From Bradford McIntyre of PositivelyPositive.ca  comes this notice of Vanocover’s up coming candlelight memorial . . 

“We have a stellar cast of speakers and performers this year to celebrate and perform a musical tribute to people affected and infected by HIV and to all of those friends and family we have lost to HIV/AIDS.

This year marks AIDS Vancouver's 30th Anniversary. This year also marks the AIDS Candlelight Memorial’s 30th Anniversary.

AIDS Vancouver is the host of the 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial.

In this special year, this event is a musical tribute.

In Solidarity: A Musical Tribute to People Infected and Affected by HIV and those we have lost to AIDS.

As vice-chair on AIDS Vancouver’s board of directors, I have spent the past three months organizing the 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, planning the program and inviting this year’s participants. I will be master of ceremonies (MC) for the event. Learn more about it here.

The Program:

The 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

In Solidarity: A Musical Tribute to People Infected and Affected by HIV and those we have lost to AIDS.

May 19th 2013 at 7:30 PM in Alexandra Park, 1755 Beach Avenue, at Bidwell

Master of Ceremonies: Bradford McIntyre

Speakers and Performers

Chief Bill Williams

Bob Baker & The Eagle Song Dancers

Vancouver Men's Chorus

Leora Cashe

Jess Cullen

PALS Chorus

Andrew Hiscox

James Johnstone

Ending with the Lighting of the Candles "

On May 5th, we will be celebrating six months of the POZ-TO Monthly Dance Parties. We are proud to say that each month has been getting better and better.

It is so great to see everyone enjoying themselves and socializing. This is exactly what I was going for - a safe space where the HIV+ community can come and just let their hair down. No worries about having to disclose, because the conversation has already been started. And although we open the doors for the POZ Community, we also welcome anyone and everyone who wants to support the organizations we choose to raise money for. 

For the past six months we have raised money for ACT & PWA, but starting in June we have decided that the main organization we are going to be helping is PWA. Mainly because I believe that their services are really hands on and food is important. And with their new garden programs, they are going to need all the help they can get. And POZ-TO is proud to throw our support behind them.

But we will still occasionally invite in other AIDS organizations to help them as well. We are all in this fight together. It is going to take all of us to help in educating and preventing the spread of the virus.

We will also be celebrating a my good friend, Richard Kikot's Birthday. So, I'm sure it's gonna be a fun night. Hope to see you there on Sunday (May 5th).

And to show my appreciation for all of those who have come out to support the event, here is a special megamix I have put together. It's just a taste of all the great music I spin for our party. Give it a listen….you never know what you might hear.

The short answer is, we didn’t win. But that’s misleading. There is so much more to the story.

On Friday April 5, as I whipped into the parking lot and dashed into the office, my heart was beating. It was our last chance to get the final votes.  I hadn’t slept much the night before, and thanks to a persistent cold, my throat was raw and I could barely speak.  I lit up my computer to send out last minute pleas for help through email, Facebook and Twitter, reminding anyone who cared (and probably some who did not) that we had only hours – and then minutes – left to win Canada’s Worst Charity Website.

I have been told that many of our supporters anxiously refreshed their browsers over and over again, waiting to see the final tally. What they didn’t know is that the company who hosted the contest, rTraction, was monitoring votes and would strip the final numbers of any that looked illegitimate.  We wouldn’t know the final tally until an hour later.

Both myself and Wayne have written previous posts on why this contest is important to us. We want to make our HIV prevention and support services more accessible online.  We do this work within the confines of certain barriers – including the fact that stigma, isolation (both social and geographical) make face-to-face conversations about HIV, AIDS and STIs difficult. For many hard-to-reach populations, including those who live in rural areas and those who fear stigma, discrimination or racism, a website is often a primary access point to information. For us, this was about bridging barriers.

Shortly after 1:00, our Executive Director, Tom, went into his office to answer the telephone and I knew right away the news wasn’t good.  From his office, he gave me a thumbs down.

I didn’t understand then, why he sounded so chipper. “We’re thrilled,” I heard him say a few minutes later.

When Tom gathered all the staff together for an announcement, he told us what I already suspected – we didn’t win first place. But rTraction had been so impressed with our enthusiasm and hard work, they decided to offer us a second prize that was nearly as great – a website makeover worth $15,000!

We are truly thrilled to accept this prize. The development will take place in 2014. I really look forward to having a user-friendly, responsive, and professional website.

Beyond that though, this process has been really enlightening. It’s been incredibly moving to see the kind of community involvement we’ve received. I say involvement, because it’s gone beyond the simple act of voting. Our supporters took a major role promoting the contest by sharing, tweeting, emailing, blogging, Facebooking – and plain old talking about the contest.  They designed memes. They gave free advice. One physicist friend actually wrote a computer program to help monitor and analyze the voting trends. And this support wasn’t only found in the Guelph community (although the Guelph community has been a huge source of support – including voluntary associations, social services and nonprofit organizations, the university, the Mayor and countless other organizations and individuals).  The support and involvement extended across the region, the province, the nation – even the globe! Friends spread the word in multiple languages.

We utilized social media as well as traditional media. We worked hard to get the HIV & AIDS community involved as much as possible, asking for help from as many HIV/AIDS affiliated organizations across Canada (and into the United States and beyond) to help us – and that included the fabulous PositiveLite.com blogging community!

The really cool thing is when you start to see your voters become promoters. That especially took off as our supporters learned why this contest was so important. It wasn’t just about getting a great website so that we could solicit donations. It was about making sure that life-saving information was available to people as they need it. It was about overcoming significant barriers like stigma, shame, isolation and fear.  Supporters began to learn more about us and the issues we faced, and they started to share this information with their own networks.

Here’s an example.  I saw an acquaintance – who has no affiliation with the AIDS Committee - post this on Facebook when encouraging her friends to vote:

Not only is the AIDS Committee of Guelph an organization deserving of and in need of a new website, but the nature of their work means that having a well designed site that's easy to use is extremely important as social stigma, fear and a host of other issues might mean it's their first (or only) point of contact with some individuals needing their services.

It is inspiring to see how our messages have circulated through social media, prompting individuals outside our circles to learn, share and talk about HIV.  It seems this contest has helped us raise awareness of who we are, what we do, and most importantly, the issues that we work to address every day.

More than 15,000 votes were sent in favour of the AIDS Committee of Guelph. I’m told it was a very close call – that we lost only by a hundred or so.  I also recently learned that our total was more than double the amount of the winning organization from last year.  The fact that we came so close to winning while competing against an organization based in Ottawa – a city that dwarfs Guelph in size and political power – is incredibly inspiring.  It is a testament to how much our supporters care for this agency and its cause. It also speaks to how the HIV & AIDS sector works as a family. 

With this contest we have heightened our local and global response to HIV and AIDS – and that has truly been our most important goal, regardless of winning or losing this contest.

On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors at the AIDS Committee, I would like to express their heartfelt thanks for everyone who voted and promoted the contest.  A special thank you also to rTraction, from London Ontario, for hosting Canada’s Worst Charity Website contest and congratulations to the Wild Bird Care Centre of Nepean Ontario on their win.

Totally outRIGHT is a free leadership workshop series for young gay and bi guys in the Toronto area interested in sexual health. Sponsored by ACT, these workshops are for a cross-section of young gay and bi guys (ages 18-29). They are open to HIV-negative and HIV-positive guys, trans guys and guys from different ethnic backgrounds. 

The workshops consist of 17 modules over four days that build resilience and community. They are based on the success of the Totally outRIGHT program that was pioneered in Vancouver by Health Initiative for Men.  

Totally outRIGHT is a great way to meet other young gay and bi guys and connect with leaders in our community. It’s for guys who identify as gay or bi, want to learn about love, life, sexuality and sexual health and who want to apply that knowledge in their community. 

For more information go here.  

Want to be part of this amazing experience? Registration is now open for the workshop series being offered over four Saturdays: May 4, 11, 18 and 25, 2013. (Registration closes on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 5:00 pm.) Register at http://www.actoronto.org/to.

Alphonso:  First, I'd like to thank you for being our model and entertainment for April 7th. Most folks only know you as your stage persona, Jenna Syde. But the "Average Joe" doesn't know that it is Charlie Boyes behind it. How long have you been performing?

Charlie Boyes: I have been performing as Jenna Syde for almost 6 years...but the character really stemmed from my old ClubKid/Goth days when i would dress up and wear elaborate make-up to various Fetish events around T.O. including the much missed Betty Page social club nights at Boots...and the Dungeon parties at Buddies in Bad times theatre.

Jenna is not your typical Church Street queen. She's got a bit of an edge to her. Charlie is kinda shy and quiet. How did you get to her as a character?

So i wouldnt say Jenna is opposite of me...and i DEFINITELY wouldn't say Charlie is either shy or quiet..its more of different splinters of the same person...I've always been interested in exploring the masculine/feminine entities that I believe exist in us all and then fucking with and re-appropriating gender roles.

I got to the character as a homage to all the women/men/gender benders that have inspired and shaped me in my youth...Siouxsie Sioux, Klaus Nomi, Divine, Nina Hagen, Grace Jones, Wendy O. Williams, Boy George, Annie Lennox...all these great strong creative beings inspired and shaped me growing up...I also found that drag had gotten quite stale and safe in this city...this town definitely needed an enema...I just needed to find a long enough hose!

So, Jenna is performing for our POZ-TO event. I wanted to shake things up and give an alternative to the party. Do you have something special planned for the show that night?

i am very excited to be performing at POZ T.O. and will have a few tricks and treats up my...er...sleeve for this empowering event!.

It was my idea to start using people from the community as models to put a face on Toronto's Poz scene. Not everyone is comfortable disclosing in such an open way. What made you decide to volunteer to be on our posters and flyers this month?

i decided to model as myself to make a public coming out as being HIV + ... It seems important as there is still so much shame and stigma out there as well as A LOT of ignorance about what this disease is ...and I needed to feel more comfortable with it

I myself have been very open about being HIV positive, but it wasn't easy. You know…if it wasn't for my husband I don't think that I would have the courage to be so public. I mean…I was out to my close friends and my lovers, but five or six years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of doing interviews about my status. How long have you been out as a positive guy?

i am out about my status to all friends and family.. it just seemed to be the right time...i was inspired by you and this event...it was kinda like publicly yelling out FUCK YEAH!! I M POZ TOO!!! ..lol..it has been liberating ...and surprising that some people have asked me dumb foundedly WHY?? would i want to ascociate myself with this??...my answer was"WHY WOULDNT I??

I was diagnosed only a little over 3 years ago.....so it just seemed to be the right time for me!!

Well, I am looking forward to your performance as Jenna and the next POZ-TO event. Do you have anything that you'd like to say to any young people in our community?

As far as anything to say to young people in our community...get tested regularily ...find the proper health care you deserve...trust your own feelings...educate yourself....live without fear..and with out shame...be fearless!