Pride Month is always a busy time of celebration, solidarity, and activism for GMHC. This June is no different.
GMHC staff rallied at City Hall on June 11 with other community-based organizations, allies, and elected officials to urge NYC Mayor Eric Adams to restore HIV and AIDS funding cuts that will otherwise end three agency programs.
Meanwhile, GMHC’s staff, clients, supporters, and friends have joined in Pride events across the city, including the New Queens Pride Parade in Jackson Heights on June 2 and Brooklyn Pride on June 8. GMHC will also participate in the Harlem Pride Festival on June 29 and the Queer Liberation March in Greenwich Village on June 30, which the Reclaim Pride Coalition organizes as an alternative march that bans corporations and police.
“GMHC annually participates in LGBTQ+ Pride events to celebrate the important contributions of the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness of our continuing social justice work to address homophobia, transphobia, racism, stigma, discrimination, violence, and other critical issues,” said GMHC’s Community Relations Director Krishna Stone.
In that spirit, GMHC Testing Center staff provide free HIV and STI testing at many Pride events, including those for National HIV Testing Day on June 27. They also host information tables to raise awareness about the GMHC’s services for people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
During Pride Month, GMHC also held its annual HIV & Aging Conference on June 14, and it is hosting the Latex Ball on June 22. This iconic event for the Ballroom community also provides free HIV testing and sexual health information.
Budget Cuts Rally
GMHC and three other HIV and AIDS services organizations, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Harlem United, and Housing Works, announced that they will boycott the NYC Pride March on June 30. This boycott is in response to the mayor’s proposed budget cuts of over $5.7 million in HIV and AIDS funding, and his plan to redirect funding from community-based clubhouses for seriously mentally ill adults to larger, centralized centers.
Over 80 leaders, staff, and clients from GMHC, Callen-Lorde, the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center (Rainbow Clubhouse), and Housing Works held the rally on the steps of NYC City Hall on June 11 to protest these drastic cuts. They were joined by activists from ACT UP NY and many NYC elected officials: Councilmembers Erik Bottcher, Gale Brewer, Tiffany Cabán, Shekar Krishnan, and Linda Lee, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
“If the $1.1 million in funding to GMHC that’s been cut by Mayor Adams is not fully restored, three critical programs for our clients living with or affected by HIV and AIDS—HIV Prevention and Literacy for Older Adults, RISE (Realizing Independence Through Support & Employment), and the Undetectables—will end, and 13 staff will be affected,“ said Jason Cianciotto, GMHC’s Vice President of Public Policy and External Affairs.
“Cutting HIV funding will prolong the HIV crisis, harm patients, and make New York sicker. We are calling for these cuts to be reversed immediately—this is a matter of life and death,” said Callen-Lorde CEO Patrick McGovern.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and other rally participants called upon Adams and the NYC City Council to restore the FY 2025 budget cuts and to extend the mental-health clubhouse contracts to ensure continuity of care for over 500 members with serious mental illness.
“I urge the City to restore the $5.7 million reduction to HIV and AIDS funds that support low-income New Yorkers of color and LGBTQ+ individuals, and ensure no New Yorker loses access to their community-based mental-health clubhouses,” Levine said.
If you live in New York City, you can help by using our easy online tool to send an email advocating to restore these cuts. If you would like to join GMHC at upcoming Pride parades, marches, and festivals, or if you have any questions, please email Stone at krishnas@gmhc.org.
We need your help to restore $1.1 million of proposed cuts in the upcoming New York City budget impacting three of GMHC’s programs.
Email Mayor Adams and your NYC Council Member by clicking here.
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