RELIVING THE NIGHTMARE

December 21, 2007 Arkansan activist calls attention to Huckabee's AIDS atrocities during his tenure as Governor Camp (in blue tie), when Huckabee signed law allowing Arkansas to fund AIDS meds for the poor—but this symbolic effort wasn't enough AIDS activist Eric Camp, 44, believes that he and his former Gov. Mike Huckabee have some similarities. They both hail from conservative Southern Arkansas and that allows Camp, who is openly gay, to understand the depths of Huckabee's homophobia. "It's just a very homophobic part of the country," Camp said. "I have internalized homophobia that I'm still dealing with to this day." When it comes to HIV/AIDS, however, Camp and Huck have very little in common. In 1992 when Camp was diagnosed with the virus, Huckabee was sounding off about quarantining people with HIV. And when Huckabee's nonfunding of Arkansas' AIDS Drug Assistance Program cut half of the people from its rolls, Camp went on a meds strike in 2004, voluntarily removing himself from ADAP for two years. That act of bravery led to a stroke and seizures, and although he has mostly recovered, his cognitive abilities have declined. "But knowing that I was giving my slot to someone who needed it gave me relief," Camp said. So a couple of weeks ago, when the Associated Press reported on Huckabee's appalling answers to a 1992 questionnaire on AIDS, Camp was outraged anew. He poured his anger into a YouTube video set to Busta Rhymes' remix of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." The video is a series of shots of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Arkansas Times headlines, such as "State to put HIV patients on waiting list for medication" and "Governor says no to funding for drug plan" and pictures of the protests that followed. It's a damning, hilarious video. "Hearing Huckabee's remarks just touched on a lot of rage from that part of my life," Camp said. He remembered interviewing Huckabee for the Arkansas Gay and Lesbian Taskforce newsletter Triangle Rising during his 1992 senatorial campaign. While the candidate was "cordial and friendly," he made it clear that he believed that if there were no gay people, there would be no HIV. Camp remembered how health department officials were terrified to print anything with the word "condom" on it for fear of angering Huckabee. He remembered how when Fay Bozeman was running for Senate in 1998, Bozeman said, "We know what causes AIDS. It's illegal here." When Bozeman lost to Sen. Blanche Lincoln Huckabee appointed Bozeman Secretary of Health. "I believe Huckabee is a compassionate person, but that compassion doesn't extend to people with AIDS. He is very homophobic and it translates into his AIDS policy," said Camp. The video has received hundreds of hits, and Camp says the e-mails he's received about it are overwhelmingly positive. Can we trust Huckabee on AIDS? Huckabee did some good for AIDS funding in Arkansas. In 2001, he signed Act 235, which for the first time allowed state dollars to be spent on HIV medication for the poor. Up until that point Arkansas spent nothing. But this policy was followed by Gov. Huckabee's infrequent direct funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which created a waiting list of Arkansans with AIDS with no access to life-saving medications prior to 2001 and again in 2004,with the ADAP Watch recording its peak" of 89 people in March 2006. After numerous protests by people camped outside the Capitol with signs reading "AIDS in Arkansas-Begging 4 Life" Huckabee allotted $660,000 to eliminate the ADAP drug list. Amazingly, of all the Republican candidates for president, Huckabee has provided the most comprehensive statement about AIDS. But Camp is skeptical that Huckabee's promises to fund the Early Treatment for HIV/AIDS and to provide funding (though not enough) for PEPFAR, will be realized. "I think he's reaching out in some ways in order not be this green monster he was in Arkansas. But you can bet when there's a gap in the budget, [funding for AIDS] will be the first on the chopping block." "We lived through it in Arkansas," Camp said. "But I don't know if the country can." From Housing Works' AIDS Issues Update – if you’d like to subscribe, visit http://www.hwupdate.org/update/subscribe_update.html