When he conducted the funerals, Tom Bonderenko tells me, he always wore his priestly garments and white stole. Even when no one showed up for the graveside service. “It was important to show dignity and respect,” Tom says. He taps the coffee cup in his lap nervously....
(I can't resist posting this each Holiday Season. The video below is my very favorite, of the more than 70 I have produced over the years. Enjoy!) My mother's home here in Shreveport, Louisiana, was fraught with excitement last week. Christmas decorations littered the...
This is a clever social media campaign: Healthline, an online health community, has asked people who have been living with HIV to create videos for those who have recently tested positive, known as "You've Got This." Think of it as "It Gets Better" for those with HIV....
“We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?” -- Marianne Williamson The first time I met Amy Ferris, several years ago, she cupped my jawline in her hands and gave me a kiss full on the lips. There...
June is Pride Month in the LGBT community, and I was honored to be asked by Visual AIDS to curate a "web gallery" on the topic. Immediately, I considered a question that I had once posed to readers of my blog. If living with HIV is nothing to be ashamed of, is it...
This post will never be as romantic as I would like it to be. And it could never be as romantic as the truth. On the evening of July 22, 2012, Michael Mitchell went to a mixer at Cobalt, a gay club in Washington, DC. The international AIDS conference was being held in...
"A boy's best friend is his mother." -- Norman Bates, Psycho I was standing at the ticket counter of the movie theater and couldn't believe my ears. They were telling me that Theater of Blood, with the great Vincent Price, was rated "R" and they were not letting me in...
The annual HIV Cruise Retreat will set sail this November 8-15 aboard the Ruby Princess, departing Los Angeles and cruising the Mexican Riviera cities of Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. This year, though, there will be a somewhat ironic special guest on...
For twenty-five years I have been writing about living openly as a gay man living with HIV. Along the way I have spilled secrets, opened up about sex and relationships, highlighted the work of those who inspire me, come clean about my history of addiction and...
(I can't resist posting this each Holiday Season. The video below is my very favorite, of the more than 60 I have produced over the years. Enjoy!) My mother's home here in Shreveport, Louisiana, was fraught with excitement last week. Christmas decorations littered the...
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