Tag Archives: HIV/AIDS

The New York Times has published a look at the growing population of older people living with HIV and the health challenges they face. This group of almost 50,000 men and women moving through middle age is a living science experiment, entering medical and psychological territories that are largely uncharted. What are the consequences of long-term exposure to the virus, …

“How do you go about asking somebody you’ve just started dating to get tested without sounding rude?”

Four people in Ghana were crushed to death in a church stampede to get “holy water” from evangelist TB Joshua, who claims to be able to heal AIDS via prayers and encourages HIV+ followers to stop taking their medications. Thousands of people flocked to the evangelical church for “holy water”, which they believed had healing powers, leading to the crush. …

Canada’s federal blood donation authority has ruled that gay men may now donate blood if they haven’t had sex in five years. “We recognize that many people will feel that this change does not go far enough, but given the history of the blood system in Canada, we see this as a first and prudent step forward on this policy,” …

Might not be work-friendly. Recap from Broadway Cares: Broadway Bares: Solo Strips was a sexy tease for Broadway Bares, one of BC/EFA’s annual signature events. This year’s racy, road trip-themed edition, Broadway Bares 23: United Strips of America, will feature 200 of New York’s most desirable dancers discovering — and uncovering — amber waves and mountain majesties that only Broadway …

“For gay men over 40, it’s as if we’ve come back from a war that was far away and distant to most Americans even as it was happening — not unlike the actual wars we’ve experienced in this country in the past decade. All of us who were in the trenches of the AIDS war are today dealing with the …

Yesterday Rep. Barbara Lee reintroduced a bill that could eventually force the repeal of laws that criminalize exposing others to HIV.  Lee first introduced the bill in 2011.  Lambda Legal has issued a press release in support of the bill. The REPEAL (“Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal”) HIV Discrimination Act calls for review of all federal and …

Courtesy of Broadway Cares, we’ve got a pair of tickets to the fundraising one-night-only revival of The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, which plays the Gerald W. Lynch theater on Monday, May 20th. For its 20th anniversary, The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me will be re-imagined from a one-man show to one featuring an ensemble cast performing a play that …

Last night I went to the Broadway Cares planning session for next week’s public forum on AIDS survivorship where I’ll be one of the panelists. In the left foreground of the above photo is Tony winner Stephen Spinella, who will be the evening’s host. On the right is famed activist and panelist Peter Staley. At the head of the table …

If you’re walking this year, feel free to pitch your donation account in the comments.  Visit AIDS Walk New York for information about participating.  RELATED: Check out my slideshow from AIDS Walk 2012, which featured speeches from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, and a galaxy of Broadway, Hollywood and television stars.

Treatment Action Group has a lot of problems with yesterday’s story about a possible HIV cure presently under research in Denmark. Sadly, it seems that one of the authors of the Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics review, Dr. Ole Søgaard, has rather shot himself in the foot by contributing to a wildly irresponsible article in the UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph …

Danish researchers say they are on the brink of curing HIV via a treatment that seeks out the elusive reservoirs of the virus unreachable by traditional anti-retroviral medications.  Via Britain’s Telegraph: Danish scientists are expecting results that will show that “finding a mass-distributable and affordable cure to HIV is possible.” They are conducting clinical trials to test a “novel strategy” …

The show was actually this week: The 27th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition raised a staggering $4,250,542 — eclipsing the previous high of $3,734,129 set in 2007. The grand total was announced April 23, 2013, after six weeks of intensive fundraising for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS by 47 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring companies. With a standing-room-only audience filling Broadway’s Minskoff …

Twenty years ago today I joined hundreds of thousands of LGBT Americans for the 1993 March On Washington, the event that changed me forever, turning me from a stereotypical early 30s clubbing-crazed party boy/casual activist into whatever it is I am today. While South Beach certainly had no shortage of gay mega-clubs at the time, I’d never been in such …

Over the objections of some activists, in July 2012 the FDA approved the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive for some high-risk populations. Harlem Prevention Center has launched a study which will evaluate if taking the drug less frequently will also be effective. Via press release: HPTN 067, also known as The ADAPT Study, is a unique study …

On May 9th in New York City, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will hold a public meeting to address the issues of the generation of gay men who survived the plague. The Medius Working Group presents a free community forum to assess what it’s like to be part of the “AIDS Generation,” to have lived through the epidemic in the 1980s …

Via press release: In the United States, one in four new HIV infections is among youth ages 13 to 24. Every month 1,000 young people are infected with HIV and over 76,400 young people are currently living with HIV across the country. Young people and their allies are determined to end this epidemic once and for all – but they …

In what is being called a revolutionary development in the treatment of HIV, the South African government will begin offering a daily three-in-one anti-retroviral pill that will cost only $10 per month. In South Africa, where 5.6 million people live with HIV/AIDS, treatment options were bleak at best — until now. The country has announced a new regimen that combines …

The Kansas legislature is expected to pass a bill that provides for quarantining people living with HIV and AIDS. This story is NOT from thirty years ago. The bill is allegedly meant to help emergency response workers (firefighters, EMTs, etc) who presently must get a court order to test the blood of patients to whom they have been exposed. Kansas …