SF CA: Art for AIDS Celebrates 15th Anniversary Supporting UCSF AIDS Health Project| September 23, 2011

Rex Ray, Untitled, 16”x16, resin panel

Art for AIDS celebrates 15th Anniversary Supporting UCSF AIDS Health Project with “Phantom” Star and Artist, Franc D’Ambrosio on September 23, 2011. San Francisco, CA—The UCSF AIDS Health Project announced the 15th annual Art for AIDS auction will take place on Friday, September 23, 2011, 6:00–9:00 PM. More than 700 supporters are expected to converge at The Galleria in the San Francisco Design Center to celebrate Art for AIDS 2011, benefiting the UCSF AIDS Health Project. This year, “Phantom of the Opera” star, and donating artist Franc D’Ambrosio will open the event with a special performance.

FRANC D’AMBROSIO

Unifying emerging and established artists, galleries and collectors, Art for AIDS is San Francisco’s premier art auction, bringing the Bay Area art community together to support Bay Area residents living with HIV/AIDS.

Robert Mapplethorpe–Patti Smith Memoir to Become Film

This should make us 50% excited and 50% perturbed. Let me explain. Smart, educated and worldly people should idolize Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith and will be excited to see more of them and learn some personal tid-bits of their lives. The 50% perturbed part of us, likes the mystery of not-knowing what an artists wears around the house or what they  look like when they crawl out of bed or fight with their maid. In the era of reality TV and  over exposure, some people do not want to be overexposed to Robert Mapplethorpe–Patti Smith. We like what we know about them just the way it is.

Punk icon Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids, about her life with late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, is being adapted into a motion picture screenplay, reports entertainment website Deadline. 

Mad Respect: Open Hand Founder Ruth Brinker Dies at the Young Age of 89

Ruth Brinker was a visionary and fought off ignorance and fear of HIV in the very early years of the disease. Few people get all my respect, but today I put in all with my thoughts of Ruth. RIP you lovely lady. I blow you a big kiss.  A B

(B.A.R.) Ruth Brinker, the retired grandmother who in 1985 started delivering meals to people living with AIDS and went on to found Project Open Hand, died Monday, August 8 at the Eden Villa Assisted Living Facility in San Francisco. She was 89.

She died after a series of strokes and the effects of vascular illness, the agency said in a statement.

Ms. Brinker, who had retired from a career in food services, heard about a neighbor who had died of AIDS. She was shocked to discover that malnutrition was as much a cause of her neighbor’s death as the illness itself, and started preparing meals in her kitchen and delivering them to seven people, according to a statement on Project Open Hand’s website. Soon, of course, that number grew and others came to help her cook and deliver hot, nutritious meals throughout San Francisco. 

Hey Baby Face, Kiehl’s for amfAR: LifeRide for amfAR

 

Motorcycles and cream, love it. (remove mind from gutter here)

Maintaining a long-standing tradition of supporting HIV/AIDS charities, Kiehl’s Since 1851, has announced the Limited Edition Ultra Facial Cream to benefit amfAR.

The Limited Edition Ultra Facial Cream will launch during the second annual Kiehl’s LifeRide for amfAR, a seven-day charity motorcycle ride up the Eastern coast. 100% of proceeds from the sale of the cream will benefit the charity.

Knock a Pair of Testicles Back and Forth: Interactive Website Encouraging Folks to Get Tested for HIV

This gives a whole new meaning to AMAZEBALLS!

Thank you Unicorn Booty for making my entire summer by turning me on to this. Kevin Farrell at Unicorn Booty said it best, ” Hot DAMN. The French are infinitely hipper than Americans. Need proof? Check out this absolutely incredible interactive website encouraging folks to get tested for HIV (it only takes a finger prick!) by allowing them to use cartoon fingers to flick nipples, make buttcheek beats, play a condom xylophone, and knock a pair of testicles back and forth through a man’s briefs. “Balade les bijoux,” indeed!

Start with the music video posted here for a taste of the insanely addictive campaign, and then make your way over to the interactive site right HERE to make some sweet, sweet (porny) music of your own. Playing the vagina-steamer is simply a must-do for anyone’s bucket list.”

 

25 Years of AIDS Walks… |SF CA

…and counting!

Members of the San Francisco State University geography department and members of St. Francis Lutheran Church were just a few of the estimated 25,000 walkers who participated in the 25th annual AIDS Walk San Francisco Sunday, July 17 in Golden Gate Park. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which organizes the event, said that the AIDS Walk raised more than $3 million for the foundation and 48 other Bay Area HIV/AIDS agencies. The opening ceremonies featured Judy Kaye, from Tales of the City , who sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to energize walkers as they set out on the 6.2-mile (10k) route. (B.A.R.)

India Health Minister Calls Homosexuality Disease

I propose a punishment for his verbal diarrhea: Put the minister in a cage full of lions and tigers after rubbing him down with raw meat, all the while gay-homesexuals surround the cage bumping and grinding the Born This Way by Ms Gaga, Lady Gaga if you’re nasty. AB

(via AP Press)

NEW DELHI— India’s health minister derided homosexuality as an unnatural “disease” from the West at an HIV/AIDS conference, drawing outrage Tuesday from a U.N. official and activists who said the comments set back campaigns for gay rights and against HIV.

In a hastily called news conference Tuesday evening, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was misquoted, though video of Monday’s speech has aired repeatedly on Indian television.

“Some people have played with the words. I have been quoted out of context,” he said. “My reference was to HIV as a disease. As health minister, I know (male homosexual sex) is not a disease.”

MORE

Pink Triangle Organizers Seek Volunteers; SF CA

It’s Pride Month and that means Patrick Carney and others at Friends of the Pink Triangle are looking for volunteers to help with this year’s installation.

This year marks the 16th installation of the pink triangle on Twin Peaks. The triangle is intended to help educate the public to what can happen when hatred and bigotry become law; the symbol was used by the Nazis to identify gay prisoners during World War II.

LENNOX SLAMS WORLD LEADERS OVER HIV POLICY

Singer ANNIE LENNOX has urged world leaders to change their policy on tackling HIV in a bid to conquer the virus.

The former Eurythmics star is a leading campaigner for women’s rights and Aids prevention, and she was invited to address the HIV Priorities for Positive Change: In Women’s Words conference at the United Nations (U.N.) headquarters in New York on Tuesday (07Jun11).

In a stinging rebuke, the Why hitmaker blasted U.N. leaders for concentrating their efforts on women of childbearing age while sidelining young girls and older women.

She also warned the world will never be rid of the threat of Aids until governments change their “negligent” attitude. MORE

via www.dailystar.co.uk

 

HIV/Aids Program Receives 10 New Mobile Clinics as it Looks to Expand

“The Trucking Wellness program is not glamorous, but it works.” via www.engineeringnews.co.za

SOUTH AFRICA-The Trucking Wellness programme on Friday received ten new mobile clinics, used to combat the spread of HIV/Aids in the trucking industry, taking its fleet to 15 units.

The Sprinter-model clinics are used to provide primary healthcare, voluntary counseling and testing, screen for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and to hand-out antiretroviral drugs.

The ten new clinics were handed over by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA), the South African Business Coalition on HIV/Aids (SABCOHA), and the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI).

The Trucking Wellness programme was conceptualised by the NBCRFLI in 1999. READ MORE

AIDS Claimed Celebrity Victims, but Stars Fight Back

It is just fact, the voice of a well know celebrity will always be louder than mine even if I were to climb to highest bridge in San Francisco and scream my loudest. I mean, I do have like at least 2 fans, but lets lean on the celebrities and ride their coat tails where the cameras and media follow. But, I will keep screaming from the tallest bridges to do my part, because every little but helps. AB
———————————————-

LOS ANGELES — AIDS claimed a string of celebrity victims in its early days, from Rock Hudson to Freddie Mercury, but fellow stars have played a major role in fighting the killer disease over the years since.

Elton John and Elizabeth Taylor were among leading figures who used their celebrity from the start to raise awareness and funds for research into HIV, as well as reducing the stigma of what was initially seen as a “gay plague.”

Retired basketball player Magic Johnson has campaigned tirelessly since announcing in 1991 that he had contracted HIV, while pop icon Michael Jackson, a friend of Taylor’s, was also a strong supporter before his death in 2009.

John’s “White Tie and Tiara Ball” has become an annual star-studded fixture organized with his partner David Furnish since 1999 to raise funds for his Elton Joects in 55 countries since it was founded in 1992.

“We’re Here, We’re Queer, We Take it in the Rear”: Lisa Lampanelli Hate Into AIDS Cash Cow

I knew of Lisa’s trucker mouth but had no idea she was smart and clever as well.

Lisa Lampanelli Turns Westboro Hate Into AIDS Cash Cow
By Winston Gieseke @ Advocate Mag

Comedian Lisa Lampanelli, who vowed to donate $1,000 to GMHC for every member of Fred Phelp’s Westboro Baptist Church who picketed her show last night in Topeka, Kansas, has said she will give $44,000 to the nation’s oldest HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care services provider.

“We are grateful for Lisa Lampanelli’s kindness and courage to fight homophobia,” said Marjorie Hill, PhD, CEO of GMHC. “She is holding up a mirror to bigotry and hatred, and reflecting back love and generosity.”

Before her show, Lampanelli, who has steadfastly supported the LGBT community, went outside to greet the protesters, 44 of whom showed up holding signs with messages saying “God Hates Fag Enablers,” “God Hates America,” and “God Hates You.”

After the show, the comedian tweeted that she will be writing a check for $44,000 in the church’s name.

Michael Stipe Reflects on AIDS Witch Hunt

There are monsters under the bed and trolls under the bridge to worry about, but your real concern, the one that slaps you in the face may be AIDS; In your friends faces, in your community, your next door neighbor, on fliers and billboards. Michael Stipe talks about moving to New York  at 21 and getting his wake up call. AB

——————————————————————

‘Holy shit. This is for real.’

By Advocate.com Editors

Michael Stipe recalls being frightened by AIDS as a young man and compares the early days of testing to a witch hunt, according to an article in Interview magazine.

Asked what he’s afraid of, the R.E.M. vocalist replies, “I’m afraid of everything. I’m not a naturally courageous person, but AIDS really brought it home. I mean, it was right when I was 21 years old and came to New York and saw the first billboard about AIDS. It was like, ‘Holy shit. This is for real.’ It was scary. It was right at the time when I was in a band. Suddenly there were all these people who were available to me — men and women — and I was really having fun. But then there came responsibility and feeling afraid and being afraid to get tested, because you couldn’t get tested anonymously. It was so fucked up.” READ MORE

Gay and Celibate for 10 yrs; Donate Blood in Britain

First off this counts out anyone I know. I am dumbfounded by laws that are made that make no sense and deemed useless. How do they expect to collect the data of these supposed men who claim to have 10 yrs of celibacy. Maybe they will add a new segment on the Maury Povich Show and they will give lie detector tests to sexual deviant homosexual who wish to give blood , who claim to have had no sex in 10 yrs (Define sex?). It will be a jam packed show with,” Is that your baby Daddy? results and the new addition, ” I are a lying cock sucking Deviant?”

________________________________________________________

 

Britain To Let Gay Men Donate Blood (If They Haven’t Had Any Gay Sex In 10 Years)

Via Queerty

Great news, do-gooding homosexual Britons: The blood police are going to let you give up your O-negatives and your AB-positives and your plasma! Well, so long as you’ve been celibate for 10 years.

Britain’s health minister Anne Milton will soon announce revised rules for donating blood that let gay men enter the mix. But there’s one big asterisk: only gay men who have not had gay sex within the past 10 years are eligible to get a needle stuck in their arm. You know, because you’re all HIV-carrying monsters, and health officials simply don’t know how to properly screen for improprieties. Also, because having butt sex with another dude three years ago, or eight years, or nine years, still makes you a risk factor!

It’s been a change year’s in the making. (See our 2009 post: “Britain Ready to Admit: No Good to Reason to Ban Gay Blood Donors.” With data showing that only two people in the U.K. have been infected with HIV via blood transfusions since 1985 (you know, when AIDS scares were all the rage), the ban on gay blood has long been viewed as outdated, discriminatory, and even malicious.

READ MORE

Related Articles

• Gay Men Can Now Give Blood in the UK…As Long As They Haven’t Had Sex for 10 Years (towleroad.com)
• UK Gay Blood Ban To End – Maybe! (therainbowpost.com)

HIV post-exposure Prophylaxis for Free

Have you fallen off the safety wagon? Extend hands, palms down, *** SMACK*** Living life without judgement is quite an effort. I equate this PEP to the day after pill for women, but dealing with HIV infection is leaps and bounds heavier than giving birth to an unwanted bastard. This article raises many questions? What time frame does an exposed person has? Cost?

_______________________________________________________

Free PEP in NYC

By Advocate.com Editors

The Men’s Sexual Health Project in New York City will offer emergency HIV post-exposure prophylaxis for free in a new program called “M*SHP minus 36:00.”

Joe.My.God. reports on the program made possible by support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation to provide HIV post-exposure prophylaxis “in a streamlined and community-appropriate way.”

READ MORE

 

Related Articles

• Full Interview With POZ’s Sean Strub (pinkbananaworld.com)
• 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections: Day 4 NIH highlights (eurekalert.org)