More than a dozen people from the Center joined with the LGBT contingent of the march on Sunday, June 17, including the Center’s Executive Director Glennda Testone, the Director of Youth Services, Nicole Avallone, and Center Recovery Counselor, M. Dave Soliven, who volunteered as a safety marshal, was stationed at the front of the march, and took the photo below, which includes key leaders- The Reverend Al Sharpton and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

Photo by M. Dave Soliven

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On Sunday June 17, a coalition of groups, including the Center, will gather for a silent march against racial profiling. The event is set for 3 PM in Manhattan.

Join 1199 SEIU, the NAACP, National Action Network, civil rights, faith, LGBT, labor and community groups in a silent march against NYC’s “Stop and Frisk” policy! On Father’s Day, let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling.

Here’s detailed information:

Time: Silent March begins at 3 pm, EST

Assembly Point: LGBT Table Entry Point #3 : 110th Street and Lenox Ave. – also includes RWDSU, Latino/Hispanic table, UAW, Working Families Party

March Route: march south on Fifth Avenue from 110th Street to 78th Street, passing near the Mayor’s mansion on 79th Street.

Posters: organizers will have posters for people to carry, but they also encourage people/groups to make their own signs and banners to carry in the march. It is important to keep the focus on ending the Stop & Frisk policy and ending racial profiling rather than relevant but peripheral issues.

Website: www.silentmarchnyc.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/341929132541010/

You can also read more about the issue in this New York Times article and a blog post from The Task Force, recapping a recent press conference on the topic.

On Thursday, May 24 the Center and several other agencies co-sponsored a community forum on HIV criminalization featuring a screening of a short film, HIV is Not a Crime followed by a panel discussion.

Panelists included Robert Suttle, Assistant Director of The Sero Project, who was convicted and incarcerated in Louisiana for HIV non-disclosure, Attorney Beirne Roose-Snyder from The Positive Justice Project, and Sean Strub of Poz Magazine and Executive Director of The Sero Project.

Partner organizations included the Positive Justice Project, ACT UP, SERO, Queerocracy and the Center.

Here are several points covered during the May 24 discussion:

-HIV criminalization penalties are vastly disproportionate to any potential risk or actual harm.

-HIV criminalization undercuts most basic message about sexual health, which is that each person must ultimately be responsible for him or herself.

-HIV criminalization is inherently discriminatory, and singles HIV out in an exceptional manner, treating it differently from other sexually transmitted infections which, if left untreated, can also cause serious harm.

-HIV criminalization creates a “viral underclass” in the law, creating different criminal law for people with HIV than for everyone else.

-Prosecutions have little or nothing to do with contemporary science or whether or not there is an actual risk present; they are about whether or not the person with HIV can prove disclosure.

-HIV criminalization leads to poor public health policy because it discourages testing (ignorance of one’s HIV status is the best defense)

- HIV criminalization discourages disclosure, for fear of someone from one’s past coming forward; every person with HIV is now one disgruntled ex-partner away from being in a courtroom.

-Mounting evidence shows these laws don’t achieve their intended purpose (to reduce HIV transmission); a growing body of evidence shows they actually contribute to the spread of HIV by driving stigma and discouraging testing.

To learn more about this issue, watch HIV is Not a Crime here.