Archive for May, 2010

Approximately 30 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are HIV-positive but widespread poverty prevents the majority of them from receiving the anti-retroviral drugs that have improved life for millions living with the disease. On Monday, May 24, HBO is premiering “The Lazarus Effect,” a documentary by Lance Bangs that follows four HIV-positive Zambia residents, and how treatment has changed their lives.

Thanks to the efforts of nonprofit organizations, anti-retroviral drugs have become much cheaper to obtain, dropping from $27 dollars a day in 2002 to about 40 cents per day, today.

The Huffington Post is proud to present a live chat with director Lance Bangs on May 24, just hours before the premiere. He’ll be available to answer questions about the film, the issue of HIV-AIDS in Africa, and why supporting (RED) and the efforts of organizations like The Global Fund and The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are so important.

Join the live chat on Monday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. EDT for a Q&A with Lance Bangs:

Read more here or on HBO

Is Elena Kagan Really Pro Gay Marriage? We Round Up the Kagan Pros & Cons. Read everything you could possibly want about Elena Kagan, like her stance on gay rights issues and other controversies from the left. And if she turns out to be gay, do we care and is it our right to know? Plus, New Jersey schools ban a gay-themed book, and the controversy at Marquette University continues.

ELENA KAGAN:
As we announced immediately ’cause we like to be on top of our shit, Elena Kagan has been nominated by Obama to the Supreme Court. The Huffington Post has their Big News Page on Elena Kagan so you can keep up on what people are saying about Kagan and her haircut.

At first, it seemed like this lady was totally on our side, and perhaps even pinged a bit. But of course, nothing is really ever THAT easy, is it?

Is Elena Kagan against gay marriage?

Salon.com reports that the conservatives are pretty darn sure that Kagan is pro gay marriage. What a coincidence, so are we!
Except this is NOM talking, and they are probably wrong: “NOM’s proof? The brief Kagan filed in support of the vile Defense of Marriage Act did not support NOM’s favorite patently ridiculous justification for the denial of marriage rights to LGBT couples: “that [heterosexual] unions uniquely protect children by encouraging responsible procreation.”
NOM is so terrible at logic, it’s almost funny. Just because she has a different justification for your position doesn’t mean she isn’t on your side, guys. But um, our delight at NOM looking stupid aside (Maggie: beggers can’t be choosers, c’mon), this is NOT GOOD NEWS FOR THE GAYS.

Full Story

China’s best-known HIV/AIDS activist has fled China complaining of intolerable government pressure, sowing disappointment and despondency among his fellow campaigners here.

In this Nov. 29, 2006, file photo, Wan Yanhai speaks to the media at his office in Beijing, China. Wan, a prominent Chinese AIDS activist said Monday, he has left China for the United States with his wife and 4-year-old daughter after authorities increasingly harassed him and his organization.

Mr. Wan, the outspoken founder of Aizhixing, which has become famous for its readiness to criticize the government, told the Associated Press in a phone interview from Philadelphia on Monday that “the attacks from the government had become very serious for my organization and for me personally. I had concerns about my personal safety and was under a lot of stress.”

Wan is no stranger to trouble with the Chinese authorities. He has repeatedly been detained or taken in for questioning by the police since he took up the cause of 150,000 people in the province of Henan who were diagnosed as HIV positive after taking part in a government-sponsored blood donation drive in the 1990s.

Full Story

Harassment, silencing

It all started with a tweet from one of The Washington Post’s blogging wunderkinder, Dave Weigel:
I can empathize with everyone I cover except for the anti-gay marriage bigots. In 20 years no one will admit they were part of that.
His choice of the word “bigot” prompted quick responses from other journalists on Twitter. “The real question a journalist needs to ask is: Can one oppose same sex marriage without being an ‘Anti-gay Bigot’?” returned Larry O’Connor, contributor to conservative Big Government. “I think so,” mused Weigel. “But the activists who devote their lives to stopping people getting married? I don’t know what else is there.”

But Weigel’s real problem came with conservative columnist Matt Lewis, who wrote about the matter for Politics Daily after a Twitter exchange with Weigel: Were Weigel merely a blogger–or an opinion writer (such as myself)–this Tweet would be of little concern. But Weigel is now a credentialed Washington Post reporter with a press pass, specifically tasked with covering the conservative movement/Republican Party beat.

Full Story

A UK street preacher has been arrested under a law meant to prosecute violent soccer fans for hooliganism. Police say that Dale Mcalpine was loudly proclaiming anti-gay sentiments in a shopping district; Mcalpine says that he was merely handing out leaflets and engaging passers-by in conversation. Onlookers worry that Christians are being prosecuted for proclaiming what they see as Biblical truths.

Mcalpine says he had a quiet one-on-one conversation about sin with a woman who had been passing by the spot where he had set up a stepladder outside a cell phone store, reported U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail in a May 1 article. During that chat, he told the woman that the Bible condemns as sinful an array of behaviors, including homosexual contact. However, says Mcalpine, he did not proclaim any anti-gay speech as he preached loudly from his perch on the stepladder.

Full Story