Sex & Health in Brief

by ALICE BUTTRICK

December 2009

Pro-choice leaders across campus are protesting the Stupak amendment included in the health care bill which recently passed through the House. The amendment threatens to end abortion access for low-income women included in the proposed public option. Members of Yale Coalition for Reproductive Justice have begun drafting a statement of protest to be co-signed by the pro-choice community.

Several groups are hosting lobby days at the Capitol. The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health is putting together a bus to DC on December 2 to rally and meet with representatives and has invited any and all interested activists to join them. To sign up for this trip, please contact Liza@latinainstitute.org. Planned Parenthood of Southern New England will also be headed to DC for a National Lobby Day on December 2nd in Washington, DC.  One bus–will be leaving New Haven early December 2nd and returning late that night.  For more information or to reserve your spot contact Gretchen Raffa at organizing@ppsne.org.

December 1^st is World AIDS Day. The Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition is celebrating a recent legislative victory: President Obama has approved the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, which will continue to provide crucial funding for low-income sufferers of AIDS across the country. On Yale’s campus, World AIDS Day will be commemorated at several different events: the Global Development Alliance, Amnesty International, and Davenport College will host a Master’s Tea with Aziza Ahmen on the plight of women living with HIV/AIDS internationally; Catherine Nichols will visit campus to discuss the intersection of family planning and HIV clinics; and the Yale University Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS will host a lecture on HIV awareness at Yale as well as a memorial service at United Church on the Green. Event details are available at gdayale.wordpress.com/calendar and cira.med.yale.edu.

The Women Faculty Forum released yet another report on sexual misconduct at Yale. The report comes as part of an increasing push from faculty and student groups to reform university policy and education surrounding this issue. The WFF report recommended, among other things, increased transparency, consolidated locations for sexual assault resources, and anonymous and third-party reporting mechanisms. The full 75-page report can be found at www.yale.edu/wff/documents/WFFReportonSexualMisconductatYale.pdf.

In an effort to continue discussions about sexual culture on campus, the Women’s Center will host a talk at Toad’s Place, of all places. The unusual location was proposed at the Center’s forum on Yale’s sexual culture held earlier this semester in response to the ‘Pre-Season Scouting Report.’ The Center has stated the belief that the sexual hub of Toad’s should be handled on-site. In an effort to present a diversity of perspectives, members of the Greek and athletic communities, groups often portrayed in opposition to the Center, have been invited to co-plan and run the event. The Women’s Center Board is also soliciting “Toad’s Testimonials” to facilitate exploration of the subject. Following the event, the Women’s Center will sponsor the Wednesday night dance-party. For more information on this event, please contact dounia.bredes@yale.edu.

Alice Buttrick is a senior in Yale College. She is the Sex & Health Editor for Broad Recognition.