July 13 was the first anniversary of the release of the landmark National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the first comprehensive government plan to outline the future of the fight against HIV/AIDS. To mark the occasion alongside the upcoming 21st anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) later this month, the Justice Department has launched a new section of its ADA website.

The intersection of HIV/AIDS with disability issues is two-fold:

– People living with HIV or AIDS are covered by the ADA, which gives federal civil rights protections to persons with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, and state and local government services. The ADA recognizes that HIV and AIDS affect many aspects of people’s lives, regardless of whether they are currently on HIV medication or living with AIDS. In fact, the 1998 court decision holding that the ADA applies also to people living with HIV who are asymptomatic was in response to a case of discrimination by a doctor motivated by stigma around a patient’s HIV-positive status.

– There are over 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S. today, and more than 56,000 new infections are reported each year. Anyone can get HIV, including people of any race or ethnicity; young and old; rich and poor; straight, lesbian, gay or bisexual; transgender or not – and people with physical, intellectual, sensory, or mental health disabilities. Currently, very little is known about HIV and AIDS among people with disabilities. But the many physical and financial barriers that often prevent people with disabilities from accessing general health care, let alone sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV prevention and treatment services, means that the HIV epidemic may be taking a disproportionate but largely invisible toll among people with disabilities.

The vision for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy is that “the United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.” As we approach the anniversary of the ADA, we should remember that people with HIV are more than just a protected group under the law – they are also members of every community and people from every kind of background, including people with disabilities.

California health officials say “smoking rates in the state are down to 11.9 percent, a new low.” The latest figures make it only the second state — after Utah — “to achieve a federal target of reducing adult smoking rates to 12 percent by 2020 so far”:

“California has always been in the forefront”, says Colleen Stevens, who heads the Tobacco Control Branch of the California Department of Public Health. Back in 1988 California taxpayers agreed to put a 25 cent tax on every pack of cigarettes. “No one had ever done this before,” says Stevens. The money was earmarked to pay for medical care for tobacco related illness. But it also funds tobacco research and tobacco control programs both in schools and local communities.

Today the California state tax on a pack of cigarettes is 87 cents. That’s quite a bit lower than the $2 in taxes charged by many other states. But California has reaped the benefits of other interventions over time, says Stevens. In addition to the tax, California became the first state in the nation to ban smoking at indoor work sites and restaurants in 1995 and then in bars in 1998, which was “absolutely unheard of at the time,” says Stevens.

Many people thought mandating smoke-free environments in bars just “went too far,” Stevens says. But today, she points to “a whole generation of 30- somethings who have never been to a smoky bar.” It’s expected now, she says, “that you can go to a bar and have a glass of wine and not come out smelling like smoke!” It all adds up to a social norm where tobacco is simply not acceptable.

Nationally, one in five Americans still smoke, and those rates tend to be higher among minority communities. One 2004 California study, for instance, found that “lesbian women were 70 percent more likely to smoke than other women, and gay men were more than 50 percent more likely to smoke than other men. More recent research suggests this number may be even higher. The LGBT National Tobacco Control Network estimates that the LGBT community is 50 percent to 200 percent more likely than others to be addicted to tobacco.”

The FDA has recently unveiled new graphic warning labels slated to appear on cigarette packs next fall, but experts say “the impact on tobacco sales will likely be marginal, at least early on. The new warnings are expected to cause a drop of less than 1 percent in U.S. tobacco sales by 2013, according to research firm IBISWorld.”

LGBT rights advocates who’ve argued that conservatives’ anti-gay policies and positions are driven by a refusal to accept that people don’t choose to be gay must have felt vindicated earlier this week when mainstream “pro family groups” and even some media outlets jumped to defend the Bachmanns and their ex-gay therapy clinics. Rather than condemning these dangerous and discredited techniques, conservative groups either questioned the integrity of the under investigation — which revealed that therapists were telling gay patients they could become straight through prayer and therapy — or defended the practice:

– FOX NEWS: “This undercover video is just a hit piece. They’re in there trying to get him to say something or to say or to screw him.” [The Five, 7/12/2011]

– CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK: “If you’ve watched the mainstream media’s reporting in the last day or so you’ve seen these tapes, which suggest that changing sexual orientation is not possible, in fact at least one major study shows that it is possible.” [Report, 7/13/2011]

– FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: “Apart from Washington, D.C., and homosexual interest groups, the majority of the country will view Marcus’s work for what it is, a ministry of hope. Pointing men and women who struggle with same-sex attractions to God isn’t ‘a discredited form of therapy,’ it’s the path to sexual healing.” [Tony Perkins, 7/13/2011]

– AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION: Director of Issues Analysis Bryan Fishcer defended and promoted ex-gay therapy in the aftermath of the Bachmann report on his radio show. [Right Wing Watch, 7/13/2011]

– NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE: “We’ve been following with concern the organized efforts by gay activists to demonize Michele Bachmann’s husband. Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays and Executive Director of Equality and Justice For All comes to Mr. Bachmann’s defense — and to the defense of others who are not given a voice.” [NOM Blog, 7/13/2011]

– TRUTH ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY: “Folks, it sure didn’t take long for the liberal media to go into Christian-bashing mode against GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN).” [Peter LaBarbera, 7/13/2011]

Bachamnn has repeatedly dodged questions about the report. Republican lawmakers have similarly been silent about the investigation, but their unwillingness to condemn “ex-gay” practices and ongoing relationships with these groups (on whom they rely to rally the social conservative vote) suggests that they too likely believe that being gay is a choice that can be changed.

New York State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti (R) — one of just four Republicans to support the state’s same-sex marriage law — is seeing a spike in fundraising, despite the efforts of some anti gay groups to defeat GOP supporters of marriage equality:

The donations included $10,300 from New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who was a strong proponent of the new law, and $10,000 from Colorado resident Tim Gill, who heads a group that has promoted gay marriage laws here and in other states.

Other donors to Grisanti who have publicly backed gay marriage rights include $5,000 from Miami-area resident Jonathan Kislak, $2,000 from Carol Master of Massachusetts, $10,000 from Albany-area resident Frank Selvaggi and $5,000 from Manhattan real estate developer Donald Capoccia.

The money came in the days after the June 24 vote and before Monday’s cutoff for donations that officials must include in financial-disclosure reports with the state Board of Elections.

Bloomberg — who attached a thank you note to his contributions — also donated $10,300 to the three other Republican senators who voted for the marriage bill, Roy McDonald, Stephen Saland and James Alesi.

Groups like the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) have pledged to spend $2 million to defeat the three Democrats and four Republicans who once opposed same-sex marriage but voted for it last month, but they may be outmatched by the $1 million supporters of marriage equality have committed and the GOP’s healthy fundraising numbers. “We’re getting a lot of support from independents and from Democrats,” Sen. Thomas Libous, who runs the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, said, highlighting that the majority’s campaign committee has already “collected more than $2.7 million in donations.”

Internal Republican polls conducted before the crucial vote also showed that voters prioritize economic issues over marriage, and that lawmakers from conservative districts who supported marriage equality would likely win reelection.