Group ‘Flunks’ Shalala, Pataki on AIDS Issues

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and New York Gov. George Pataki were given failing grades for their response to the AIDS epidemic in a “report card” issued today by a major gay legal group.

In a statement to mark World AIDS Day, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Defense Secretary William J. Perry would have received its highest grade for opposing a proposal to discharge HIV-positive service members but was instead given an “incomplete for his support of the military’s ban on lesbian and gay service members. . . .”

The Lambda Fund, the nation’s oldest and largest lesbian and gay legal defense organization, gave “A” grades to Orange County Democrat Loretta Sanchez for defeating Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the November congressional election; to the New York State Court of Appeals for a ruling that gave HIV-positive people access to basic medical care and to the People With AIDS Health Group for providing high-quality information and alternative treatment suggestions.

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The group said it flunked Shalala because of her refusal to endorse needle-exchange programs, her failure to lift federal restrictions on HIV-positive health care workers and her failure to ensure sufficient reimbursement rates in Medicaid programs that switch to managed-care systems.

It said it failed Pataki for his proposed welfare plan because it would eliminate some housing assistance for people with the AIDS virus, would reduce and then eliminate assistance to HIV-positive recipients of Aid to Families With Dependent Children and end assistance to those who test positive for drugs.

“History will judge those who have failed to help those living with AIDS and HIV,” Lambda Fund head Kevin Cathcart said in the statement. “But the epidemic cannot wait, so with this AIDS report card we are judging them now.”