The BEST of Lifelube - "Whole Milk - Never Blend In" From Friday, November 14, 2008

Whole Milk - Never Blend In

Chris Bartlett reviews Milk

[opens nationwide November 26]

Read more from Chris on LifeLube here

I went to see a pre-screening of Milk, the new feature film about Harvey Milk's life, with Sean Penn in the lead role. The movie was fantastic. I was in a theater full of Philadelphian queer activists and allies who represented all generations of our movement. There was the lesbian who helped found Giovanni's Room (our still running fabulous gay bookstore), many of our key political figures, AIDS activists who have been fighting for decades, fired-up youth, people of color, transmen and transwomen. That set the perfect scene for the movie itself-- a celebration of the power of gay communities at their best.

I started crying within the first two minutes of the film. The opening scenes (I'm not giving anything away here) show 1950s era bar raids-- police pushing hapless gay men into paddy wagons; the look of fear and resignation among the gays; and a wonderful moment when one angry queen throws a drink at the camera (go Sister!). Director Gus Van Sant from the very opening paints a picture of the tremendous gains we have made in queer organizing since that time, while also ironically noting that we are fighting many of the same battles of the 1970s. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, and the movie is a remarkable reminder of what has often been forgotten by our gay movement.

It seems almost odd that this film could come out at this time. The ongoing battle against Proposition 8 so mirrors one of the major dramas of the film: Milk's spearheading the efforts against the infamous Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6), which sought to ban gay teachers and their allies. Watching all of the protest, marches, and advocacy was a very spooky deja vu for me. Perhaps the most telling example of this deja vu is a marvelous moment when Supervisor Tom Ammiano, playing himself (as a teacher who confronts Briggs), shouts "you're trying to take away my job!" But it is spooky to see that Ammiano's hair is gray, and that he has not been made up to look 20something. He is the adult version of himself transported by time machine back to the Briggs Demonstration. The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's bittersweet, almost, to see that the organizing against the Briggs Initiative succeeds-- it makes a critical viewer wonder what we are doing wrong nowadays.

Delightful moments include the wonderful portrayal of Cleve Jones (of AIDS Quilt fame) by Emile Hirsch. Hirsch brings out the sweet combination of Cleve's youthful bravado, ageism, and love for elders. When Milk first attempts to get Cleve to join in the gay liberation battle, Jones calls him "Old Man" and laughs in his face. But by the end, you can see the beautiful mentorship between Milk and Jones... and you can see the ways that Milk's lessons would live on in Jones' future organizing. It's all there.

Penn as Harvey Milk is really incredible. Milk protégée Anne Kronenberg reported many a double-take during the filming-- they just look so much alike! And Penn also brings out the wonderful paradoxes in Milk's behavior-- the flirtatiousness, the naiveté, the seriousness, the genius, and the bullying. And Penn plays Milk as I always had imagined him-- a mensch on a mission. There is such a sense of self-awareness and destiny. It's also possible from viewing Penn's performance to see what it means to be a leader-- the commitment that is required, the cost to relationships and family, and the charisma and charm that is required to generate a Tribe.

And to me the main story of the movie is the power of Tribe-building. Harvey does it with genius-- including all of the folks who, until the 1970s, had largely been outside political power networks. In the film, we see Milk's deft ability to build a coalition of progressive people-- gays, people of color, elders, union rank-and-file, youth, and others. Though he was a gay leader, he was far greater than that. As he says, he is there to lead "all the people".

The portrayal of the dramatic events leading up to Milk and Moscone's assassination is compelling and direct. I had hoped for a complex portrayal of Dan White (the assassin) by Josh Brolin, and I think he did a not bad job. We get a little picture into his life: the pressures, the conservative background, the police influence. In the end, the senseless assassinations seem unavoidable.

I've seem the documentary "Times of Harvey Milk" numerous times in my life, and there were moments when I felt transported back to that telling of the story. Both films are beautiful and different-- I recommend seeing the documentary before the movie to give you some background that isn't available in the feature. Notably, Van Sant omits the part of the story that occurs after Milk's assassination-- the trial and the dramatic White Night Riot. I was glad that my friend Micah had told me this ahead of time-- so I wasn't disappointed to miss the drama of police cars burning in the night. But I think Van Sant (and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black) were smart to omit the post-Milk trial and tribulation-- because really this story is focused on Harvey-- and when he is murdered, a new story begins.

The BEST of Lifelube - "Who's that Queer?" From Thursday, December 11, 2008

Who's that Queer?

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Gore Vidal is an American novelist, screen writer, playwright, and politician. Early in his career he wrote the ground-breaking The City and the Pillar (1948) that outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality.


In 1956, Vidal was hired as a contract screenwriter for MGM, and collaborated with Christopher Fry, reworking the screenplay. Vidal later claimed that in order to explain the animosity between Ben-Hur and Messala, he had inserted a gay subtext suggesting that the two had had a prior relationship, but that actor Charlton Heston was oblivious.

As a political activist, in 1960, Gore Vidal was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress (running as Eugene Gore), losing an election in New York's 29th congressional district, a traditionally Republican district, by a margin of 57% to 43%. He received the most votes any Democrat in 50 years in that particular district.

ACT UP Co-Founder and AIDS Activist Spencer Cox Passes Away at 44

via Windy City Times, by David France

Spencer Cox, the pivotal AIDS activist who co-founded two important and ongoing AIDS treatment initiatives and achieved great strides in focusing global attention on the disease and the need for drugs to control the epidemic, died this morning at Columbia Presbyterian of AIDS related causes. He was 44 (March 10, 1968).

As a very young man fresh from Bennington, where he studied Theater and English Literature, he arrived in NYC after finishing just 3 years. He was diagnosed with HIV soon thereafter. By 1989, at age 20, he had become spokesman for ACT UP during its zenith through the early 90s. A member of its renowned Treatment & Data committee, and later co-founder of TAG (the Treatment Action Group), he schooled himself in the basic science of AIDS and became something of an expert, a "citizen scientist" whose ideas were sought by working scientists. In the end, Spencer wrote the drug trial protocol which TAG proposed for testing the promising protease inhibitor drugs in 1995. Adopted by industry, it helped develop rapid and reliable answers about the power of those drugs, and led to their quick approval by the FDA.

Even before ACT UP, he began work for amfAR (known at the time as The American Foundation for AIDS Research), first as a college intern, eventually going on staff as assistant to Director of Public Affairs, responsible for communications and policy.

Cox left there to co-found the Community Research Initiative on AIDS (now the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America, ACRIA) with Dr. Joseph Sonnabend and Marisa Cardinale . At ACRIA, he ran public affairs and edited all publications.

From 1994 to 1999, he was Director of the HIV Project for TAG, where he did his groundbreaking work in drug trials designs. He designed the drug trial adopted in part by Abbott as they were developing Norvir, the first Protease Inhibitor to head into human trials. It was had an "open standard-of-care arm," allowing people on the control arm to take any other anti-AIDS drugs their doctors prescribed, versus the arm taking any other anti-AIDS drugs plus Norvir. It was this study that showed a 50% drop in mortality in 6 months. Norvir was approved in late 1995. Though the results were positive, the proposal sharply divided the community, many of whom thought it was cruel to withhold Norvir on the control arm. Spencer defended himself in a controversial BARON'S cover story that made him, briefly, the most-hated AIDS activist in America. Ultimately he was vindicated.

"Spencer single-handedly sped up the development and marketing of the protease inhibitors, which currently are saving 8 million lives," says TAG executive director Mark Harrington . "He was absolutely brilliant, just off the charts brilliant,"

After the plague was transformed with the drug revolution, he was the first to see there would be a psychological burden to address in the gay community members who survived the worst of the epidemic. He founded the MEDIUS INSTITUTE FOR GAY MEN'S HEALTH, a think tank focusing on gay male emotional health. MEDIUS produced several important reports but failed to find the financial support it needed to continue his work.

Read the rest

In Occupy Movement, AIDS Activists Find Common Ground

Julie Davids, at center with sign, and other AIDS
activists joined Occupy Wall Street last week. (Photo courtesy of Kaytee Riek)

AIDS activism has a rich history of taking advocacy to the streets, into city halls and state houses, and into American consciousness.

Last week, veterans of ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — joined the Occupy movement in New York to advocate for a small tax of Wall Street trades to benefit people living with HIV. Together, the 25-year-old ACT UP and the more fledgling Occupy movement made for a natural pairing, said Julie Davids, director of organizing and mobilization for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

“ACT UP has always looked at the AIDS crisis through an economic justice lens and has always recognized that obstacles were rooted in greed and the profit motive," Davids told the Associated Press. (Here’s a link to the AP story on the protest.)

Davids, who is also the coordinator for the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, was front and center at the protest. She took a few moments to talk to answer Inside Story’s questions on what AIDS activists were trying to accomplish and why Occupy makes a lot of sense as a movement.

Read complete interview ... 

HIV/AIDS Activists Complain of Unfair Treatment by U.S. Attorney's Office

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Arin Greenwood

WASHINGTON -- Last April, a dozen HIV/AIDS activists chained themselves together inside the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and were arrested on federal charges.

They were protesting cuts to HIV/AIDS programs and a proposal that would have prevented the District of Columbia from spending its own money for needle exchange programs. (The needle exchange restriction was ultimately dropped in the final budget deal.)

The same day, 41 D.C. voting rights activists, including Mayor Vincent Gray, also were arrested on Capitol Hill. They were charged with misdemeanors by the D.C. attorney general. Most, including the mayor, paid a $50 fine.

Some of the HIV/AIDS protestors, along with their supporters, gathered Wednesday on the steps of the D.C. government's Wilson Building in an effort to get the charges against them dropped by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

They complained that compared with the voting rights activists, the HIV/AIDS protestors have been treated harshly.

One of the HIV/AIDS activists is Antonio Davis, a paralegal from Philadelphia who said he's been subjected to especially punitive treatment by prosecutors.

Davis was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2002. He was also recently diagnosed with a painful joint disease. His doctor recommends that he use medical marijuana to manage his pain and to increase his appetite, Davis said.

The first prosecutor handling the activists' case ordered each person who had been arrested to pass three drug tests as a condition for having charges dropped. Davis' tests showed the presence of marijuana.

There have been three prosecutors on the case by now, and the activists complained that each has set new conditions and failed to fulfill promises made by previous prosecutors.

The other activists have been offered community service in exchange for the charges being dropped -- though they complain that prosecutors have twice refused to recognize the service.


Read the rest

A Day for the Cure in the U.S. Capital

by Mark Hubbard, for LifeLube

It’s sometimes hard to describe what we HIV/AIDS advocates do. Over the years, when I submitted a bio or printed home-made business cards, I described myself as an “independent educator, advocate, and activist.” At the same time, I often commented, “I don’t do politics.” I knew that work needed to be done, but I wanted to focus on what I saw as my strengths – presentations, committees, outreach, etc. “Bring on the prevention education,” I said,“bring on the planning group involvement, bring on the research advocacy – just leave me out of the politics.”

There’s a word for that kind of thinking - denial.

Perhaps the reason I stayed in that denial so long was that we were spoiled. Until the middle of the last decade, any Tennessean who had HIV and was uninsured was eligible for TennCARE, our state’s souped-up, generous version of Medicaid. We never had an ADAP waiting list and nearly anyone who tried to get clinical and support services could get them.

Then the screws were tightened. TennCARE was gradually dismantled and replaced by a much more austere program for which most PLWHA’s are ineligible. Medicare Part D and aggressive management on the part of the state health department prevented disaster, but the future became cloudy. Expanded testing led to many new diagnoses. Tennessee had its first ever ADAP waiting list for a time in 2010 and with the current budget running neck and neck with need we very well could have one again in 2012.

Don’t get me wrong. When particularly threatening issues came up I tried to do my duty by making a phone call or writing an email. During the fight to save TennCARE I showed up at some public hearings and even testified in court. Mostly though, I kept my head down. Then, when the Ryan White CARE Act was up for reauthorization, the community came together to form the Tennessee AIDS Advocacy Network (TAAN). I joined their email list and attended a workshopon how to engage elected officials.

Over time, the truth became self-evident. There never has been and there never will be HIV/AIDS advocacy without politics.

A Challenge

About three months ago a friend and colleague forwarded an email from the Treatment Action Group (TAG) to me. The subject line read: “Scholarship Application: What Would You Do for the Cure? An AIDS community challenge.” Recipients would travel to Washington DC to meet with congressional delegations. They’d stress the importance of cure and HIV and aging research. It seemed like I was just the sort of person they wanted, but it was politics. Scheduling would be a challenge due to a family obligation. I’d been working on a better balance between the personal and the professional, and I’d promised myself not to over-commit. I wrote my friend and told her I probably wouldn’t apply.

I slept on it a couple of nights though, and came to some realizations. I could make my schedule work. I care very much about these two areas of research as did one of my heroes, Martin Delaney.Although I’d met with state officials once or twice, I’d never done so on the federal level. This was an opportunity to grow and I could get past my anxiety about politics. I applied and feel fortunate to be one of about 35 folks selected to speak truth to power about HIV/AIDS research.

We’re a small group, but our diversity is exciting. We’re straight, gay, black, white, yellow, brown, single, married, newly diagnosed, long term survivors and HIV negative allies. We’re ministers, lobbyists, social workers, athletes, prevention and social service providers and our ages range from 20-something to 60-something.

A New Day

On conference calls, we learned that United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, and the corresponding funding for HIV/AIDS research, had been fairly consistently maintained over the years without much need for organized community advocacy. It hadn’t been ideal – with level funding or with small increases, inflation had yielded a 15% decline in buying power over 8 years – but no one had ever really feared radical cuts.

We all realize, however, that it is a new day in Congress. In some ways, it is a scary new day. Many long term stalwart supporters of NIH funding are gone. Some like Senator Kennedy have died. Others were defeated and replaced by individuals who either are simply inexperienced and less than knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS orwho are radical fiscal conservatives willing to indiscriminately swing the axe 360 degrees.

On the Hill

Finally some twelve weeks ago, inexperienced and experienced alike, we arrived in Washington DC. We traveled from 20 different states -from Minnesota to Texas, from New Jersey to Florida, and from points in between to begin our new initiative. We introduced ourselves, shared a meal, and laid plans for the next day’s advocacy on the Hill.

We introduced ourselves as constituents to congressional staffers and discussed the importance of federally sponsored research with them. We talked with pride about the excellence the U.S. has demonstrated in the field and how that manifests in critical work in and for our communities, from the laboratory to the clinic. We reminded them that HIV/AIDS research has led to progress in countless other fields. Although we highlighted the hope and need for cure research and the emerging urgency around HIV/AIDS and aging research, our primary ask was simpler:“Will you please commit to advocating for the highest possible level of NIH funding?”

Were there a lot of immediate, momentous, life changing outcomes? It depends on how you look at it. When it comes to funding, particularly in the current political environment, that’s not a realistic expectation. Just as we know that HIV/AIDS research is a long haul of incremental progress (and regular setbacks), we know that whatever we accomplish with Congress will be the result of patience and persistence.

On the other hand, experiencing the reality that we can – that anyone can - schedule an appointment, walk into elected officials’ offices, and actually be heard, was for some of us a very profound experience.

The Treatment Action Group has expressed its long-term commitment to this project. So have we. We’ve made our start.It’s the birth of a new effort to preserve HIV/AIDS research funding, but beyond that we believe it’s the beginning of an important new effortto help ensure that cure research will expand and succeed.

Being an HIV/AIDS educator, advocate, and activist is tough work. I often feel impatient, angry, sad, frustrated, and burnt out. I mustn’t forget the progress we’ve made and the times of satisfaction, joy, and triumph I’ve experienced. On this first day of 2012, as I enter my 25th year of living with HIV and struggling to fight the pandemic, I remind myself to focus on the one consistent gift all of my work has provided:a sense of hope.

Happy New Year, fellow advocates. Happy New Year indeed!

Youth Activisim for a Better Tomorrow

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Warren J. Blumenfeld

It was a brilliantly sunny, though rather cool, mid-June afternoon in Boston. Banners flying, music blasting, people of all walks of life assembled, reuniting, greeting, embracing, kissing, catching up on lives lived in the space between.

The signal was given with a contagious cheer rising from the crowd, and for the next few hours the streets would be theirs:

Dykes on Bikes revving their engines; shirtless muscled young men dancing to a disco beat atop flatbed floats winding their way down the streets; dazzling drag queens in red and gold and silver; the Freedom Trail Marching Band trumpeting the call;

a black-and-white cocker spaniel wearing a sign announcing "DON'T ASSUME I'M STRAIGHT"; lesbian moms and gay dads pushing strollers or walking beside youth of all ages; Gays for Patsy Klein decked out in their finest country duds, two-stepping down the boulevard;

AIDS activists falling to the pavement of those same boulevards in mock death to expose governmental and societal inaction, which is still killing so many; married same-sex couples walking hand in hand;

Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) proclaiming "WE ARE PROUD OF OUR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER SONS AND DAUGHTERS";

alongside political, social, and service organizations, business and religious caucuses of all stripes and denominations, and of course, bystanders watching the procession, holding court from the sidelines.

And in the midst of this merriment and this protest, the humorous posters and angry placards, the enormous rainbow balloon sculptures arching overhead, and the colorful streamers and glistening "fairy dust" wafting down from open windows, amid the shiny black leather and shimmering lamé,

the multicolored T-shirts and the drab business suits, came the youth, their radiant young faces catching the rays of the sun, marching side-by-side, hand-in-hand, their middle school, high school, and college Gay/Straight Alliance banners waving exaltedly in this storm of humanity, announcing their entry, their solidarity, their feisty outrage, and yes, their pride, chanting

"Two, Four, Six, Eight, Queer is Just as Good as Straight, Three, Five, Seven, Nine, LGBTs are Mighty Fine;" then, gaining intensity, singing, "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Homophobia Has Got to Go," and then, as if hit by an all-consuming revelation, shouting, "We're Here, We're Queer, We're Not Going Back, We're NOT Going Back, WE'RE NOT GOING BACK!"

And indeed, they will not go back into those dank closets of fear and denial that stifles the spirit and ruins so many lives. Oh, they will physically return to their schools and their homes.

They will continue to study and play sports, to watch movies, listen to their iPods, and write about their days on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Some will most likely continue to serve as community organizers, and some will go on to become parents, educators and political leaders once their school days are behind.

The place they will go to, though, is nowhere that can be seen. It is a place of consciousness that teaches those who have entered that everyone is diminished when any one of us is demeaned; that heterosexism, sexism, and bisexual, intersex, and transgender oppression (as well as all the other forms of oppression) have no place in a just society.

From the sidelines of the parade, beginning as a whisper and gaining to a mighty roar of support: "We are so glad you are here," came voices from the crowd.

"We wish we could have done this when we were in grade school and in college," cried others too numerous to count. "Thank you so much for your courage!"


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Queer, Undocumented, and Unafraid

via HuffPost Gay voices, by Julio Salgado

When the topic of gay rights arises, gay marriage and Don't Ask, Don't Tell are the go-to issues, but for some of us queers in the United States, immigration rights are a top priority.

For two years, undocumented youth have been coming out of the shadows and using their status to empower themselves and bring attention to the Development, Relief and Education for Minors Act, better known as the DREAM Act.

The 10-year-old piece of legislation, which has seen its share of watered-down adjustments, would give undocumented youth who came to the United States at a young age a path to citizenship if they go to college or join the military.

There have been sit-ins, hunger strikes and countless calls to lawmakers to stop the deportations of undocumented students who have been in this country most of their lives. Oddly enough, a movement within this movement has surfaced.

You see, a lot of the young people at the forefront of this movement also happen to be gay.

Not only are these students proud to scream, "Undocumented and unafraid," but some have challenged the status quo even further by coming out as queer, undocumented and unafraid.

From 2010's Trail of Dreams, where three undocumented youth and a legal U.S. resident walked from Miami, Fla. to Washington, D.C., to the first-ever civil disobedience at the Tucson, Ariz. office of Sen. John McCain, undocumented gay activists have been key movers and shakers in actions that aim to bring attention to the DREAM Act.

At times, they risk death and deportation.

This was the case when Mohammad Abdollahi, who, along with undocumented students Yahaira Carrillo, Tania Unzueta, Lizbeth Mateo and legal U.S. resident Raul Alcaraz, participated in the Tucson action.

Abdollahi, an undocumented gay student from Iran, risked deportation to a country where homosexuality is punished with death.

Undocumented queer activists Carrillo and Unzueta sat next to Abdollahi, and all three contemplated the possibility of being deported to countries they barely remembered.

Not all students have been openly gay from the beginning. Much like the late civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, some queer undocumented activists were asked to downplay their gay identities for the sake of their role in the movement.

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"Hate No More" in Uganda

via IrishTimes, by Caelainn Hogan

The brutal murder of gay activist David Kato has motivated more people to speak out, writes CAELAINN HOGAN

“MY BODY is not a battlefield,” declares one poster on a Kampala street. “Uganda belongs to all who live in it,” reads another. On walls across a country known for its condemnation of homosexuality, a simple yet powerful appeal is being made: hate no more.

The Hate No More campaign, launched on August 10th, is a courageous four-month initiative to raise awareness and end discrimination. In addition to the nationwide poster campaign, LGBT activists are engaging in direct dialogue with religious leaders, NGOs, police, health providers and politicians.

“These people exist among you,” says Joshua Muhanguzi of Freedom and Roam Uganda, the organisation spearheading the campaign. “They’re your brothers, your sisters, your parents. So stop the hate.”

In the same month, following widespread international pressure, the Ugandan cabinet finally rejected the 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed by MP David Bahati.

While homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, the Bill sought the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and threatened three years’ imprisonment for those who failed to report a known homosexual within 24 hours.

As well as suffering verbal and physical abuse, many LGBT people in Uganda are expelled from school and disowned by their families because of their sexuality. Many are denied medical and counselling services.

“Lesbians have been forced into marriage to cover up their sexuality,” says Joanitah Abang, programmes manager for Freedom and Roam Uganda.

“Others have been raped by family members and friends to cure them of the ‘disease’.”
Campaigning in her home district of Lira, Abang received positive responses from the community, including the police. Local radio stations, however, accused the campaign of recruiting people to homosexuality.

“They claimed I was given money to recruit people; the whole place is on fire, they want to kill me,” she says. “I just tell people, whatever you do, you cannot break me.”

The brutal murder of gay activist David Kato in January was a harsh reminder of the high risks Ugandan activists face, but his death has motivated more people to speak out.


Read the rest

AIDS at 30: Eric Rofes and Positively Thriving

by Alex Garner, via LGBT POV

“I’ll do it only if I can be funny.”

That was my response when Eric Rofes told me he was creating a play about HIV called, The Infection Monologues. This project was Eric’s first foray into writing for the stage, and true to form, he approached it with trademark determination.

Eric was an incredible force in the queer community and a booming voice in the gay men’s health movement. He was an expert on how gay men found ways to survive the epidemic, make sense of the new post-protease world and find ways to thrive culturally, politically and sexually. Eric saw this piece as a way to break new ground on conventional thinking about things like stigma, risk-taking and unprotected sex.

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How is Derrick Mathis healthy?

Um, I masturbate a lot. I so dare you guys to post that. 

Other things I do to stay healthy...hmmm...I've slowed down over the years being in my mid-forties. So I'd say that my lifestyle today contributes a lot to my staying healthy. I'm very politically active and very outspoken on social causes. And I honestly believe that because this is where a good portion of my focus and passion is these days, it has created it has more or less created a healthier lifestyle for me without my putting a lot of energy into creating one.

I'm a writer so I spend a lot of time in my head. So today staying healthy means stepping away from my PC and being with friends, you know, getting out of the house, like a movie, meeting for coffee or grabbing a bite to eat. It also means spending time with my family. I have a ton of neices. The youngest is two years old. And I love hangin' out with her when I get the opportunity. Laughter is the healthiest activity I think there is.

And I laugh A LOT.

Other things include cooking at home. I'm big about that these days. Economically it's smarter yet it's healthier. So even though I do go out once in a while for a meal I primarily cook and eat at home. I'm digging going grocery shopping and getting my fresh veggies 'n' stuff. There's these elderly women in the apartment complex where I live and they've taught me alot about picking out veggies when I go grocery shopping.

I can now pick out the best avocado blindfolded and I do pretty well with tomatoes, too. It's all in the feel.

I think most importantly for me these days in terms of staying healthy is my state of mind. Being involved in politics and social justice issues I'm a born debater. So I have to watch myself in terms of getting too emotionally worked up or angry about things. For the most part I've learned that sometimes it's best to let things go----or just move on. Because it can in fact impact my health if I don't.

This sort of behavior-----paying attention to my emotional and mental state of mind-----I'd say is one of the most important things I've found to work in staying healthy. I don't ignore myself anymore when I feel disturbed or something just isn't working for me. I pay attention these days to myself while at the same time trying not to star in my own drama as I work it out-----whatever it is.

I think of all the things I do in terms of healthiness the above would be the number one thing I feel has improved my lifestyle and kept me healthy and hardly sick in the last few years. Don't sweat the small stuff. It'll add years to your life if you just follow that mantra is my feeling.

I will say though in the activity department I could use some work. I used to be quite physically active. The last three or four years however, I've found myself married to my computer. And that's not a good thing. So within the next two months I'm committing to rejoining a gym or finding some intramural activity to participate in. I do value my health. And I feel blessed to have it as I do. And it's an ongoing responsibility and experiment, that much I've learned over the years. 

--- Derrick Mathis
Los Angeles


How are you healthy?

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Who's That Queer? [Cleve Jones]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Cleve Jones is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2009. In 1983, at the onset of the AIDS pandemic Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation which has grown into one of the largest and most influential People with AIDS advocacy organizations in the United States.


His career as an activist began in San Francisco during the turbulent 1970s when he was befriended by pioneer gay rights leader Harvey Milk. He worked as a student intern in Milk’s office while studying political science at San Francisco State University.

In 1983, when AIDS was still a new and poorly understood threat, Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Jones conceived the idea of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at a candlelight memorial for Harvey Milk in 1985 and in 1987 created the first quilt panel in honor of his friend Marvin Feldman. The AIDS Memorial Quilt has grown to become the world’s largest community arts project, memorializing the lives of over 85,000 Americans killed by AIDS.

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It's Not Just Faggot!

Join LifeLube and friends for a community forum on December 8th at the Center in Halsted in Chicago.

Please RSVP for this free forum and ensure your spot.

Who's That Queer? [Karl Heinrich Ulrichs]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs - the first modern theorist of homosexuality - is seen today as a pioneer of modern lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movements.


Ulrichs was born in Aurich (Kingdom of Hannover), Germany in 1825. Using the pseudonym Numa Numantius he published in 1864-1865 five booklets under the collective title Forschungen über das Rathsel der mannmännlichen Liebe (Researches on the Riddle of Male-Male Love). They set forth a biological theory of homosexuality, the so-called third sex theory, which he summed up in the Latin phrase anima muliebris virili corpore inclusa (a female psyche confined in a male body).

Using his real name in his next booklet, Ulrichs described his appearance at a Congress of German Jurists in Munich, where on August 29, 1867, he urged repealing the anti-homosexual laws. He was shouted down and not allowed to finish, but this was the first time that a self-acknowledged Urning/homosexual spoke out publicly for his cause. Thus Ulrichs was not only the first theorist of homosexuality, but also the first homosexual to 'come out' publicly.

Ulrichs's series of twelve booklets continued until 1879. His goal was to free people like himself from the legal, religious, and social condemnation of homosexual acts as unnatural, and for this he invented a new terminology that would refer to the nature of the individual and not to the acts performed.

Twice imprisoned for his public protests against the invasion and annexation of Hannover by Prussia in 1866, Ulrichs fought not only for the equal rights of homosexuals, but also for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as for the rights of women, including unwed mothers and their children.

But his one-man campaign against the legal oppression of homosexuals was unsuccessful. Indeed, the harsh Prussian anti-homosexual law was extended to the unified Germany in 1872.

Ulrichs left Germany in 1880 for voluntary exile in Italy, where he devoted the last years of his life to promoting Latin as an international language through the publication of a little Latin journal (Alaudae) written entirely by himself. He died on July 14, 1895 in Aquila, Italy.

Ulrichs's original biological theory of homosexuality has since been abandoned, but for more than a century some form of biological determinism has prevailed, both in the popular mind and in scientific circles; it has been adopted by both homosexual liberationists and their enemies.

Ulrichs will be best remembered for his courageous stand for the equal rights of all and, as Magnus Hirschfeld wrote, 'as one of the first and noblest of those who have striven with courage and strength in this field to help truth and charity gain their rightful place'.

Read the rest at Gay for Today.

A Day With HIV in America - Take a picture, it lasts longer

A nationwide photo essay sponsored by Positively Aware magazine

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE WITH HIV?

Positively Aware wants you to think about that question. Because, whether you’re positive or negative, we are all affected by HIV.

On Sept. 21, take a snapshot of a moment from your everday life. Use your digital camera or cell phone camera, and capture a scene: Getting ready for work. Hanging out with friends. Spending a quiet moment alone. Caring for someone with HIV. The idea is to come up with your own response to the question, What does it mean to live with HIV?

Make it happen.

Gay Rights Activists Stage 'Kiss-In' at Alsip Restaurant

Via the Trib:

About 100 gay rights activists puckered up to prove a point at a south suburban restaurant Friday night.

"It's to educate people that homophobia of any kind is unacceptable," said Frank Nielsen, who organized the "kiss-in" demonstration after being asked by the restaurant's owner last month to stop kissing boyfriend Danny Hankes.

"My boyfriend and me are like anyone else," said Nielsen, 22. "I have straight allies and gay allies with me here tonight."

The protesters, men and women, straight and gay, were greeted calmly by both clientele and the owner of La Fiesta Azteca in Alsip, where at least four police cars idled outside. Once inside, the group clinked water glasses, kissed and applauded.

"They have their opinion, and I have mine," said restaurant owner Jaime Esparza. "I don't feel like I did anything wrong when I told them to leave."

Nielsen and Hankes said they kissed while having dinner at the restaurant in the 12600 block of South Pulaski Road on May 7, then were approached by the owner and told to stop.

"We kissed a few times on the lips, but it was not vulgar," said Hankes, 19, who lives in Lemont.

After being reprimanded, the couple decided to leave, Hankes said. But the owner blocked their path until they paid for their appetizers and drinks.

Read the rest...

Mixner: What happened to silence = death?

[sing it sister]

Ask yourself: Have I been tested for HIV in the last year? Have I talked about HIV with my partners? Have I reached out to friends that I’m worried about, who may be at risk?

via dcagenda, by David Mixner

If you listen to gay rights discussions these days, you’d think that marriage equality and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are the only issues that matter. And they do matter — for our dignity and our fundamental civil rights. But there is a fire in our house that we are no longer talking about, that we pretend no longer exists: the unchecked spread of HIV.

Not only did HIV never leave the gay community, it’s getting worse. New HIV infections among gay men have doubled in the last 15 years. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported that gay and bisexual men are more than 44 times as likely as straight men to test positive for HIV. But instead of increasing funding in response, states are slashing their prevention budgets.

Amid this crisis, the silence from our community is deafening. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the protest? Understandably, after decades of coping with AIDS, we’ve been eager to change the subject. But in our impatience to move on, we’ve overshot the mark. Our silence is fueling the spread of HIV.

Read the rest.

E. Patrick Johnson: Justice is "Being our complete self" in the world

Professor E. Patrick Johnson addresses the question, "What is justice for the Black Gay Man?" at the "Justice for All?" community forum sponsored by the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus LifeLube's Project CRYSP, Communities of Color Collaborative and Test Positive Aware Network, in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Thursday, January 28th, at The University Center.




More on this forum (including news articles), and other forums involving Project CRYSP can be found here, on LifeLube.

Check out the Keith Boykin clip, from the same forum.

HIV Services Face Foreclosure: Will Illinois Leaders Come to the Rescue?

via Huffington Post, by Mark Ishaug

Unless immediate actions are taken to remedy the state's spiraling budget crisis, vital HIV/AIDS services -- along with the state's educational, healthcare, and human service systems assisting millions of vulnerable children, families, disabled, elderly, and chronically ill individuals -- will be put in serious jeopardy.

The welfare of millions of Illinoisans is on the line, requiring unprecedented state leadership. Will lawmakers step up and fight for the people of Illinois?

Read the whole item.

Keith Boykin: Justice is hindered by "Internalized Oppression"

In this video, renowned TV Host/Author/Speaker Keith Boykin addresses the question, "What is justice for the Black Gay Man?" at the "Justice for All?" community forum sponsored by the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus, LifeLube's Project CRYSP, Communities of Color Collaborative and Test Positive Aware Network, in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Thursday, January 28th, at The University Center.

E. Patrick Johnson clip, same forum.

More on this forum (including news articles), and other forums involving Project CRYSP can be found here, on LifeLube.