Most people would walk away if the future seemed unclear and shut you out because they’re afraid. But I’m not. I’m right here. That’s what my love is for. My love will be your cure. —“Your Cure,” an original song from season two of Merce Merce, the web series about a gay New Yorker living with HIV, is a little bonkers. The candy-colored musical comedy, written by and starring the singular Charles Sanchez, has “the lowbudget appeal of an early John Waters romp,” as I wrote when season one hit your computer screens two years ago.
Antron-Reshaud Olukayode Died of AIDS. We Must Say It.
This world lost a remarkable young man this month when Antron-Reshaud Olukayode, a 33-year-old HIV educator, writer, and performance artist from Atlanta died of AIDS.
Punishing Disease • Branding People with HIV as Criminals
Out of control anti-sex laws threaten everyone: Panel discussion, Nov. 15th, 7:30 pm at Red Emma’s Sociologist Trevor Hoppe is a gay man with his finger on the pulse of gay sexual politics, a topic he has written about for years. In his latest buook, Punishing Disease, Hoppe tackles HIV criminalization, one of the most polarizing issues in the LGBT community.
That Time ‘Will & Grace’ Forgot HIV Exists Again
The revived “Will & Grace” television comedy has some pithy things to say about ageing as gay men and our need to create families where we find them. The producers of the show, which is already a hit with audiences and critics, seem to think that’s enough. It isn’t.
The Death & Life of Marsha P. Johnson
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.
National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Get set for September 27th, as it’s National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, to recognize the disproportionate impact of HIV on gay men. It was launched in 2008 by the National Association of People with AIDS. Of all the men diagnosed with HIV each year, over half are gay and bisexual men. “Men who have sex with men” are the only major group for whom HIV infection rates are rising nationally.
National HIV & Aging Day, September 18th
September 18th of each year has been designated as the National HIV/AIDS and Ageing Awareness Day (NHAAAD), to call to attention the challenges that older Americans face in terms of HIV prevention, testing, care, and treatment, and to recognize the impact of HIV on those ageing with HIV. The day was launched in 2008 by lead organizer, the AIDS Institute.
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.
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.