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No World AIDS Day in the US
There was a time, when to hear the words “your test results came back positive for HIV” meant “you are going to die – soon.” In the western world, those days are part of the history of the AIDS pandemic, a history so recent that many of us alive today living with HIV can recall…
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Breakthrough
There are two fronts in the global fright against HIV and AIDS. Obviously, treating those infected is one. But equally important is preventing new infections. Since the early part of the last decade we have had the “preventative” drug regimen known as PrEP or “pre-exposure prophylaxis.” PrEP refers to medication used by an HIV-negative person…
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Today is my annHIVersary
To tell you this story, I first must introduce you to Paul and Martin. For much of the 90s, Paul was my wingman. Along with Martin, we were the “three amigos” of the LA gay scene. The three of us met in the seminary as undergraduates when we were all Conventual Franciscans studying philosophy. Paul…
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IMINUBU
I have wanted to write a tribute to Ken for some time, and as we celebrate Disability Pride Month this July, now seemed like the right time. Longtime readers of my blog will recognize the name from my coming out story or from my retelling of when and how I first heard about HIV/AIDS. I…
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1,112 and Counting
It is June 1st. That may not mean anything to you other than “oh yeah… summer’s here.” But to 13.9 million (13,942,200) adults in the US (number reported by the UCLA School of Law – Williams Institute, December 2023) who identify as LGBTQ+ it marks the beginning of a very significant month: the month we…
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Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Let’s get this out of the way right at the start. No. I don’t know who he is. But that is not to say I don’t remember him. Knowing the incubation period for the virus, I can narrow it down to one guy. I call him “white SUV guy.” He lived in Larchmont, a trendy…
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The PEPFAR Crisis
Nine days after the new President of the United States took office and unleashed an unelected billionaire to wreak havoc in American institutions and programs with little or no thought to the real-life consequences for millions of people both in this country and worldwide, I wrote about the impact this clown car of an administration…
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If you don’t have your health, what do you have?
Say what you will about George W. Bush, and I have said plenty, but in 2003 he started the United States President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR. It was the largest global health program focused on a single disease in the history of the world until the COVID-19 pandemic, and as…
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The Myth of Patient 0
On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) entitled “Pneumocystis Pneumonia—Los Angeles,” describing five cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), in five young, previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. Two of the men had died. Click…
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Boys Town
It rained all day. Rain in Los Angeles makes the city feel clean. The smog disappears; the dust is washed off windowsills and handrails. There’s a distinctive smell in the air after a Los Angeles rain: it’s called petrichor, from the Greek words petra (meaning stone), and ichor (from Greek mythology, referring to the fluid that flows like blood in…
Your mileage may vary.