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CAPfs executive director draws criticism for a discriminatory
remark made while addressing concerns
of the Latino/a community
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H M E R IC 4 -
A n sw e rin g S ervice
usan Stoltenberg, the executive director
o f Oregon’s largest H1V/AIDS services
organization, was criticized for making
discriminatory remarks at a recent meet
ing.
“What she said was that ethnic minorities
shouldn’t look to work at the [Cascades AIDS
Project] because CAP’S clientele is comprised
primarily of gay white men,” said Roberto Reyes-
Colon, an assistant to the affirmative action direc
tor in the governor’s office.
R eyes-C olon was among several dozen
people— ranging from health care providers to
community activists to CAP personnel— who at
tended a Jan. 17 meeting specifically designed to
address concerns o f the Latino/a community re
garding H1V/AIDS services.
Stoltenberg, who has headed up CAP since last
May, says she arranged the gathering after learning
of scattered complaints about CAP among some
within the Latino/a community. A chief complaint,
she says, is that CAP “in
sists on being gay-identi
fied,” which critics say
may cause people who
come from various cultural
backgrounds to shy away
from seeking HIV/AIDS
services due to the social
stigma surrounding homo
sexuality. Another con
cern, says Stoltenberg, is
that CAP does not have
appropriate staffing to con
duct effective outreach to
people o f color.
CAP is Oregon’s larg
est HIV/AIDS education
and nonmedical service or
¡ 4 ; ...
\
ganization, with a budget
of $1 million. It receives Susan Stoltenberg
about 50 percent o f its support from the state and
county governments. The other half comes from
private donations and fund-raising donations.
According to Reyes-Colon, Stoltenberg made
the remark when she was asked to discuss CAP’s
plans for making its services more accessible to the
Latino/a population.
“She said, ‘W e’re not going to change our
staffing patterns to deal with [HIV infection among
Latinos] because our clientele is mostly gay white
men.’ To me that remark is blatantly discrimina
tory and assumes that minorities can’t possibly
serve the needs o f non-minorities.”
According to Stoltenberg, 91 percent o f CAP’S
clientele is gay men, the vast majority o f whom are
white. Six percent— or 64 individuals— of the
organization’s 1,100 clients are Latino/a.
"CAP was founded upon the gay community’s
response to HIV,” she says. “It never set out to
exclude minorities, but the fact is until very re
cently nearly all o f the AIDS cases in Oregon have
centered on the gay male population. Because
CAP’s programs are largely peer-based, our staff
and programs have been directed toward that popu
lation.”
She adds, “We are starting to respond to the
needs o f other populations, 1 mean that’s part of
what this meeting was about.”
Ruth Ascher, who is a longtime health advo
cate on behalf o f the Latino/a population, was at the
meeting. “It appeared to me that Susan was saying
if the numbers are not there, then maybe you
[Latino/as] should look for employment and ser
vices elsewhere. What I’m saying is because we
are a minority population, our numbers will always
be small when compared to the entire population.
Does that then mean that money and services
should never be targeted toward our community?”
Critics say they are concerned that CAP has
only one bilingual caseworker and that CAP does
not produce culturally appropriate literature di
rected toward non-gay populations. Additionally,
CAP’s reputation is wobbly— at best— when it
comes to serving people o f color populations.
“Historically, CAP has not been successful
serving ethnic minority populations. That may
have to do with the fact that some o f these popula
tions seem to have a higher level of discomfort
with homosexuality,” says Jean Gould, director of
Multnomah County’s HIV programs. “I think it’s
important that CAP’s staff be able to relate to gay
white men, because they
need a place they can go
that
d o e s n ’t
feel
h om op h ob ic.
That
doesn’t mean, however,
that a Hispanic man or
woman can ’ t supply those
services to them.”
Gould, who was also
at the meeting, adds: “I
know Susan is eager to
learn how to successfully
serve the minority popu
lations, but we may also
want to ask whether CAP
should be the agency to
handle the needs o f every
community. I’m not sure
I one agency has to— or can
e ffectiv ely — do it all.
Perhaps there are Hispanic organizations that could
assume that role and do it better.”
For instance, Multnomah County has given a
grant to Somos Orgullo Latino, a gay Latino group,
to conduct HIV/AIDS education efforts within that
population.
For her part, Stoltenberg says CAP is working
to create culturally appropriate materials, and she
would like to bring more bilingual staff on board.
She also acknowledges that women and people of
color are the fastest growing populations contract
ing HIV. Despite that, she says, “It’s important
people know that most o f our clients are gay and 73
percent o f the new diagnoses in Oregon involve
men who have sex with men. We are identified as
gay for a good reason, and if that was compro
mised, our efforts to deal with this disease could
also be compromised.”
Rudy Vasquez o f the Title I Planning Council,
which administers funds mandated by the federal
Ryan White CARE Act for HIV/AIDS client
services, was also at last month’s meeting. He
says: “The unique thing about HIV is how it
mutates; as it does, so too do the populations it
directly affects. For many years it was primarily
gay men. That’s starting to change, and Susan is
working on ways CAP can respond to those
changes. That’s not going to happen overnight,
and it’s important for people to remember that
w e’re all in this together.”