Category: Articles & Blog
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The Forty-Nine (A Poem for the Pulse 49)
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We are all made of stars, astronomers are now sayingPowerful supernova explosionsFrom neighboring galaxiesMade their way into oursAnd became us Our rhythmic pulsingIn the nightConfirms our membership To an exclusive clubOf survivors To their massacres We are Both miracles And mutants Our DNAIs alien And queer To their worldsThis Galaxy If modern astronomers can be trustedAnd…
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The Quick & Living History Of How The Philly Pride Flag Came To Be
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on june 8, 2016, after making national news for the pervasive anti-blackness in the gayborhood, philadelphia unveiled their new official pride flag. what made this pride flag notable was that it included black and brown stripes. while it was celebrated by many, it also pissed off many gays who said…
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The Night The Gays Set San Francisco On Fire
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may 21st will mark the 40th anniversary of the white night riots that took place in san francisco in 1979 after dan white was sentenced to just 8 years in prison for the murder of mayor george moscone and supervisor harvey milk. by the turn of the 1970’s, the castro…
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What A Time To Be Alive…With HIV
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Growing up, Little Shop of Horrors was my favorite musical and still is a contender for the greatest of all time. I was captured by the music and the narrative of the underdog winning. Here was soft-spoken Seymour, falling in love with Audrey and then the nightmare unfolds. The music, composed by…
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From Under a Rock: Surviving the Reagan Crack Years
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My mother began smoking crack in the summer of 1986. At that time, it was widely known as “crack rock.” I was 9 years old and I already had mastered the art of secrecy. I didn’t call it art or survival; it was just life under the “rock.” I learned…
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That Time A Sitcom Beautifully Handled HIV Disclosure
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tv shows have an unbalanced history with HIV storylines. while some shows have failed completely, others like “pose” have succeeded in developing HIV story arcs that effectively challenge HIV stigma. on this national women and girls HIV/AIDS awareness day, we remember the time that a UPN sitcom beautifully handled HIV disclosure.…
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HIV Isn’t A Crime…
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The weaponization of HIV infection: in this case, the use of bodily fluid/s for use as a weapon and the assumption of infectiousness, has a long and storied history in the United States and globally. This refers to enacting HIV-specific statutes that criminalize people infected with HIV and often doesn’t…
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Forgotten AIDS Episode of Forgotten 80’s Sitcom
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in the fall of 1989, i was a 12 year-old fem as fuck youth who hungered for any queer representation on tv when i discovered the groundbreaking sitcom, “brothers.” the show, which was the first weekly sitcom on cable, had just ended it’s five-year run showtime and was now finding…
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Solidarity Is A Way of Life, Not A Theoretical Debate
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Solidarity is a way of life, not a theoretical debate. It is found in action, not simply intent. Trans people of color have been targeted by white supremacy since before 1442. I have often written about the connection between colonization, white supremacy, and transphobia as well as transphobia’s direct link…
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All Of The Promises I Made To Tina
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On July 3 1981, The New York Times printed an article with the headline “Rare Cancer seen in 41 homosexuals.” It was the first mainstream media mention of what would become the HIV epidemic. On this date, the epidemic didn’t have a name. Even after 37 years, it is still…
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Remember June 5, 1981
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on june 5, 1981, the center for disease control (cdc) published an article in its morbidity and mortality weekly report (mmwr): pneumocystis pneumonia—los angeles. the article described cases of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia(pcp), a rare lung infection, in five young, white, previously healthy gay men in los angeles. the report stated…
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My Thank You To Pedro Zamora
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In 1994, a friend of mine (who we will call Lionel) asked me to accompany him to a clinic in West Philadelphia to get the results of his HIV test. Back then, HIV tests were not rapid – it took an entire week to get your results, a week of…