Working the State House to Prevent Further Budget Cuts
“You bought it. You own it. You work it!” Representative Gloria Fox exclaimed, referring to our tax dollars that support the Massachusetts State House - and legislators’ salaries - at the podium in the House’s main hall on a recent January morning. Her chant marked the beginning of AIDS Lobby Day, and reminded all of us of our right as constituents to walk the halls, find our legislator, tell our story, share information, and to not leave until our legislators explained what they would commit to doing to prevent further cuts in the budgets that support programs focused on treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS.
Yesterday was the Annual AIDS Lobby day in Massachusetts and constituents from all parts of the Commonwealth piled into the Gardner Room to hear about the cuts that have been made to HIV/AIDS funding. The current budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010 amounts to more than $2.1 million in reductions of HIV/AIDS funding, and programs are already suffering.
Preventing further budget cuts is important to me on a professional and personal level. I work on the AIDS Law Project at GLAD and help staff our Legal Information Line. The continuous stigma and discrimination facing people living with the virus is devastating. HIV has harmed our community for close to 30 years, and continues to be a daily presence in our lives. How can we justify program cuts when there are 8,000 to 10,000 people living throughout the state who are infected and unaware of their status or not in care? How will they be reached now that STD clinic funding has been cut? They won’t. That’s the simple answer. On behalf of the callers I hear from and on behalf of my own desire because I know we need to have access to testing and prevention education, I walked the halls to find my legislators and told my story.
As constituents it’s our duty to hold our elected officials responsible for the things that we know are important: health, safety, and equality for our communities. The FY10 budget will be reviewed in the next few months. Now is the perfect time to look up your legislators, find their number, and make a call. It’s easy – go to wheredoivotema.com, and enter in your address. Like Representative Fox said, “You work it!”