In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: November 2009

Obama Lifts the U.S. HIV Travel and Immigration Ban

Excellent news:

President Obama on Friday announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”

At a White House ceremony, Mr. Obama announced that a rule canceling the ban would be published on Monday and would take effect after a routine 60-day waiting period. The president had promised to end the ban before the end of the year.

“If we want to be a global leader in combating H.I.V./AIDS, we need to act like it,” Mr. Obama said. “Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat.”

The United States is one of only about a dozen countries that bar people who have H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

President George W. Bush started the process last year when he signed legislation, passed by Congress in July 2008, that repealed the statute on which the ban was based. But the ban remained in effect.

It was enacted in 1987 at a time of widespread fear that H.I.V. could be transmitted by physical or respiratory contact. The ban was further strengthened by Congress in 1993 as an amendment offered by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that many people weren’t even aware that the ban existed at all. I remember precisely when I learned about it: when we applied for my husband’s U.S. visa in 2005. As a part of the process, he had to get tested for HIV — with the stipulation that if he tested positive, his application would be denied (and exorbitant application fee not refunded). I was horrified and sickened at the time I saw the information on those papers. I’m sickened and horrified still thinking about it now. The policy was discriminatory on its face against a group that is already incredibly marginalized and vilified still to this day. And it’s particularly laughable that a country that funds and promotes abstinence-only education would then treat keeping HIV-positive travelers and immigrants out of the country as some sort of “prevention” method.

In addition to being discriminatory against people living with HIV in general, it also had a particularly profound effect on other specific marginalized populations. These include, but I’m sure are not limited to, those individuals and families who come from nations with particularly high infection rates (often exacerbated by our own international HIV policy!), and the gay community:

In practice, the ban particularly affected tourists and gay men. Waivers were available, but the procedure for tourists and other short-term visitors who were H.I.V. positive was so complicated that many concluded it was not worth it.

For foreigners hoping to immigrate, waivers were available for people who were in a heterosexual marriage, but not for gay couples. Gay advocates said the ban had led to painful separations in families with H.I.V.-positive members that came to live in this country, and had discouraged adoptions of children with the virus.

Gay advocates said the ban also discouraged travelers and some foreigners already living in the United States from seeking testing and medical care for H.I.V. infection.

Stigma, shaming and fear-mongering are not the ways to prevent new HIV infections. This ban was merely another method for exerting privilege and keeping yet more “undesirables” from immigrating. The repeal is hardly a dent in the vast problems with both our nation’s immigration policy and HIV policy, but it was an utterly appalling rule that I couldn’t be more thrilled to see go.

Lack of paid sick days hurts us all

Over the summer one of our guest bloggers — now I’m blanking on who, and of course I can’t get to Feministe Major — wrote about the lack of paid sick days at her workplace. She made the point that the lack of paid sick days is bad for all employees, because people who have to work when they’re sick end up getting other people sick. The issue is finally getting some attention now that H1N1 is upon us. And it’s interesting to hear business interests justify the lack of paid sick days:

Many worker groups and women’s groups have seized on the H1N1 pandemic to argue that Congress should enact legislation guaranteeing paid sick days. San Francisco and Washington have enacted such legislation, but similar measures face obstacles in Congress.

“Sometimes you talk about legislation in the abstract, but this is making people begin to understand the problem,” said Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut and lead sponsor in the House of a bill, with more than 100 co-sponsors, that would require employers with 15 or more workers to provide seven paid sick days a year.

Business groups oppose such legislation, calling it expensive and unnecessary. They say that employers already allow and even encourage sick employees to stay home.

“The vast majority of employers provide paid leave of some sort,” said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president for labor at the United States Chamber of Commerce. “The problem is not nearly as great as some people say. Lots of employers work these things out on an ad hoc basis with their employees.”

So, you know, employers work it out with employees on their own. Nothing to see here. And apparently the term “vast majority” is up for redefinition:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39 percent of private-sector workers do not receive paid sick leave.

Predictably, WalMart is an illustrative example of everything wrong with the country:

Workers at many retailers and restaurants say their employers’ policies discourage them from calling in sick. At Wal-Mart, when employees miss one or more days because of illness or other reasons, they generally get a demerit point. Once employees obtain four points over a six-month period, they begin receiving warnings that can lead to dismissal.

In addition, when Wal-Mart employees call in sick, their first day off is not a paid sick day (although workers can use a vacation day or personal day), but the second and third days are paid. The policy is meant to keep workers who are not actually sick from taking a day off to, say, go fishing.

…wow.

Clearly, this is one area where the private sector needs to be checked to make sure that their policies are at least humane. It’s a shame that it takes a “pandemic” scare to get people to think about it.

Where do I get one of these new-fangled cellular telephones with the sexting?

Oh David Brooks, you are a funny old coot.

Basically, the cellphone and the texting, as the kids call it, are the demise of love and poetry and possibly Bruce Springsteen. Which I guess would explain why I haven’t had a date in a while.

It does not, however, explain why my life doesn’t look like a New York Magazine sex diary. I feel very excluded from this “instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments” with which David “Get Offa My Lawn!” Brooks is so familiar. Sure, I suppose I feel the romantic disenchantment of the new technological era — watching ex boyfriends get increasingly less attractive on facebook takes all the satisfaction out of seeing their degeneration in person for the first time — but where are my multiple sex conquests on speed dial? Where is my blizzard of sexual supply and demand, my universe of potential partners? How do I get to this eBay auction of erotica?

Hmmm. Mysterious. At least I retain my coat of ironic detachment.

School Accepting Donations for Gang Rape Survivor

By now, you’ve almost certainly read about the gang rape that took place outside a high school dance in California. I’ve avoided reading the updated details due to the fact that this story hit me extremely hard, but [trigger warning] the initial reports said that there were multiple assailants, the rape continued for about two hours, somewhere around 15 to 20 students were believed to have watched and/or cheered on the rapists, and the 15-year-old victim had to be airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

I haven’t had much to say about the case both because it has particularly affected me, and because anything I would have had to say, someone else said first and very well. But I did want to pass along this important piece of information about something small that we all can do, found via Shakesville. The school has set up a fund to help the victim and her family financially, and will also pass along messages of support:

Richmond High School is accepting cards and donations for the victim and her family, which should be mailed to the school at 1250 23rd Street, Richmond, CA 94804-1011. Checks should be made out to the Richmond High Student Fund, with “For sex assault victim” written in the memo line.

I strongly urge you to donate if you can. And if you can’t, difficult though it might be to find something to say, and inadequate as it may feel, sending a short note will only cost you a stamp and a few minutes of your time. Please do so, and pass along the information.

ETA: via SAFER, donations can also be sent to: Richmond High Jane Doe, account No. 041-30-1188, Mechanics Bank, 3170 Hilltop Mall Road, Richmond, CA 94806.

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

Some very excellent pointers here, including my personal pet peeve: Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course. Wait, wait, wait.

I also wish more New York restaurants would follow “Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived,” but good luck with that one.

The list is very restaurant-oriented, but if I were to add one rule for coffee shops it would be “Do not let the espresso shot sit for more than 10 seconds.” There’s really only one coffee place between my apartment and work (and it happens to be a Starbucks, which is awful, but what are you going to do at 9am), and nearly every morning without fail I watch the barista make my Americano and let the shot sit… and sit… and sit… before finally adding water. I hate being the asshole who asks for a re-do, so I always just take it without complaint. But it would be nice if people who actually worked in the coffee business knew the very basics about making coffee.

What are your restaurant/food industry pet peeves? And for those of us who have worked on the other side of things, what do customers do wrong?