Six Minutes…

From 25 July 2010

Six Minutes….That is the difference between catching a train and missing it. When traveling internationally by train, do not (I repeat) do NOT wait in the main station until the track number is announced. At this point you are too LATE and will most likely miss your train!! Good news for those traveling in London, you are not condemned to catch a different train. If you are in London you become a priority passenger.

The story behind this is as follows…we got to the train station an hour and a half early, but did not know what track to go to, so we assumed that we were to wait to find out. This was not true, as we discovered upon turning the corner towards the track. This turn revealed to us a long (and I mean l-o-n-g) line through immigration. Lucky for us, the ticket agent noticed our departure time, sent us to the front of the line, rushed us through security, and sent us to business class customs. We then booked it to the platform to find that we were on the furthest train car from the station. Again rushing down the platform we made it to our train car in time to wait for some other late-comers to put luggage on the car, then we boarded the train as it was pulling away from the station.

Lessons learned: (1) the British are wonderfully forgiving people and are very helpful to clueless travelers in high-stress situations; (2) never wait for a track number to be announced to begin the custom’s process.

I can also honestly say that I have never gotten through customs so quickly and efficiently, though I NEVER want to try that one again!

How to Change the World

Many of the sessions that I attended during AIDS 2010 discussed stigma, discrimination, and changing social norms. In these sessions, presenters gave talks on both theoretical and practical applications of projects geared towards changing the way in which people look at “the other.” As our conference was titled “Rights Here, Right Now,” sessions were highly dependant on dialogue concerning causes of inequity amongst people. Key stigmatized and discriminated groups discussed were Men Who have Sex with Men (MSM), Illicit Drug Users (IDU), Women, Prisoners, and racial and ethnic minorities (the last not being a major foci but mentioned in passing).

I consider these sessions the “Change the World” sessions by nature of their zeal for creative change. One of the “Change the World” sessions I attended concerned the need for a new outlook on social norms. Each speaker in this session had a particular topic concerning the norms, which stigmatize one group or another.

The last panelist in this session was particularly interesting to me, as he broached a completely unfamiliar social norm for me. This speech discussed the need for social acceptance of transgendered women, that is men (by physical appearance) who feel that they are truly gendered as women. These “trans-women” in Lima, Peru could not get gender reassignment surgeries or proper hormone therapies because of the stigmas within their culture. As a result many trans-women in this culture have taken matters into their own hands—having friends and family members administer silicone injections to create a more feminine appearance. These injections are most often done underground in friends’ homes by non-medically trained individuals.

The thesis of this presentation was to explain that trans-women in Lima, Peru do not have the right to healthcare because the gender norms of their culture exclude transgendered individuals. This means that in this particular culture transgendered individuals are essentially not accepted as human beings.

There was no research done in this study concerning the prevalence of HIV in this community, though such a study would prove useless. If these individuals are denied healthcare, knowing their HIV status would merely mean knowing their death sentence. Without access to treatment an inevitable increase in the presence of HIV in transgendered individuals will occur. The denial of basic human rights to these individuals means more than social exclusion, stigma, and discrimination. It means denial of legal rights and the right to adequate healthcare and treatment.

A Note of Gratitude

Though it has been a few months since AIDS 2010, I would like to take a moment to thank the people that made it possible for me. I would not have been able to attend this conference without generous funding from the Walter and Marian English Foundation. This foundation has been instrumental to the extracurricular experiences of countless Methodist Theological School students, allowing us to attend conferences and events in the United States and around the world. Through their participation in our theological education, we are able to take what we have learned in the classroom out into the world to reach our spiritual and intellectual goals.

It is with my deepest gratitude that I dedicate my AIDS 2010 blogposts to all of the scholarship donors at Methodist Theological School, particularly the Walter and Marian English Foundation.

Blessings and thank you so very much for making this amazing experience possible!

MDG and Sexual Minorities

In the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) the global leaders determined that one goal, which they would work towards was universal access. This is universal access to healthcare and treatment. Our concern at AIDS 2010 is to discover why and how this particular MDG has and has not been accomplished. Universal Access, from a human rights perspective, means that regardless of social stigma or discrimination each and every person has the right to receive health care, particularly in terms of testing and treatment for any and all chronic/life-threatening diseases. People should not and cannot be denied health services because of their gender, sexuality, or sexual orientation. The marginalization of women and sexual minorities has gotten the world into a huge problem in terms of Universal Access.

Without access to health care, a woman in an inculturated patriarchal society is not able to even ask for an HIV test. For one, some of these cultures blame women for the transmission of HIV, when in most cases it is their husband’s unfaithfulness that brings HIV into the household. None-the-less, in areas where a woman is blamed for transmission of HIV, a woman may be abandoned by her husband and consequently by her community for even asking for an HIV test. If a woman is found to be positive, she faces brutalization and sterilization along with official excommunication from the community. She will not be allowed to receive treatment and thus is sentenced to a slow and painful death.

In cultures where women are blamed for HIV, a woman is often also not given the right to control her own sexuality. She has no sexual rights. This means that she has no choice as to whether or not she will have sex with her husband and has no right to ask him to use a condom, even if she believes he may be HIV positive. Thus she is unable to protect herself from HIV infection.

Women in some cultures are also stripped of reproductive and sexual rights when they become widows. It is particularly the case with young women that a brother of her deceased husband is required to have sexual relations with her after the death of the husband so that she may in fact continue the family line. Though some cultures have set this standard so that women are continued to be cared for by their deceased husband’s family, it does not make amends for this serious infraction on human rights.

The infractions on women’s human rights do not begin to address the full extent of the issues faced by other sexual minorities. In many cultures MSM (men who have sex with men) are considered to be deviating from social gender norms and thus are denied universal access and other fundamental human rights. Other severely inhumane actions face MSM as well. In many cultures, MSM and homosexual men and women are raped to “fix” their sexual preference. In these cultures MSM are also badly stigmatized and shunned from society, unable to even go to a medical clinic for care. MSM are also often arrested for sexual activity.

Though governmental officials have determined universal access to be part of their goals for the global populace, it seems as though stigma and discrimination against women and sexual minorities need to be addressed first. Without a drastic change in the social norms of many developed and developing cultures, no matter what the governmental officials say about it, universal access will continue to be denied to those who quite often need it most.

[Yet another post from the AIDS 2010 conference...more to follow.]