Ian McKnight is an HIV/AIDS activist from Jamaica.
McKnight attended the University of the West Indies where he attained a Bachelor in Theology and a master's in communication for social and behaviour. McKnight also holds a master's in human resource management from Nova Southeastern University. [1]
In 1991, Ian McKnight and several friends co-founded Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL), the first and largest AIDS service organization in Jamaica. [2] [3] [4] [5] Over the next 20 years, [6] McKnight held several positions at JASL, including Executive Director. In 2010, he praised the US government for ending its travel ban on people living with HIV/AIDS. [7] In 2011, he called on the Jamaican government to increase funding for housing programs for gay men living with HIV. [8] [9]
From 2006-2013, he also worked at the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC), [10] a coalition of community organizations that does HIV advocacy work for marginalized populations in the Caribbean. [11] In 2011, he spoke against David Cameron's threat to cut funding for HIV/AIDS services if Jamaica did not repeal its anti-gay laws. [12] While serving as Executive Director of CVC, he spoke at the closing session [13] [14] of the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC. [15] McKnight critiqued the conference for "tokenism" and "half-baked" attempts to include sex workers and drug users at the conference. [16] He also warned against potential HIV/AIDS funding cuts to the Caribbean and called for governments "to make the investment necessary [...] to end AIDS". [15]
For several years, he served as Chief of Party for USAID COMET II, a community development program. Under his leadership, COMET II invested in local projects such as a community journalism training program [17] and a business training for a group of young artists. [18]
As of 2024, he is the Director of Programs and Services at the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (PWA). [19]
McKnight has spoken about the dangers facing the LGBTQ community in Jamaica and the Caribbean. [9] [20] [21] He has stated: "Jamaican LGBT individuals have to be constantly careful of how they live and how they manifest their sexuality." [21] In 2003, he contributed to a report about discrimination against the LGBTQ community in Jamaica. [22] He has spoken about how homophobic laws and stigma hinder HIV/AIDS service provision in Jamaica. [23] [24] In 2012, McKnight participated in a legal case against Jamaica for its laws prohibiting gay sex. [25]
McKnight has also been the Producer and Executive Producer of a number of documentaries on issues of social justice and human rights for marginalised communities in the Caribbean. These include "The Cost of Hate: How Homophobia Fuels HIV" (2011), [26] "My Body My Business" (2010), "Complex Problems: Simple Solutions" (2007), "Take a Stand: Jamaican Civil Society organises for Health" (2009),[ citation needed ] and "A Right to be: Sex Worker access to health care in the Caribbean" (2009). [27]