Hi!

I am the Texas Youth Advocacy Coordinator. I read this post on facebook and decided to post it on Amplify on behalf of one of the 10 fabulous Texas Youth Leadership Council members, Lizzie.

Stay tuned for advocacy efforts in Texas!

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Lizzie Cochran
Hi, everybody!

My name is Lizzie Cochran and I am a Dedman II Senator on the SMU Student Senate. As some of you may know, legislation is now in the works to add a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Senator to the Student Senate. I believe this is not only a worthy effort, but also a necessary one. SMU has long had the reputation of being not only a homophobic school, but also one that is generally unaccepting of students of different races, religions, and backgrounds. I know, as I'm sure nearly all of you do as well, that this is a stereotype that is no longer the norm at our school. It is through the work of many dedicated students, teachers, and staff members that SMU has risen above this stereotype to become a school strongly dedicated to the idea of equality for all students.

However, this past year there has been much debate over the special interest senate seats that I believe have played an integral role in making minority students feel well represented on the SMU campus. With legislation in the works to remove these seats all together, it is our responsibility as advocates of diversity and equality to stand up for special interests seats. By supporting the upcoming legislation to create a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity special interest seat, you will not only be supporting the deserving and often overlooked SMU LGBT community, but also helping protect special interest seats as a whole.

As part of our effort to pass this legislation, we will be launching the SMU Voice Campaign. Modeled after the 2008 Courage Campaign against the possible forced divorcing of homosexual couples married before Proposition 8, The Voice Campaign seeks to show that the SMU student body supports the addition of a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity senator as well as maintaining the current special interest seats.

I will be by the Flagpole from noon to 3:00 pm, Friday, November 13, 2009. Please stop by and have your picture taken with our "I support a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Senator" sign. These pictures will be presented to the Student Senate on the day the legislation for the seat will be voted on. Take a picture and make your voice heard!


Thanks,
Lizzie Cochran


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If you cannot make it to the flagpole on Friday but would like to be part of The Voice Campaign please feel free to take your own picture with a sign stating "I support a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Senator." Our sign is featured in the photo section below, but if you would like to make your own you are more than welcome! Please send your pictures to Lizzie Cochran at edcochran@smu.edu.

When I was invited to talk to a group of teenagers about AIDS, I had no idea that it would turn into a disaster. The organization that invited me to come talk was a very conservative, church affiliated, Community-Based-Abstinence-Only grant holder, so I immediately knew it was going to be rough when I didn’t censor my message to say that condoms don’t ever work and that sex leads to death.  As I began my presentation I saw that the teens were very attentive and I could tell they were surprised about some of the truths I was laying out to them. Then all of a sudden the head of the organization stands up and begins a rant about how AIDS can grow under your arms and when referring to STIs- that when things grow down there as she points to her “area” they also grow in here (she points to her mouth) and under here (she points at her underarms). But that wasn’t all. I wasn’t the only speaker that night. Here are some of the other “facts” :

-romance novels are pornography

-masturbation leads to homosexuality

-if you don’t plan on having sex, then why do you need a boyfriend. (by the way this speaker said that he did not even kiss his wife until the day they were married)

More...

Onnalita, 27, Austin, TX

 

An abridged version of a research paper I wrote for Advanced Nutrition for the Lifespan, a graduate course at Texas State University:

 

Approximately 1.8 million HIV-infected women deliver between 600,000-700,000 HIV-infected infants each year. Consequently, 200,000-350,000 infants are infected with HIV via breastfeeding annually. Over 95% of all HIV-infected children world wide live in developing countries. Of these children, over 90% have been infected by their mothers either initially during labor and delivery or shortly thereafter during breastfeeding. To eliminate the risk of HIV transmission during breastfeeding, mothers in industrialized countries were instructed to feed their infants formula, but this recommendation does not ensure infant safety in developing countries.

 

Although breastfeeding increases the risk of infants contracting HIV from HIV-infected mothers, breastfeeding also reduces morbidity and mortality from infectious disease and formula-associated diarrheal mortality. Mothers also benefit from breastfeeding. Mothers have a decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer and lactational amenorrhea which is important for birth control in developing countries.

 

Alternatively, infants that are not breastfed and receive formula milk have a 6-fold increased risk of dying in the first 2 months of life. In developing countries where the most common cause of death is diarrhea and pneumonia, providing and recommending formula feeding for infants may not be the wisest choice. Confounding factors like households without piped water or a toilet increase the risk of morbidity and mortality for infants that are formula fed.

 

Additional Information: http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/hivaids/en/

 

Resources:

 

Coutsoudis, A., Goga, A.E., Rollins, N., & Coovada,H.M. (2002) Free formula milk for infants of HIV-infected women: Blessing or curse? Health Policy and Planning, 17(2), 154-160.

 

Ndauti, R., John, G., Mbori-Ngacha, D., Richardson, B., Overbaugh, J., Mwatha, A., & et al. (2000). Effect of breastfeeding and formula feeding on transmission of HIV-1. JAMA, 283(9), 1167-1174.

 

Shapiro, R.L, Lockman, S., Thior, I., Stocking, L., Kebaabetswe, P., Wester, C., & et al. (2003). Low adherence to recommended infant feeding strategies among HIV-infected women: Results from the pilot phase of a randomized trial to prevent mother-to-child transmission in Botswana. AIDS Education and Prevention, 15(3), 221-230.

 

World Health Organization. (2007). HIV and infant feeding: New evidence and programmatic experience. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.