According to Matthew S Bajko, writing at The Bay Area Reporter, hundreds of Californians rallied today in San Francisco against the devastating budget cuts to AIDS/HIV programs and services made last week by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:
They came wearing red shirts holding up signs that read “No where else to turn” and “AIDS cuts = death” to show their anger over budget cuts many fear will decimate California’s ability to fight the AIDS epidemic.
“No budget cuts,” chanted the crowd.
Several hundred people protested Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to cut $82 million in state AIDS funding at a noon rally across the street from the state office building in San Francisco’s Civic Center Wednesday, August 5.
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The Republican governor used his line-item veto power last week to slash another $52 million in general fund support to AIDS programs, including totally eliminating state funding for HIV prevention and testing efforts, on top of what lawmakers had agreed to cut from the state Office of AIDS budget. The AIDS office saw its budget gutted in half, dropping from more than $167.3 million down to $82.4 million for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
According to Bajko, California’s Office of AIDS will soon release its report on precisely how the cuts will impact individual programs and cities up and down the state.
For more background on Governor Schwarzenegger’s decimation of California’s AIDS/HIV programs, see veteran reporter Rex Wockner‘s Schwarzenegger defunds HIV services.
