Ice Cube Unveils Minority AIDS Art Project

Ice Cube has hooked up with artist Mark Sgarsbossa and Rare Ink for a new art project that will feature limited edition artistic interpretations/murals of the rap veteran's music. The venture's first installment of the autographed pieces was revealed yesterday, and will sold exclusively on RareInk.com. A portion of the profits will go to Minority AIDS project.

“Expanding the interaction with fans of my music by offering limited edition, signed artwork that they are able to share and enjoy with their friends and family is something I feel my fans deserve. Not only does RareInk create amazing pieces of art that bring my albums and songs to life but a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Minority AIDS Project, an organization I have worked with over the past two decades,” Cube said of the cause.

According to Necole Bitchie, the project will feature depictions of Cube's best know songs. In the video below, Ice Cube and Sgarsbossa talk about the first mural, an interpretation of "It Was A Good Day." Yay yay indeed.

Kurt Weston's "Blind Vision"

With tomorrow marking the 30 anniversary of the AIDS epidemic, CNN posted an interesting article about artist and photographer Kurt Weston's "Blind Vision" a series of stark self-potraits created with tinsel and foam meant to illustrate his feelings about losing his sight due to retinitis. Living with HIV since the early 80's, Weston was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in 1991 after a bout of pneumocystis pneumonia, a common infection in AIDS patients. Cytomegalovirus retinitis, another known complication, took away his sight in 1993.

The former commerical fashion photographer decided to funnel his frustration into art. "You can see my hand gesturing as if I kind of want to wipe away the obstruction in front of my vision," he told CNN. "That was my way of wanting to illustrate the desire to get rid of that obstruction in my vision."

You kind of have to take a warrior mentality," he says of living with AIDS. "I'm not going to let these things beat me. I'm not going to let these things cheat me out of the life I want to have."

Read the full CNN article HERE, and view more of Weston's work below and at his official site.

Much Ado About Barebacking...

I know that this is a sensitive and loaded issue. And it should be, especially in the black gay community: according to CDC statstics, young black men who have sex with men (MSM) ages 13 to 29 accounted for more new HIV infections  than any other racial or ethnic group.

With that very important fact said, would you ever participate in bareback sex? I'm not talking about a one night stand with some twink you just met at the club or a kat daddy you feel "so in love with" after a week two dates. Or a slip up caused by too much alcohol or just thinking with the wrong head in the heat of passion. In those cases, you better lock it down like Fort Knox and get tested ASAP (and get tested again a few months down the line, just to make the virus didn't escape detection).

But what if this is someone you've been with for 5, 10, 15 or 20 years? Someone who has proven himself to be faithful, loving and honest (meaning that you know his whole sexual history and he knows yours, and you both have the test results to prove it). It's highly unlikely that straight couples who've been together for decades still use condoms. I am aware that gay/bi men who engage in anal sex have a higher risk for infection than hetero couples, but they still assume the same risks when they stop using protection. So, would you take that chance?

Discuss (And I know my invisible readers have some opinion on this topic, so speak up).

Happy Birthday Ronnie. NOT!

I'm sorry but I don't get all the fuss people are making about Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. I'm sure his kids, Nancy and other family members and friends probably have fond personal memories of him. But what I truly hate, as I do with any public figure, be it Michael Jackson or Martin Luther King Jr. is this mass white-washing of his legacy that is currently taking place. No one (with a very few expcetions) is a complete saint or a certified sinner. So let's get a few facts straight about Ronald.

"Reaganomics"did nothing to help anyone but the weathiest Americans and is an ambomination that has continued to hurt middle and working class people to this day, as it has become Republican gospel. Wake up! It's been over 30 years and the money still hasn't trickled down! Not to mention his cutting of social programs that would've further helped non-millionaires.

During his presidency he did nothing to help the black or gay communities. How quickly everyone seems to have forgotten about the Iran-Contra scandal, in which drug trafficking led to black communities being flooded with crack cocaine in the eighties, from which sprung addiction and drug-related gang violence in neighborhoods already ravaged by poverty. Poverty that was the result of  by you guessed it, Reaganomics!

And lest we forget, Reagan's silence on AIDS and hooking up with fundamentalist douche bags like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson held up funding and potential medical treatments for years. In fact, AIDS, then called the "gay cancer" was pretty much joke in the White House during the early 80's. Literally.

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
Press Briefing by Larry Speakes
October 15, 1982
The Briefing Room
12:45pm EDT


Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement -- the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?


Mr. Speakes: What's AIDS?


Q: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay plague." (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it's a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?


Mr. Speakes: I don't have it. Do you? (Laughter.)


Q: No, I don't.


Mr. Speakes: You didn't answer my question.


Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President ...


Mr. Speakes: How do you know? (Laughter.)


Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?


Mr. Speakes: No, I don't know anything about it, Lester.


Q: Does the President, does anyone in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?


Mr. Speakes: I don't think so. I don't think there's been any ...


Q: Nobody knows?


Mr. Speakes: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.


Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping ...


Mr. Speakes: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he's had no -- (laughter) -- no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.


Q: The President doesn't have gay plague, is that what you're saying or what?


Mr. Speakes: No, I didn't say that.


Q: Didn't say that?


Mr. Speakes: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn't you stay there? (Laughter.)


Q: Because I love you Larry, that's why. (Laughter.)


Mr. Speakes: Oh I see. Just don't put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)


Q: Oh, I retract that.


Mr. Speakes: I hope so.


Q: It's too late.


This transcript was quoted at the beginning of Jon Cohen's book, Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine, 2001. ISSN # 1052-4207.

By the time Reagan finally decided to speak about AIDS in 1987, not only did he state the government shouldn't provide sex education, but his comments were tailored to his evangelical base, who were all to eager to claim the disease as God's punishment.

"On April 2, 1987, Reagan said: "How that information is used must be up to schools and parents, not government. But let's be honest with ourselves, AIDS information can not be what some call 'value neutral.' After all, when it comes to preventing AIDS, don't medicine and morality teach the same lessons."

Hmmm. I wonder whose values are those?

According to Act-Up New York:

AIDS research was chronically under-funded. When doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health asked for more funding for their work on AIDS, they were routinely denied it. Between June 1981 and May 1982 the CDC spent less than $1 million on AIDS and $9 million on Legionnaire's Disease. At that point more than 1,000 of the 2,000 reported AIDS cases resulted in death; there were fewer than 50 deaths from Legionnaire's Disease. This drastic lack of funding would continue through the Reagan years.



When health and support groups in the gay community were beginning to initiate education and prevention programs, they were denied federal funding. In October 1987 Senator Helms amended a federal appropriations bill to prohibit AIDS education efforts that "encourage or promote homosexual activity" — that is, efforts that tell gay men how to have safe sex.

When Rock Hudson, a friend and colleague of the Reagans, was diagnosed with AIDS and died in 1985 (one of the 20,740 cases reported that year), Reagan still did not speak out as president ... In 1986 (after five years of complete silence), when Surgeon General C. Everett Koop released a report calling for AIDS education in schools, Bennett and Bauer did everything possible to undercut and prevent funding for Koop's too-little-too-late initiative. Reagan, again, said and did nothing. By the end of 1986, 37,061 AIDS cases had been reported; 16,301 people had died.

I understand that personal responsiblity is a factor. No one forced anyone not to wear condoms or smoke crack. We all are accountable for our own behavior. But that still doesn't change the fact that the Reagan and his administration systematically failed to meet the needs of people that desperately needed them most. That he allowed politics and personal prejudices to override any sense of compassion for communities that were suffering, and by doing so, exacerbated it. Reagan's job as president was to serve all Americans and he actively chose not to do so.

Now he's being reinvented as the Great American, an omnibenevolent president who as a friend to all. Pardon my french, but that's a bunch of bullshit. When public/historic figures, be they politicians or entertainers, are made out to be saints or demons (unless they are complete sociopaths), we do both ourselves and them a disservice by denying their humanity.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a great leader, a gifted speaker, and a fearless fighter against injustice. But he was also a philanderer and occasionally engaged in plagiarism.

Michael Jackson was a tremendously gifted performer, songwriter and singer who gave millions away to charity. But he was also an emotionally crippled man riddled with self-hatred about his black skin and features, and did everything he could to get rid of both.

Or course this also works the other way. Malcom X called white people devils (maybe that's why there's no Malcom X Day for the kiddies:) and proclaimed blacks should totally separate themselves from society. But he also recanted such statements after he went to Mecca.

My point is that when we white-wash a person's legacy we turn them into a symbol that is impossible to aspire to, forgetting their negative actions and their flaws. And when we make someone out to be a complete and utter villain (again with exceptions, i.e. Hitler, Stalin), we can often forget the good things they've done or changes that may occur in their views over a lifetime.

So when you wish Reagan a happy birthday, think twice as you blow out the candles.

A Cure For AIDS?

It sounds unbelievable, but a HIV positive person has claimed to be cured of the deadly virus. Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient" is believed by doctors to be cured after a stem-cell transplant as part of an aggressive chemotherapy program. According to The Huffington Post:

"Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journal Blood affirming that the results of extensive testing "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved."

Brown's case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells."

While it's understandable that most people living with HIV would opt out of such an aggressive, potentially deadly form of treatment, this is an incredible breakthrough. Watch a CNN report below:

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, a day where people around the world come together to raise awareness about the devestation caused by the global AIDS epidemic. While I know of no close friends or family that suffer from the disease, I believe it's still important for all of us to know our status and encourage others to get tested, especially in the black community, where 1 in 22 people are expected to contract the disease in their lifetime, according to the CDC.

Prevention can not only save lives, but money as well. According to a Black Voices article, a study by the CDC and John Hopkins University concluded that "for every HIV infection prevented, $355,000 is saved in the costs of providing lifelong HIV care and treatment. The study concluded that an investment of $4.5 billion in HIV prevention over 10 years would save $104 billion in medical costs."

While the number of worldwide HIV cases has dropped 20 percent in the last decade, and medical breakthroughs--such  as the invention a daily pill that can reduce the risk of infection among gay and bisexual men--have taken place, AIDS is still far from over.

 Ways to Get Involved:

1. GET TESTED. Find a testing location near you here.

2. Encourage friends and family to get tested.

3.Educated youself and others about AIDS and other STDs.

HIV Vaccine Shows Promise

Thailand researchers are reporting that a new HIV vacccine may be effective preventing new infections. The results come from a field trial sponsored by the U.S. Army. Among the 16,000 participants, 30 percent reported positivel effects after treatment.

Specifically, a combination of ALVAC, made by Paris- based Sanofi-Aventis SA, and AIDSVAX, produced by VaxGen Inc., of South San Francisco, reduced infections by 31.2 percent in the people who received it compared with those on a placebo.

"What is exciting is that this has provided a proof of concept, that we can do this," Cate Hankins, chief scientific officer at UNAIDS, told Bloomberg News. "Anything is possible now, it feels. It is a scientific breakthrough," Hankins said by phone from London.

While the news is incredible, the vaccine isn't likely to be licensed for general medical use in the near future. Still this is very promising.

Panel Discussion: Religion, Masculinity and Homophobia

Cleo Manago, founder of Black Men's Xchange and AmASSI Health and Cultural Centers and other activists and authors discuss these issues at Al Sharpton's National Action Network 2009 Summer Conference in Atlanta. It's a fantastic, respectful discussion. Get into the clip below:

A Candid Debate On Black Manhood, Same Gender Love & Civil Rights: Fact & Fiction from Cleo Manago on Vimeo.

Trial for New HIV Gene Therapy Begins

Recruiting for a new gene therapy with the potential to immunize people against HIV began on Tuesday. The first group to received the treatment will be HIV-positive patients with drug resistance problems.

"We do have good treatments for HIV. That has been one of the most successful stories of the last 20 years in medicine," said Pablo Tebas, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

"However, over time, if the medications are not taken properly, individuals develop resistance to the HIV treatments, so they tend to have more limited therapeutic options."

The new treatment attempts to make people resistant to HIV by manipulating CCR5, a gene that makes most vulnerable to infection. A small group of people have mutated CCR5, making them resistant to the disease, which served as inspiration for the therapy.

Rick Warren's AIDS Work Exposed

In the ongoing controversy over the Obama administration's selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration, his work with AIDS in Africa is often cited as a reason for his invite and is championed by Obama as an issue he and Warren agree on. For the most an analysis of the specifics of Warren's AIDS efforts has not been in the mainstream media.

However, an article at The Daily Beast brings unknown facts about Warren's AIDS work--such as his emphasis on abstinence-only education and aligning himself with homophobic religious leaders such as Martin Ssempa--to the surface.

Here's an excerpt from the article about Ssempa's AIDS prevention strategies and overall paranoia:

"Warren’s man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempe enjoys close ties to his country’s First Lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them."

Dr. Helen Epstein, a public health consultant who authored the book, The Invisible Cure: Why We’re Losing The Fight Against AIDS In Africa, met Ssempa in 2005. Epstein told me the preacher seemed gripped by paranoia, warning her of a secret witches coven that met under Lake Victoria. “Ssempa also spoke to me for a very long time about his fear of homosexual men and women,” Epstein said. “He seemed very personally terrified by their presence.”

Ssempa's fear has quickly manifested into intolerant action, such as leading a march in 2007 to demand harsher government punishment on gays, or spreading old myths depicting gays as predators out to seduce and 'recruit' children.

Secret witches covens. Burning condoms in the name of Jesus. A fear of gays and lesbians so extreme that the only plausible solution is to lock all those "scary freaks" up so they can't spread the gay. Gays and lesbians and bisexuals oh my! Rick, Rick ,Rick. You gotta pick better buddies than this. I wonder if the hundred gay friends you have would approve. Read the rest of the article here.

World Aids Day

December 1st is World AIDS Day, a day where people around the world come together to raise awareness about the devestation caused by the global AIDS epidemic. While many strides have been made since the epidemic first started in the early 80's, there's still a lot to do.

Ways to Get Involved:

1. GET TESTED

2. Encourage friends and family to get tested

3.Educated youself and others about AIDS and other STDs.

To find out how to get involved in other ways, visit http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Get-Involved.