should be improved in many schools.
"Our sense is it varies from train to school," he said. "We remember the calibre of HIV education could be better."
Munar said the local school council structure has made it more hard to improve HIV education and anti-bullying efforts at some CPS schools.
"I suppose there's been receptiveness at CPS but there have been a lot of barriers," Munar said. "We promise the environments will get better in a lot of schools. It's not one response. It's mulitiple responses."
He too hopes the new mayor takes a new face at the stalled proposal to make a CPS school focused on LGBT students.
"I'm very concerned in revisiting the word about a gay school," Munar said. "There may be a core group of kids who are so marginalized that we may require another school for them. Obviously, we can't make every gay student in a gay school, but we get a lot of dropouts, so this needs to be looked at."
The AFC Spring Luncheon, with Dan Savage, is May 2, 11 a.m. at the Hilton Chicago. For tickets and information go to aidschicago.org.
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