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Friday, March 26, 2010 at 11:29:00 AM EST

I'm wearing THE T-shirt today. The t-shirt simply says HIV POSITIVE and I'm wearing it all day today. So are about about 250 Northeast Ohioans, a few state- and nationwide, and even a few internationally.

http://www.cleveland.com/living/index.ssf/2010/03/aids_taskforce_t-shirt_aims_to.html

Activism takes many forms and The AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland decided to create an anti-stigma campaign wherein anyone, regardless of HIV status, agrees to wear The T-shirt all day, go about their regular routine and report about their experience.  

The purpose is to break down the stigma surrounding those who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. However, you can see from the comments following the article above, some don't see it that way.

Would you wear the T-shirt? Why or why not?

To see folk's reports and pictures, go to Earl Pike's FB page or The AIDS Taskforce page.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 4:20:00 PM EST
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A few weeks ago, I gave an update of a couple of Ohio youth advocates who gave witness testimony in support of Ohio Prevention First, specifically for comprehensive sex education.
 
More recently, the opposition had its chance to testify before the Ohio House Health Committee. You can view the witnesses and see their testimony here: http://www.prochoiceohio.org/issues/pfthirdhearing.shtml
 
Many of the witnesses focused on the comp sex ed piece proposed in Ohio Prevention First. As usual, they continued to promote misinformation, distortion, and outright lies
 
For example, Peggy Pecchio, Director of Operation Keepsake, refers to a 2007 Zogby push poll to support her claim that Ohio parents want abstinence-only education for their children. Well, that poll was funded by the National Abstinence Education Association.
 
She then refers to the 2007 Quinnipiac poll (an independent research institution) in which Ohio voters support comp sex ed. But she tried to say that the wording in the poll “erroneously said that Title V abstinence education did not allow for condom or contraception education”. Well, Peggy, that’s true. Where in the A-H guidelines does it allow for condom or contraception education?
 
Here’s the outcome that Peggy and other ab-only supporters try to deny:  “They [voters] support 51 - 40 percent, … Voters oppose abstinence-only sex education 51 - 43 percent and prefer 71 - 18 percent sex education that emphasizes both the value of abstinence and the value of using contraception.”
 
Peggy did agree in her testimony that parents do want their children to have information about condoms and contraception. Thank you Peggy. But we don’t want it from you. We want medically accurate information, not information just about the failure rates of contraception. You know, the kind of “information” you teach.
 
There’s a lot more misinformation here and in other opponent testimony. If you can stomach it, take a minute to review it. Then go to the Ohio action alert and tell our legislators that Ohio youth deserve medically accurate comprehensive sex education!
 
 

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Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 2:55:00 PM EST
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HIV/AIDS infected and affected Ohoians filled the pews of First United Methodist Church in Cleveland on Dec. 3rd to tell White House officials their thoughts for improving care and access to HIV/AIDS services.  For nearly two and half hours, consumers of HIV/AIDS services, professionals, friends and family provided continuous testimony of practical and heartfelt recommendations and demands including needle exchange, condoms in prisons, anti-stigma media programs, streamlined program processes and more. I was inspired and proud of my community and began to think this exercise could actually help to bring about real changes... until I saw this article.

Apparently not everyone has the same common-sense ideas that advocates in Ohio have.  At a World AIDS Day conference in D.C., absolutely no mention was made about youth or comprehensive sex education, and condoms weren't even mentioned until the very end.

Here in Cleveland, Ohioans from every region expressed the need for comprehensive sex education. And those recommendations didn't all come from adults. Several youth were in attendence and at least five youth provided testimony in support of comprehensive sex education. Not one mention of failed abstinence-only programs occurred.  I continue to have hope in Ohio, mostly because of our youth who are not afraid to tell the White House what they know will work!

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Friday, November 20, 2009 at 1:31:00 PM EST
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The Ohio House Health Committee heard proponent testimony on the Ohio Prevention First Act (HB 293) on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009.  HB 293 includes a breakout bill (Act for Our Children’s Future) that promotes comprehensive sexuality education in Ohio’s schools. Of the ten witnesses who provided testimony in support of comprehensive sex education, two were youth involved with the Ohio Advocates Youth Leadership Council.  K.D., a fourth year student at the University of Cincinnati gave their account of the lack of comprehensive sex education in their hometown in rural Ohio and how that has impacted their family.  Danny S., a junior at Parma Senior High School spoke about his experience of having to receive limited and false information regarding sexual health in his school from an abstinence-only-until-marriage program called Operation Keepsake. Committee members were especially interested in Danny’s testimony and responses, asking him many more questions than other witnesses, noting that he represents the youth that will be affected by this bill.  K.D. and Danny did an incredible job of representing the youth of Ohio and were joined by medical doctors, social workers, policy analysts, clergy and non-profit directors who also gave testimony in support of this bill. 

 Danny listens to a question posed by Rep. Goodwin after his testimony.K.D. gives testimony to the Ohio Health Committee

>Additional written testimony was also provided Ohio Advocates members and associates, including Abbey White, a graduate of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and currently studying in Vermont, and Jamie Royce, a graduate of Loveland City Schools and currently studying at the University of Cincinnati.

To read submitted testimony and further summaries of the event go to NARAL Prochoice Ohio: http://www.prochoiceohio.org/issues/factsheets/200911191.shtml

If you live in Ohio, please sign the Ohio Prevention First petition: 
www.amplifyyourvoice.org/ohiopreventionfirst

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Monday, September 28, 2009 at 4:19:00 PM EDT

So many times, I have spoken with passionate individuals about taking action for their cause. Often, it leads to sharing ideas and experiences. Many of my best experiences have been while lobbying my legislators and I always encourage people to try it. The first time I had the opportunity to lobby, I was excited and very nervous. I had once thought that lobbying was for professionals - people who were paid to pressure legislators to support causes or industries. It just seemed like an intimidating, overwhelming thing to take on.
 
Several years and lobbying visits later, I once again had an opportunity to lobby my legislators for comprehensive sex ed. at the 2009 Urban Retreat. I went on three lobbying visits. One to thank my legislator, Senator Brown, for supporting the REAL Act, one to drop off information, and one to educate an opponent of comprehensive sex ed.
 
It was at this visit, that I saw the incredible power of youth activists. I accompanied three Ohio young adults to meet with Congressman Robert Latta’s legislative aide. Rep. Latta is not a friend of comprehensive sex ed. His aide asked several good questions, though, of which the group easily answered - questions regarding funding, age-appropriateness, and curriculum.
 
Then the aide informed us that the Representative fully supports abstinence-only-until-marriage programming. In fact, she told us, there is a “great program, called The Ridge Project that does wonderful work in our area and is at risk of losing their funding.”
 
Without skipping a beat, one our Ohio Campus Organizers, and constituent of Rep. Latta’s, began to inform the aide of the program. “As a matter fact, Project Respect, a program of The Ridge Program comes to my high school. Last year, in my graduating class of 130 students, fourteen girls became pregnant. Clearly, this program does not work in our school.” *slam dunk*

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Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 10:29:00 AM EDT

The first line cheers “Abstinence education works! It is powerful. It brings results!” That’s what the 2006-2007 ATM (Abstinence ‘til Marriage) Education Evaluation Report claims anyway.
 
ATM, an Ohio-based abstinence-only-until-marriage organization, delivers their curriculum, Relationships Under Construction, to over 135,000 students in 35 Ohio counties since 2002. 
 
So I thought I would see what results they bring. At first glance, this ‘report’ looks thorough, perhaps even scientific. They have fancy graphs, lots of numbers and bars, and even tout that the “evaluation is conducted by The Applied Research Center at Miami University, Middletown, Ohio under the direction of Dr. Robert Seufert.”
 
Wow, Dr. Seufert. The same Dr. Seufert who’s research supports comprehensive sex education? The same Dr. Seufert who recently published a Public Policy paper “The Future of Sex Education in Ohio: Who Decides”?  Hmm, let’s see what Dr. Seufert really has to say about ATM’s evaluation.
 
Dr. Seufert is a very reachable guy. In fact I had the pleasure of speaking with him over the phone last week for nearly thirty minutes as he explained his thoughts on ATM’s evaluation report.

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