Michelangelo Signorile: The First Generation of AIDS

 

 

There are two kinds of survivors from the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980's. Those that contacted the disease and successfully are living with HIV/AIDS and those caretakers who cared for and buried dozens upon dozens of our friends.

Either way, together, the HIV/AIDS community went through and unbelievable deadly epidemic that nearly wiped out a generation of the gay men's community.

Michelangelo Signorile has written an extraordinary column about those early days:

It was a rainy day in Central Park in the summer of '92 when we attempted to send Michael Santulli's ashes aloft over Strawberry Fields in white, helium-filled balloons. It was one of those requests that Michael hadn't thought through in those hazy, painful last days of his life, and someone probably should have talked him out of it before he died. (That couldn't be me, because I wasn't there, for reasons I'll explain.) But now we had to do it. The balloons were weighted from the ashes and further depressed by the rain. They were often sputtering as we tried to fill them with helium, with clouds of ash going off in all directions. I finally got a balloon filled with both ashes and helium, and then, just as I was about to let it go up, it burst in my face. I had ashes all over my forehead and nose, and I felt a sharp, terrible pain: A bone fragment was in my left eye.

Michael was getting me back, I thought to myself, letting out a chuckle -- because, if you knew Michael, this was in line with the direct way he let you know what he was thinking. I'd neglected him, running away as he wasted away, his body ravaged in the horrific way that AIDS takes its course. Pia and Jay had nursed him, bathed him, there until the end. But I was too busy with the work of AIDS activism, or at least that's what I told myself, to be there as he faced death at the age of 32.

We'd been inseparable friends as college roommates at Syracuse and later as roommates in Manhattan. He turned me on to Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich and taught me much about music, art and fashion. As I was a publicist-turned-nightlife-columnist at the time, I took him to the hippest parties at Area and Danceteria and the other New York clubs, both of us dressed in the hip downtown black outfits that we often threw together from nothing.

In 1987, as the AIDS epidemic reached down deeper into younger gay men, we went together to be tested for HIV. Michael tested positive, and we both cried for an entire day. He responded to it by immersing himself deeper in clubbing and partying. I immersed myself in AIDS activism, as did thousands of others, positive and negative. I joined ACT UP in New York and used my media and publicity skills, eventually chairing the group's media committee, helping publicize protests and expose government neglect in the media.

My life, such as it was -- my career, many of my relationships -- fell apart. My family ties frayed, as everything became about AIDS and ACT UP. I believed our lives were over, no matter our individual HIV statuses. Our community was under siege. Right-wingers in Reagan-Bush America were talking about quarantine and tattoos. It was a go-for-broke moment. I co-founded OutWeek magazine, where I loudly criticized public figures who were gay and powerful but closeted, calling them out for hiding when so many of us needed them. I came under a lot of withering attack in the media, but none of it deterred me. As far as I was concerned, it was the end the world -- our world -- and I was going to go down kicking and screaming.

But looking back, it was also escapism itself, and in one sense it was similar to Michael's clubbing and partying. I was escaping the epidemic by immersing myself in the politics and urgency of it, which seems paradoxical but really does make a lot of sense. I didn't have time for sickbeds or funerals, I told myself, because I had a government scandal to expose or a protest to publicize or a powerful closet case to rail against. I gave myself a special dispensation on grief and heartbreak. There was no time for grief, especially when anger and indignation was so much more empowering. Of course, what I'm painfully learning 25 years later is that you can put grief off, but you can't ever escape it. Unless you process it, unless you deal with it, it haunts you for the rest of your life.

READ THE ENTIRE COLUMN HERE>>>>>

Hell's Kitchen Journal: The Importance Of Being Corey

 

 

Former State Senator Thomas Duane and Candidate Corey Johnson

Ever have one of those days where unexpectedly a friend makes you extremely proud of them?

My dear friend Corey Johnson, who is running for New York City Council, gave me one of them this week. Corey has been an icon in the LGBT community since he came out to his high school football team in 2000.

Since then he has distinguished himself and those around him by his devoted work on behalf of full equality for LGBT Americans. He has been relentless in determination in this effort and pity the poor homophobic soul who met him in person. Corey does not tolerate fools easily.

When New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn decided to run for Mayor, Corey announced that he would seek her seat. Amazing political observers he raised all the money allowed for the race in record time! As a result of this achievement, his devoted allies and considerable political skills, Corey has been able to keep any serious competition out of the race.

Corey came out this week for the second time.

Known to most of his close friends was the fact that he was HIV positive. However this information has not been public knowledge. He tested positive nine years ago. In a New York Times article by Gina Bellafante:

I met Mr. Johnson one afternoon last week on the 12th anniversary of his move to New York, where he has pursued gay and community advocacy and made many friends, one of them former State Senator Thomas K. Duane, a particularly avuncular man who laughs robustly and cries easily. Under his tutelage, Mr. Johnson has learned a lot about politics and more about life, enough so that now, at 31, he is running for Mr. Duane’s former City Council seat.

Mr. Duane famously won the district that covers much of Manhattan’s West Side below 59th Street (currently represented by the mayoral candidate Christine C. Quinn) in 1991, during the height of the city’s AIDS panic, as one of the first openly H.I.V. positive political candidates in the country. Lending his friend his valuable endorsement, Mr. Duane told me he phoned Mr. Johnson not long ago to talk about the campaign, asking him first, “How are we going to handle your H.I.V. status? Have you told your mother?”

Mr. Johnson was diagnosed during a routine physical exam nine years ago, a revelation that shocked him, he said while seated across a desk from his mentor in Mr. Duane’s Midtown office.

In a sign of how much has changed over the past two decades, Mr. Johnson had not given much thought to his condition in the context of the Council race; in a sign of how little the emotional climate around the disease has altered, Mr. Johnson had not, as it happened, told his mother. “And I’m very, very, very close to my mother,” he said. (His father died of cancer last summer, a day before his paternal grandmother passed away.)

Similarly, Mr. Duane had forestalled telling his own family that he was H.I.V. positive until his nascent political career forced him to do it. “My mother said, ‘Don’t tell anybody,’ and I said, ‘I’m going to tell everybody,’ ” Mr. Duane recounted.

The conventional wisdom around H.I.V. and AIDS is that it is largely a disease of poverty, having migrated away from hubs of affluent gay life in New York to linger in places like central Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem. This is both truth and obfuscation.

According to city statistics, the combined neighborhoods of Chelsea and Clinton have the highest per capita rate of new H.I.V. diagnoses in the city, and also the highest rate of people living with H.I.V. and AIDS. Mr. Johnson said that in his own Council district, which includes Chelsea, where he lives, he has watched the number of H.I.V. cases grow in recent years

When former Senator Tom Duane came out as a candidate who happened to be HIV positive in 1991 it was a major news story across the country. He broke down a barrier and gave HIV Americans new hope. Personally, I have had such awe and admiration for Senator Duane for his courage.

Corey's declaration of his HIV status will hopefully help end the closet that has developed around HIV. With new meds, it is possible to be HIV Positive and in the closet. If you think you don't know anyone with HIV/AIDS, then you are less likely to do battle against the disease. The more people that 'come out' with their status the better the odds of defeating this horrible epidemic.

Unlike Duane's announcement in 1991, Corey's will not send shockwave's across the country. What it will do is make it acceptable to come out of the closet with HIV/AIDS and help bring this ugly health crisis to a quicker end. Really very proud, Corey, to be your friend and thank you for sharing!

Five Questions For .........Director Sean Mathias

 

 

Sean Mathias (R) chatting with Breakfast at Tiffanys stars Cory Michael Smith and Emila Clark

Actor, writer and director Sean Mathias is as close to a Renaissance man as you will find.

The talented British import to Broadway is directing the new Broadway version of Breakfast at Tiffany's. The play, based on the Truman Capote book, has just opened at the Cort Theatre (at 138 West 48th Street).

 

Mathias was selected by the Sunday Independent as one of the most influential LGBT people in Britain. The talented man worked closely with Sir Ian McKellen and was also his partner in life for a number of years.

While having acted in several plays in the West End of London, it is as a director that Mathias has achieved the most acclaim.

Many people around the globe will best know him for brilliant direction of the film Bent. Both the stage version and film about homosexual inmates in a Nazi Concentration Camp moved people to tears.

When he directed a revival of Bent by Martin Sherman as a benefit, the production became legendary in the theater community. The play that night starred Sir. Ian McKellen, Ian Charleson and Ralph Fiennes. They young handsome Charleson, who was the star of Chariots of Fire, was dying of AIDS.

The film version starred Jude Law, Rupert Graves, Clive Owen, Sir. Ian McKellen, Mick Jagger,and Lothaire Bluteau. The Cannes Film Festival bestowed the "Prix de la Jeunesse'.

 

The credits for Mathias role as director are international. There is hardly a major star of the stage that has not clamor to work with him. Among those who he has directed on stage are Sir Ian McKellen, Jude Law, Judi Dench, Rupert Graves, Kathleen Turner, Cynthia Nixon, Billy Crudup, Alan Rickman, Helen Mirren and so many others.

Mathias has been honored for his work both with nominations and awards. Born in Wales, he lived in South Africa for awhile but has returned home to his native United Kingdom.

Here are Five Questions For...........Sean Mathias: 

1. When did you come 'out' and what was that experience for you?

When I wrote the screenplay for the BBC film The Lost Language of Cranes. It is a story about coming out. In order to promote it in the press, I described how I had come out at home. It is never easy.

2. You have been an actor, writer and director. Which one has given you the greatest satisfaction and why?

They have all fed each other. Romantically I am a writer but pragmatically I am a director.

3. You directed the film and stage versions of 'Bent' to great acclaim. There was a famous benefit performance in 1989 for Stonewall in London. The famous actor Ian Charleson (Chariots of Fire) was in that production and in the last stages of HIV/AIDs. What was it like that night to see his courage on the stage? Can you share a little about that legendary night?

Ian was a very close friend and I knew he was dying of AIDS. He played Greta, the Drag Queen, and had to change from female costume to male costume on stage. I placed screens all around the set to give him privacy. His body was covered with KS but his spirit was so beautiful, brave and true. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Ian Charleson

4. What project would you give your left arm to direct?

I am hanging on to my left arm.

5. What is the most embarrassing or funny event to happen to you as a director or actor?

When I made my debut in Hair on tour and they inserted a naked bath scene to be extra provocative, and I was the boy in the bath being bathed by two girls. We played my home town and my parents came to see, and my mother yelled out "Oh no, I can see his dick-dock!"

Architecture: New York's New AIDS Memorial

 

 

 

The new design for the new AIDS Memorial to be built near the old St. Vincent's hospital was unveiled this week. With the design, a major capital campaign has been launched to raise $4 million to build it. With the generosity of the Arcus Foundation, Broadway Care/Equity Fight AIDS and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, the drive is off to a rousing start.

Along with the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden State Park in San Francisco, this memorial will be a stand out. The openness of the design allowing light and green space into it gives a sense of hope. The location is perfect given that St. Vincent's was the epicenter of the epidemic. The inviting triangle reminds of the struggle of gay men in those early days.

Please make a donation now. Every single dollar will be in honor of our brothers who did not make it.

 

Bailey House To Celebrate 30th Anniversary Honoring Alan Cumming and AX Armani Exchange's Harlan Bratcher

One of New York's great institutions, Bailey House, will celebrate thirty years of service with an event to be held on March 28 (Thursday). The gala evening will be at Pier 60 at the Chelsea Piers. The evening will honor entertainment legend Alan Cumming and corporate supporter Harlan Bratcher of  A/X Armani Exchange.

Jane Pauley has agreed to host this evening.

Buy tickets and look at auction items here.

In addition, special acknowledgements will be given to these Rodger McFarlane AIDS Warrior Award Recipients:

Rona Affoumado:  Community Health Project
Ken Fornataro: AIDS Treatment Data Network
John Hatchett: People with AIDS coalition of New York
Richard Haymes: Community Health Project
Dean LaBate: Community Health Project
Tom Viola: Broadway cares/Equity Fights AIDS

The Bailey House was originally founded at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York. Today it has programs in housing, healthcare and family services. Here is the profile of its clients.

 approximately 70% come from the poorest neighborhoods in New York City - East and Central Harlem in Manhattan, Hunts Point and Mott Haven in the Bronx, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn

 90% are people of color

 over 50% have other serious chronic conditions such as mental illness, addiction and viral hepatitis

 34% of our clients are women

 2% are people of transgender experience

 13% are under the age of 29

Stop Shaming Our Youth With HIV/AIDS

 

 

Over the last several weeks, coming to my attention were stories about people being extremely hard on young LGBT youth who had sero-converted to an HIV/AIDS status. The trauma and fear they must feel has to be overwhelming. Being young and discovering you have a disease is never an easy road. This is the time that any individual needs love, compassion and assistance.

However, increasingly our youth who discover they are HIV postive are finding hostile families and friends who react in horror that they had sero-converted. Often they demand to know how they could have been 'so stupid' and 'why didn't they practice safe sex'. Those individuals filled with indignation and judgement often shame the person receiving the news instead of offering a helping hand.

This has to stop for the well being of individuals but also to continue an effective fight against the epidemic.

First of all, people are human and young people especially feel invincible. Like young people who drink and drive the thought never crosses their mind that they could be the one in an accident. Young people don't think in terms of disease, death and dying. Youthful passion often clouds youthful judgement. Love is literally blind at times and creates situations where missteps simply take place.

Second, by shaming our young for contacting HIV/AIDS in this age of massive information about safe sex forces HIV/AIDS back into the closet. They keep secret about sero-converting and often are too ashamed to share with future partners or friends. As a result, many people feel they don't know anyone with HIV and that is no longer a priority. The fact of the matter is that because of retroviral drugs it is quite possible to close that closet door around having HIV.

Third, the shaming is stopping young people from getting tested and receiving early treatment which will increase their odds of a long protective life. They live in fear of being discovered as having made a mistake, a mishap taking place or using poor judgement. They stay silent and avoid any information that they desperately need at such a time.

The LGBT community has not only pioneered the major reforms, medical break through's and treatment and care around HIV/AIDS. Our journey with HIV/AIDS, while filled with tears, has been one of compassion, knowledge and courage. Now is not the time to forget those qualities as the infection rates increase among your young.

Hold your judgement and don't shame anyone. Simply put 'shit happens'. Instead smile, give a hug, extend a hand of assistance and show love and compassion. Our young in these situations will need us more than ever.

Healthcare: Protecting Ourselves With Biosimilars Drugs

 

 

 

Over the decades, the HIV/AIDS and LGBT communities have learned that they must accept responsibility to understand the variety of medical options open to us and to ensure our own safety. This valuable lesson we had to learn the hard way with a number of false starts and a trail of tears from our friends dying.

One of the gifts that came out of such darkness that has impacted all patient groups was reforming the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite promising therapies and ensure their safety at the same time.

Over the last few years, I have been personally involved with the healthcare system and never have I been more relieved for the work and vision of our pioneers.

The good news is that science is advancing by leaps and bounds in their ability to understand diseases and generate promising therapies within a reasonable time line. However that requires us to be even more vigilant by increasing our knowledge to embrace the rapid changes and to ensure our safety.

The FDA is swamped and has to rely on citizens to be their eyes and ears in the field. We have learned that lesson.

Such is the case with the breakthrough biologic drugs. Just what are Biologic medicines? Dr. Hary Gewanter offers a good description:

The treatment of many serious and chronic medical conditions has been changed dramatically by a class of cutting-edge medications called “biologics.” These medications have produced clinical miracles for thousands of children and adults with arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, cancers and other diseases. Instead of facing death or significant disability, biologics have changed the course of these diseases and allowed patients to continue to work, attend school and have a more typical life.

What makes biologics distinct from traditional, chemical drugs is that they are made by or derived from cells and DNA. As a result, these medications are large and complex molecules that are subject to many potential problems during the manufacturing process.

Consequently, two companies making the same biologic drug will have similar – though not identical – products. Thus creating what we call biosimilar drugs which the name in itself describes the meaning.

Biosimlars drugs are new to many of us but they are very important and exciting. These drugs are more affordable versions of the new breakthrough biologic medicines. The reason these biolsimlar drugs are critical to the patient community is that they can save 20% to 30% of costs which is a huge amount especially if you have no insurance or high co-pays. New biologic therapies can cost some patients up to $100,000 annually.

This matters for patients because biosimilars will be on the U.S. market soon. And once these biosimilars are approved, the FDA will make an additional determination of whether or not a biosimilar product is “interchangeable” with its name-brand counterpart. This means that patients can be switched back and forth seamlessly between the name brand and imitative version without experiencing any health problems.

As with all new scientific advances are introduced into the market place there are always safety concerns. With our excitement, we have to guarantee that the minimum safety standards are adhered too before releasing these important new treatments. The FDA and various state legislators (Florida, Texas, Colorado and Utah ) are coming to terms with this new field.

For us, the requirements are simple to ensure our safety and our patient rights. We must insist that there is protection for patients by establishing basic criteria for pharmacists who might give a patient a biosimilar drug when a name brand biologic drug is prescribed by the doctor. What we should ask for is actually quite simple and not a hindrance to the science of biologic drugs or companies ability to bring them to marketplace in a timely manner.

Three basic steps are required:

1. The FDA should have thoroughly reviewed the clinical data and other information available to ensure patients can reasonably presume that they won’t have any adverse reactions to the replacement biosimilar.

2. Pharmacists should let the patient and his or her doctor know that they are switching the drug to a biosimilar.

3. Pharmacists should keep a record of this switch in their files.

If you are a healthcare professional, run a patient organization or association, active in the HIV/AIDS community or care about patient rights and safety, then you must contact your legislators at both the state and federal levels.

Let our elected officials know:

1, You are excited about the breakthrough of biologics for treatment of people with cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

2. That you want to have access to the cost-saving biosimilars.

3. However you want to be sure that the three points covered above are guaranteed to the patient community.

Let's do what we have always done and that is accept responsibility for our own healthcare, treatments and costs. With each new advance comes new responsibilities, Let's step up to the plate.

Super Bowl: Remembering A Gay Super Bowl Star - Jerry Smith

 

 

 

In 1973, Washington Redskins tight end Jerry Smith help lead his team to Super Bowl VII. Smith who was in the closet was one of the best football players around. In his career he caught 421 passes and make 60 touchdowns. He had 5,496 yards receiving! Smith was named "All-Pro" twice and made a number of National Football League records.

Smith was a star player at Arizona State University where he was team captain in 1964. The football giant played for the Washington Redskins from 1965 to 1977. The football player is a member of Arizona State's "All Time" rooster and also in the Redskin Hall of Fame.

Most importantly, I had the opportunity to meet Smith a number of times and he was one of the most decent and kind individuals I have ever met. He was this masculine, massive and soft spoken football giant who struggled with his sexuality.

The handsome football star was 6'3" and 208lbs.

Smith kept his homosexuality a guarded secret although he had a relationship with David Kopay who was the first person to ever come out after playing for the National Football League.

In 1985, Smith at 43 years old was diagnosed with having HIV/AIDS. While never coming out of the closet about being gay he was open about having HIV/AIDS. In his final days the football giant weigh only 140lbs and was kept alive by intravenous feeding for the last four month of his life.

The Chicago Tribune wrote of Smith's last days:

``It took tremendous courage for Jerry to do what he did, [coming out about his HIV status]`` former teammate Brig Owens said, alluding to Smith`s public disclosure of his illness. ``But that`s Jerry. He was a team guy right to the end.``

Owens was Smith`s training camp roommate for 12 seasons. When Smith retired in 1977, he said: ``Of all the good things football has done for me, one of the best is my relationship with Brig.`` They remained best friends over the years.

Owens visited Smith almost daily the last few months. He was at Smith`s bedside two weeks ago, along with the Rev. Tom Skinner, the Redskins` former team chaplain, when Smith said he had made his peace with the Lord.

``He told us not to feel bad for him,`` Skinner said. ``He said he had a great life and many wonderful friends. He said: `When my time comes, I want you to tell everyone that. I don`t want them to be sad.` ``

Jerry Smith died Oct. 15 in Holy Cross Hospital in suburban Washington. Skinner delivered the eulogy at the funeral service last week.

Jerry's football jersey number was 87. This Super Bowl weekend if you can find a jersey with 87 on it wear it in memory of one of our greatest gay sports figures and a damn decent man.

Art: Hugh Auchincloss Steers Very Erotic New Exhibition In New York City

 

 

Artist Hugh Steers died of AIDS in March, 1995 but has left a legacy of extraordinary art that captures the erotic passions of homosexuality and the era of HIV/AIDS. Steers was the half nephew of Jackie Kennedy and Gore Vidal. New York City's Alexander Gray Associates is hosting a new exhibition of his amazing work. The show will continue until February 16. The Gallery, which is located at 508 West 26th Street (212) 399-2636, writes in a press release about Steer's incredible art:

"Alexander Gray Associates is pleased to present its first solo exhibition of works by Hugh Steers, featuring paintings and works on paper produced from 1987–1993. Throughout his career, cut dramatically short by AIDS at the age of 32, Steers was celebrated for his allegorical painting that captured the emotional and political tenor of New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the impact of Queer identity and the AIDS crisis.

Dedicated to figurative painting despite a hostile artistic climate, Steers deliberately experiments with the role of beauty, manipulating the medium to create palpable tension between visual appeal and raw content. Familiar interior spaces—the bathroom and the bedroom—provide the stage for Steers' complex narratives

Why The Oscar Nomination For "How To Survive A Plague" Is So Important

 

Over the years, we have had LGBT documentaries and film nominated for Oscars. Many have won and all have enriched the experience of not only LGBT Americans but our also our neighbors, families and friends. However, the nomination of "How To Survive The Plague" is of exceptional importance. Being nominated for "Best Documentary" ensures that tens of thousands of people who have not seen this remarkable story of our epic struggle for life and freedom in the HIV/AIDS epidemic will now see it.

One of the great tragedies of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980's to the mid-1990's is that so much of our history was lost. Often when a friend with AIDS died their family would arrive and remove any trace of their being gay. Papers were burned, death notices wouldn't mention cause of death, partners were banned from hospital rooms and services and they would simply vanish as a gay person. Years of our history was destroyed. Our story tellers for the next generation disappeared. Mentors to the next generation died before sharing their extraordinary journeys.

As the survivors of that generation quickly age, we run the risk of losing so much of our history. Each new person from that time that makes the transition takes with them so many stories, so much of our history and represents a great loss to future generations.

Without a history, without the stories of struggle and without knowledge of our past struggles, culture and journey, it will be harder for future generations to build upon the those journey's. Nor will they be able to protect all that is good about being an LGBT person including a history of courage, a marvelous cultural that is uniquely ours and amazing stories that could inspire millions in the future.

That is why the nomination of "How To Survive The Plague" is so important. This extraordinary film deserves an Oscar. Not only for its brilliant story telling or its excellence in film making but for helping to save our history and passing it on to our young. If you are an Academy member, please vote for this powerful achievement not only in film making but as a vehicle to tell the story of so many who no longer are here to share those stories.