We all know the saying about freedom of speech. It doesn’t mean you have the right to yell “fire!” in a crowded movie theater. That kind of speech can risk lives. But what if the theater is already burning on all sides, and someone tries to convince people not to find a safe exit, [...]
Photo by Matt Roth (I tested HIV positive 38 years ago today. My 2017 POZ Magazine essay still rings true.) The young woman sitting across from me on the bus is in her mid-20s. She turns to her companion and her voice grows serious. “I know someone who died,” she says in the [...]
(As it appeared Tuesday, February 28, 2023, in The Atlanta Journal Constitution.) As a high school junior in 1976, I was selected to play former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter in our mock presidential election. It taught me a lesson in politics – and the performative nature of candidacy – that is as true today as [...]
Social media activist Kalee Garland, who was born with HIV in 1986. The issue of HIV criminalization used to intimidate me, because I didn’t understand State laws, much less how to change them. Thank God I got a scholarship to the first HIV Is Not A Crime Training Academy (HINAC) in 2014, because [...]
(Artwork: AJC) (As it appeared today, January 13, 2023, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.) 'The bungalow that housed a mix of horror and heroics is gone, but its legacy isn't.' The humble, sagging bungalow that sat until recently at the corner of 12th Street and Peachtree Walk in Midtown wasn’t simply among the [...]
‘Tis the season, y’all. And you know how much I love a nice holiday video. Okay, maybe a naughty one, too. The folks at Mistr, the telehealth platform that provides free PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and STI testing, sure do have my number. They’ve just released a “Mistr Wonderland” music video, and it’s got holiday cheer [...]
Nelson Vergel (Lynn Lane) We’re probably far enough along in the history of HIV/AIDS to tag various figures as, well, historic. Fitness expert Nelson Vergel qualifies for that category, having taken the lead from the earliest years of the epidemic to educate people living with HIV about fitness and nutrition. Lucky for us, [...]
Richard King and Emil Matzner, 1982 (I will never explain the early days of AIDS better then this, so I post this essay to commemorate World AIDS Day every year.) My brother Richard smiles a lot. He has an easy laugh. But there was a time, years ago, when he held a poisonous [...]
Some of the ferocious women of USCHA; Rick Guasco hugs it out with Ace Robinson; Tik Tok personality Brian Thomas; a Puerto Rican performer. After scrapping the in-person USCHA conference for two years due to COVID, and efforts to locate the event in San Juan, Puerto Rico being threatened by two hurricanes – [...]
Among the many resources available to those who access the new (and entirely free) HIV Justice Academy, an online resource for those interested in addressing HIV criminalization, is a new edit of a video created ten years ago. At the time, Sean Strub was in the early process of founding what would become SERO Project, [...]
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