9 March 13-19, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents retaining professional sports. The fifth P of his priority list, if you will. But, as we men- tioned, the IBC news was pretty much al- ready set in stone, making the midweek ceremony come off as a whole lot of pomp and nothingstance. The city is in the process of a $3.7 billion rebuild of the convention center, and some funding will be necessary for repairs so the facility can stay open and operating during that ongoing construction. A portion of the $15 million contract approved late last year will go toward needed convention center maintenance. Rosa Fleming, director of the city’s con- vention and event services, told the City Council re- pairs to the facili- ty’s roof will need to be made and cargo lifts will need to be in- stalled. A 24-hour cafeteria and lounge, express shipping, banking and dry cleaning services will be built or installed throughout the conven- tion center to help host the thousands of professionals who will spend months call- ing the downtown facility home. Dallas hosted the 1994 International Broadcast Center during that year’s World Cup. FIFA noted Dallas’ prominent media market, central location within North America and the “connectivity” offered by DART and TRE as reasons for our city’s se- lection. (No one tell FIFA the Texas Lege may be about to axe the TRE entirely and shave down on DART’s services.) Remarking that it is announcements like Wednesday’s that make her love her job, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert lauded Dallas’ selection for IBC host as a “testament to our status.” “We are also stepping on to the global stage in a way that truly exemplifies what Dallas is all about,” Tolbert said. “We’re bold. We’re ambitious. We’re exceptional.” What would be truly exceptional is if the city puts some of that convention center up- grade money towards the facility’s chipped glass, which, after a shooting scare over the weekend, have convinced several Twitter users of a DPD conspiracy to cover up a crime scene. Only the best for our international guests. ▼ HEALTHCARE SPIKING HIV AND STIS ARE RISING GLOBALLY, ESPECIALLY IN DALLAS. BY ALYSSA FIELDS H uman Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, swept through the nation in the mid-’80s, claiming the lives of 100,000 people in 10 years. In 1996, after the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy, the first successful agent in reduc- ing the spread of HIV, new cases started to reduce. But all these years later, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in Dallas. “Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is a very large area in one of the largest states in America,” said Steven Tamayo, director of community health for Kind Clinic, an inclu- sive sexual health clinic. “And so there’s nat- urally just more people. More people sometimes means more sex, more sex some- times means more STIs, and that’s just the natural progression of things.” Dallas has the second-highest rate of new HIV cases in the state, following Houston. Between 2014 and 2023, there were 4,847 new HIV cases in Dallas County. Texas has more new HIV cases than any state in the country. The increase in HIV and STIs is witnessed globally and can be explained by several reasons. Simply put, people are having more sex. The removal of isolation regulations after the pandemic explains the global increase in HIV and STIs. “Coming out of quarantine, coming out of a slow period, you see a bit of an increase during those times,” said Steven Tamayo, di- rector of community health for Kind Clinic. But the more localized cause is two-fold, says Tamayo. “In a red state, folks in the LGBTQIA+ community might feel safer or feel like they have more opportunities in a larger city like Dallas,” Tamayo said. “That’s not to say that HIV only impacts people in the LGBTQIA+ community because it certainly does not discriminate, but we do know that folks from this community are disproportionately impacted by HIV.” Dallas’ status as a more liberal city than much of the state surrounding it isn’t the only reason for the rise. While the city’s blueness attracts vulnerable communities, our location within the Bible belt also helps explain the rise. “There’s not comprehensive sexual health education in schools,” says Tamayo. “There is a lot of religious trauma, upbringing, influence that goes into a lot of the decisions that people might make in terms of coming out or in the behaviors that they engage in. And there’s a lot of stigma associated with just being gay or having having sex with some- body of the same gender as you.” Almost half of the HIV-positive popula- tion in the country lives in the southern United States. Several states in the South, in- cluding Texas, mandate abstinence-focused sex education, a curriculum that enforces abstinence over safe sexual activity. The re- sult, opponents say, is higher rates of teen pregnancy and an increasing rate of sexually transmitted diseases and infections. “Having restrictions in place that don’t al- low for people to learn about the things that they’re doing or want to do with their bodies and the risks that are associated with that can be an additional barrier to already a lot of other things that are in place that might pre- vent somebody from accessing sexual health care or getting safer sex supplies or even just getting tested,” Tamayo said. The antiretroviral therapies for treat- ing HIV are 99% effective, and most peo- ple who take the medicine properly are considered “undetectable and untrans- mittable.” But getting care, or even getting tested, isn’t always easy, according to Tamayo. “If you go to a primary care physician’s office, they might have some of the training that our providers do,” he said. “In most cases, they don’t. They may have never cared for an individual who is transitioning and accessing gender-affirming care. They may have never provided care for somebody who is living with HIV.” Kind Clinic is intentionally stationed in the heart of Oak Lawn, the lively hub of the local gay community. The clinic is launching a new mobile testing site administered out of a van to better provide vulnerable com- munities with an inclusive and accepting approach to sexual healthcare. The Kind Clinic van will be stationed at various local events, providing on-site testing for HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia and Hepati- tis C., as well as providing care plans and re- sources for those who test positive for HIV, with or without health insurance. “It’s not just the quality of care and the culture and the affirming nature of the care that we provide, and sex-positive care as well,” said Tamayo. “it’s really our under- standing that to reach more communities, we’re going to have to debate how we bring the care to them in the first place.” Adobe Stock Dallas has the second-highest rate of HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases. “WE ARE ALSO STEPPING ON TO THE GLOBAL STAGE IN A WAY THAT TRULY EXEMPLIFIES WHAT DALLAS IS A LL ABOUT.” –KIMBERLEY TOLBERT D INTERESTED CANDIDATES PLEASE SEND YOUR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO CHARLIE.DONDLINGER@ DALLASOBSERVER.COM
