➤ BLACK GAY PREVENTION, from p.10
rics, and some of those have been
achieved, a key measure is how
many people are newly infected
with the virus in a year. When the
plan started in 2014, the goal was
to reduce new infections to 750
statewide annually, with no more
than 600 of those occurring in the
city by 2020.
Using pre-exposure prophylaxis
(PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis
(PEP), the plan has produced
signifi cant reductions in estimated
new HIV infections among white
gay men in New York City. Other
interventions had already achieved
large reductions in mother-to-child
transmission and in new infections
among drug injectors. The estimated
new HIV infections among
Black and Latino gay and bisexual
men have come down, but the declines
have not matched those seen
in other groups.
It was apparent early in the plan
that if New York City did not achieve
large reductions in new HIV infections
among African-American
and Latino gay and bisexual men,
➤ VAN BRAMER, from p.10
Jimmy Van Bramer who’s been
fi ghting for us all his life and won’t
back down, whether it’s against
Trump, establishment politics, or
the anti-trans, anti-immigrant
voices trying to shut us up,” said
Gentili, who founded Transgender
Equity Consulting, a company
geared toward organizing and
educating on issues impacting the
transgender and gender non-conforming
community. “Jimmy has
always been a true advocate for the
LGBTQ community, and I know
he’ll continue our work to make
sure Queens is a place for all.
Van Bramer welcomed Gentili’s
endorsement, saying she “is an incredible
leader who’s used her own
experiences to advance the rights
of others, from trans women to sex
workers.”
Van Bramer has sought to fi rmly
position himself in the progressive
lane in a year when he was outspoken
in his opposition to a major
move by Amazon into Queens that
would have been backed by several
billion dollars in public funding
and became the fi rst elected offi cial
to back out queer Queens district
it was not going to get to 600 new
infections annually by 2020. In
2017, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the
city health department’s deputy
commissioner for disease control,
was blunt when asked about the
plan’s goal if new HIV infections
were not reduced among Black and
Latino gay and bisexual men.
“You lost the game,” Daskalakis
said then.
That game is now lost. The city
and state have not yet said what
the new targets for annual new
HIV infections will be. English,
who has been advocating for his
organization and for greater HIV
prevention resources for gay and
bisexual men of color for years,
shares the frustration of the plan’s
proponents.
“We just don’t have the resources,”
he said. “The sad part is we
want to get in the fi ght, but we
don’t have the resources.”
Two-and-a-half years ago, Get It,
Get It won a city contract that paid
$166,000 a year to develop a curriculum
that would move African-
American gay and bisexual men
onto PrEP and PEP. Both regimens
use anti-HIV drugs in HIV-negative
people to keep them from becoming
infected. PrEP and PEP are highly
effective when taken correctly. The
contract funded four part-time
positions for two years after six
months of capacity building.
Working with the Center for
Community Practice at the University
of Rochester, the group created
a curriculum that draws its target
audience to social events, such
as a bowling party or a “Swanky
Social,” as one of the events was
called, and engages them in a discussion
about HIV prevention. The
curriculum assumes that there
will be a series of follow-up communications
that will lead to the
men beginning PrEP.
“The grant doesn’t give us the
ability to go to the next steps with
them, which is a shame,” English
said. “It was about sexual health…
PrEP was the main emphasis and
we also talked about PrEP on demand.”
Rather than waiting for these
men to go to their doctor’s offi ce or
to a city sexual health clinic for a
PrEP prescription, the curriculum
pays them to come to an event and
introduces them to PrEP. It avoids
using advertising that some men
attending the Get It, Get It events
thought was “highly sexualized
and objectifying and inconsistent
with how they see themselves.”
Its contract with the city ended
at the close of 2019. Get It, Get It
presented its fi ndings to the city
health department and at the 2019
Ending the Epidemic Summit in
Albany in early December.
“It’s culturally relevant, it’s sexually
relevant,” English said. “The
next step is to roll out the curriculum,
diffuse it, and train other
agencies to use it.”
The underlying assumption
with the Get It, Get It curriculum
is that different populations will be
reached with messages that are attuned
to the target audience and
that there is no one generic message
that will speak to gay and bisexual
men of all races and ethnic
background.
“We know how to fi nd them with
Black gay gatekeepers,” English
said. “That’s our expertise. Let the
experts do what they do best.”
Out gay Queens Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer is picking up progressive endorsements ahead of the special election for borough president.
attorney candidate Tiffany Cabán
during her primary campaign.
Van Bramer, fi rst elected to the
Council in 2009 representing Sunnyside,
Woodside, Long Island City,
and Astoria, is running in a crowded
fi eld to replace Queens District
Attorney-Elect Melinda Katz for
borough president in a special
election. His opponents include
Councilmembers Donovan Richards
and Costa Constantinides,
TWITTER/ JIMMY VAN BRAMER
former Councilmember Elizabeth
Crowley, Assemblymember Alicia
Hyndman, and retired NYPD sergeant
Anthony Miranda.
The date for the special election
has yet to be announced.
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