The Coronavirus Crisis Is Getting Serious

The Republican Party, Donald Trump and peeps in the conservative movement have been treating the justified alarm over the COVID-19 virus as a joke for the last few weeks.

Orange Foolius called it a 'hoax' and a 'foreign virus' that would die out soon as FOX Noise and conservative commentators tried to put their propaganda spin on it.   But viruses are impervious to political spin and don't care what party you support.

They aren't laughing anymore.   The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID- 19 crisis a 'pandemic with over 128,000 confirmed cases on six continents.  That is a declaration they don't make lightly. 

We have entire nations like Italy on lockdown as they struggle to get a handle on an outbreak that has killed more than 1000 people there with over 13,000 cases reported..

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie has tested positive for COVID-19, and PM Trudeau himself is on a 14 day self quarantine. 

In the US, 46 states and the District of Columbia have confirmed cases, with so far 40 deaths.
I also found it deliciously ironic that several peeps who attended CPAC, the huge conservative political convention held in the Washington DC area, have tested positive for COVID-19.

That list of CPAC attendees who got sick includes several Republican legislators.

Trump's precious stock market has lost the entire $11.5 trillion dollars it gained since 45 became (yuck) POTUS, and we are now in our first bear market since the October 2008 financial crisis.

We may even be sliding toward another Great Depression because of his gross incompetence

In addition to that. every major sports league, the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, the NWSL and the XFL  has either postponed or canceled their seasons due to COVID 19 concerns.   The NCAA has not only canceled the men's and women's basketball tournaments, they have canceled all spring sports championships.

The Disney parks in Florida, California and Paris are now closed, and Princess Cruise Lines have shut down all voyages for at least the next two months.

Even Broadway is dimming its lights along with the world famous Apollo Theater, shutting down all plays and events until April.

Closer to my Lone Star State home, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which is a huge event here, canceled on Wednesday with 11 days left in its 2020 run.  A Fort Bend County patron who attended the February 28 BBQ cookoff along with an off duty Patton Village police officer tested positive for COVID 19. 

The UIL boys state championship that started yesterday today in San Antonio's Alamodome has been suspended indefinitely.

It will be interesting to see if Pride events that are scheduled for June will also be canceled or postponed.

Conferences are either canceling outright or deciding to do remote events,  schools from the K-12 to the collegiate level are closing, and unfortunately because Team Trump grossly botched how they handled this crisis, people are dying.

Because Orange Foolius has lied since Day One of his mispresidency, he has zero credibility when he does open his mouth.   Truth and facts are your greatest allies when it comes to fighting the spread of a pandemic, and those are both nonexistent in the Trump White House.

And where are the 'millions' of COVID-19 tests the Trump misadminstration promised?   Seems like as usual the peeps with money can get them, but the general public has been slow to receive them.


Yes, this COVID-19 crisis is getting serious.   So what can you do to help slow down the spread of it?
Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for starters along with frequently touched surfaces in your home like light switches, counter tops and sinks.

All the closings and postponements are part of a social distancing strategy in the hopes of slowing down or stopping the spread of COVID-19 and by extension, save lives.

It's also to buy more time until a vaccine or a combination of drugs that work on it can be found.

Will the social distancing work?  Let's hope and pray it does.

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World AIDS Day 2012

Today is World AIDS Day.   It is observed every December 1 and seeks to bring together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, remember those who perished from it, demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic and celebrate international progress toward treating and eradicating it.

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS (now UNAIDS) at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.   Bunn and Netter took their idea to Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Programme on AIDS, who liked it and agreed with their recommendation that it be held on December 1.

Bunn and Netter selected December 1, 1988 as the date for the first observance of World AIDS Day because they felt selecting that date after the 1988 US presidential election and before Christmas would be in a news 'dead spot' that would guarantee maximum news coverage by western international news media outlets.
        
The day is an opportunity for public and private partners to spread awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in high prevalence countries and around the world.

Between 2011-2015, World AIDS Days will have the theme of "Getting To Zero: Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination. Zero AIDS Related Deaths".

The World AIDS Campaign focus on "Zero AIDS related deaths" signifies a push towards greater access to treatment for all; a call for governments to act now. It is a call to honor promises like the 2001 Abuja Declaration and for African governments to at least hit targets for domestic spending on health and HIV.

HIV/AIDS is also an issue concern for the US and international trans community.   Many of our sisters contracted it either by sharing infected needles as they had silicone pumping done to rapidly feminize their looks, drug use or through unprotected sex.  

The highest rates of new HIV infections according to the CDC are amongst African-American and Latina trans persons as the untimely death in March of Los Angeles area trans activist Alexis Rivera from AIDS complications sadly pointed out.

So not only let us remember our people we have lost to AIDS, let's not forget the people in our community who struggle to live day by day with HIV/AIDS. 

Let's also strive to do what we can as a community to get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination of persons with HIV/AIDS and zero AIDS related deaths.    
 

Jenna's Video On The WHO ICD-11 Change.org Petition

Jenna Talackova is on a mission along with transpeople around the world to get Gender Identity Disorder removed from the next edition World Health Organization's ICD manual. 

The International Classification of Diseases manual fight is important because insurance companies use ICD diagnostic codes when it comes time to bill for medical services performed.  The upcoming renaming of Gender Identity Disorder to the proposed 'Gender Dysphoria'  in the imminent publication of the DSM-V manual has also led to international trans activist efforts to get this done before the projected ICD-11 publishing date in 2015.

Here's Jenna's video and a link to her petition calling on the WHO to remove GID from the ICD-11 .. 

Jenna Takes On The WHO's ICD Manual

After taking on Donald Trump and the Miss Universe organization and winning the right to compete in the Miss Universe organization pageants for herself and other trans women starting in 2013,  Jenna Talackova is combating a bigger target.: The World Health Organization.

Specifically Talackova is targeting the WHO's listing of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in the UN body’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD) manual..  

The ICD is in its tenth edition and is used by doctors around the world.  Talackova has launched an online Change.org petition with the goal of getting the UN-based organization to remove GID from the ICD list of mental disorders.

The ICD-10 was endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and has been used in WHO Member states since 1994.

Homosexuality was removed from the ICD list in 1990 and the calls for the WHO to do the same for transsexuality have been getting louder in light of the fact that the ICD's 11th revision of the classifications has already started and will continue until 2015.

The May 2013 publishing date of the DSM-V manual in which 'Gender Dysphoria' has been proposed as the term to rename Gender Identity Disorder and it's being moved into its own category out of the Sexual Disorders one has also been an impetus for pushing the ICD change.  This is also important because insurance companies use ICD diagnostic codes when it comes time to bill for medical services performed. 

In addition to Jenna's Change.org petition that has over 31,000 signatures at the time I compiled this post, there is a similar petition from Maxwell Zachs that also has over 31,000 signatures calling for the same thing.   There is also an International Day of Action for Trans Depathologization being planned for October 20 to continue to push the WHO and other medical organizations to cease considering trans people as mentally ill.

It's a direction that France took in 2010 when it became the first country to remove transsexuality from its list of mental disorders.    The European Parliament in a September 28, 2011 resolution called for the WHO to withdraw gender identity disorders from the list of mental and behavoral disorders, and to ensure a non-pathologising reclassification in the negotiations on the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)

Organizations such as the APA and the World Professional Organization for Transgender Health have also called for depathologization

The WPATH Board of Directors strongly urges the de-psychopathologisation of gender variance worldwide. The expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon which should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative. The psychopathologlization of gender characteristics and identities reinforces or can prompt stigma, making prejudice and discrimination more likely, rendering transgender and transsexual people more vulnerable to social and legal marginalization and exclusion, and increasing risks to mental and physical well-being. WPATH urges governmental and medical professional organizations to review their policies and practices to eliminate stigma toward gender-variant people.

My position is similar to WPATH.  Eliminate the stigma, but also ensure that GID removal is replaced with medical protocols and practices that allow for non-stigmatized health care access for trans people.

Only time will tell if the international trans community is success at getting GID removed from the 11th edition of the ICD, but thanks to Jenna and many other trans people and their allies around the world the momentum to make that change happen is starting.