This is could become very important. At the same time the Center for Disease Controls releases data that show young black gay men are among the hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, black gay activists in Chicago report numerous complaints of racial discrimination and anti-gay bias at the city's leading HIV/AIDS facility.
Activists with the Chicago-based Coalition for Justice and Respect (CJR) tell the Windy City Times they have received an average of "one
complaint per week over the past year regarding" treatment at the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center. The CORE Center is run by the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and its website says it "serves as a national model of outpatient care" for the HIV positive.
"The CORE center is a local shame, an embarrassment of employees and an insult to the public," said CJR's Marc Loveless at a City Hall press conference.
Marlon Thompson, a former employee and patient at the CORE Center claims he overheard management and employees at CORE use racial and homophobic epithets. Thompson says after he filed a complaint with his immediate supervisor and nothing was done about it he resigned from his position as a retention specialist in late October.
"I brought it up on several occasions about certain talk that I would hear and things that were said that were negative about gay people," Thompson said. "I felt like that was an insult. so I felt like I had to leave." Thompson said he described what he called “blatant homophobia” that surrounds the CORE Center in his letter of resignation.
Loveless also claims significant discrimination against transgender women seeking treatment. One black transgender woman filed a claim with CORE's human resources department and the Cook County Inspector General "after a doctor told her he felt
it was immoral to give her hormones while treating her for HIV." Loveless and the CJR want a full investigation into the claims
of anti-gay and anti-trans bias and discrimination. The allegations of racial harassment and homophobia come at the same time the cash-strapped Cook County government is cutting back funding and services to hospitals. No one would have imagined accusations of bias and discrimination would rise as the budgets were cut. Black LGBT Group Calls For investigation [WCT]
Some Background ...
CDC: Young Black Gay Men Hit Hardest by New HIV Infections [R20]
HIV Spreading in NYC at Three Times National Rate Black/Latino Gay Men Hit Hardest [R20]
CDC: "Troubling" Rise in HIV Among Black Gay Men [R20]
GMHC's "I Love My Boo" Campaign [R20]
HIV Rates Rising Among Black NYC Gay Men [R20]
CDC Tracking "Serious" Strain of Syphilis [R20]
Ending Black Homophobia Will Reduce HIV [R20]
Do You Disclose Your HIV Status? [R20]
Primetime Reports Black HIV Epidemic [After Elton]
"Out of Control: AIDS in Black America" [R20]
POZ Examines Race and the Down Low [R20]
HIV Rates Rise Among NYC Black Gay Men [R20]
Phill Wilson: Candidates Must Address HIV/AIDS [R20]
POZ Examines Race and the “Down Low” [R20]
"Urban Rally Against AIDS" [R20]
The ABCs of Black HIV [R20]
Rod, thanks so much for this story. This means a lot to those of us in Chicago, especially those like me who are HIV.
Posted by: West Side Poz | 11 December 2008 at 12:57
This is part of ongoing problem of harrassment and bias at Cook County Hospital. It used to be place where low income and uninsured went, now they are gentrifying and diversifying services. Gays were never welcome, black gays even les so.
Posted by: nicholas | 11 December 2008 at 13:00