Meeting of Trump's team to end HIV on Feb 6, 2019. (Photo: Carl Schmid) Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, so let’s hear it for the Trump USA team behind his master race plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. I’ve even included an actual photo of their meeting on January [...]
The GLAAD Media Award nominations are out, and for the fourth consecutive year My Fabulous Disease has been honored with a nomination in the category of Outstanding Blog. While the GLAAD Awards have risen in stature over the years (now comprised of two star-studded ceremonies in New York City and Los Angeles honoring journalism, television, [...]
Dr. David Fawcett and Mark S. King at HIV Endgame in Toronto. Dr. David Fawcett and I have an oddly symbiotic relationship. David has specialized in drug and sex addiction for many years, and I was a drug addict for many years. We’ve become close friends and have managed to use both of [...]
The opening of the Armorettes 40th Anniversary show. The Armorettes never intended to become the longest continually running drag troupe in the country, or even to be known as the comedy drag show that has raised more than $2.5 million for Atlanta HIV charities. They were formed in 1979 as a group of [...]
Writer Craig Washington (For the first time, the words I am posting on My Fabulous Disease are not my own. This piece is from Craig Washington, whom I have known since our service at AID Atlanta 25 years ago. He continues to teach me about the lives and issues of Black gay [...]
A protest against AIDS2020 being held in San Francisco. (Sean Black for A&U) The breaking point has been reached. After months of activism that has failed to convince the International AIDS Society (IAS) to withdraw their “AIDS2020” conference from San Francisco, activists have now announced an alternative conference, “HIV2020,” to be held in [...]
“A Trump appointee walks into an AIDS conference” sounds like the beginning of a terrible joke, doesn’t it? Just wait until you hear the punchline. It’ll kill you. The sight of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar standing before more than 4,000 public health and community-based providers of HIV services is shocking [...]
The musty gym bag stays in my closet, ironically enough. Inside, a crumpled black wig fights for space with a sequined dress, heels, a string of fake pearls and a bag of make-up. After more than twenty years since performing with the Armorettes, this is all that remains of Ms. Anita Mann. That is, until [...]
Richard King and Emil Matzner, 1982 My brother Richard smiles a lot. He has an easy laugh. But there was a time, years ago, when he held a poisonous drink in his hands and begged his dying lover not to swallow it. A time when Richard held the concoction they had prepared together [...]
Remembering the moment in March of 1985 when I learned I was HIV positive is difficult. I speak and write about it often, but the actual emotions aren’t easy to access. I know it was horrific because my brain tells me it was, but putting myself back into the mind of my 24-year-old self and [...]
