August 2017 | Page 41 of 71

A first person’s account of the early days of the AIDS Epidemic.

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In 1981, I began showing symptoms of what would become known as HIV/AIDS. It started with painful swollen lymph nodes larger than golf balls in my armpits and groin. Tests for mononucleosis and a biopsy for Hodgkin’s disease came back negative. Next came night sweats that soaked my sheets, exhaustion despite 12 hours of sleep, skin rashes, fungal and yeast infections in body creases, Harry Leukoplakia on my tongue, and reoccurring shingles.

Fighting Jeff Sessions for LGBT rights.

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“We write to you to express deep disappointment regarding the brief the Department of Justice filed in the case of Zarda v. Altitude Express which is pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect lesbian, gay or bisexual people from discrimination, we believe this action is not only contrary to existing law, but violates our nation’s ideals of liberty and justice for all,” sixty-two US senators and members of the US House of Representatives said in an August 7 letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Panti Bliss, an Irish force for the LGBT community.

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Ireland’s Panti Bliss is an LGBTQ icon you’ve probably never heard of – but it’s time to take notice. Panti has been instrumental in Ireland’s fight for marriage equality and is well known for hosting the Alternative Miss Ireland event. If that wasn’t enough, she also hosts the incredible Pantibar pride parties. Although Panti is known in the LGBTQ circles, her alter ego Rory O’Neill made her a household name.

The brands that got it right supporting Pride.

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Every June, big brands show their appreciation for LGBT dollars, I mean dignity, by featuring queer faces in their ads and brand messaging. On one hand, it’s quite heartwarming and affirming to walk around cities throughout the world and see Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flags waving in store fronts and from lamp posts.

It’s open season on murdering LGBT people during Trump tenure.

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Donald Trump’s fear-mongering rhetoric is dangerous, as proven by the white supremacist terrorist attack in Charlottesville, the violence at his campaign rallies, and now, the rising rate of LGBTQ murders. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, as reported by BuzzFeed, more LGBTQ people have been murdered so far this year than in all of 2016.

Bob Mackie will design costumes for revived musical, When Pigs Fly.

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Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly, the 1996 musical created by late costume designer-playwright Crabtree and Mark Waldrop, will be revived Off-Broadway beginning October 6 at Stage 42. The revue, which features music by the late Dick Gallagher, was praised for its wit and irreverent humor as it skewered gay culture and American politics in the late 1990s—including references to Newt Gingrich and legislation that proposed curtailing gay rights. The humor carried over into Crabtree’s outlandish and dazzling costume designs, who was called a “mad genius” in a rave review in the New York Times. Crabtree died of AIDS days after completing work on the original designs for When Pigs Fly. Iconic Hollywood fashion designer Bob Mackie will create the all-new designs […]

The LGBT community needs a comprehensive health study.

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Any sufficiently large and well-defined community is likely to have health concerns that disproportionately affect it, and LGBTQ people are no exception. Some problems have had an unmistakable impact on the gender and sexual-minority population, HIV/AIDS being an especially obvious example. But we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the ways that being an LGBTQ person can influence one’s overall health, or of health disparities within the LGTBQ community itself.