Danny Dromm and James Van Bramer made headlines last fall when they won their elections to the New York city council and doubled the number of openly LGBT voices on the council.  Today, these out leaders are changing the debate and using the bully pulpit to serve LGBT New Yorkers.

“I’m a strong believer of when people get to know each other, it’s very hard to discriminate against each other,” said Dromm to EDGE. “As legislators, we can bring that home to our colleagues because we’re openly gay.”

EDGE reports:

Dromm and Van Bramer are the newest members of what many affectionately dub the City Council’s “gay and lesbian caucus.” Councilmember Rosie Mendez [D-Lower East Side] and Speaker Christine Quinn [D-Chelsea] round it out, and Melissa Mark-Viverito and others have periodically proclaimed themselves honorary members. Both men maintain their election will allow them to use what they categorized as the Council’s bully pulpit to push for marriage for same-sex couples and other LGBT-specific issues.

“There will be opportunities for us to stand up as a unit and express our feelings and express our power-as we did with Jorge Steven López Mercado,” Van Bramer said to EDGE earlier this week.

Dromm, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee, agreed.

“I’m a strong believer of when people get to know each other, it’s very hard to discriminate against each other,” he said. “As legislators, we can bring that home to our colleagues because we’re openly gay.”

Dromm added his and Van Bramer’s election broke a glass ceiling, but the question remains: Will they, Mendez and Quinn have any collective power to further advance an LGBT legislative agenda at the city and state levels?

Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College, became the city’s first openly gay elected official with his election as a Democratic district leader in 1977. He told EDGE gay and lesbian Councilmembers could prove pivotal during the upcoming city and state budget process. They could prove decisive in shaping the discourse over funding for HIV/AIDS services and the city’s Human Rights Commission and the implementation of safer-school programs.

“I would look for members of the state legislature and members of the City Council to mobilize to protect the community from what could be dangerous retrenchment,” Sherrill said.

President Barack Obama’s global health policies are drawing criticism from some HIV/AIDS advocates who disagree with the President’s plan to draw back the number of new patients put on antiretroviral drugs each year.  The New York Times is covering the controversy:

AIDS advocates complained bitterly that they had been betrayed and that the Bush administration’s best legacy was being gutted — and they blame a doctor and budget adviser who is also the brother of the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

“I’m holding my nose as I say this, but I miss George W. Bush,” said Gregg Gonsalves a long-time AIDS campaigner. “On AIDS, he really stepped up. He did a tremendous thing. Now, to have this happen under Obama is really depressing.”

…

The [Pepfar] program has put 2.4 million on the drugs since 2004, or almost 500,000 a year on average. Adding only 1.6 million over the next five years means adding only 320,000 each year.

The cutbacks are being made to shift focus on other deadly illnesses such as pneumonia and malaria.  Chris Collins of amfAR is critical of this prioritization, saying “We can’t keep kids alive to age 13 till they die of something more expensive. Also, a high percentage of health care workers are infected; we’ve got to keep them alive.”

President Obama released a proclamation today, internationally recognized as World AIDS Day, praising progress on preventing and treating HIV/AIDS and pledging cooperation on tackling the disease around the globe.

While medical institutions continue to fight the spread of the disease, politicians have taken steps in the past year toward removing the social stigma attached to persons living with HIV/AIDS.  In this proclamation, Obama makes reference to the reauthorization of the Ryan White Act as well as the lifting of the travel and immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS:

Tackling this disease will take an aggressive, steadfast approach. My Administration is developing a national HIV/AIDS strategy to bolster our response to the domestic epidemic, and a global health initiative that will build on PEPFAR’s success. We will develop a strategy to reduce HIV incidence, improve access to care, and help eliminate HIV-related health disparities. We have already ensured that visitors to our shores living with HIV are not marginalized and discriminated against because of their HIV status. We have also secured the continuation of critical HIV/AIDS care and treatment services. Today, we recommit ourselves to building on the accomplishments of the past decades that have dramatically changed the domestic and global HIV/AIDS landscape.

Newly-elected as president of the Detroit City Council, Charles Pugh has not hesitated to take a stand on pressing LGBT concerns, such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS.  Pugh, speaking at an event sponsored by Housing Works, called the state of HIV/AIDS in Detroit an “emergency” and a “crisis.”  Pugh has promise to be a demanding voice in the call for more care, according to the Michigan Messenger:

Pugh said perhaps the city needs to be “a squeaky wheel” to get the attention needed to address the epidemic, but he also said he will be a “noisy voice.”

“Maybe the wrong people are part of this epidemic,” Pugh said, referring to the lack of political access of those infected and affected by the disease in Detroit. “I have the ear of the mayor. I have the ear of the mayor. I can have greater access to them, that is where you take the opportunity to say we need more funding.”

(via Towleroad)

GayPolitics.com has been notified that President Obama will later today officially announce the repeal of the HIV Travel and Immigration ban.  The ban, a legacy of former North Carolina senator Jesse Helms, has been in place since 1987 and will now end after a 60-day waiting period.

Immigration Equality, a group that has been advocating for the lifting of travel and immigration restrictions on persons with HIV, commented on the lifting of the ban in a press release:

“We are proud to have been part of a tremendous coalition, including Senator John Kerry, former Senator Gordon Smith, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who have worked tirelessly to repeal this ban.  Every day, Immigration Equality hears from individuals and families who have been separated because of the ban, with no benefit to the public health.  Now, those families can be reunited, and the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science, and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country.  Today’s announcement is proof that immigration laws that separate families and stigmatize communities are always destined to fail.”

The repeal of the HIV ban was the result of efforts that spanned multiple Administrations.  Immigration Equality will be offering free legal counsel to those with questions about immigrating or traveling to the United States.

UPDATE:  The repeal of the HIV ban has been officially signed by President Obama.