"Before Pose" Guest Writer: Bishop Hartsel Clifton Shirley Pose is the current television program that unapologetically displays the lives of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals. For some of us, it’s just short of sacred as it helps to reveal the hidden lives, pains, heartbreaks, and joys of a segment of the population all too often overlooked, ignored--and even worse--forgotten. Mainstream television has [...]
"A Devastating Truth" Guest Writer: Bishop Hartsel Clifton Shirley History’s gatekeepers often write it, omitting crucial characters and events. While they shine a more positive light on the misinformation, this does history an egregious disservice. The history of AIDS--particularly in the United States--is no different. A case in point is the ethnicity of the individual suggested to represent the earliest [...]
This past March, I penned “The Undetectability Of It All,” for Wyattevans.com. The article stated that the AIDS United Public Policy Committee declared that it has “strongly affirmed the conclusive evidence proving that people living with HIV who have achieved a sustained, undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV to sexual partners. This evidence-based declaration reinforces AIDS United’s programmatic, policy and advocacy work to expand access to antiretroviral medications to [...]
For years, I’ve been reporting and writing about HIV/AIDS. When I’ve asked individuals the question, “Would you be sexually intimate with someone who’s undetectable?,” I’ve gotten some rather blunt and curt responses. Here are three: “Uh-uh.” “But doesn’t pre-cum contain the virus?” “Nah…I’ll think I’ll pass!” However, the 44-member AIDS United Public Policy Committee—the largest and longest-running [...]
HIV expert JAMAL HAILEY has his own personal stake in the war on HIV he’s helping to wage: he’s had family die from the disease. In Part Two of my exclusive Huffington Post Queer Voices interview with Mr. Hailey, he discusses stigma, the intersection of HIV and IPV/A, HIV prevention and care from a radical social justice perspective, and the practice [...]
This month, Essex Hemphill—the openly gay, African-American poet and author—would’ve turned 58. Truly groundbreaking, Mr. Hemphill blazed the way for talents including James Earl Hardy, E. Lynn Harris…and myself. I cannot allow the month of April to fade away before I pay homage to this gifted artist—who certainly was before his time. Therefore, I’m reprinting my Huffington Post tribute, [...]
HIV is losing a critical bout in the long and grueling boxing match called AIDS. And this victory for persons of color certainly is a cause for celebration. According to Michael Smith, writer for the health media outlet MedPage Today, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reported that that the mortality rates of blacks in the U.S. fell [...]
There’s both good and bad news coming out of HIV stats from New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). First, the good news: in the past 10 years, HIV infection rates have been cut in half. Now, the bad news. More than half of new HIV infections occurred among MSMs (men who have sex with men)—specifically [...]
While conducting my usual round of research, I uncovered a rather timely article by Darryl Hannah for Inside Philanthropy entitled, “With HIV Infections Rising among Gay Men, This Funder Aims to Sound the Alarm.” Hannah stated, “Here in the U.S., AIDS can feel like yesterday’s news, and many funders long ago moved on to other issues, including many LGBT funders [...]
Some time ago, I wrote a Huffington Post Gay Voices column entitled, “Kickin’ One Back May Be One Too Many.” The piece deals with such an important and timely issue, that I’ve decided to re-introduce it. So, here it is: in a group of U.S. men who have sex with men (MSM), heavy drinking plus having more than one unprotected [...]
A rather disturbing report just hit my desk that really gave me pause. Therefore, I decided to make it a Wyattevans.com exclusive. According to Neal Broverman’s article, “Are the Odds Stacked Against Native Americans with HIV,” recently published at Hivplusmag.com, “The most recent studies of HIV among Native Americans living on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico found alarming [...]
