Dear editor

FORGE is delighted that the Wisconsin Gazette chose to highlight two very important recent national developments related to LGBT aging: the creation of a federally-funded national LGBT Aging Resource Center and  the publication of the second Outing Age. However, we are mystified by why you neglected to mention the critical role Wisconsinites played in both developments. FORGE’s Transgender Aging Network is the only one of the LGBT Aging Resource Center’s 11 national partners headquartered outside of the two coasts and our staff member Loree Cook-Daniels played a critical role in helping SAGE write the winning proposal. Loree Cook-Daniels also played key roles in the revision of Outing Age, and Milwaukee’s own Genevieve Trusouix is one of the elders highlighted in its pages.

These aren’t the only places where Wisconsin’s LGBT community has recently gotten national attention. FORGE represented the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs at a groundbreaking Feb. 22  White House meeting to talk about a slate of LGBT federal policy ideas put forth by the New Beginnings Initiative.

Wisconsin also continues to garner national attention for being the home of the first transgender organization to be awarded two significant federal grants from the U.S. Department of Justice offices to work on behalf of transgender sexual assault survivors.

It’s great that the Gazette keeps us informed of important national LGBT policy developments, but LGBT readers in Wisconsin should also know and  take pride in the fact that we’re part of making those developments  happen in the first place!

Michael Munson
FORGE executive director

Ask Congress to condemn Uganda Bill

In Uganda, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 was introduced in Parliament in October 2009. The bill targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Ugandans, their advocates, and those who know someone LGBT. It would reaffirm existing penalties for homosexuality and introduce sweeping new criminal provisions. Some of these troubling provisions include: imprisonment for life for anyone convicted of the “offence of homosexuality”; punishment for the “promotion of homosexuality” with prison terms; imprisonment for up to three years for anyone who fails to report to the authorities LGBT people or LGBT human rights defenders they know; and most egregiously, the application of the death penalty to anyone in Uganda who has consensual same-sex relations repeatedly or who has consensual same-sex relations and is HIV positive. If this bill were to pass, it would be a devastating blow to the human rights of all Ugandans and would significantly impede effective HIV prevention and care.

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Positively running toward change

Something really phenomenal is about to happen. Something so monumental that a huge shift in awareness might even take place.

In light of my 13 years of surviving with HIV and the current social stigma surrounding HIV in this country, I am about to embark on something pretty scary.

On June 22, on my mom’s 70th birthday, I am going to run 336 miles from Syracuse, N.Y., to the GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Center) in New York City.

My goal is to get this movement picked up by the media, both in Syracuse and NYC, to give a face to HIV – not just on a global level, but on a neighborhood-community level.

I want to initiate a change. A change where people who are living with HIV see themselves as being whole. Knowing that they are beautiful and important people regardless of their status, and that they are not their status.

The deal is, HIV scares the heck out of me. Until yesterday, I was awakened by my heart that I have been living the past 13 years feeling like I was going to die at any time. As if I had an expiration date that was soon approaching. That is far from the deal, because I am incredibly healthy. Besides, we all have a short time on this beautiful planet and anyone could go at anytime.

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A bad check

No longer content to simply pretend that he has frozen the tax levy, when it has actually increased by nearly $45 million during his tenure, Milwaukee County executive Scott Walker upped the ante during his State of the County address by making an arbitrary and irresponsible bet when he promised to lower the tax levy next year. This may say more about his perception of his political prospects than his management ability. Given the state takeovers and service deterioration that Milwaukee County has experienced, it’s clear that the county executive’s managerial track record is lackluster.

There is no need to propose a responsible budget if you plan to skip town for a new job. The impending fallout will not manifest until later, when taxpayers suffer the increasing consequences of service cuts, deferred maintenance and broken promises.

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