Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - December 23, 2008
Carolyne Zinko
Sultry dancer Dita Von Teese and Dr. Mervyn Silverman each received the Award of Courage from amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, at the group's recent 10th annual gala at the Four Seasons Hotel.
The event was celebrity-studded: The master of ceremonies was Tony award-winning actor B.D. Wong; fashion designer Kenneth Cole presented the awards; and '80s pop star Taylor Dayne performed as the crowd danced the night away.
Silverman, director of public health from 1977 to 1985, was feted for leadership in HIV prevention.
During cocktail hour, he noted that he worked "more than full time" in the beginning of the epidemic to try to determine what caused the then-mysterious disease, how it was spread and how to prevent it.
It was, he said, "the quintessential public health problem - exciting, depressing and exhilarating" for someone who wanted to take on a problem.
"As public health director, I knew that government wasn't good at tackling issues of sexuality, so I thought we should bring the gay community to the table to help educate, along with the media, the clergy and the medical community," he said. "It was cooperative and collaborative, and we developed a case-managed continuum of care with an emphasis on outpatient services that was modeled worldwide. I don't know that it was a remarkable idea, but working collaboratively doesn't get done very often. Too many egos involved."
Von Teese, a spokeswoman for the MAC AIDS Fund and a supporter of amfAR, was honored for putting her time and charisma into international fundraising and awareness efforts - not just for men, but women, too.
The event, chaired by Stephen Brady, Julie Candice, Tim Hanlon, Lance Holman, Lisa Sardegna and David Carillo, wasn't all serious: About 300 guests paid $350 to $1,500 each to enjoy dinner by chef Mark Sullivan of Spruce.
About $400,000 was raised, thanks in part to a live auction featuring a "marriage package" sold off by Cole himself, with first-class travel to and lodgings in Connecticut, where same-sex couples from any state can legally wed.
During the bidding, two 18-karat Tiffany wedding bands and dinner in New York with Wong were added to the auction lot. Two of those were sold for $8,000 each, to Gari Cuevas and Tom Hui.
Also titillating: burlesque lessons from Von Teese. Two packages for $7,000 each went to Margaret Clarson and Tim Wu. Wouldn't that be "boylesque" in his case?
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