With KOMOS, the LGBTQ choir of Bologna, Italy, as I bear witness to the HIV epidemic during their World AIDS Day event on November 30th, 2019. What a distinct pleasure to be in the company of spirited Italians for the week of World AIDS Day in early December. I was honored to be [...]
Local Gay Bar is a super cute comic strip drawn by an artist known as Adam. The strip is usually filled with colorful go-go boys, handsome bartenders and the kind of bulges we usually only find in the work of a generous illustrator. I was surprised, then, that the strip tagged me in a recent [...]
A choral performance during Plenary II of the USCA. (Photo: Luke Hammerman) A picture, and sometimes a video clip, can tell a thousand words. Sometimes they shout those words, or even sing them to you. In these amazing pictures and video clips from the 2019 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA), the activists, advocates, and [...]
Jade Elektra at USCA (Photo: Scott Henrichsen) Toronto drag personality Jade Elektra captivated the Saturday plenary of the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) with her live rendition of “Undetectable,” part of a program devoted entirely to the “Undetectable Equals Untransmittable” (U=U) movement. Jade Elektra is the stage name of Alphonso King, Jr. [...]
Jack Thompson, who just won the 2019 International Mr. Leather (IML), is a lot. And he carries it well. Jack is biracial. He’s gay. He’s transgender. He’s extremely kinky, depending on what scale you use to measure such things. Jack is also utterly transparent about all that he is, to a disarming degree. His speech [...]
This November, the HIV Cruise Retreat (also known as “the Poz Cruise,” although it is not associated with POZ Magazine) will celebrate its 15th Anniversary voyage with a cruise to the Caribbean from Ft Lauderdale. As the host and MC, I can’t wait to join them. Grab a floppy hat and some sunscreen and come [...]
Brace yourselves, Gilbert & Sullivan fans. The Rev. Steve Pieters has a treat for you. Steve is a long-term survivor – and by long, I mean since before 1985, when HIV/AIDS was known as Gay Related Immune Disorder (GRID). Steve has been an advocate of many decades for both HIV causes and for the religious [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The presenters of the HIV Survivor Monologues: Lillibeth Gonzales, Bryan Jones, Teresa Sullivan, Mark S. King, Rick Guasco, and Esther Ross. “What family doesn’t have its ups and downs?” -- Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Lion in Winter The 2018 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA), the HIV advocacy, education and networking behemoth produced [...]
