ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

August 2006 update on new publications, actions you can take, and more!

Advocates for Youth's e-News Update

This Month

The XVI International AIDS Conference

Advocates for Youth attended the XVI International AIDS Conference this year in Toronto, Canada. Staff were heavily involved in planning activities for the both the Toronto YouthForce Pre-Conference (August 9-12) and youth activities for the main Conference (August 13-18). Staff facilitated four workshops at the Pre-Conference: Understanding Policy; Advocating for Toronto YouthForce Goals; Strengthening Alliances and Advocacy Goals through Networking; and Why Gender Matters.

During the conference, AFY staff and activists Kayley, Naina, Beth, and Mimi wrote about their experiences in blogs at RH Reality Check, MTV's Staying Alive site and TomPaine.com, and the Youth Newsletter at the conference.

The Conference, themed "Time to Deliver" focused on the promises and progress made to scale-up treatment, care and prevention.

For news on the conference, please visit
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/aids2006.htm

Youth Activist Network Updates

Introducing our new Youth Activist Network (YAN) Organizing Teams!

As part of the Youth Activists Network (YAN), Advocates for Youth has formed two teams of young people who will work in their local communities to fight for comprehensive sex education and HIV prevention.

The Campus Organizers are a team of 6 college students who are working on their campuses and in their local neighborhoods to increase congressional support for legislation that will improve young people's access to comprehensive sex education and HIV prevention.

AFY welcomes the following youth activists to this team:

Aida, a junior at the University of Southern Florida, works as a peer educator for the university's Health Education Department and is a member of the Student Global AIDS Campaign as well as the Student Health Corps and VolunteerUSF.

Alana, a freshman at the University of Oregon, is involved with the Cascade AIDS Project as a member of their youth HIV prevention group called Teen2Teen.

Alisa is a senior at Old Dominion University in Virginia and hopes to start a nonprofit that focuses on young women as risk for teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and gang involvement.

Emily, a sophomore at Sacramento City College, works with the Women's Alliance on campus and was selected by NARAL as a "young, up-and-coming activist" in 2004.

Laura is an incoming freshman at SUNY Albany; she worked with the Acceptance Coalition in her high school and cofounded Students Against Destructive Decisions.

The High School Organizers are a team of 5 high school students who are working to secure comprehensive sex education policies in their schools.

AFY welcomes the following youth activists to this team:

Ashley is a sophomore at a Virginia high school and is involved in various clubs and student organizations at her high school.

Jesse, a senior at a Minnesota high school, is a mentor with Make a Stand, a program run by Youth Frontiers to help young people become leaders in their communities.

Kanisha, a sophomore at a Colorado high school, is on the Youth Advisory Committee for the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program t the Pueblo City-County Health Department.

Mercedes, a freshman at a Texas high school, is involved with the VOICES Coalition, a volunteer organization that focuses on preventing drug use.

Solita, a junior at a North Carolina high school, is involved with peer education around HIV/AIDS issues with the HELP (HIV Education Led by Peers) team.

Advocates for Youth is excited about the opportunity to work with these teams of amazing youth activists! Read about their organizing efforts in our upcoming Y.A. Know Newsletters.

Use Your Voice!

Tell Your Congressional Representative To Support the PATHWAY Act!

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) has introduced landmark legislation to repeal the abstinence-until-marriage funding requirement of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. PEPFAR includes ideology-driven prevention polices that require that 33% of prevention efforts be spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs in developing countries, denying young people access to and education about condoms.

The Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act of 2006 (H.R.5674), or PATHWAY Act, would repeal that funding requirement. The PATHWAY Act would also require President Bush and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to develop a comprehensive strategy for protecting women and girls from HIV in cultures where men may control women's sexual lives and may keep women from taking measures to protect themselves.

TAKE ACTION: Send a message to your members of congress urging them to support the Pathway Act!
Visit http://capwiz.com/advofy/issues/alert/?alertid=9572351

Applaud America's Next Top Model

A recent episode of America's Next Top Model addressed the importance of doing work for HIV/AIDS causes, and highlighted the HIV epidemic's impact on women. Contestants were encouraged to become spokespeople for good causes and work to end HIV and AIDS.

TAKE ACTION: Send a message to let UPN and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) know that you support storylines like this. Visit http://capwiz.com/advofy/issues/alert/?alertid=8761776&type=CU

Become a Youth Activist Network Intern

Advocates' Communications and Marketing Division is looking for an intern in its Youth Activist Network (YAN) for the fall 2006. The intern will help coordinate advocacy activities around a number of issues, including comprehensive sex education and HIV prevention. The internship program is designed to give students a balanced opportunity to conduct research, writing, and grassroots activism and organizing.

Go to http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/employment.htm for more information.

Say What?!

Ex-Gay Group Protests -- Says Homosexuality is a Mental Illness

Over thirty years after the American Psychological Association stopped listing homosexuality as a mental disease, the "ex-gay" groups National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and Exodus International, staged a protest to demand that the APA classify gays and lesbians as mentally ill and in need of a "cure."

The APA responded with a statement saying, "The APA's concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."

According to Truth Wins Out, an organization that fights "conversion therapy", "Conversion therapy is a contrived 'cure' that is nothing more than Scripture cloaked as science and religion masquerading as research."

Read more about this issue here:
http://365gay.com/Newscon06/08/081106apa.htm

In The Spotlight

Kanisha, Colorado

"I'm involved in activism because it gives me a good feeling -- it's about the ability to help out and be a part of something effective," says Kanisha Rodriguez, a junior at a High School in Colorado and a new member of Advocates for Youth High School Organizing Team. "I like being able to think "Wow...I was a part of that!" I enjoy seeing the positive effect organizing has on other people".

Along with being on the AFY High School Organizing Team, Kanisha is also very active with the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Youth Advisory Committee in her town in Colorado. Last year, this Committee helped guide the new Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program established at the local Health Department. And they are currently planning a community meeting for youth to speak directly to decision-makers in their community.

In her role on the High School Organizing Team, Kanisha will work this year to secure comprehensive sex education in her high school. "Organizing can be challenging. I have to have energy and commitment...and there is no room for being shy. But it';s great to know that through this work teens are learning a bit more about how to keep themselves safe and healthy."

You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm

Read previous issues from the Archive of e-News Updates >>