Santeria is pretty awesome. Santeria and other West Africa Diasporic Religions, also called ATR (African Traditional Religion), are fluid, adaptable, and from my perspective, effective, so Hugo Chavez might do well to heed the words of the Cuban babalawo (priests) who in their annual New Year “Letter of the Year” recommended that the Venezuelan President seek them out. Lazaro Cuesta, one of the babalawo said their priests are willing:

Whichever house he knocks upon, I expect he will receive the help he requires.

From the perspective of Santeria, Cuesta was referring not only to physical domiciles of the priests, but also to the casas (houses or worship) of the orisha, the Afro-Cuban gods, and the various lineages within each orisha’s worship, with their own initiated priest.

Chavez is currently in Cuba recovering from surgery for cancer; the type of cancer has not been reported. The babalawo will not perform a healing ritual for Chavez unless they are asked. Technically, someone aside from Chavez could ask for his healing, in the same way that Masses can be offered for someone by another.

Eleggua is the road opener and the messenger of the gods, and is syncreticized with Jesus, especially in the aspect of  the Infant of Atocha, and thus his altars often are decorated with toys and games, as well as the traditional rum and cigars. San Lazaro/St. Lazarus represents Babalú-Ayé, the orisha in charge of health and disease, especially epidemics, cancer, HIV/AIDS.

Pam Spaulding over at Pam’s House Blend brought up a discussion worth having:

While it’s about time that conservatives like Mary Matalin feel they can safely (as in, don’t feel intimidated about pissing off Rush) take marriage equality out of the sure-fire rallying cry, it’s interesting how easily she shifts blame for the ills of society on all of you heterosexuals out there fornicating and procreating out of wedlock.

On ABC This Week, Mary Matalin, the Republican strategist, had this to say:

People who live in the real world, say, the greater threat to the civil order are the heterosexuals who don’t get married and are making babies. That’s an epidemic in crisis proportions. That is irrefutably more problematic for our culture than homosexuals getting married. I find this important dancing on the head of a pin argument, but in real life, looking down 30 years from now, real people understand the consequences of so many babies being born out of wedlock to the economy and to the morality of the country.

Yeehah! The great state of Texas is certainly anticipating the birth pains of that epidemic moral and financial crisis.  By blocking $73 million from from family planning services, Texas made sure Planned Parenthood didn’t get any funding. (Because you know, along with providing general health care, men and women’s sexual health care,  STD testing, LGBTQ counseling, cancer screening, prenatal care, and birth control–Planned Parenthood also provides abortions, though the Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas receiving state funding did not provide abortions.  But Planned Parent still lost their Texas funding.) The thing is, with a population of 26 million, Texas has a lot straight people. And not all those straight people are married. And while some of those unmarried, straight people may be celibate and/or not of reproductive age, a whole lot of of them will be doing what Mary Matalin says:

Making babies.

Making babies out of wedlock and contributing to the economic and moral downfall of Texas! Millions of  straight Texans are going be having sex without birth control, lots more sex without birth control, because they now have lots fewer places to get birth control, because you, oh great state of Texas, cut off your noses to spite your faces and threw out the baby with the bath water.

Except that bathwater splashed back into your conservative laps,  and each little droplet is making another baby, and your noses are growing back longer and longer because you, oh legislators and people of Texas, are lying to yourselves when you think that denying access to birth control–be it condoms, pills, IUDS, morning-after pills–is gonna keep people from fucking. People fuck. It’s a fact of life (and let’s not forget that all that fucking without condoms can spread sexually transmitted diseases, ones like syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia that have gotten so bacterially buff that they are harder and harder to cure, and require way more expensive antibiotics. Plus herpes, genital warts/HPV, Hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS; the latter two are illness which can require escalating and expensive levels of care and medication, plus HPV can led to cervical, anal, and penile cancer. Yes, oh great men of Texas, PENIS CANCER. Because you banned Planned Parenthood.)

Here’s another lifetime issue that’s also expensive which comes from fucking: BABIES.

The latest Health and Human Services Commission projections being circulated among Texas lawmakers indicate that during the 2014-15 biennium, poor women will deliver an estimated 23,760 more babies than they would have, as a result of their reduced access to state-subsidized birth control. The additional cost to taxpayers is expected to be as much as $273 million — $103 million to $108 million to the state’s general revenue budget alone — and the bulk of it is the cost of caring for those infants under Medicaid.

Math is hard, but basically, by cutting $73 million to Planned Parenthood, Texas will now have to spend an additional $200 million underwriting the cost of caring for almost 24,000 unplanned babies. And then there’s the cost of medications for sexually transmitted diseases–Texas has the highest rate of uninsured Americans in the United States (and a woefully weak Medicaid system facing a shortfall), so really what will happen then? Will Texas celebrate the arrival The Great Satan in the form of Obamacare? Oh, the bitter irony….

Texas Democrat, Representative Donna Howard politely refrained from calling her more conservative colleagues dumb-asses:

I know some of my colleagues felt like in retrospect they did not fully grasp the implications of what was done last session. I think there is some effort, they’ll be willing to make to restore whatever we can.

Any restoration of funding to family planning would exclude Planned Parenthood, because even though they don’t provide abortions in Texas, they do elsewhere, and gol-dag-nabbit, Texas isn’t gonna help abortionists, even if they ain’t doin’ abortions in their state. Since a lot of politicians–or their constituents–seem to lump birth control, like condoms and pills in with abortion, it’s hard to say if any funding for family planning/birth control can be put back into the budget. Especially because, as Republican Senator Bob Deuel points out, Texas has a certain attitude:

I’ve debated this in Republican clubs with people — people who say it’s not the government’s role to provide family planning. Ultimately, they’re right. But you have to look at what happens if we don’t.

Babies happen. STDs happen. Penis cancer happens. Deuel should know–he’s a family physician. And just one more reminder, Texas: Straight people fuck. A lot. And that makes babies. Babies being born out of wedlock which will carry, per Matalin, consequences to the economy and to the morality of the country.

So I was in a bit of a quandary: A few months ago I wrote about a photographer, Wayne Martin Belger, whose work really moved me. In the course of my writing about him, we became pals since we are both LA natives, punk rock changed our lives, and we both practice “Afro-Caribbean Orthodox Christianity,” more commonly known as African Diasporic religions: Santeria, Voudon/Voodoo, Hoodoo, Espiritismo.

When Belger said he wanted to come to LA and shoot for his series on HIV+ people, I offered to help find models. I also volunteered to organize four other shoots for him of rabbis, priests and imams with another camera. (I’d told him, “I’ll do anything to help you, except book your girlfriend’s travel–that’s up to you!” and so I wrote and sent out press releases, confirmed models, set up craft service at the shoot, etc.) It kind of put me in a weird place, because I felt that since I was working with him I couldn’t really write about him. But then I saw this video from Sunday’s shoot with HIV positive models, and nearly cried. And I wanted to share it with you.

As a model wrangler, I’d contacted a dear friend who works with the Los Angeles County HIV Drug and Alcohol Task Force and Transgender Outreach. She’d put the word out and some really wonderful people contacted us and agreed to pose, including vivacious and charming 73 year-old Thelma James who is on the LA County Commission for HIV and her friend, the very lovely Sandrine Lewis, whose son Will came along, gamely humping gear upstairs and helping Belger to load film. Thelma arranged for super-fox David L. Kelly, who had modeled on an AIDS Healthcare Foundation billboard, to pose for Belger. The goal was to show that HIV/AIDS isn’t a Cute Guy disease. In fact the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV/AIDS states:

Communities of color and women–constituting more than half of the LA County population–continue to be the special populations most disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. Currently, AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American men and the second leading cause of death among African American women between the ages of 25 and 44. In Los Angeles County, for the first time this past year, numerically, Latinos/as with HIV/AIDS now outnumber every other population locally.

I also called on friends of mine who were out about their HIV status, and they all said yes: We had a physical trainer/activist, an artist/activist, a writer/editor/activist, a scholar/activist, and an actor/activist. (Do you see a theme here?)

And then I screwed up my courage and asked Harriet, a profoundly beautiful friend of mine, if she would like to participate. She said yes, and that her daughter Isabella who is also HIV+ wanted to do the shoot, too. Isabella, who set a goal for herself to shoot 90 videos in 90 days, made this mini-documentary/montage of her experience.

The shoot was amazingly moving, so many emotions. Sam Page, the physical trainer who I’d met during the El Coyote/Prop 8 community meeting, began to cry. He wrote later:

I had to stand still for about two minutes for each shot (he took four) because of the exposure time of the lens. While standing there, I stared into the wood floor — and somehow, made out the reflection of my mom’s face looking back at me. Tears began to stream as I thought about all of those who have died—and how important these images will be in telling our stories about the stigma that still exists between the HIV negative and the HIV positive gays. It was truly one of the most moving experiences of my life, when time literally stood still, and I cried, seemingly on cue.

The strength and beauty and love of life each of these models expressed during their time with us was beyond inspirational, as was their commitment to spreading the word that HIV can happen to anyone no matter what their age, race, socio-economic class, education, sexual orientation or any other demographic.

Founded by Elizabeth Taylor in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Macy’s Glamorama is now in its 29th year, and has raised over $29 million for charities. This year the event, Macy’s Passport Presents Glamorama 2011 – ARTrageous at the Orpheum Theatre, themed around great works of art–fitting for the impending Pacific Standard Time exhibits opening in October that celebrate California art–featured the designs of Tracy Reese, Armani Jeans, Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger, Papi, Rachel Rachel Roy and Macy’s own Impulse label, with guest performances by Far East Movement and Cee Lo Green (who sang the radio friendly version of “Forget You”–the original featured a different verb beginning with F!).

Thevening featured a moving tribute to the event’s founder, the (grande) Dame Elizabeth Taylor, whose grandsons were introduced by Sharon Stone. Elizabeth Taylor’s dedication to helping those with HIV/AIDS was the turning point in HIV/AIDS awareness, and her dedication to the cause lives on. Macy’s Glamorama raised $25,000 for AIDS Project Los Angeles and Project Angel Food.

In the lobby before the show, the most standout attendees were students who participated in Macy’s HIV awareness program. Many showed their budding style sense with ensembles that reflected the personal styles of Project Runway stars Mondo Guerra and Christian Siriano, while others opted for the a bohemian, 70s inspired glamor: One girl wora a long crocheted dress, while others opted for scarf hemmed skirts.

The afterparty was fittingly held at the California Market Center where sponsor Patron Tequila poured themed drinks and food stations dished out sliders, brisket and tamales.  Yes, there were cupcakes, too, along with See’s Candy and the much appreciated Don Francisco’s coffee

It was a really glamorous night, tinged with the sadness of Taylor’s passing, and the awareness that the impact she made for those with HIV/AIDS continues, and  so we must all continue the fight through education and research.

Superstars Bonon Edge, Lady Gaga and Usher will celebrate president Bill Clinton’s decade of charty work at the Hollywood Bowl on October 15. Proceeds benefit the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The Hollywood Bowl “Decade of Difference” concert will stream live on Yahoo! at 10pm Easter/7pm Pacific for free ,while tickets–ranging from $50 to $250–go on sale Monday September 19. (Yahoo!’s page says Sept 12, but Ticketaster who’s selling them sets the date for next Monday)  Unless you have an American Express card, in which case you can score the billets on Thursday the 15. The prices are very reasonable. There are also special packages ranging from $250,000 to $6,500 which include seats at Clinton’s 65th birthday party the night before. $250,000 gets you golf with Bill.

The William J Clinton Foundation focuses on treating global HIV/AIDS, creating sustainable farming in both Africa and Souht America, combatting climate change and childhood obesity, and creating  job opportunities through a series of initiatives. According to the foundation’s website, since its inception:

9,000 American schools are providing kids with healthy food choices in an effort to eradicate childhood obesity; 4,300 African farmers have imporoved their crops to feed 30,000 people; 14 cities around the world are implementing energy efficiency projects to eliminate 75,000 tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year; $20 million is being invested in small- and medium-sized businesses in Colombia; and 2.6 million people have benefited from lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications.

photo: creative commons  edenpictures

Mr. Bruce is a cat. A cat who loves the band Queen. Freddie Mercury, Queen’s the lead singer loved cats. Today would have been Mercury’s 65th birthday, but sadly he died of AIDS-related complications in 1991. In his memory, friends and family  immediately established the Mercury Phoenix Trust raise to money and awareness about AIDS. Since 1992 the Mercury Phoenix Trust has been responsible for donating more than $15 million in the fight against AIDS  through proceeds and royalties from the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness and other fund raising efforts.

Part of the MPT’s fund-raising and awareness comes from Freddie for a Day, where in people–or in this case, Mr. Bruce–dress as Freddie Mercury and ask others to sponsor them. I sponsored Mr. Bruce who already sports a fine moustache à la Mercury in his later years (and fur coat like Mercury’s early stage ensembles). He wouldn’t stand for Mercury’s yellow jacket even if it came in his size, so he decided to interpret Freddie Mercury with a flamboyant magenta ruff acquired while I was out of the house, having left him to his own devices with Burning Man webstreaming live.

In honor of Freddie Mercury, please do your part for HIV/AIDS awareness:

*Participate in Freddie for a Day and ask friends to sponsor you
*Throw an impromptu Freddie for a Day party and take donations for MTP
*Make a donation to a local HIV/AIDS charity: Food an/ord toiltries for a food bank, cash, or time.
*Make a donation an organization that provides global HIV/AIDS assistance
*And today and everyday, practice safer sex–use condoms!

I recently heard a radio call-in guest say she made her husband wear a condom. Wow. Okay then.

Along time ago, any STD you could catch could be cured with a dose of antibiotics and condoms were just for birth control.

Things changed thirty years ago with the first diagnosed case of HIV/AIDS, but well, since then some people have just gotten sloppy, think condoms suck, and/or have no clue. So for all you clueless lazy-boning latex un-likers, guess what? There’s a nifty new twist to an old school infection (and it’s not herpes, HPV or Hep-C, three more reasons to use a rubber).

Say hello to antibiotic resistant gonorrhea!  Yes, a strain of the crotch cootie immune to all antibiotic treatment was recently discovered in Japan, and scientists from the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria have just identified the genetic mutation responsible for the its extreme resistance to all cephalosporin-class antibiotics, the traditional prescriptions, in this new strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The Swedish Reference Laboratory’s Dr. Magnus Unemo was not surprised by the discovery of H041, as the new N. gonorrhoeae is called. He told the BBC:

Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it.

While it is still too early to assess if this new strain has become widespread, the history of newly emergent resistance in the bacterium suggests that it may spread rapidly unless new drugs and effective treatment programs are developed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in United States, strains of gonorrhea have been resistant to penicillin and tetracycline became widespread by the early 1980s and are now treated with cephalosporin and either azithromycin or doxycycline.  H041 is reportedly resistant to all known forms of antibiotics.

Given that living things evolve as they reproduce, and bacteria reproduce pretty darn quickly, new drugs will eventually become obsolete, and ta da! Super-clap!

Gonorrhea is the most common sexually transmitted disease; the CDC  reports 700,000 new cases year. And most of these get treated with antibiotics, and some of those bacteria just might mutate…

So use a condom. BTW, 50% of women infected with gonorrhea are asymptomatic, as are 2% to 5% of men according to the BBC.

[photo: creative commons, Writing on the Mall]

Todd A. Heywood is an openly HIV+  journalist based in Lansing, MI who has covered many issues revolving around HIV — from criminalization to disclosure to epidemiology and new discoveries in medicine and science.

Now he is writing a play about the effect of HIV on relationships and what it means to be HIV+ in America during the past decade, and he’s asking for real life stories from gay and straight men and women of all ages.

Here’s the project in Todd’s own words.

In addition to my love of investigative informative reporting, I have a deep seated love of theater. I have directed over 100 plays, written several pieces that have been produced in Michigan and other states, and I have won several awards for my acting. I recently met with the artistic director of a local professional theater company in Lansing and during our discussion, the idea of a play exploring the impact of HIV on relationships would be a fantastic piece of theater which would help people to understand what living with HIV in America in 2000′s is about.

As such, I am now soliciting stories from those living with HIV as well as those who have been touched by HIV.

• Are you in a magnetic relationship?
• How did you meet?
• How did you disclose?
• What were the reactions?
• How does one partner being negative impact your relationship?
• What do your friends and family think?
• Have you faced criminal charges because of your HIV status? Why? When did it happen? What were the circumstances? What was the outcome?

These and other issues are important. Help me tell our stories! You can send your story to TellingHIVStories@gmail.com. You can do this with audio, video, or simply write your story out. Your name and identity will be protected and I will be the only one with access to your email address. Please make sure to put in your email a way for me to send follow up questions to you!

photo: Bill Ohi, used through creative commons

Project Runway Season 8′s super favorite, Mondo Guerra-whose bold use of purple, black and white, and wise yet playful takes on couture style made him the series’ standout despite losing Season Eight to fly-over pseudo-boho, Chico-esque Gretchen Jones–has created a special shirt for World AIDS Day. Mondo declared his HIV+ status on national TV during a judging. The Sugar Skull shirt, which features calaveras from Dia de los Meurtos, combines his Latino culture with HIV/AIDS awareness; the slogan

vive y ama

on the other shirt translates to

Live and love

Day of the Dead imagery serves to remind us of those who have died, and to remember that though we live now, one day we too shall be dead, so we must celebrate life and cherish every moment.

The shirts are sold by Piperlime, one of the sponsors of Project Runway, and $20 from the sale of each shirt goes to AmFAR.

Sacha Baron Cohen, the brains behind Borat and Bruno is confirmed to play the late rock star Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic, according to Deadline.com. Mercury and his band Queen broke down barriers in life, and in death achieved great good. His story is tragic, beautiful and compelling.

Born Farrokh Bulsara, in Zanzibar to Parsi (Indian Zoroastrian) parents and raised in Mumbai, Freddie Mercury was a self-taught singer with a five octave range. Queen, the band Mercury co-founded, scored the first single over 4 minutes to get played on AM radio, “Bohemian Rhapsody;” the promotional film for the song is considered the first rock video. To date Queen has sold over 300 million albums worldwide, and is considered one of the greatest rock acts of all time.

Mercury was the first British rock star of Asian decent and the first major rock star to die of AIDS.  Though he did not deny his bisexuality, Mercury did deny having HIV/AIDS, which he is believed to have contracted in 1987.

Less than 24 hours before his death in 1991, Mercury issued a statement confirming what had long been rumored:

Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors, and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue.

Mercury spent the last six years of his life in a relationship with hair dresser Jim Hutton, who died in January of this year. The surviving members of Queen and the band’s manager, Jim Beach, along with Mercury’s former lover/lifetime friend Mary Austin founded the Mercury Phoenix Trust which has raised $15 million in the fight against AIDS and made over 750 grants to charities worldwide. Mercury Phoenix Trust began with 1992′s Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, which was seen by an estimated 1 billion people.

My first rock concert was Queen in concert in 1976, with Thin Lizzy opening–totally mind blowing!

FREDDIE MERCURY Carl Lender, creative commons

SACHA BARON COHEN Fikri Jermadi, creative commons