The City s latest AIDS report shows that HIV infection rates are increasing among black residents, while they are dropping for all other ethnic groups. At the same time, black residents were not taking advantage of available life-prolonging treatment and had the lowest survival rate of any ethnic group, according to th
Pam Norick And Polly Harrison, Special to The Examiner
SECRETARY OF STATE Colin Powell, facing an endless stream of urgent national security threats, recently called the HIV/AIDS epidemic the biggest problem we have on the face of earth today. Notwithstanding this stark warning, Congress adjourned with little to say on the issue, and allowed the Leadership Against HIV/AIDS
When AIDS finally beat Steve Abbott in 1992, he left behind what one might expect of an avant-garde writer: a few critically-acclaimed, out-of-print books and lots of boxes crammed with journals, sketchbooks, letters and poems. But also surviving was a family of writers on San Francisco s poetry fringe who treasured Ab
Back due to popular demand, the second annual Black Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Film Festival comes to The City s Brava Theater Center next month. From Dec. 6-8, the festival will focus on the diversity of the black LGBT community with a program of some 30 films from the United States ,
In this Golden Age of Viagra, which is all about getting it up, there s a new product aimed at keeping it there. U.K. based-Durex says its new condoms lined with an anesthetic cream to delay ejaculation are selling five-to-one over its other brands. Currently available only online, the benzocaine-lined rubbers are head
AT THE WORLD Summit on Sustainable Development, in September, Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS , told delegates he was upset that AIDS discussions were not more prominent on the summit agenda. He will be even more upset when he learns of the latest data to come out concerning AIDS research: There are between 5 percent and 30
More than 2,000 sweaty, shirtless men packed into the Galleria Design Center last Saturday to celebrate Folsom Street weekend and bid adieu to one of San Francisco s most successful gay nightclub promoters. Jito Garcia, known to circuit party aficionados around the world simply as Jito, announced last month that this y
Heeding rising concern about the spread of disease, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its European subsidiary have ceased production of their self-branded N-9 lubricated condoms. The decision came after a recent World Health Organization report emphasized the ability of nonoxydol-9 (N-9) condoms and lubrican
Sunday night he was kicking back in a four-star suite at the W Hotel in New York s midtown. Monday night he was back to sleeping on a friend s couch in the Tenderloin. That is what life has been like lately for Terry Collins, who has developed into a minor celebrity even as he remains homeless, jobless, and spends his
The first new tuberculosis treatment in nearly 30 years is being hailed as a breakthrough that will make treating patients far easier because it requires only a once-a-week treatment. Patients currently require twice-weekly doses of the drugs isoniazid and rifampin, but the new routine consists of a single weekly dose
For five decades, a brightly packaged, heavily marketed, life-threatening product has been sold at a pharmacy near you. Public health officials have been warning the public for years about the risks of nonoxynol-9, but somehow the public has largely missed out on the news. Killer condoms and lethal lubricants containin
San Francisco s top cop is breaking ranks with most of his police peers, urging the governor on Tuesday to sign a bill that allows drug addicts to buy needles without a prescription. California is one of only six states that still requires a prescription for syringe sales. Fixing California s outdated syringe laws will
In 1996, during his first year as Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown attended Macy s Passport, the gala fashion show that raises funds for HIV/AIDS organizations. He was totally wowed by the experience, and for good reason. The event is loads of fun; da Mayor even donned some snazzy threads and took a turn on the run
The beneficiaries of this week s Macy s Passport event say the money they receive from the annual fund-raiser is critical to their survival. The money raised from the nearly weeklong series of events is helping these nonprofit organizations, which rely heavily on private and corporate donations, offset the effect that
As the season swings into gear, most of us are reminded that we are neither too rich nor too thin. If anything, many of us are too young. It s the well-seasoned well-to-do who pack themselves into the couturier gowns and cummerbunds, plunk down gobs of money for a catered dinner in a tent, and then fall asleep in their
POOR CALIFORNIANS who are HIV positive have to fall sick and develop full-blown AIDS before they can get treatment under Medi-Cal. That s just dumb. Early treatments are much cheaper and often so effective that folks can go back to work or continue to work longer, their taxes paying into the system that later can help
Bevan Dufty doesn t want to wait for a ballot victory to help The City s homeless and drug addicted. In addition to using his campaign office for the usual flurry of political activity, the District 8 supervisorial candidate is co-opting his Castro headquarters to train a team of outreach volunteers -- all with the goa
Federal observers concluded their inquiry into a Castro-based HIV prevention group Tuesday, leaving local health officials satisfied with the visit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention representatives are investigating the Stop AIDS Project at the request of conservative congressmen who questioned the decenc
The Stop AIDS Project is under scrutiny again, this time by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for its sexually explicit HIV-prevention programs. Health and Human Services investigated the controversial workshops, with titles such as Booty Call and Great Sex, last year. Now the CDC s new director, Julie Ge
I believe that when the theater goes dark, somehow or another, people s minds open up, says Thomas Robert Simpson, founder and director of the Afro Solo Festival. They hear ideas, thoughts, views that they may not be able to listen to or want to hear in the everyday world. That s the vision behind Afro Solo, launched
A part-time college student with a penchant for graffiti was busted in a Tuesday morning raid on suspicion of defacing the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park with diatribes against gays and cops. Philip Atkinson, 21, faces hate crime charges and possession of stolen property. He was rousted from his bed at 8:30 a.
Conservatives in Congress getting all bent out of shape about a new South African HIV-positive Muppet should meet Natalie. The 2-foot-tall, grinning, mocha-colored, HIV-positive puppet has been lecturing 3-to-7-year-olds about AIDS since 1989, meeting with hardly any protest. Puppeteers say Natalie is an invaluable too
You probably wouldn t associate gang-bangin teens with community service. But that s exactly what they re up to at United Playaz, a multifaceted, multi-ethnic youth program based in Bernal Heights. This Sunday about 75 members and friends of the organization will participate in AIDS Walk, an event that benefits Bay Are
Sunday s Gay Pride Parade may look like one long, marching lovefest, but insiders know that appearances -- even gorgeous ones -- can be deceiving. On the outside you see the rainbow, said Michael Bellefountaine, of ACT UP San Francisco, the AIDS denialist group everyone loves to hate. But on the inside, there is a lot
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is laying off about a quarter of its employees in the wake of falling federal aid and poorly performing fund-raising events. Pat Christen, executive director, is taking a 12 percent pay cut. She has attracted attention for years in the nonprofit community for the size of her salary, wh
Even while the heads of a few AIDS organizations are slashing their own salaries to balance budgets, the granddaddy of them all -- the San Francisco AIDS Foundation -- just announced its leaders all got hefty raises last year. Pat Christen, executive director of the $19 million-a-year San Francisco AIDS Foundation, mad
Supervisors at Tuesday s board meeting approved a resolution urging the mayor to balance the budget without cutting the Department of Public Health (DPH). In tough times, it s important to double our commitment to the people who need us most, said Supervisor Chris Daly, who said the resolution was among the most import
In a green room in the Castro, 40 people of different races, ages and ailments meet every Friday to eat, socialize, watch movies and get stoned. Even though state law allows sick people to smoke marijuana -- and our local health department and district attorney support the right for people who are ill to toke -- recent
Every time Thomas Lister suffers nausea from the pills he needs to take, or sweats out the results of his T-cell count, he feels betrayed by the criminal justice system. The 36-year-old businessman was given HIV by a partner who denied having the virus. Although the act of blatantly lying and infecting a partner with H
A local judge dismissed 27 misdemeanor and felony counts against controversial AIDS activists Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli on a technicality Thursday. The two men were accused of criminal conspiracy, stalking and making criminal threats to employees of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Department of Public
The rate of AIDS infection in San Francisco has shot up to a level not seen since the HIV virus first came on the scene more than 20 years ago, Department of Public Health Director Mitch Katz said Monday. The place we are in now is perhaps the most disturbing we ve been in in 20 years, Katz said. Katz made his comments
Despite $20 million spent each year on prevention in The City, many in the AIDS community say HIV-prevention strategies are not working, and the growing number of infections seems to support their claim that more men are having unsafe sex. The evidence is everywhere. The latest figures from the Department of Public Hea
Just before Supervisor Mark Leno publicly praised Vermont s Gov. Howard Dean for his support of civil union legislation, he had a private message for the governor: Pot is important to the gay community, too. Dean was in San Francisco on Monday meeting with local officials in an apparent effort to gain support for a pla
Attention Castro guys! Get a sexually transmitted disease test and your next visit to a local sex club will be free. That is the message the Department of Public Health is sending with its Castroguys Spring Cleaning program, which begins Friday and continues through April. The DPH is working with sex clubs to promote S
The spin from the top is positive, the staff is worried and patients fear for their health coverage -- differing views of one important moment: the announced closure of The Institute for HIV Treatment and Research at California Pacific Medical Center s Davies campus. This is a happy occurrence, said David P. Drennan, d
The shut down of the HIV Institute, run through the California Pacific Medical Center, could leave more than 1,000 patients without treatment. The institute, run by a small staff at the Davies Campus in the Castro, conducts research and offers supplemental health care for HIV-positive patients. I just don t know what I
David Pasquarelli sits quietly, his hands folded in his lap. In his sunny lower Haight apartment, the young activist offers ice tea to his guests. He is soft-spoken and polite. He is on his best behavior. He does not resemble the image of a man with 52 civil restraining orders, who stormed into meetings full of gay men
Two controversial activists were released this weekend after their bail was slashed from $1.1 million to $220,000. David Pasquarelli, a member of the renegade group ACT UP San Francisco, and independent AIDS activist Michael Petrelis were met by 10 supporters upon release from San Francisco County Jail at 9:30 p.m. Fri
If the FDA has its way, gay men will be taken out of the gene pool. That is how Leland Traiman, owner of Alameda-based Rainbow Flag Health Services and Sperm Bank, sees it. The 49-year-old nurse practitioner has been fighting for the rights of gay men to donate sperm since the FDA first proposed regulations in 1999 tha
Bail was drastically reduced for two controversial AIDS activists who have been held in San Francisco County Jail since late November. During a preliminary hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Perker Meeks Jr. sliced the bail of AIDS activist Michael Petrelis from $500,000 to $100,000. Bail for his cohort, David Pasq
THOMAS Coburn is a homophobe if ever there was one. So why has President Bush placed him in charge of making sure AIDS patients get treatment, and vulnerable populations get educated about prevention? Must we assume that Bush is a homophobe too? Readers have written in to ask for substantiation of the charge of bigotry
Local AIDS researchers told President Bush s AIDS policy director Scott Evertz bad times were ahead for HIV/AIDS research, prevention and care. Dr. Tom Coates, director of UCSF s Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, said Thursday the upcoming appointment of staunch conservative Republican Tom Coburn to the president s a
The pending appointment to the presidential AIDS council of a staunch conservative who believes homosexuality is morally wrong was met with cries of anguish in the Castro on Tuesday night. More than 15 seasoned AIDS activists took the news of Tom Coburn s announced appointment as a sign that Bush had removed the compas
AIDS is over! The message screams from the wall inside ACT UP San Francisco s Market Street pot dispensary, on the edge of the Castro. It has been the source of controversy, frustration and downright rage within the AIDS community for years, but came to the forefront after AUSF member David Pasquarelli and independent
THE City s failure to implement its goal of drug treatment on demand has a ripple effect, creating problems for HIV prevention and rehabilitation of the homeless. The Examiner reported on Monday that San Francisco leads the nation in methamphetamine addiction. And meth use in the late-night gay party scene is particula
Treatment on demand -- a city policy to treat addicts who ask for help -- seems to be failing a segment of San Francisco s gay male population, with a six-month waiting list to treat speed addiction. And that lack of treatment could be spreading more than drug dependence. The correlation between speed use and HIV trans
The scrutiny of HIV prevention programs became the focal point of a Department of Public Health news conference to introduce a new informational AIDS publication Wednesday -- in the wake of reports of an increase in local infection rates. Questions about what types of HIV prevention programs are appropriate and useful
A long-held belief about the relationship between HIV infection and Kaposi sarcoma has been debunked, a finding that could alter prevention efforts for the potentially deadly skin disease. The data come from a study by University of California, San Francisco researchers, who found that one in four gay men in San Franci
What is obscene? The question hangs in the window of the Stop AIDS Project s Castro office and its answer lies inside on a sign that reads: nearly 20,000 San Franciscans have died from AIDS and that more than 1,000 will get infected with HIV this year. What is not obscene, the staff will tell you, are workshops like B
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.