Exciting developments in HIV prevention research, combined with a renewed commitment on the part of gay and bisexual men and transgender women to collective action against HIV, could make 2011 a turning point in the steady march of new infections that looms over our communities. In November, the iPrEx study showed that
Volunteers at the National AIDS Memorial Grove invited those who are interested to join them in decorating a tree for the holidays on Saturday, December 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. Ronald Podoske, who is heading up the efforts, said that all those who seek healing, hope, and remembrance during this holiday season are welcome.
People in California s HIV/AIDS community appear hopeful that Governor-elect Jerry Brown, a Democrat, will work to maintain funding for the epidemic after enduring care and prevention cuts from outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. But they are also well aware the state is still in a difficult financial situation.
Lost in last week s news about a breakthrough in HIV prevention - a combination pill of two AIDS drugs has been shown to protect HIV negative gay and bisexual men from contracting the virus - was proof that a far simpler strategy can be deployed in confronting AIDS. Amid the data from the study of pre-exposure prophyla
AIDS advocacy organizations are increasingly building high-tech online tools to keep safer sex at the top of San Franciscans minds. Among those new tools are a sex-education app for the iPhone and iPad, condom-locators, a conference on youth media and sexual health, and a revamped website for the San Francisco AIDS fou
HIV and healthcare advocate Randy Allgaier passed away early Saturday morning, November 27, at Davies Medical Center in the Castro. A long-term HIV and hepatitis C survivor who also recently battled anal cancer, Mr. Allgaier died from complications of intestinal obstruction and organ failure. He was 53. Over the past t
The pornography company Treasure Island Media is promoting a couple that includes an HIV-negative and an HIV-positive partner having unprotected sex as role models. They are believed to be the first sero-discordant barebacking couple to be advertised as porn stars. According to a Treasure Island statement, the acting c
Despite the lack of major treatment breakthroughs, 2010 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in the history of the AIDS epidemic. Two key trials have recently provided the first evidence that biomedical prevention methods can help reduce new infections, the latest UNAIDS figures suggest that HIV incidence and death have
The city s new STD chief, Dr. Susan Philip, finds herself tasked with eradicating sexually transmitted diseases as San Francisco once again experiences a spike in rates of both syphilis and Chlamydia. Through September of this year, syphilis cases alone have increased 22 percent compared to the first nine months of 200
Alameda County Superior Court Judge-elect Victoria Kolakowski holds a butterfly pin given to her in 2008 by Sylvia Guerrero, mother of slain transgender woman Gwen Araujo, as she speaks at the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance event in Oakland. The November 19 commemoration included the reading of the names of abou
San Francisco City Hall will be awash in red lights next week as people around the Bay Area prepare to observe the 22nd annual World AIDS Day, Wednesday, December 1. The day is meant to honor people who have been affected by HIV/AIDS and as a reminder of the challenges ahead in fighting the epidemic. In San Francisco,
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has named Neil Giuliano, a gay man known nationally for his work as president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and as the former mayor of Tempe, Arizona, as its new CEO. Giuliano, 54, is set to join SFAF on December 13. His salary will be $249,000. He is HIV-negative.
Long-awaited data from the iPrEx trial, published Tuesday, November 23 in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that HIV-negative gay and bisexual men who take preventive antiretroviral drugs - kn
In October, the executive director of Academy of Friends, which is popular for its annual Oscar viewing gala, announced his resignation, declining to guarantee that the beneficiaries would receive full payment this year for the tens of thousands of dollars still owed to them. Earlier that month, the San Francisco LGBT
President Barack Obama headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for Democratic Governor Deval Patrick in Boston on Saturday afternoon October 16 and was heckled by AIDS activists. The rally took place at the Hynes Convention Center in the city s Back Bay neighborhood, drawing 8,000 supporters. But after speaking for only 10
AIDS vaccine researchers meeting in Atlanta last week expressed renewed optimism that they might finally be on the path to creating a product that can prevent the deadly HIV infection. A few years ago I wasn t even sure that it was possible, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectio
San Francisco Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz could be headed to Los Angeles if supervisors of California s largest county hire him to be their health director. Should he be offered the job, he would take over the sprawling and contentious county health department in January. The Los Angeles Times broke the news on its
A group of legal organizations this month criticized a state agency for disclosing the names of thousands of people with HIV to a contractor. The disclosure came to light a couple weeks ago, when Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and HIV and AIDS Legal S
An AIDS and mental health agency will change its name to reflect the broadening of its services after adopting the training program and interns that were set to start work this month at a mental health agency that will soon shut its doors. The changes signal a new era for the UCSF AIDS Health Project. The award-winning
State Senator Roy Ashburn, the Fresno Republican who came out as gay earlier this year, voted against a resolution condemning the anti-gay Uganda law. Senate resolution SR 51, authored by openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), was passed 21-14 Monday. The nonbinding measure is critical of the Ugandan gov
An LGBT nonprofit that provides mental health, substance abuse, and senior services announced this week that it has run out of money and will close its doors by the middle of October. The board of directors of New Leaf: Services for Our Community voted unanimously August 15 at an emergency meeting to begin the process
The vast majority of LGBT nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area have been negatively affected by the economic recession, according to a survey from the San Francisco-based Horizons Foundation. The survey indicates that 96 percent of respondents, which offer assistance in fields ranging from health care to legal advoc
San Francisco s director of health Dr. Mitch Katz is concerned about how national health reform legislation passed earlier this year is going to affect safety net health care programs for low income people. He wrote broadly about those challenges and opportunities in JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Asso
A federal prosecutor and an out gay legislator joined lawyers and others in San Francisco earlier this month to talk about what could happen if California voters approve a November ballot measure to legalize marijuana. Proposition 19 - the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 - would regulate marijuana in a w
When Steve Manley was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, his doctor told him he had two years to live. Manley, 59, said his health has been a major roller coaster ride, but now is better than it s been in a long time. Over the past two decades, there have been times when Manley, now consumer co-chair of the San Francisco HIV
Housing and employment for people with HIV and AIDS, as well as city funding for prevention and health care, topped the list of issues discussed at a forum last week, the aim of which was to ferret out where candidates in three of this fall s San Francisco supervisor races stand when it comes to AIDS issues. Fifteen pe
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 on Tuesday, July 20 to pass a $6.5 billion budget that includes a total of more than $1 million to restore funding related to HIV/AIDS and youth. Supervisor Bevan Dufty said that the full amount of funding for HIV/AIDS housing rent subsidies was restored at about $560,0
Former San Francisco AIDS czar Jeff Sheehy has pulled his support from Debra Walker in the District 6 supervisor race due to her answers on a questionnaire for candidates taking part in an HIV forum this week. Sheehy told the Bay Area Reporter that he was totally disappointed in seeing Walker demonstrate a lack of know
Returning participants of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation s AIDS Walk and San Bruno Target employees Leticia Banatao, Lourdas Hill, and Ligaya Gregorio start their 6.2 miles in celebration at Golden Gate Park Sunday, July 18. The walk raised just over $3 million this year. Of that, 59 Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations
Following a grueling last-minute push, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission won consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council on July 19. After three years of opposition at the committee level, IGLHRC, with a strong assist from the U.S. government, managed to circumvent the
More than 20,000 researchers, public health and policy experts, clinicians, activists, and world leaders gathered in Vienna, Austria , this week for the 18th International AIDS Conference, the world s largest meeting devoted to the epidemic. Human rights of people living with and at risk for HIV have been a key theme t
HIV prevention strategies should not ignore gay male couples whose sexual behaviors can still lead to seroconversions, says a study published this week by San Francisco researchers. As national AIDS leaders reacted to the Obama administration s release this week of the country s first comprehensive national AIDS strate
Our country has an official national AIDS strategy for the first time since the HIV epidemic emerged. Our hope is that this strategy will guide the nation s response to the HIV epidemic and that the days of politics determining the government s response to HIV will be over. It is the first official national strategy b
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health s Vaccine Research Center have identified two similar new antibodies that bind tightly to the HIV virus and neutralize it. This discovery may prove crucial to developing a preventive vaccine and also have use as a therapy. Most research to date has focused on CD4 and CD8
President Barack Obama released the first comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy for the United States on Tuesday, bringing to fruition a lengthy process that involved input from medical and social science experts, AIDS care and service providers, and people with HIV from across the country. This is the first re
Pride is over and that means it s on to AIDS Walk San Francisco. This year marks the 24th annual 10-kilometer walk-a-thon, which takes place Sunday, July 18 in Golden Gate Park s Sharon Meadow. The AIDS Walk benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and many other Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations. Last year s event rai
State waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs are skyrocketing with no relief in sight. Officially, 1,924 people are now on ADAP waiting lists in 11 states, federal ADAP administrator Deborah Parham Hopson told the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS at its June 29 meeting. That is about 1 percent o
There s a troubling isolation among many people living with HIV/AIDS, said media producer Marc Smolowitz: an isolation based on age. When folks were born informs when they entered the HIV crisis, he told the Bay Area Reporter, and generations are siloed from each other. In other words, the experiences of LGBTs who firs
New research has found that some lubricants used in anal or vaginal sex can cause damage to those tissues that can leave people more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Surprisingly, this is the first time that anyone has even looked at the question of whether basic sexual lubricants can cause
San Francisco officials and state legislators, in conjunction with the AIDS Policy Project, last week recognized the accomplishments of Dr. Gero Huetter, the German doctor who made headlines in 2007 when his team achieved the first functional cure for HIV. There have been many advances in antiretroviral therapy so peop
[Editor s note: This article was updated late Friday.] Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed slashing funds for people with mental health issues and families with children today [Friday, May 14] in his revised budget proposal. Hoping to plug a $19.1 billion budget gap for 2010-11, the governor called for $12.4 billio
San Francisco Giants third baseman Juan Uribe scores a two-run homer in the fourth inning during the Giants Until There s A Cure game May 15 at AT&T Park to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. Uribe s home run turned out to be the only scoring but the Giants went on to win 2-1 against the visiting Houston Astros. Photo: J
In the wake of last month s policy change by San Francisco health officials to now recommend treatment for all people diagnosed with HIV regardless of CD4 T-cell count, the conversation continued last week with differing views expressed at a community forum. The revised policy, which applies to San Francisco General Ho
Positive Pedaler Kaya Dzambic gets a reassuring kiss from Beau Thomson following Dzambic s moving testimonial of the support she has received from the Positive Pedalers as she confronts her HIV-positive status. Dzambic will be riding in her first AIDS/LifeCycle in June, in memory of her brother who recently died from c
A black-and-white photo of a smiling Gary Wagman adorns the cover of Snippets from the Trenches: A mother s AIDS memoir written by Freda Wagman. Yet the book doesn t recount Wagman s fight to live with AIDS throughout the 1980s in San Francisco until his death on April 21, 1995. The self-published book, which came out
Seven HIV/AIDS organizations in San Francisco and the East Bay are teaming up for this year s Dining Out for Life, which takes place today (Thursday, April 29). Numerous restaurants are taking part in the fundraising event. In San Francisco and the East Bay, more that 140 restaurants are participating by donating 25 pe
Project Inform, a HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy organization that has helped many PWAs learn about medications and other important issues, marked its 25th anniversary Sunday, April 25 with a brunch at the Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. At right, board member Catherine Jane Mendoza talks with Brenda Lein, Project I
The executive director of a San Francisco agency that provides hospice and 24-hour care to people living with AIDS is resigning. Tim Patriarca, 41, is leaving his post at Maitri hospice to become director of the San Francisco health department s Health at Home program, which ensures continuity of care from clinic visit
Twenty-five years ago, when a small band of San Franciscans found little hope in the federal government s slow reaction to getting HIV drugs on the market, they turned to a new symbol of hope as their ally: the Virgin Mary. Specifically, they turned to small, hollowed-out figurines of the virgin; a souvenir that quickl
The San Francisco LGBT Community Center will hold its third annual Economic Empowerment Day on Saturday, April 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the center, 1800 Market Street. The event is free and open to the public. Wells Fargo and the Golden Gate Business Association are partners in the event, which has a theme of Dream
The Office of National AIDS Policy released a 76-page report on April 9 but it was not the long awaited national strategic plan on HIV/AIDS. The slick document, loaded with 67 photos of people speaking into microphones or listening earnestly, summarized community recommendations gathered during a 14 city tour, which in
Twenty-one years after the death of Sylvester James, a flamboyant and openly gay disco superstar from San Francisco, his music is now profiting two local agencies that serve people living with HIV and AIDS. James died December 16, 1988 at the age of 41 from complications due to AIDS. But it wasn t until last week that
A standing-room only audience packed Carr Auditorium at San Francisco General Hospital on Tuesday, April 13, to hear about the city s new policy recommending treatment for all people diagnosed with HIV regardless of CD4 T-cell count. As first described in an April 2 article in the New York Times, the policy change refl
Public Health officials, political leaders, and AIDS service organization representatives will convene a forum about the city s new universal antiretroviral therapy policy on Tuesday, April 13 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Carr Auditorium (Building 3) at San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue (at 22nd Street)
Next month, community organizations, local businesses, families, and the curious public will be welcomed into the newly founded Armory Community Center as it plays host to the first-ever Castro County Fair - a reworking of the County Fair events that the AIDS Emergency Fund started two years ago as an annual fundraiser
The health care reform legislation President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday does not include any of the pro-gay provisions sought by the LGBT community, yet the measure is expected to help thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS and others obtain coverage. Other immediate effects of the bill include putting an e
A San Francisco nonprofit that provides inexpensive, temporary housing to people visiting ill loved ones is looking for help as it faces financial troubles ahead of its 25th anniversary in August. Guests at the Family Link, which is based in the Castro, are family members and others from outside the Bay Area who are vi
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has introduced free, confidential HIV testing to the services it provides along the 6th Street corridor. The new services expand on the agency s successful HIV testing program at Magnet, the gay men s health center in the Castro, and its efforts to encourage early diagnosis. Sixth Stre
Hoping to reduce new HIV infections by 50 percent by 2015, San Francisco s HIV prevention office is planning to increase testing by at least an estimated 70,000 people a year. Such status awareness - whereby people have been tested and know their HIV status - is viewed as a key priority and could see an allocation of 5
Men who have sex with men are at least 44 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than other men, and 40 times more likely than women, according to an analysis released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the 2010 National STD Prevention Conference. They also are more than 46 times as like
SF gets AIDS research center funds Mayor Gavin Newsom announced March 9 that the health department s AIDS Office will be receiving $9.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding over the next five years to renovate and expand the department s ability to provide HIV/AIDS research at the AIDS Office, loca
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) welcomes George Ayala at an open house Monday, March 1 at the Global Forum on MSM HIV, which just opened offices in Oakland. Ayala, a clinical psychologist, is executive officer of the Global Forum, which is a network of civil society groups, AIDS organizations, and advocates worki
Since the onset of one of the worst recessions in our nation s history, I have been asked one question more than any other, How is PRC doing? Most executive directors delight in answering such a question when times are good, and dread responding during an economic downturn like this. In less extraordinary times, a perf
Students at Marshall Elementary School in San Francisco received an award from the AIDS Emergency Fund for being a top performing school in its annual school-based pennies drive. Student Yordan Coyoy, 10, stands with a penny jar as students are congratulated by Amal Allan of Wells Fargo, who brought along a donation ch
A panel of experts last week released a report concluding that marijuana has therapeutic uses including relieving the pain of neuropathy caused by HIV drugs. The following day, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) reintroduced legislation to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. The report, compiled by the Cent
The Global Forum on MSM HIV this week announced plans for a March 1 open house at its new Oakland headquarters. The organization, also known as MSMGF, is a network of civil society groups, AIDS organizations, and advocates working for improved HIV programming for men who have sex with men worldwide. The fund receives a
After not reaching their goal to reduce new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men by 50 percent by 2008, San Francisco health officials will try again. In the city s recently published 2010 HIV Prevention Plan, the overall goal is to reduce new HIV infections by 50 percent by 2015. One of the specific objectives li
The 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, which took place last week in San Francisco, brought together researchers, public health officials, and advocates to discuss the latest developments in HIV/AIDS. After an unusually fertile period that saw the approval of two new antiretroviral drug class
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is feeling the heat over a bill pending in that nation s Parliament that would jail gays for life and punish some with the death penalty. The prime minister of Canada came to see me, and what was he talking about? Gays, Museveni told the New York Times on February 12. Prime Minister G
Two years ago a UCSF news release about drug-resistant staph infection mischaracterized the results of a study, leading the city s largest daily paper to print a headline describing the San Francisco gay community as an epicenter for a new strain of virulent staph. No such epidemic happened. Now, the prestigious journa
John S. James, Stephen J. LeBlanc, and Kate Krauss
This Saturday, February 20, the AIDS Policy Project will hold a public town hall meeting on the state of AIDS cure research, with expert HIV eradication researchers Dr. Steven Deeks of UCSF, and Dr. David Margolis of the University of North Carolina. This meeting happens right after the most important annual U.S. AIDS
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation marked World Condom Day on February 11 by handing out condoms to passersby outside Esta Noche in the Mission District. At right, Adam Ouderkirk, Bay Area regional manager for AHF, passed out condoms. Events were held in 33 cities in 14 countries around the world. AHF operates clinics in t
Now that effective combination antiretroviral therapy has restored health and extended lives for many people with HIV, researchers and advocates are again turning their attention to a cure. On February 4, the AIDS Policy Project, in conjunction with Project Inform, held its first scientific update on HIV eradication, b
In recognition of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Week, the San Francisco Department of Public Health AIDS Office held a march Friday, February 5. Organizers Vincent Fuqua, left, and Michael Huff led nearly 75 people from City Hall to the Castro District. The march called attention to the continued impact HIV/AIDS ha
A state program that helps people, including those living with HIV/AIDS, get access to health care is dropping patients because they already qualify for another program, leading some to fear they won t have adequate medical coverage. The state s Health Insurance Premium Payment program pays private health insurance pre
The San Francisco health department will join with various community health organizations to commemorate the 10th National Black HIV Awareness Day, which is Sunday, February 7. On Friday, February 5, the officials will hold a news conference at 5 p.m. on the steps of City Hall, followed by a candlelight march from City
Supervisor Bevan Dufty, left, exchanges a hearty laugh with hostess Bebe Sweetbriar during the AIDS Housing Alliance/San Francisco s sixth anniversary benefit at Trigger. Dufty was honored with an award for his support of various AIDS housing-related legislation and funding over the years, and his support for the allia
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation announced Thursday, February 4 that its CEO, Mark Cloutier, has resigned. I ve been here almost five years. I feel I ve refocused the agency and expanded testing, particularly among gay men in the Castro, and it s time for me to move into the next phase of my career, Cloutier told the
Garza and her dance troupe were the entertainment highlight of an evening of food and socializing Wednesday, January 20 to launch the San Francisco Department of Public Health s new HIV vaccine campaign. The new campaign features a print ads with photos of the volunteers, and also a newly re-designed www.SFisReady.org
A San Francisco-based nonprofit that works to help Asians and Pacific Islanders, including those who are HIV-positive, has ceased its operations in Oakland and Daly City. Lance Toma, executive director for API Wellness Center, said the cuts - which took effect January 15 - come after reductions in funding. He said the
Three openly gay members of the House of Representatives, along with 91 of their colleagues, have sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to do everything he can to stop a bill in Uganda that calls for harsh penalties - including life imprisonment and the death penalty - against gays. The proposed law in
In an effort to address a growing public health concern, Mayor Gavin Newsom has established the San Francisco Mayor s Hepatitis C Task Force. The 30-member group, which officially convened in November after more than a year of planning, will hold meetings open to the public on the second Monday of each month. We are ea
AIDS advocates got some good news last week when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed providing an additional $87.5 million for the state s AIDS Drug Assistance Program in his 2010-11 budget proposal. However, they re also expressing disappointment over proposed cuts in other areas. Advocates had feared there would
The U.S. HIV travel and immigration ban was officially lifted Monday, January 4, 22 years after first going into effect. South Korea also lifted its HIV ban on the same day, leaving only a handful of authoritarian countries that still use HIV status as a factor in controlling who crosses their borders.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.