CDC Releases New Data on HIV Infections 2006-2009

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their latest analysis of HIV infections from 2006-2009 today. The full report (pdf) is available online. This is the first time the CDC has been able to estimate HIV infections from actual HIV test data, thanks to the passage of HIV names reporting legislation which has been enacted by several states (including California) in recent years. 2009 is the most recent year for which data is available so far.

A key excerpt from the press release:

According to the new estimates, there were 48,600 new HIV infections in the United States in 2006, 56,000 in 2007, 47,800 in 2008 and 48,100 in 2009.  The multi-year incidence estimates allow for a reliable examination of trends over time.  They reveal no statistically significant change in HIV incidence overall from 2006 to 2009, with an average of 50,000 for the four-year period.  In 2009, the largest number of new infections was among white MSM (11,400), followed closely by black MSM (10,800).  Hispanic MSM (6,000) and black women (5,400) were also heavily affected.   

“While we’re encouraged that prevention efforts have helped avoid overall increases in HIV infections in the United States, and have significantly reduced new infections from the peak in the mid-1980s, we have plateaued at an unacceptably high level,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.  “Without intensified HIV prevention efforts, we are likely to face an era of rising infection rates and higher health care costs for a preventable condition that already affects more than one million people in this country.”

Some of the key take-aways from the report are:

• Overall HIV incidence in the U.S. has been relatively stable, with approximately 50,000 annual new infections

• New infections among young men who have sex with men (MSM) increased 34% between 2006 and 1009

• Young, black MSM (aged 13-29) is the only subpopulation in the U.S. to experience a statistically significant increase from 2006 through 2009
• New HIV infections increased 48% – from 4,400 in 2006 to 6,500 in 2009

• The new data confirm that HIV continues to disproportionately affect MSM of all races/ethnicities
• MSM represent 2% of the total U.S. population, but accounted for 61% all new HIV infections in 2009
• Among MSM in 2009, white MSM represented the greatest number of new HIV infections (11,400), followed closely by black MSM (10,800) and Hispanic MSM (6,000)
  

Read that line again: "MSM represent 2% of the total U.S. population, but accounted for 61% all new HIV infections in 2009." People who says HIV/AIDS is not a "gay" issue don't know what the heck they are talking about!

WATCH: Black Lesbian Couple 1st To Get Illinois Civil Union

Lakeesha Harris and Jeanean Watkins, a Black lesbian couple with a registered domestic partnership, were first in line to get their civil union license when Illinois civil unions law went into effect today, June 1. Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill into law earlier this year. Hawaii and Delaware also enacted civil union laws this year that go into effect later.

Hat/tip to Wonder Man.

Analyzing Poll Data On Interracial Marriage Equality

In 1948, the California Supreme Court ruled in Perez v Sharp that the state's prohibition on interracial marriages was invalid. That was the first state Supreme Court decision to strike down an anti-miscegenation statute. 10 years later a national poll of Americans by Gallup in September 1958 showed that 94% of respondents disapproved of "marriages between blacks and whites." The United States Supreme Court did not invalidate all remaining laws banning interracial marriage (which were still on the books in 16 states) until 1967, and a year later a mere 20 percent of respondents approved of interracial marriages (73 percent disapproved) in a June 1968 Gallup poll. It was not until the mid-1990s that a majority of poll respondents said that they approved of interracial marriage equality.

In 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision Goodridge v. Department of Public Health went into effect, legalizing marriages between same-sex couples on May 17. At the time 42% of Americans approved of marriage equality, with 55 percent disapproving of civil marriages between same-sex couples. As I noted yesterday, it is only in 2011 that Gallup has shown majority support for marriage equality nationwide, even though there are only 5 states and the District of Columbia where the practice is legal.

Hat/tip to Zack Ford.

Celebrity Friday: Jackie Lacey Could Become LA County DA

Jacquelyn Lacey is the front runner to become the first female (and first African-American)
District Attorney of Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley announced that he would not be seeking a 4th term next year and endorsed the #2 person in the office, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jacquelyn Lacey as his replacement.

Jackie Lacey had already been running for Los Angeles County District Attorney. If she wins, she will become the first Black and first female District Attorney in Los Angeles County, the state's largest. Interestingly, Kamala Harris was the first Black female District Attorney of San Francisco and famously defeated Lacey's boss by a razor-thin margin to become California's first Black and first female Attorney General earlier this year.