SAN FRANCISCO: History Of HIV/AIDS Activism To Launch At GLBT Museum

An exhibit chronicling the history of HIV/AIDS activism in San Francisco will open on March 5th at the GLBT Museum. Via press release:

"Life and Death in Black and White: AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985-1990," focuses on the work of five queer photographers who documented the emergence of militant AIDS activism in San Francisco through the medium of black-and-white film. With sharp focus and deep compassion, they turned their lenses on their own community, capturing sorrow and outrage, courage and wit, a fierce will to live and a deep commitment to honor the dying and remember the dead. The exhibition features the work of Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter and Daniel Nicoletta. Some of their images of AIDS activism have become iconic; others have never before been publicly displayed. All of them portray civil disobedience as a response to discrimination, indifference and official neglect in the face of a fatal epidemic. All bear forceful witness to a time when San Francisco experienced both some of its darkest hours and one of its most inspiring movements for social justice.

The exhibit runs through July 1st. [Photo by Patrick Clifton]

CANADA: Widespread HAART Treatment Reduces New HIV Infections

A new study just published in British Columbia suggests that a very effective way to prevent new HIV infections may be to put all pozzers on HAART therapy.

A new study conducted in British Columbia has found that the infection rate in the province has been halved since 1996 by the widespread adoption of HAART, researchers reported online Sunday in the journal Lancet and at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. For every 100 new patients treated, the infection rate went down 3%, Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, reported. "This study strengthens the evidence that maximizing HAART coverage within current medical guidelines will help to curb the spread of HIV," Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a statement. The agency funded the study. "These findings are especially important since new HIV cases have remained stubbornly steady in the United States at a rate of about 56,000 per year for the past 10 years." British Columbia is a good place for such a study because it is relatively small — population about 4,420,00 — and everyone in the province receives free medical care.

Earlier this year the San Francisco Health Department recommended patients begin HAART therapy immediately upon diagnosis, regardless of disease progression, a strategy that has been met with some controversy.

At The Florent World Premiere

Thursday night Father Tony and I attended the world premiere of Florent: Queen Of The Meat Market, David Sigal's documentary of the of famed Meatpacking District restaurant, its flamboyant owner Florent Morellet, and the incredible scenes staged almost nightly over the 25 years that NYC's night creatures inhabited the place.

On hand at the premiere was a who's who of Manhattan's downtown scene, including Michael Musto, Murray Hill, Penny Arcade, Edgar Rodriquez, Dirty Martini, Brian Griffin, Kenneth Walsh, Simon Doonan, and Jonathan Adler. One person I didn't expect to meet was openly gay DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias, who outed himself as a JMG reader.

The movie is a sort of tone poem to the now lost Meatpacking scene and the audience cheered every time a beloved Florent employee or patron appeared on the screen. But it's also a real history of NYC activism, AIDS, art, and nightlife. After the screening, everybody moved into a giant room next door where performance artists and Florent regulars Tigger, Penny Arcade, Murray Hill, and others did their thing on stage as we noshed, drank, and mingled far too late on a school night. I got to chat a chat times with director David Sigal (also a devout JMG reader!) and he seemed thrilled with his film's reception. Even if you've never lived in Manhattan, you should definitely find Florent when it appears at your local film festival.

RELATED: This week Gothamist posted a great interview with David Sigal and five years ago Towleroad published a lengthy profile on Florent. Father Tony's possibly NSFW slideshow from the premiere is here.

How To Help Poz Haitians

Many of Haiti's estimated 200,000 HIV-positive residents are now cut off from their critical HAART medications. NYC's AID For AIDS, a group that sends unused or unneeded HIV meds overseas, tells us how to help, because individuals cannot send drugs directly there.

And people can send medications directly to you in New York?
If they’re in the New York City area, they can call our office at (212) 337-8043. People can also check our website: aidforaids.org. If they are out of state, they can mail it to us, they can call and arrange how we can pick it up. Once we get it, we can get it to Haiti in two days. We send shipments everyday. We sent a shipment today, we sent our first [on Thursday]. We’re going to need to do this for a while — the situation in Haiti is bad, it's really bad. It’s not going to get stable right away. Some people are skeptical about donating money to organizations — this is a way to help. Even if you buy a bottle of Advil that you don’t use, send it to us. Anything helps in Haiti right now.

As noted at the above link. non-HIV meds such as antibiotics, Advil, whatever, are all welcome. AID For AIDS is working with NYC's Housing Works to ship everything they get by the next day. Donated medicines must be sealed and unexpired.

(Via - Advocate)