Feisty Aphrodite Archives
Vigil for HIV+ Transwoman Who Died in ICE Custody
The following is from Los Angeles Indymedia:
Victoria Arellano was a 23 year old transgender woman who died because she was denied medical treatment for HIV-AIDS while in detention for her immigration status.
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In mid July, trans woman Victoria Arrellano died in immigrant detention. Arrellano had AIDS, and was living due to the medication she was receiving, however, once detained; she was not given the right medication, although she repeatedly asked to see the doctor. Arrellano knew exactly was [sic] her prescription was, in fact, it is well known in the medical field what the treatment for her disease is. She pleaded to her captors for mercy, and was denied. She spent the last weeks of her life begging to live, as her body was ravaged by the virus. Instead of a nurse, her fellow detainees cared for her the best way they could, and they even protested for her right to be treated by chanting "hospital...hospital" over and over again. Her being trans was overlooked by the inmates, and the movement that stirred all the detainees to action was that of humanity, which should bind all of us, regardless of our supposed differences. Sadly, even the entire group's voices were ignored, and Victoria passed away in a hospital due to lack of medical treatment.
Arrelano had once been a patient of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center's state of the art AIDS clinic. Lorri L. Jean, the Chief Executive Officer of the Center, stated "Given today's medications, people with HIV at the stage that Victoria was at do not decline that quickly. And I have no doubt in my mind that Victoria died because she was denied the medications that she needed to stay alive". Jean and her staff recently had a meeting with U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) to discuss what happened.
Read the entire story here.
