Trans film noir Victoria Cruz, a dogged crime-victim advocate in New York City, has taken on one last case before retirement. She wants to solve the mysterious 1992 death of Marsha P. Johnson – a trans woman like Cruz herself – who’s body was pulled from the Hudson river after disappearing the evening before.
DaddyBear
Just Apologized to HIV-positive Men… It went really badly At some point you have to feel a little sorry for the bumbling app “DaddyBear.” It’s the gay cruising app that promises to hook up “gay sugar daddies” with younger “bears” – but only if you’re HIV negative. After an avalanche of criticism and mocking stories about their promise of “healthy HIV-negative” app users, the CEO has issued a public mea culpa. It did not go well.
My Rendezvous with Ben Franklin
When you set out to change the world, you never expect to actually see the results of those years of struggle, or to win praise. And if you are lucky enough to, it comes as an overwhelmingly emotional surprise that takes days to come to terms with… and fully accept or appreciate.
The First Redneck HIV-Prevention Video
The good people at Thrive Alabama have been working their butts off for years, covering 12 counties in northern Alabama with five free clinics and vans that travel country roads you would never find on your GPS just to fetch clients for appointments and get them home again.
What Did America Do on its Summer Vacation?
It’s the last week of August– or what are known as the lazy, hazy last days of summer. Soon schools will open and, as many of us will recall, many teachers will ask their assembled students, “What did you do with your summer vacation?”
Insurer Denies Truvada Due to ‘High Risk Homosexual Behavior’
Discrimination against LGBT people is often once-removed, shielded under double-speak and fraudulent intentions. So, it’s refreshing, really, when a company comes right out and says in black-and-white that gay men aren’t worthy of the same protections as everyone else.
Conversion Therapy is Torture
To the entire LGBT community: Let’s begin as a community to state the truth without putting lipstick on a pig. Personally, it sickens me when I see someone from GLAAD or HRC on television calling conversion therapy “praying the gay away.” That is downright as truthful as a Donald Trump tweet, and might show how we attempt to soften our message for consumption by the mainstream. Or, it might hide something very sad: our own attempt to not accept what has been done to us as a collective community for years – and that, my friends, is torture.
Is the Queer Community Eating Its Own (Again)?
Recent battles over the rainbow flag and the Star of David have exposed long-simmering biases.
Frontline Warrior
From fighting AIDS with ACT UP in New York and helping found Lesbian Avengers– Anne-christine d’Adesky’s new memoir casts fresh light on epic battles Anne-christine d’Adesky got arrested, accidentally, long before it happened on purpose during AIDS protests. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist was covering civil disobedience at a nuclear facility in 1982 when she was approached by a suspicious policeman. Despite assuring him that she was covering the demonstration for Ms. magazine, the officer arrested her anyway.
Chicago Dyke March: Full of Shame!
Hard headline, so let me make it more clear. Whoever is in charge of the Chicago Dyke March has their heads up their asses. If you’ve read this column before, you’ve never read language like that from me before, but I’ll let you judge. Here are the facts: