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Roberta Sklar, Director of Communications
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The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced today it will support peaceful, nonviolent protests against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank April 16–17 in Washington, D.C. Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to gather at the Ellipse, between the White House and the Mall, beginning at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 16. The protests are being organized by the Mobilization for Global Justice.

IMF and World Bank policies have made it difficult for third-world nations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to be able to provide HIV/AIDS medications to their citizens. Approximately 90 percent of the people with HIV around the world live in developing countries and have no access to any medications, according to the Health Global Access Project (Health GAP). The situation is exacerbated by a World Bank policy known as "structural adjustment" that forces debt-ridden, lesser-developed nations to slash domestic spending on such items as health care, education, condoms, HIV testing, public awareness campaigns, medication and treatment for sexually transmitted disease.

"Contracting the HIV virus in many countries is now a death sentence," said NGLTF interim Political Director Virginia M. Apuzzo. "The United States should acknowledge its past role in the development of IMF and World Bank policies that encourage countries with staggering debt payments to cut back and privatize their health care, while imposing fees on lower-income people who desperately need medical services. The United States must use its influence with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to encourage these entities to cancel or drastically reduce third-world debt so that more money can go to building health care centers, preventing and treating opportunistic infections that make AIDS more deadly and establishing massive education and prevention campaigns that include condom and clean-needle distribution."

IMF/World Bank policies have also helped degrade the environments of many developing countries, causing deforestation, flooding, and desertification as economies are forced to shift to cash crop export agriculture in order to make debt payments. These policies have also caused rapid urbanization and the displacement and impoverishment of millions of people. Finally, the IMF and World Bank are closely linked to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO could place at risk local and national non-discrimination protections and domestic partner benefits for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, as well as other labor protections both in the United States and abroad, which some free trade proponents view as "unfair trade practices."

Apuzzo added that a number of groups serving the GLBT community have endorsed the peaceful, nonviolent protests. "The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is pleased to join other groups such as Pride at Work, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, ACT-UP New York, ACT-UP Philadelphia, D.C. Lesbian Avengers, Queers for Racial and Economic Justice New York and the National Queer Commission in endorsing this important event," she said.

A forum on HIV/AIDS, the IMF/World Bank and on corporate globalization will be held the day before the protests, at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at All Souls Church, 16th and Columbia NW, Washington, D.C. More information about the week1s events can be found at www.a16.org.

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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movementís premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.