GMHC issues in-depth report on 08 Presidential candidates and HIV/AIDS

"Where Do They Stand? The Gay Men's Health Crisis Report on the 2008 Presidential Candidates and HIV/AIDS is a new in-depth report on the backgrounds of all major-party candidates on HIV/AIDS and LGBT issues and the positions they're taking -- or not taking -- on this year's hot-button AIDS issues. Click here for a print ready version of GMHC's Crisis Report on the 2008 Presidential Candiates and HIV/AIDS And the report includes a useful "quick chart" comparing the candidates' AIDS-related public record and positions. Full information on the report here. Key findings:

• The GMHC report documents, for the first time in one place, the stark differences between Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on nearly every AIDS issue. For example, seven Democrats have committed to investing $50 billion to fight HIV/AIDS globally over the next five years. No Republican candidate has made a similar commitment. All eight Democratic candidates support comprehensive sex education, whereas seven of eight Republicans have opposed it. Most of the Democrats support lifting the ban against HIV-positive foreign nationals visiting and/or immigrating to the U.S.; most Republican candidates either support the existing ban or have not come out against it.
• The three leading Democratic candidates—Sen. Barack Obama, former Sen. John Edwards, and Sen. Hillary Clinton—have all publicly supported ending the ban on federal funding for needle exchange, a scientifically proven intervention to reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton faced stiff criticism by public health experts for failing to lift the ban during their terms in office.
• For the first time, five presidential candidates—Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and Gov. Bill Richardson—have committed to crafting a national AIDS strategy early in their first term if elected. The creation of a comprehensive outcomes-based national AIDS strategy with explicit benchmarks and accountability mechanisms is a key plank in the AIDSVote.org platform. The U.S. requires nations applying for billions of dollars in federal funding under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to develop such plans—but the U.S. has yet to develop its own national strategy to combat the domestic HIV/AIDS crisis.