Ravyn Wngz, a Toronto Black Lives Matter (BLM) activist, never had to raise her voice on Sunday, when she delivered a scathing rebuke of systemic racism and privilege. Her beautiful words pierced the heart just the same. The words say everything anyone needs to hear about the importance of activism and why taking to the [...]
Welcome to Chechnya, the unnerving new documentary by filmmaker David France, stopped playing in my living room a full hour ago and I’m still trying to shake it. That may take some time, considering the events of the film -- the kidnapping, torture, and disappearance of LGBTQ men and women in Chechnya and the efforts [...]
When POZ Magazine began work producing their online series, “POZ at Home,” editor Oriol Gutierrez came to me with a question. Would I like to come up with something, together with my friend and performer Charles Sanchez, that could be an entertaining coda to their first episode? What resulted is a three-minute gay disco freakout, [...]
The judgment of the social media gods, decreed Monday morning, was withering and furious: the buff gay men on the Fire Island beach over the holiday weekend were nothing less than suicide bombers. Virtuous gays everywhere watched the video posts of these gurls gone wild and gagged on their signature Hamilton cocktails. Long-term HIV survivors [...]
Milford, Pennsylvania, is the kind of idyllic small town that Frank Capra romanticized in films like It’s a Wonderful Life. Nothing much rattles the citizens of this quiet country borough. They pay their taxes, vote conservatively, and don’t consider someone a native unless their roots can be traced back for several generations. If Milford is [...]
George M. Johnson, author of "All Boys Aren't Blue" (photo: Sean Howard) George M. Johnson could not have known about this moment in history when he wrote his memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue, but for this white male reader, the sounds of courageous protestors in our streets were never far away. Johnson provides [...]
There's isn't any way to discuss HIV Long Term Survivor Awareness Day (#HLTSAD) this year (Friday, June 5) without discussing racial disparities. For that matter, we should "lead with race," as NMAC's slogan goes, from this moment forward. I'm going to try better in that regard. I'll let me video message speak for itself. Here [...]
Credit: Isaac Hale, Star Tribune There is a fact I have always wanted to argue. I thought I was different from those other white men. If you just had let me explain, just let me tell you about me, me, me, then you would surely see the real truth for yourself, proven by [...]
To commemorate HIV Vaccine Advocacy Day in Nigeria on Monday, May 18, I recorded a brief video as part of an awareness project for the New Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society. My message was simple. Vaccines take time, factual science, and patience. I will never forget listening to HHS Secretary Margaret Heckler in 1984, right [...]
Drs. Judy Mikovitz and Deborah Birx Hucksters and charlatans know their cue: their traveling salvation shows typically arrive when we are at the nexus of public panic and willful ignorance. It should have come as no surprise, then, to find Dr. Judy Mikovitz' dusty wagon come creaking into sight this week with its [...]
