AIDS Healthcare Foundation

In 1987, activists Chris Brownlie, Michael Weinstein,[4] Sharon Raphael, PhD, Mina Meyer,[5] MA, and other advocates were among the earliest champions of the AIDS hospice movement as co-founders of the Los Angeles AIDS Hospice Committee, the catalyst organization which gave rise to the AIDS Hospice Foundation and, ultimately, to today's AIDS Healthcare Foundation.[6]

As members of the inaugural AIDS Hospice Committee, Brownlie, Weinstein, Myer, Raphael, Paul Coleman and others were involved with the planning and negotiations for the opening of Chris Brownlie Hospice on the grounds of the Barlow Respiratory Hospital. In those early years, following an emotional plea for hospice care to the Los Angeles County Commission on AIDS[7] and a protest and picketing of then-Supervisor Mike Antonovich's home, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors eventually committed $2 million to AIDS care. The group began converting a facility in Elysian Park that had been Barlow's old nursing quarters into Chris Brownlie Hospice —the County's first AIDS hospice—which was named in Brownlie's honor when it first opened December 26, 1988. Meyer, who also served as Treasurer of the AIDS Hospice Committee, was honored in 1987 by the Los Angeles AIDS Hospice Committee with its 'Heart of Gold Award' for her early work in the effort to formulate AIDS hospice care in Los Angeles.

The 25-bed hospice—the first of three operated by AHF, including the Carl Bean House and Linn House, which opened in 1992 and 1995, respectively—provided 24-hour medical and palliative care to people living through the final stages of AIDS. Brownlie died at the age of 39, on November 26, 1989,[8] less than a year after the hospice named in his honor first opened, survived by his father, sister, brothers, his longtime partner, Phil Wilson and countless friends and fellow AIDS activists. In addition to Brownlie, over 1,000 people had been given dignified, specialized, compassionate final care at the Chris Brownlie Hospice by the time it ended hospice operations in September 1996. The building that housed the Brownlie Hospice went through its own rebirths, housing various departments of AHF, including the headquarters for AHF's Public Health Division, before the organization officially turned the property back over to the City of Los Angeles with a sunset memorial ceremony on January 26, 2013.[9]

As medical opportunities for managing HIV became more available, AHF changed its mission to helping individuals with HIV/AIDS live well with the disease through advanced medical care. This shift was marked with the change of the Foundation's name to AIDS Healthcare Foundation in July 1990.

AHF operates the Out of the Closet thrift store chain. AHF acquired the MOMS Pharmacy chain of pharmacies in 2012, and in 2013, rebranded the chain as AHF Pharmacy.[10]

AHF sponsored HIV awareness themed Rose Parade floats in 2012 and 2013, each winning the Queen's Trophy for best use of roses.[11][12]

AHF produced the documentary film Keep The Promise: The Global Fight Against AIDS, depicting the AHF sponsored protest of government anti-HIV funding levels and anti-HIV drug prices at the XIX International AIDS Conference, 2012. The film premiered on March 29, 2013 at the Vail Film Festival.[13]

AHF currently serves 1,355,493 people in 45 countries through global clinics offering HIV testing, antiretroviral and other HIV/AIDS prevention, and treatment services.

South Africa became home to AHF's first treatment center outside of the U.S. with the establishment of the Ithembalabantu (People's Hope) clinic in the Durban township of Umlazi in 2002 through a partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health. A second site was opened in 2008 in Middledrift, Easter Cape Province. Through these sites, AHF South Africa offers comprehensive HIV and tuberculosis testing, treatment and care. Nationwide services include antiretroviral medication, CD4 testing, lab monitoring, treatment of opportunistic infections, on-site pharmacy services, distribution of free condoms to the public, and community outreach programs to test the population for HIV and link those who test positive into care.[22]

AHF operates a total of 34 clinics in the Durban and Eastern Cape provinces, and in May 2014 AHF broke ground on K Clinic, the first South African AHF clinic to be built from the ground up.

AHF's other worldwide clinics span Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the U.S., and Latin America.

Each year on December 1, AHF celebrates World AIDS Day with a series of international events. In 2014, AHF hosted over 160 World AIDS Day events in twenty-eight countries, including the U.S., to promote testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS. International events promoted AHF's 20X20 campaign, a global initiative to have 20 million people living with HIV linked to medical care and on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) by December 31, 2020. The King and Queen of Lesotho attended AHF's event in their country that year. Each World AIDS Day event has a unifying theme, though events in each country are adapted to the local setting with a specific focus on the populations most impacted in the respective regions.[23]

AHF is a large proponent of condom use in preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. International Condom Day, created by AHF, promotes an increased focus on access to condoms in conjunction with the convenient, free Rapid Testing and the Universal Access to anti-retroviral treatment as the integral components of the global fight against HIV/AIDS.[24] Since the inception of the LOVE Condom campaign in 2008, AHF-branded LOVE Condoms have gained popularity across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. Each year AHF and its partners commemorate the International Condom Day on February 13 with LOVE Condoms events such as marches and public outreach.[24]

On International Women's Day, March 8, 2016, AHF hosted events and activities in 12 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Americas. While the official theme for International Women's Day 2016 was "Pledge for Parity," AHF encouraged teams in each participating country to adopt their own tagline tailored to their particular message. Nigeria's tagline was "For Women by Women," designating a day on which HIV-positive women participated in a series of activities championing positive living and reminding them they are not alone. AHF's other worldwide events included leadership activities for young women, financial independence workshops, and motivational talks from prominent female figures. Zambia held a "Diva's Nite" concert featuring all-female artists and South Africa a hip-hop competition encouraging young people to discuss gender inequality. HIV/AIDS outreach, testing and counseling accompanied most of the events.[25]

In 2004, Darren James and three other adult film actors tested positive for HIV. In response to the outbreak, AHF began lobbying in favor of laws requiring condom use by male actors during sex scenes in adult films.[28]

In 2010, AHF unsuccessfully sued the Los Angeles County government to compel its health department to mandate condom use in adult film productions.[28]

In 2012, AHF supported a Los Angeles city ordinance requiring condoms in certain adult films.[29] Later the same year, the organization spent US$1,654,681 funding the successful campaign to pass Measure B, a ballot initiative that expanded the condom requirement countywide.[30]

AHF again sued the Los Angeles County government, alleging that an August 2012 audit conducted by the county was an illegal retaliation for AHF's support for Measure B.[31][32] In 2013, AHF began collecting signatures for a ballot measure to create a Los Angeles city health department that would take over part of the county health department's jurisdiction.[33] The City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles oppose the measure, and the city has filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the measure.[34]

In August 2014, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a formal complaint with Nevada OSHA,[35] against Cybernet Entertainment LLC, which does business as Kink.com and related spin-offs. The complaint alleges the California porn company did not require its actors to use condoms during an adult film shoot in Las Vegas.

In 2014, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed suit against the City of San Francisco. AHF claimed that city restrictions on chain stores targeted them unfairly when the organization attempted to open a retail store.[36][37]

In 2014, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed suit against the County of Dallas. AHF claimed that the County of not giving the agency a fair chance to bid for federal AIDS funding. [38]

In 2013, AHF found itself entangled in dual lawsuits when AHF attempted to use political clout to force the City of Los Angeles to develop health services independent from the county. Health officials in affected departments filed responsive suits, arguing massive wastes would result in a transition or duplication of services.[39]

In 2014, AHF was audited by Los Angeles county and billed $1.7 million for duplicated services. AHF filed suit, arguing that they were targeted on the basis of their political actions in the 2013 lawsuit. The lawsuit filed by AHF was thrown out by a judge.[40]

In 2014, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed suit against the County of Dallas. AHF claimed that the County of not giving the agency a fair chance to bid for federal AIDS funding.[41]

In 2015, a whistleblower lawsuit was filed by three former AHF managers. The employees allege AHF engaged and even documented kickback processes for positive HIV test results for social workers.[42]

In 2016, the AIDS healthcare foundation filed suit against East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana, claiming it was discriminated against in the awarding of healthcare contracts. The suit specifically targeted funds given to longtime-standing local AIDS service organizations such as HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two, Family Service of Greater Baton Rouge, and others.[43][44] The suit was settled with funding left unchanged.[45]

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) filed suit against the City of Los Angeles, alleging that the city violated laws and the city charter when it approved the development of two residential towers that are expected to be up to 30 stories tall. The City Council changed existing zoning and height limitations to allow the development, which would be next to AHF's Hollywood headquarters. A spokesperson for the development accused Michael Weinstein of filing the suit to maintain the view from his office.[46] In 2019, the California Supreme Court Refused to hear the case, leaving in place a lower court decision against the foundation.[47]

AHF spent $4.6 million supporting an initiative that would have allowed Cal/OSHA to prosecute an enforcement action anytime a condom is not visible in a pornographic film.

AHF spent $19 million supporting the California Drug Price Relief Act, a statewide 2016 ballot initiative that would have revised California law to require state programs to pay no more for prescription medications than the prices negotiated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (notwithstanding any other provision of law and insofar as permissible under federal law), while exempting managed care programs funded through Medi-Cal.[48] It failed by a 6% margin.

On August 3, 2015, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine approved petition language for a drug pricing 2016 statewide ballot initiative to enact Section 194.01 of the Ohio Revised Code to seek United States Department of Veterans Affairs prescription drug pricing for state programs. On August 13, the Ohio Ballot Board approved the proposed statute as a single issue. As a result, that measure, backed by AHF and Ohioans for Fair Drug Prices, was cleared for signature gathering to begin collecting the 91,677 signatures of registered Ohio voters required to put the issue before the Ohio General Assembly.

According to the Ohio petition language, "The Ohio Drug Price Relief Act would ... require that notwithstanding any other provision of law and in so far as permissible under federal law, the State of Ohio shall not enter into any agreement for the purchase of prescription drugs or agree to pay, directly or indirectly, for prescription drugs, including where the state is the ultimate payer, unless the net cost is the same or less than the lowest price paid for the same drug by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs."[49]

In 2016, the foundation sponsored and provided more than 95% of the funding ($5.5 million)[50] for an anti-development ballot initiative, Measure S, which was rejected with 70.4% voting against.[51] This initiative would have imposed a two-year moratorium on spot zoning as well as developments requiring height and density variances and other changes that would, it claimed, prevent the city from gentrifying and growing too fast. "As we work to house patients in L.A., City Hall focuses on approving $3,500 apartments that sit empty," Weinstein wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed.[52] Opponents, who included many advocacy groups for the homeless as well as the city's business community, building trades unions, and developers, said that while the measure addressed some real problems, it went too far and would have not only prevented the construction of new affordable housing but made the city's overall quality of life worse by aggravating an existing housing shortage.[53] They questioned whether the money spent by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to get the initiative on the ballot was related to the foundation's mission, and suggested that it was motivated by AHF director Michael Weinstein's desire to block a development that would have dominated the view from his office window.[54][55]

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation contributed $22.5 million to the campaign for Proposition 10, a ballot initiative which sought to repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act.[56] The measure would have allowed local governments to adopt rent control on any kind of building.[56] Costa-Hawkins is a state law which disallows local governments (cities and counties) from enacting rent control on buildings constructed after 1995, all single-family homes (regardless of construction date), and disallows laws that keep a property under rent control when tenants change (vacancy control). [57]^:1 The proposition failed, 59% to 41%.[58]