Events

Press release: San Francisco, CA—The second annual National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (NHALTSAD) is Friday, June 5, 2015. Let’s Kick ASS—AIDS Survivor Syndrome created the awareness day in 2014 to recognize and honor those living longest with HIV. NHALTSAD spotlights the present-day intricacies of survival while aging with HIV. It also stresses the importance of keeping those older adults without HIV from acquiring it.  This year’s theme is “Every Survivor Counts�

This summer I’ve decided to embark on a life-changing adventure. In July I’ll be riding my bicycle 600 kilometers from Toronto to Montreal and raising money to support the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation.  Now in its 17th year, the annual Friends for Life Bike Rally isn’t new information to those in the HIV loop of Toronto, but it is new to me. Since I was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2013 this is the first I’ve been involved in any fundraiser of this sort. With my adventure having

 And here are the links to the event pages: https://www.facebook.com/events/396280447243478   https://www.facebook.com/events/1561562224106866

Better Brothers Los Angeles has been around for a little more than a year and has provided an outstanding array of social events to its members and supporters, but Saturday, March 28th at the historic Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles they raised the bar with the Truth Awards, their first grand gala event. Better Brother Los Angeles was founded by Scott Hamilton, Vincent Holmes and Elton Wise. From the beginning the organization has grown and been embraced. It was created because there were “no

Kelsey Louie (left) and Larry Kramer at 2015 GMHC Spring GalaPhoto credit: Matthew McDermott I’ve always liked Larry Kramer. Not unreservedly, 100% liked, because that degree of acceptance, with a man like this, is hard to pull off. But I’ve liked him a lot. Not because he graciously allowed me to interview him for PositiveLite.com a few years back but because he is lively and literate and impassioned – and angry. “The angriest gay man in the world” is what he has been called. That

So, what would you do if your husband came to you while you were working and told you that a mutual friend that you only knew from facebook was just taken away for assaulting the black female security guard at the door of the club that you are at? And in the assault the person used the word "nigger"? Do you delete that person and move on? Or do you try to find out their side of the story.  Now, I knew this person was openly out as HIV-positive, an animal lover and a sweet guy. I had run into

Concerns about the well-being of older adults living with HIV is an emerging issue in Canada and around the world. Before the introduction in 1996 of effective anti-retroviral therapies, most people living with HIV did not expect to live long lives. This meant that, for the most part, community-based organizations did not have to concern themselves with the needs of older people living with HIV. Now, however, provided they are diagnosed and treated in time, people living with HIV can long, he

On December 10, 1989 ACT UP demonstrated both inside and outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, the building a bastion of Catholicism. Five thousand people, says ACT UP’s website, protested the Roman Catholic Archdiocese's public stand against AIDS education and condom distribution, and its opposition to a women's right to abortion.   As protesters jostled with police outside, a few dozen entered the cathedral, interrupted Mass, chanted slogans or lay down in the aisles. One pr

Background In 2010, the CAPRISA 004 clinical trial demonstrated that a gel containing an antiretroviral (tenofovir) could be used vaginally around the time of sex to reduce the risk of HIV and HSV-2. This provided proof of concept that a vaginal microbicide could work. In fact, it was the first trial to show that ARVs could reduce the risk of HIV—even before the string of oral PrEP trial results, and before the treatment-as-prevention trial results (HPTN 052, PARTNER). It was an incredibly

I guess I should start off by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. I know we’re well into February, but as the saying goes, better later than never. I trust and hope the New Year is treating you well and that you’re in amazing health and spirits. So far the New Year is off to a great start for me. Once again I was selected by FORD Motor Company to be their official photographer for the 11th Annual NAACP Image Awards Symposium. This is the second year that they’ve reached out to me t

Kisses 4 CANFAR is a national awareness and fundraising campaign run by CANFAR. To participate. Smoochers can either sign up and fundraise for the campaign, or donate to support our kissers.  Canadians can participate by: WEAR & SHARE: Share a #SmoochieSelfie on social media to raise awareness. Tag #Kisses4CANFAR so friends can find out more about the campaign. TAKE THE PLEDGE: Take the Kisses 4 CANFAR pledge and make a personal commitment to kissing HIV and AIDS goodbye. BECOME A KIS

What is old is new again.  In Toronto only a few years ago there was only a handful of storytelling shows in the city, including the one I started with a friend. Today there are so many I am no longer able to keep track.  What is great about storytelling and its community is that it is very humanizing. The stage is a great equalizer when we are each taking turns being vulnerable. The act of sharing our stories breaks down barriers and brings people together. I love the storytelling com

The Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) has announced that the 2015 People Living with HIV/AIDS Forum and the Canadian AIDS Society AGM will be held June 12-15 at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa. Scholarship application forms for those people living with HIV wishing to attend and requiring financial assistance to do so are now available on their website.  What is the Canadian AIDS Society? It’s a national coalition of numerous community-based AIDS organizations from across Canada. Its goal is to st

This year, the Great Hall, of Hart House, University of Toronto was the venue for the Ontario AIDS Network’s Honour Roll reception. Everybody was there, including Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long Term Care, Dr. Eric Hoskins.  The annual awards have four categories The Person with HIV/AIDS Leadership Award went to Art Zoccole, the popular Executive Director of 2-Spirited People of the First Nations; Art has a long history of working on issues relating to Aboriginal people and HIV.

Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week 2014 reaches out to include Aboriginal People Living HIV and AIDS (APHAs), national Aboriginal organizations, government partners, health care providers,and community leaders to focus on how Aboriginal people can continue to work together to reach the UNAIDS 2011-2015 goal of: Getting to Zero. Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths.   While Worlds AIDS Day reminds us that progress has been made in finding solutions and moving