L.A. health activist explains AIDS impact on minorities

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AIDS protest in Sacramento Over 10,000 gays, lesbians, persons with AIDS, and their supporters marched through rainy streets to the State Capitol Building in SacramenCalled "one of the largest demonstrations in Sacramento history," the spirited march and rally protested state government inaction on AIDS funding and the scores of unconstructive AIDS measures before the Other demands included: an end to violence against gays and lesbians; for a war against AIDS; and for statewide non-discrimination legislation for gays, lesbians, persons with AIDS or AIDS-related conditions (ARC), those with HIV-positive status, and those perceived to be at risk.

Socialist Action member Brad Judd interviewed Dr. Germain V. Maisoner-Rodriguez, who has been in the gay movement for more than 20 years. A student at Columbia in 1967 and 1968 around the Gay Liberation Front, Dr. Maisonet-Rodriguez went on to serve as vice president of the Gay Medical Students Alliance. More recently, he was the medical director of the Los Angeles Minority Aids Project.

Socialist Action: Do you think that AIDS agencies have been able to adequately address the epidemic?

Dr. Maisonet-Rodriguez: At this point, Los Angeles still has a very poorly coordinated AIDS prevention effort. There are private agencies, non-profit ones, county agencies, and numerous others, and I'm concerned at the lack of coordination.

S.A.: What are some of the reasons for this situation?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: I think there is a lack of direction from the national government—and it filters down. There are some very concerned and dedicated people who really want to see something done. But their hands are tied The spread of AIDS is the result of many problems we had before, predominantly IV drug use and sexually transmitted diseases. We've not done anything to alter these two epidemics significantly. • Los Angeles has seen over the last three years an increase in the rate of venereal-disease transmission and incidence.

S.A.: Is it possible for the healthcare industry to move to a preventive approach from an interventionary one that only reacts to crises?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: I see certain segments of the industry which may take this on, but overall—no. There is too much money being made from intervention.

S.A.: What do you think of the boycott of Burroughs-Welcome, the corporation which is profiting from AZT, one of the drugs useful to people with AIDS?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: The boycott strategy is not as well developed by the AIDS activists as it might be. The message that seems to come out to the larger population is, "What's important to me, outweighs what's important to you. " So far, we haven't seen the significant coalitions made.

It's not just Burroughs-Wellcome. It's all pharmaceuticals and the fact that medications shouldn't be so expensive in this country.

The other epidemic in this country is the epidemic of cancer. We lose 1000 Americans a day. The AIDS movement should say that AIDS is the result of an overall healthcare problem. It is not the most important problem which must be addressed before all other problems can be addressed.

By reaching out to the majority who don't have adequate care, the AIDS movement can better apply their energies.

S.A.: How can AIDS activists link up with other forces?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: The AIDS movement must get a better sense of overall healthcare for minority groups. Gays are going to see the rate of AIDS drop significantly in the next 10 to 15 years. However, IV Dr. Germain V. Maisonet-Rodriguez drug use will continue as a major portal of entry for AIDS for the minority community and will continue as long as there are junkies in the poor communities.

S.A.: What about undocumented workers?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: People who are undocumented are getting a disproportionate chunk of the poor healthcare. It's a matter of "blame the victim." People who are undocumented are usually infected here, not in the country of their origin. It's a political issue because they are denied amnesty because of their HIV positivity.

S.A.: Native American health activists have painted a bleak picture of the Bureau of Indian Health's AIDS awareness.

Maisonet-Rodriguez: They say they're concerned, but there is no implementation of activities which support that claim. There was someone, Dr. Muneta, an activist who was pointing out the issues. But he was fired.

S.A.: Will there be an explosion of AIDS in the Native American community which we haven't seen yet?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: The explosion is already taking place, and the question is how long the native people will be able to survive? Their numbers are decreasing. Diabeties, alcoholism, sexually transmitted diseases are already taking a devastating toll.

The reservations have a rate of alcoholism of 80 percent. They have a rate of VD which is 30 times higher than that of any other ethnic group in this country.

S.A.: What else can be done in the gay community?

CICHT AIDS NOT PEOPLE WITH AIDS Maisonet-Rodriguez: One thing that bothers me is that a great deal of the power in the gay community lies in the bars.

Yet many of the workers in the bars are not unionized Here's a way of getting the unions involved. Get these workers unionized so they can get healthcare benefits, because they are also at risk of getting infected.

Also, they are involved as AIDS educators on the front lines. So why don't we pay these people an adequate wage, stop paying them under the table, and give them benefits?

But we have not thought a lot about that, because too many gay activists know a lot of the money [for AIDS funding] comes from the people who own the bars and bathhouses.

S.A.: What message do you have for AIDS activists?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: Before pointing to any one else and saying that Blacks are homophobic and Latinos are machos, I think the gay community had better get its own house in order, because it can't transmit something it hasn't got. The best sermon is a good role model. Many of the unions have gay healthcare caucuses, and this is a place to start.

We're going to have to develop a new group of gay leaders. Martin Luther King wasn't always accepted by the established civil-rights leadership.

S.A.: When King addressed wider issues like the Viet Nam War and economic justice...

Maisonet-Rodriguez: Many of the Black leaders were the first to say to King, "Why don't you stay in your place, why do you have to talk against the war?" He responded very eloquently, "I have fought too long to end segregation in public accommodations to start segregating my moral beliefs."

I think that a lot of us as leaders or activists in whatever community—whether black, brown, or yellow —have to stop segregating our political beliefs according to gender, sexual proclivity, and class.

We have to deal with class, because certainly in the gay community, the men who are still being infected with AIDS are the poorest.

S.A.: Under Reagan, can healthcare advance?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: I don't want to focus my attention that much on Reagan. ... I don't see that much difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.

S.A.: At the May 7 March on Sacramento, John Dukakis, son of the Democratic frontrunner, was repeatedly booed because of the poor Dukakis record...

Maisonet-Rodriguez: Only $4 million for AIDS in the entire state of Massachusetts was too well known!

S.A.: If Jesse Jackson were somehow elected, could he carry out the necessary health measures?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: No, because he would have to bow to the incredible power of industry and the military-industrial complex.

S.A.: Can the AIDS issue provide a catalyst for developing a national healthcare policy for the first time toward any disease, or the development of a full national healthcare service?

Maisonet-Rodriguez: We could have said the same about drugs or venereal diseases—and we didn't. Basically, the thinking in this country really hasn't changed.

The first Secretary of Health at the end of the New Deal in the 1940s said he was out to establish a national health service, so the idea is not new.

We will not be able to do anything about health in this country until we recognize what our priorities are and start putting more money into health rather than into instruments of warfare.

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Brad Judd/Socialist Action Actio