Tag Archives: HIV/AIDS

Good As You posts the above 1985 news clipping as a reminder that Elizabeth Taylor was among the first and most vocal celebrities to demand funding for AIDS research, a move she made at great risk to her career, considering the tenor of those dark, dark days. Taylor went on to cofound the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and …

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is denouncing the study of using existing HAART medications as a daily preventive for HIV infection. From their website, No Magic Pills: AIDS Healthcare Foundation takes the matter of HIV prevention very seriously. We are concerned about the implications of a recent study of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) using Gilead Sciences, Inc.’s drug Truvada using 2,500 gay …

In observance of this week’s National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the New York City Department of Health has issued the above infographic, which is part of their NYC Knows campaign to get every city resident tested for HIV. (Tipped by JMG reader John)

The new proposed federal budget released yesterday by the Obama administration maintains funding levels for HIV research, treatment, and prevention. The AIDS Institute is surprised and grateful. Via press release: The budget President Obama proposed yesterday for fiscal year 2012 maintains his Administration’s commitment to domestic and global HIV/AIDS programs, and proposes increases for domestic AIDS medications and HIV prevention, …

Laughter about dead queers. At the White House. It was five long horrifying and desperate years later before Reagan finally personally addressed the AIDS epidemic, when he came out against a public prevention campaign, saying, “Let’s be honest with ourselves, AIDS information can not be what some call ‘value neutral.’ After all, when it comes to preventing AIDS, don’t medicine …

“It is remarkable that two of the so-called ‘greatest presidents’ have also allowed the greatest perpetrations and perpetuations of mass murder. Franklin D. Roosevelt was shamefully inept in dealing with ‘the Jewish question,’ (see my play The Normal Heart), most ironically since so many Jews were his most loyal supporters, the Jerry Zipkins of their day. No one really writes …

From a Sundance Film Festival synopsis: In the early 1970s, in the shadow of the Stonewall riots and the free-love movement, gay men and lesbians flocked to San Francisco to find acceptance. They formed a thriving, tight-knit community until the arrival of AIDS in the early 1980s drove them under siege. Director David Weissman (“The Cockettes” screened at the 2002 …

Today Alex Pareene notes at Salon that Ronald Reagan was far more concerned about the potential of aliens attacking from outer space than he was about the AIDS pandemic, which he completely ignored. Reagan frequently spoke on the threat from little green men, an issue he brought up at the United Nations and one that he even discussed with Russian …

More than half of the nation’s AIDS patients who are on waiting lists to get medications are in Florida. Last week Sen. Bill Nelson wrote both the president and Florida Gov. Rick “Medicare Fraud” Scott, warning of a catastrophic public health crisis over the lack of ADAP funding. In the below clip, South Florida AIDS activist Mark S. King lays …

Last last year researchers announced some success in preventing HIV among gay men who were taking a daily dose of the HIV medication Truvada. The concept of warding off infection by pre-dosing with a medication is known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP.) But alarmed by the prospect for abuse, yesterday the CDC issued some interim PReP guidance as studies continue. CDC …

As the world approaches the 30th anniversary of the first noted cases of AIDS, famed activist Larry Kramer publishes a typically blistering editorial for CNN International in which he shouts that AIDS is a plague that was allowed to happen. And still is. An excerpt: Governments and bureaucrats and presidents and politicians and the people who run this world lie …

On February 9th, amfAR will host its New York City gala where Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Elton John will reunite for a performance of their Grammy-winning smash single That’s What Friends Are For, which was recorded 25 years ago as a fundraiser for amfAR. To date, the single has raised more than $3M for AIDS research. Honorees …

North Carolina state Rep. Larry Brown says his state should eliminate all funding to treat adults with AIDS because it is caused by people living “perverted lifestyles.” Brown, R-Forsyth, made the comments when asked by the Winston-Salem Journal to talk about his goals for the N.C. General Assembly session set to begin this month. He began by discussing his support …

“Recent headlines that heralded taking medication as a means of preventing transmission of HIV among gay men were applauded by many AIDS experts. The news came in a study of nearly 2,500 men in six countries that found that an average man taking the medication was 44 percent less likely to become infected than a control group taking a placebo. …

GLAAD and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis are calling on New York City to cease airing an HIV prevention ad that the groups says is “sensationalist and stigmatizing.” The PSA, which is intended to encourage condom usage among gay and bisexual men, claims that those with HIV face a higher risk of bone loss, dementia, and anal cancer. While older …

I missed this message from Britain’s Prime Minister yesterday. “We have made a lot of progress in fighting HIV and AIDS so far and I believe that by working together, we can help reduce the stigma, reduce the number of new infections and enable those living with HIV to lead full productive and happy lives.”

Via press release: POSITIVELY AWARE, a leading magazine devoted to HIV treatment, today announced that “A Day With HIV In America,” a photo essay published in the new November/December 2010 issue of the print magazine, is viewable online, tying in with World AIDS Day on December 1. Taken in cities and towns around the country on September 21, 2010, this …

In one of the strangest World AIDS Day campaigns ever seen, Kim Kardashian (who is famous for something, apparently) and artists such as Lady Gaga, Ryan Seacrest, and Justin Timberlake are declaring their “digital deaths” and refusing to use Twitter or Facebook until they’ve raised a million dollars. The money goes to Alicia Keys’ Keep A Child Alive Foundation.

A just-released pre-exposure prophylactics (PreEP) study reveals that taking the HIV drug Truvada once a day reduces the incidence of HIV infection by about 44%. The result was even better among men who were the most compliant about taking the drug every day. The drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine, packaged as a once-daily pill and sold in drugstores as Truvada, reduced …

Former GLAAD president Neil Giuliano has been hired to head the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Giuliano replaces former SFAF CEO Mark Cloutier, who left in January to “work on federal and state health policy reform.” Via press release: “Neil is an experienced leader, broadly respected for bringing people and communities together and for his collaborative approach to solving tough problems,” …