GLAAD Helps Promote New Jersey Based HIV Awareness Campaign
February 3, 2010
On Feb. 4, the African American Office of Gay Concerns (AAOGC) and Newark’s LGBTQ Commission will launch “Status Is Everything,” an HIV/STD testing and prevention social marketing campaign that aims to reach African-American gay men in Newark, N.J., and the greater Newark area. This is the first HIV prevention social marketing campaign in New Jersey to use text messaging to provide 24-hour instant access to Newark-based testing centers by texting to 36363 with “NJ” and a zip code (i.e., “NJ07102”).
The full-day event will include: a continental breakfast with AAOGC staff and key campaign spokespeople; a press conference with Mayor Cory A. Booker, President Mildred Crump of Newark’s Municipal Council and representatives from partnering HIV testing centers; mock HIV testing sessions for media opportunities; and a LGBTQ community social mixer.
AAOGC teamed with marketing firm FEMWORKS to design StatusIsEverything.org, which includes PSAs of local African-American gay men discussing their personal stories and speaking out about why getting tested is key. They have also worked to create a social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Causecast; and large-scale movie theater and outdoor advertising in the greater Newark area.
GLAAD worked with FEMWORKS to pitch the launch of this much-needed campaign to the media in hopes of raising awareness around the growing HIV rates among gay black and bisexual men. Kimberlee Williams, marketing director of FEMWORKS, spoke to GLAAD about why this campaign is crucial to the health and morale of Newark’s African-American gay community:
“This campaign came with a bundle of stories. When AAOGC approached FEMWORKS, they presented statistics and the results from five focus groups conducted by Rutgers University. The focus groups included in-depth conversations with Newark-based African-American gay men from various socioeconomic backgrounds and age groups. We learned that these young men are afraid to get tested alone. They are afraid of finding out that they may have HIV and possibly dying. And most importantly, they are afraid to approach the conversation directly. With the focus group data as our basis, we created a new media-driven campaign that was sensitive to those issues, and would motivate African-American gay men to get tested for HIV.”
She continues:
“Newark is the epicenter of new contractions of HIV and it is hitting the African-American community the hardest. This campaign targets African-American gay men because that is the mission of the AAOGC, but HIV is increasingly affecting African-American women as well. The existence of ‘Status Is Everything’ sounds the alarm that the African-American community must be especially targeted, and that is a void that this campaign is trying to fill. Hopefully, ‘Status’ will serve as a catalyst for other municipal departments of health across the state of New Jersey to focus on the epidemic that is ravaging the African-American community.”
“Status Is Everything’s” launch also precedes National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), held on Feb. 7. NBHAAD was founded by five national black organizations in 1999 (Concerned Black Men, Inc. of Philadelphia; Health Watch Information and Promotion Services, Inc.; Jackson State University – Mississippi Urban Research Center; National Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council; and the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS), and is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The four objectives of NBHAAD are education, testing, involvement and treatment, all of which are designed to better serve African-Americans and members of the African Diaspora.
In honor of NBHAAD, several testing sites and non-profit organizations in Newark will have a full day of events including candlelight vigils, health fairs, testing services, testimonials and performances/skits. For more information, please visit NBHAAD online.
GLAAD recognizes the distinguished efforts of the African American Office of Gay Concerns, LGBTQ Commission and other HIV/AIDS testing and prevention sites in Newark, N.J. GLAAD also looks forward to future collaborations with these organizations.
For more information about AAOGC or Status Is Everything, please visit www.AAOGC.org or www.StatusIsEverything.org.
View a “Status Is Everything” PSA below:
Related Posts:
COAD News Buzz
January 22, 2010
Here’s a look at some COAD-related stories in the media:
Rev. Irene Monroe Wonders if Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Would Have Defended LGBT Equality
To honor MLK Day, African-American lesbian Reverend Irene Monroe wrote an op-ed for Bay Windows, the largest LGBT newspaper in New England. In her piece, “Would the public King have spoken out on LGBTQ justice?” she revisits an on- going question that many civil rights and LGBT leaders have pondered over the years.
“As I comb through numerous books and essays learning more about King’s philandering, sexist attitude about women at home and in the movement, and his relationship with Bayard Rustin, I am wondering would King be a public advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer rights?”
She strongly believes so, but believes he would have paid a price for doing so. She writes:
In the public address I gave at the Gill Foundation’s National Outgiving Conference in 2007, I said, “If Dr. Martin Luther King were standing up for LGBTQ rights today, the Black community would drop him, too.”
King understood the interconnectedness of struggles. An example of that understanding is when Dr. King said, “The revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place. Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial justice.”
This statement clearly includes LGBTQ justice, but would King have spoken on that subject at that time and even now? Yes, according to King’s now deceased wife.
In 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said queer rights and civil rights were the same. “I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King’s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people,” she said.
Sadly, Bayard Rustin, the gay man who was chief organizer and strategist for the 1963 March on Washington that further catapulted Martin Luther King onto the world stage, was not the beneficiary of King’s dream.
In the Civil Rights movement, Bayard Rustin was always the man behind the scenes, and a large part of that had to due with the fact that he was gay. Because of their own homophobia, many African American ministers involved in the Civil Right movement would have nothing to do with Rustin, and they intentionally rumored throughout the movement that King was gay because of his close friendship with Rustin.
In a spring 1987 interview with Rustin in Open Hands, a resource for ministries affirming the diversity of human sexuality, Rustin recalls that difficult period quite vividly. Rustin said, “Martin Luther King, with whom I worked very closely, became very distressed when a number of the ministers working for him wanted him to dismiss me from his staff because [I was gay]. Martin set up a committee to discover what he should do. They said that, despite the fact that I had contributed tremendously to the organization … they thought I should separate myself from Dr. King.”
Read her piece in its entirety here.
14 Gay Men Killed While HIV Clinic is Destroyed in Haiti
Fourteen men who worked for or accessed services from SEROvie, Haiti’s largest organization serving gay and transgender people with HIV, were killed during last week’s earthquake in Haiti, according to International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
The message of the men’s tragic death came from an e-mail SEROvie’s leader Steve La Guerre managed to send to IGLHRC asking for help.
“We were having our usual support group meeting on a quiet Tuesday afternoon when the worst happened.” La Guerre wrote. “The sound is unforgettable. I can’t even describe the horror as the ceiling and the wall of the conference room started to fall and the chaos started.
“It is now more than ever that SEROvie and ACCV (Civic Action Against HIV) are needed to provide the quality services we provide to our beneficiaries: food, clothes, and any type of help,” La Guerre continued. “Light a candle for these souls and for Haiti. Lord help us.”
IGLHRC executive director Cary Alan Johnson says that his group has sent funds directly to SEROvie to allow their services and supplies to continue to reach their clients. The group is also sending funds to Colectiva Mujer y Salud, a feminist Dominican organization that has crossed the border into Haiti to assist with direct relief to the LGBT community there. IGLHRC has provided a donation page, where Johnson said 100% of the funds collected “will go directly to our friends and colleagues in Haiti.”
Inside Higher Ed publishes article about murdered English professor Don Belton
Don Belton, openly gay novelist and University of Indiana professor was found dead in his apartment on December 29. The Chicago Tribune reported that that Michael J. Griffin confessed to killing Belton, claiming that Belton had “sexually assaulted” him on Christmas Day.
In his piece “Love and Death in Indiana,” for Inside Higher Ed, journalist Scott McLemee discusses the murder, the “gay panic” defense, Belton’s loved ones and his broad scope of work.
He had been friends with James Baldwin and lectured on him at the Sorbonne; the influence of the novelist and essayist on his own work was not small. One of his friends has quoted a passage from Baldwin that seems to epitomize Belton’s work: “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” Although I did not know the man himself, this touches the heart of his writing, which suggests a desire to go beyond, or beneath, the prescribed roles and rules governing “identity.”
This is easier said than done, of course. It is also dangerous; love can be dangerous. Belton wrote in his journal (to quote from the detective’s statement again) “that he is very happy that an individual by the name of Michael has come into his life.” It is not necessary to use pseudopsychological terms like “gay panic” to describe the response this created. Keep in mind that the killer brought his own special knife and a change of clothes. Arguably another vocabulary applies, in which it is necessary to speak of evil.
One of the remarkable things about the response to Belton’s death is just how much of it there has been. Hundreds of people turned out for a vigil on New Year’s Day (see video). There is a website called Justice for Don Belton. An open letter from the chair of his department has appeared on the departmental Web site. A memorial service will be held in Bloomington.
And Josh Lukin tells me that he is proposing a session called “Remembering Don Belton” for the next MLA — a panel “engaging his scholarship, art, journalism, and pedagogy.” Possible topics might include “his writing and teaching on black masculinity, Baldwin, Brecht, Mapplethorpe, Morrison, Motown, jazz, cinema, abjection,” to make the list no longer than that.
“The guy’s range of interests was huge,” Josh says, “and he kept surprising me with his knowledge of critical texts, both recent (‘Bowlby, Just Looking? Great chapters on Dreiser.’) and more traditional (‘Why not talk about Morrison using R.W.B. Lewis, American Adam?’).”
Read his piece in its entirety here.
Related Posts:In the Life Presents: “Creating Solutions”
December 1, 2009
Throughout December, In the Life will be airing its latest installment, “Creating Solutions,” on PBS affiliates nationwide. “Creating Solutions” features an in depth look at the scientists working tirelessly to find a cure for and curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.
From the press release:
Over twenty million people have died from AIDS since its cause, HIV, was discovered in 1981. Though leading scientists worldwide have dedicated their lifes work to understanding the virus, its genetic complexity is unprecedented and a cure is still beyond reach. This month on IN THE LIFE, we speak with scientists working tirelessly for a cure, advocates speaking out about the stigma of HIV, and look at the success of a cutting edge prevention effort to stop the spread of the disease.
View the trailer below:
Check your local listings or In the Life’s official website for airtimes near you.
Related Posts:National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to be Observed on Sept. 27
September 25, 2009
The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) alongside the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC) has coordinated the second annual ‘National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’ which will be observed this Sunday, Sept. 27.
NAPWA is working in close collaboration with companies such as MTV, Facebook, Kenneth Cole and various others on a public education campaign that stresses the importance of regular HIV/AIDS testing.
“The commitment of these companies, combined with the work of partners like NAPWA and CDC, will make a critical difference in the fight to defeat HIV/AIDS,” said John Newsome, Vice President, U.S. Impact Initiative for GBC.
For more information, please visit NAPWA’s National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day page here or the GBC’s press release here.
Related Posts:Pedro Premieres Tonight!
April 1, 2009
The MTV original movie Pedro, which follows the remarkable life of Pedro Zamora, premieres tonight at 8/7c on four networks: MTV, mtvU, Logo and MTV Tr3s, where the film will be subtitled in Spanish. We urge you to watch this emotional film and remember the impact that Pedro has had on all of our lives.
Written by Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk), the movie goes beyond what viewers saw in 1994 on The Real World: San Francisco. Yes, he was the first openly gay person living with HIV regularly seen on television, but of course Pedro was so much more than that. For many, he remains a touchstone for not only the gay community, but for those living with HIV and AIDS.
President Bill Clinton, who has long credited Zamora with personalizing and humanizing the AIDS epidemic, will introduce the film when it is broadcast across four networks.
“To this day, Pedro Zamora remains an extraordinary example of what a huge impact one young person can make in our world,” President Clinton said in a statement. “I’m glad to have known him, and I’m grateful his life has been able to inspire and enrich so many others.”
“Our historic, simultaneous premiere of the film across multiple networks demonstrates the power of Pedro’s journey to reach a vast array of audiences, just as it did 15 years ago,” said Brian Graden, President of Entertainment, MTV Networks Music Channels and President of Logo. “His story originally ignited a national dialogue, permanently impacted our consciousness around the challenges of HIV, and gave untold millions the courage to open up about their sexual orientation. For those of us who remember him as a treasured television friend, and for a new generation coming to his story for the first time, we remain grateful for the gift of his story.”
Be sure to watch the trailer here and tune in tonight for the world premiere of Pedro.
Catholic LGBT Advocacy Groups Challenge Pope’s Statement—Condoms not answer to AIDS
March 19, 2009
Media outlets and advocacy groups reacted strongly when Pope Benedict XVII told reporters during his trip to Africa that condoms are not the best way to curb the spread of HIV, “You can’t resolve [AIDS] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.” The Catholic News Service published the pope’s full interview. Outrage spread throughout the blogosphere, with headlines as extreme as “Impeach the Pope” in a Washington Post blog.
GLAAD helped three Catholic LGBT advocacy groups-DignityUSA, New Ways Ministry and Call To Action-to make a public statement. Marianne Duddy-Burke, DignityUSA’s Executive Director, said, “DignityUSA has long called on the Vatican to acknowledge the importance of educating people on the proper use of condoms, and to support making them widely available as a way of saving lives of vulnerable people around the world.” They pointed out that the UNAIDS report is clear that condoms combat HIV/AIDS. And, like the Voice of Africa, France and Germany, the Catholic LGBT advocacy groups strongly protested the pope’s comments in light of basic values of preventing illness and death.
Producer Aaliyah Williams on The Young & Evil
January 19, 2009
The Young & Evil is a short film about a defiant young man who sets out to seduce an HIV prevention advocate into giving him the virus. Producer Aaliyah Williams stopped by the Queer Lounge to discuss the potentially-controversial film and why she and director Julian Breece decided to make it.
Dustin Lance Black Delivers Another Strong Biopic
January 13, 2009
Dustin Lance Black, the award-winning screenwriter of Milk, has done it again: He’s crafted an engaging biopic for a mainstream audience to enjoy. Pedro is about the life of Pedro Zamora, best known as the HIV-positive castmember of The Real World: San Francisco.
Alex Loynaz
Instead of dwelling exclusively on the months spent in The Real World house, the film delves deep into the life of Zamora, focusing on his close-knit Cuban family, his relationship with partner Sean Sasser, and the devotion of his friends, Judd and Pam, who he met while filming the reality series.
As you might expect from Black, the writing is nuanced and true to the subject. Often, it felt as if I were watching an MTV special chock full of interviews from The Real World: SF cast speaking their minds to the cameras. The casting is top-notch, with stand-out performances from Alex Loynaz (Pedro), Justina Machado (Pedro’s sister, Mily) and DaJuan Johnson (Sean).
Many Hollywood heavies have thrown their weight behind Pedro. Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (Quinceanera) acted as executive producers. Paris Barclay (In Treatment) produced the film and developed the story with Black. And the movie is brought to us by MTV and Bunim/Murray Productions, the same team that produces The Real World series.
Lucky for you, The Palm Springs International Film Festival is screening the film Friday and Saturday. Unlucky for you, the Friday screening is already sold out. Tickets are still available for Saturday, but they’re going fast. Click here for more info.
The Young and Evil
December 22, 2008
LGBT Content: Gay
Genre: Dramatic Short
Rating: NR
Director: Julian Breece
Synopsis: An HIV-positive prevention advocate becomes the target of seduction by a defiantly promiscuous but self-destructive gay teenager trying to become infected himself.
Premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Screening Times
Friday, January 16, 11:15 am Raquet Club, Park City
Friday, January 17, 11:30 pm Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 20, 12:15 pm Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Wednesday, January 21, 6:30 pm Redstone Cinemas, Kimball Junction
Saturday, January 24, 12:45 pm Holiday Village Cinema I, Park City
New PSA Speaks to API Transgender Women
December 3, 2008
In what media reports are calling a “seminal” event, a new public service announcement for the 20th observance of World AIDS Day was revealed yesterday. What makes this PSA stand out is that it’s the first one developed by and aimed at the wellness of the Asian Pacific Islander transgender community.
Medical News Today reports that the PSA is:
“The first of its kind to specifically address transgender women-particularly in the A&PI community-who are at higher risk for HIV infection and face discrimination for being transgender, of color, or both.”
The spot, produced by the non-profit organization The Banyan Project, will air nationally and online. The Banyan Tree Project is a national campaign dedicated to reducing HIV-related stigma in Asian Pacific Islander communities.
HIV is a prevalent issue in transgender communities. Just this year the Chicago-based publication Positively Aware, a bi-monthly magazine that reports on aspects of HIV/AIDS, dedicated the July/August edition to transgender issues. According to the article in Medical news Today, national studies suggest that 27.7% of transgender women have HIV. Two different 2004 studies conducted in San Francisco estimated that up to 27% of Asian Pacific Islander transgender women have HIV.
The PSA focuses on reducing stigma and shame related to discussing HIV and AIDS in the Asian Pacific Islander community. From the article:
“This community is often overlooked, and many of the outreach and prevention programs servicing transgender women are in danger of dissolution due to state and local funding cuts. This PSA is one way to continue the dialogue with an underserved, high-risk community in this historically unprecedented economic environment.”
The PSA features Tita Aida, Asia Vitale, and Erica Raney. Tita Aida is a long-time AIDS activst who was recently appointed to be the first transgender woman to sit on the Commission of Status of Women in San Francisco. Asia Vitale is well known for work in the 2006 documentary Beautiful Daughters, and Erica Raney currently serves as the peer leader for the Asian & Pacific Islander Transgender Empowerment program. Read the script below, or watch the PSA:
“I am in control of who I am and how I live my life. As Asian & Pacific Islander transgender women, we are at risk of getting infected with HIV. But we can change that. We can call the shots. Be in control of your health and life. Talk to your partner about using protection every time you have sex.”
Media Observe 20th World AIDS Day
December 1, 2008
Twenty years ago, the World Health Organization declared the first World AIDS Day. Each year since, December 1st has marked the observance of World AIDS Day, an international event dedicated to strengthening the fight against HIV and AIDS and remembering those we have lost.
1988 was a pivotal time for the AIDS awareness movement. Only seven years prior, the Center for Disease Control released a report on the discovery of AIDS. The media responded at large with sensationalized and deceptive coverage. Our organization began its work during this tumultuous time. Gay activist and author Vito Russo co-founded GLAAD in 1985 in response to the New York Post’s coverage of HIV and AIDS.
Today’s media environment has changed greatly, as international awareness has grown over the years. While there is still much work to be done, we have seen a diverse range of voices come out in observance of the 20th World AIDS Day, encouraging dialogue and informing the public. Below is a sample:
Baltimore Sun- December 1, 2008
AIDS fight is worth it
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.aids01dec01,0,7897817.story
BET.com- December 1, 2008
World AIDS Day
http://www.bet.com/Lifestyle/bodysoul/WAD08_WorldAIDSDay08_Lifestyle_BAS_main.htm??Referrer={F2038F42-FD70-4929-AF1C-981596CBCB21
Boston Globe- December 1, 2008
AIDS and the unknown
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/12/01/aids_and_the_unknown/
Chicago Tribune- November 30, 2008
AIDS fight requires resources, even in tough times, by Desmond Tuti
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-perspec1130tutunov30,0,350954.story
CNN- December 1, 2008
World AIDS Day 2008: Much accomplished, much to do
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/12/01/fauci.world.aids.day/
NBA.com- December 1, 2008
Magic Johnson Reflects on World AIDS Day
http://www.nba.com/2008/news/12/01/magicworldaidsday/
The New York Times- December 1, 2008
A Killer and a Cure This World AIDS Day
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/a-killer-and-a-cure-this-world-aids-day/?scp=1&sq=world%20aids%20day&st=cse
San Francisco Chronicle- December 1, 2008
AIDS: A stigma endures
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/30/EDHN14BA6N.DTL
USA Today- November 28, 2008
Take AIDS fight into black communities
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/11/take-aids-fight.html
Washington Post- December 1, 2008
AIDS: This is no time for complacency
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/30/EDHN14BA6V.DTL
Washington Post- December 1, 2008
Our Country is Failing the AIDS Test
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113001691.html
Special TV Programming in Honor of World AIDS Day
December 1, 2008
Today is World AIDS Day, the international event designed to strengthen global efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In honor of this endeavor, many broadcast and cable networks will air special programming to further educate the public about the ongoing health crisis that affects us all.
Freddie Mercury
Logo is leading the pack with a full slate of programming that addresses HIV and AIDS, beginning with a Greg Louganis biopic at 6 am and closing with Angels in America at 10 pm. Peppered throughout the day is the landmark docu-series The Ride: Seven Days to End AIDS, the charming romantic comedy Jeffrey, and the powerful documentary Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed.
Don’t get Logo? Forgot to set your DVR? Most of these titles are available at your local video store, or you could check out GLAAD’s HIV & AIDS Media Resource Guide, which includes thorough lists of films, documentaries, scripted television and alternative programming that have addressed AIDS.
Movie suggestions include Parting Glances (1986), Poison (1991), It’s My Party (1996) or A Year Without Love (2006). For a complete list of films, please click here. Films inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) characters are in bold.
Here’s a scene from Parting Glances.
Documentaries more your thing? Check out the Academy Award-winnning doc Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989), Absolutely Positive (1991), Fast Trip, Long Drop (1994) or Gay Sex in the ’70s (2005). The trailer is below…
Plaque Dedicated to First Nat’l Visible Gay Service Member
November 21, 2008
“When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”
The well-known and well-respected epitaph above, which recognizes gay LGBT rights pioneer Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, can now be read in two places that honor the former Air Force sergeant – his headstone at his burial site in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, and a new plaque honoring Matlovich in San Francisco, Ca.
Front cover of 1975 TIME magazine with Sgt. Matlovich.
Dedicated at a ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 15 held at San Francisco’s LGBT Community Center, the plaque honors the contributions of Matlovich to the fight against the ban on gay and lesbian service in the military.
A Vietnam War veteran, Matlovich appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in 1975 with the headline “I Am a Homosexual: The Gay Drive for Acceptance” – a full eighteen years before the ‘one step forward, two steps back’ enactment of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” brought the struggle of gay and lesbian military personnel into the public eye.
The TIME story followed the sergeant’s legal struggle to continue serving in the military after coming out to his commanding officers, including his lawsuit against the secretary of the Air Force.
Although Matlovich was not allowed to service his country in the armed forces again, his lawsuit paved the way for a vital change in military policy in 1981 that allowed gay troops to be discharged honorably instead of dishonorably. He was also the first nationally visible gay service member.
In addition to his epitaph, the full plaque also reads:
“In 1975, Tech. Sgt. Leonard Matlovish, USAF, winner of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, made the military’s ban on gays a national issue when he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine. He was arrested at the White House fighting against AIDS and always fought for full LGBT equality.”
The plaque is permanently located at the corner of 18th and Castro where Matlovich lived before dying from AIDS in 1988.
More information on the current state of the military’s ban on LGBT service members, including “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” can be found in GLAAD’s Veteran’s Day Resource Kit for Journalists.
Plaque dedicated to Sgt. Matlovich in SF (left). Photo from Towleroad. Headstone dedicated to Sgt. Matlovich in Washington, DC (right). Photo from Flickr user dbking.
Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the MILK For Free?
November 21, 2008
Here at glaadBLOG, we’re really excited because there are only five days left until Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk biopic Milk hits select theaters! In honor of that special day (November 26) we’re bringing you a daily fun fact about the man himself!
San Francisco magazine recently asked public figures what the world would be like if Harvey Milk had lived. Today, two activists, Anne Kronenberg and Cleve Jones, weigh in.
According to Kronenberg, San Francisco would have had more emotional energy to focus on AIDS…
The assasinations happened right after Jonestown. Remember, Jim Jones and Peoples Temple were from San Francisco, so the two events together were a horrible double whammy. There was a pall over everything. It took a long time for the city to recover. We were still recovering when the AIDS epidemic began.
And Cleve Jones says the gay community would have had an effective leader when it needed one the most…
I think Harvey Milk could have made a profound difference in that crucial first year of the epidemic, on issues like what to do about the bathhouses. Because what we needed was somebody who the community really trusted who could go out and say, “I’m for sexual liberation, but we’ve got to look at this.” When I tried to suggest that maybe we should consider fewer partners that that people follow the guidelines of safe sex, I was spit upon on Castro Street. People called me a fascist. But Harvey had that perfect combination of humor, forthrightness, and pride. People would have listened to him in a way they wouldn’t listen to anybody else.
For more on all things Milk, check out GLAAD’s Milk Resource Kit and learn about the man and the movie.
And check out this special interview with Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, recorded at the world premiere last month!
