By Ramy Eletreby

Forum Discusses Fear Tactics in HIV Prevention Ads

Straight Talk about Gay Sex, a town hall forum presented by Real Prevention at the West Hollywood Park Auditorium on Sept. 6, gathered seven panelists to discuss the efficacy of provocative and fear-based HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns such as the graphic AIDS Healthcare Foundation-sponsored “HIV-Not Fabulous” ad campaign. Moderated by openly HIV-positive West Hollywood Councilmember John Duran, the forum asked: “Does fear work?”

“This campaign stigmatizes the HIV-positive community as being diseased and disgusting,” said panelist Ken Howard, a licensed psychotherapist. “The experience of HIV is very comprehensive. It’s complex. This campaign teaches HIV-negative men to stay away from those who are positive. It doesn’t address safe sexual choices. It encourages disassociation.”

“Strong fear appeals only work when accompanied by strong efficacy messages,” said AIDS Project Los Angeles Director of Education George Ayala. “Spend more time trying to understand who you’re trying to reach, what you’re asking them to do, and the ethical implications associated with it.”

“We are speaking to a community who is overexposed to messages,” said AHF’s Whitney Engeran. “We have to be willing to communicate that just because therapy has come to a point when it is one pill does not mean that there’s a cure.”

Gay Men’s Chorus is Rio-Bound

On Sept. 18, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles jetted off to a four-country singing tour in South America, with stops planned in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. The Chorus commissioned four new choral works in Portuguese and Spanish for the trip.

Proceeds from the concert go to local nonprofit organizations. In Rio, for instance, the Chorus will work with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center as they start the first Gay Chorus in Brazil.

“We’re excited to be traveling to four countries in South America where our concerts will raise money to support people with HIV/AIDS and the local gay civil rights movement,” the GMCLA Executive Director Hywel Sims told IN. “For example, in Santiago, Chile, our local partner Vivo Positvio is using our visit to attract more attention to their issues than they would otherwise get. Our intention was to be goodwill ambassadors—and that’s what’s happening.”

The 160 members of the Chorus and their traveling companions will return Oct. 1, just in time to tune up for their famous Holiday concerts. For more information, go to www.gmcla.org.

Gays Protest ABC/Disney 9/11 Film

Gay people and the organizations they lead joined the protest of the factually incorrect ABC dramatization, The Path to 9/11, which aired in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. David Brock’s Media Matters for America (www.mediamatters.org) detailed the false allegations with respect to the portrayal of Clinton administration officials as well as the misrepresentation of key former FBI counterterrorism expert John O’Neill.

On his blog (americablog.blogspot.com), John Aravosis, best known for co-creating (with Robin Tyler) StopDrLaura.com and DearMary.com, also noted significant errors. He suggests the film “defames” American Airlines by showing hijacker Mohammed Atta being waived aboard an AA flight at Boston’s Logan Airport despite a prominent warning signal when the 911 Commission Report says Atta was waived aboard a US Airways Express plane in Portland, Maine.

Rick Jacobs and his Courage Campaign (www.couragecampaign.org) protested outside Disney Studios, for which Jacobs received a letter of thanks from Bruce Lindsey on behalf of former President Bill Clinton.

“Just a quick note of thanks for everything you and Courage Campaign are doing to speak out against ABC/Disney's irresponsible behavior. Their decision to air a show on such an important and sensitive subject that they now admit is incorrect and fictional is inexcusable,” Lindsay wrote. – Karen Ocamb

Mayor to Walk in San Diego AIDS Walk

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders will participate in the 17th annual AIDS Walk San Diego on Oct. 1 in Balboa Park. “In 2006, we marked the 25th anniversary of the first reported cases of AIDS,” said Sanders. “I believe it is more important than ever for San Diegans to understand the importance of the Walk.”

A seven-night RSVP Mexican Riviera cruise donated by Bob Nelson, Murray Olson, and Jerry and David’s Cruises and Tours will be awarded to the top individual fundraiser.

Have You Considered Adoption?

A creative effort to spur LGBT adoption is on display through the Heart Gallery, an exhibition of professional photographs of children hoping to be adopted, family portraits of children and their LGBT parents, and art projects created by children and their GLBT parents through the Gay & Lesbian Center’s Family Services Program.

The Heart Gallery exhibit runs through Oct. 7 at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Advocate & Gochis Galleries at the Center’s The Village at Ed Gould Plaza. The project is a partnership of the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, the Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency and the Center’s Family Services Program.

For more information, and to see photographs of many of the children, please visit www.heartgalleryla.org.

Being Alive’s Spirit of Hope Awards Set for Oct. 8 at PDC

Being Alive’s Spirit of Hope Awards will be held at the Silver Screen Theater at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. Hosted by comedian Jerry Calumn, the evening will feature comics Michele Balan and Bob Smith. Honorees for their fight against AIDS include UCLA professor Roger Bohman, Dr. Eric Daar, City of West Hollywood’s Hernan Molina, casting director and community volunteer Patrick Rush, HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance Executive Director Doreen Servati, and philanthropist Chuck Williams. For tickets, call Being Alive at (310) 289-2551.

Rise Up and Shout! Showcases Gay Youth

Over 20 L.A.-based performers participated in the first Rise Up and Shout! Voices of the Next Gay Generation, an evening of performance, song and dance by gay youth. Presented by the Gay Men’s Medicine Circle at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre on Sept. 9, proceeds benefited the performers, as well as White Crane, the national journal of gay wisdom and culture. Performers included singer-songwriters, hip-hop/modern dancers, a pianist, opera vocalists, a comedian, actors, poets, and a rock band.

“This evening is history in the making,” said Dr. Donald Kilhefner of the Gay Men’s Medicine Circle. “This is the gay community’s message to our youth that we respect, honor, and bless your gifts.” Highlights included a whirlwind triple-act hip-hop dance performance from the youth of Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services and the blues-infused folk rock of Angie Evans, who led the crowd in a powerful and seductive empowerment anthem.

Sept. 11 Remembered

Openly gay Rev. Ian Elliot Davies of St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church/Hollywood was among the many religious and civic leaders who participated in a West Hollywood-sponsored commemoration at the Veterans Memorial Park of the lives of police and firefighters lost during the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

America soon discovered gay heroes among the Sept. 11 victims: Rev. Mychal Judge, chaplain to the firefighters, who stayed in the North Tower praying, and Mark Bingham, the San Francisco gay Republican public relations executive who joined fellow United 93 passengers in fighting the hijackers.

Bingham’s mother reported that her son informed her in a cell phone conversation that his plane had been hijacked and he expected to join several other passengers in an attempt to wrestle control of the plane from the hijackers.

Bingham’s plane was the one that crashed into the countryside in Pennsylvania, leading authorities to speculate that Bingham and other passengers most likely intervened to prevent the hijackers from crashing the jetliner into a building in Washington, D.C., such as the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

Bingham was among the 9/11 victims portrayed in the recently released film United 93.