U.S. Department of Education Guidance Now Say Transgender Students Protected Under Federal Law4/30/2014 Transgender Law Center praised the U.S. Department of Education for releasing guidelines today that make it clear transgender and gender nonconforming students are protected from discrimination under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in schools. “We hear from hundreds of students each year who simply want to be themselves and learn at school,” said Masen Davis, Executive Director of Transgender Law Center. ”Sadly, many schools continue to exclude transgender students from being able to fully participate. Now, every school in the nation should know they are required to give all students, including transgender students, a fair chance at success.” Increasingly, courts and federal agencies are making clear that transgender and gender nonconforming people–people who do not conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity–are covered under laws that protect people from discrimination based on sex. In 2012 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled, in a case brought by Transgender Law Center, that transgender people are protected from discrimination in the workplace under Title VII, the parallel federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in employment. In 2013 the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division settled a lawsuit brought by a transgender student against the Arcadia Unified School District for denying him access to the same facilities and activities as other boys. The settlement referenced the EEOC ruling. Transgender Law Center is currently representing Seamus Johnston, a former honors student at the University of Pittsburgh, in his sex discrimination lawsuit against the university. Mr. Johnston is a transgender man. During his three years at the University of Pittsburgh, he consistently lived as male and used men’s restrooms on campus. He has also changed most of his identity documents to reflect his male gender. The University allowed him to enroll in a Weight Lifting for Men class in the spring and fall of 2012. In the fall of 2012, however, the University suddenly informed Mr. Johnston that he was no longer permitted to use the men’s restrooms or locker rooms on campus unless he obtained a new birth certificate reflecting his male gender. When he continued using the men’s facilities, the University engaged in a campaign of persecution against him, having him arrested and criminally prosecuted, and eventually expelling him, causing him to lose his full scholarship. “This case illustrates how important laws like Title IX are to protect transgender students from discrimination,” said Ilona Turner, Transgender Law Center’s Legal Director. “Today’s guidance from the Department of Education makes it crystal clear that under federal law, schools cannot exclude transgender students from the opportunity to fully participate and succeed in school.” Schools seeking sample policies to ensure all students, including transgender students, are able to fully participate at school should refer to the California School Board Association’s model policy available here. The policy was released in February of 2014 to help schools comply with both Title IX and the School Success and Opportunity Act, or AB 1266, a California law that makes sure schools know their legal obligation to make sure transgender students are able be themselves and participate at school. These recent developments in the law have been a success for students like Zoey, a 12-year-old transgender girl from the Los Angeles area who transferred out of her school after administrators there refused to acknowledge her as a girl or allow her to use the girls’ restroom. Her mom, Ofelia Barba, says that the law makes it easier for her daughter to go to school and be herself. “I love my daughter and want the same things for her that other parents want for their children,” Barba said. “I want what’s best for her, for her to be happy, and for her to be able to do well in school. No one wants to see any kid singled out and excluded from school because of who they are.” The Department of Education’s new guidance is available below.
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117 N. Limestone, Lexington, Kentucky 40508
(859) 233-7266 Committee Members Needed For Cynthiana's Fairness Campaign
Please use the contact form or call 859-951-6160 to leave your information and contact number where you can be reached If You want Cynthiana to become a LGBT fair place to live JOIN NOW MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW as Committee is formed BE A PART OF LOCAL HISTORY AND FUTURE!! Ky. Print Shop: Guns? OK. Gays? Go Away Herald Embroidery has posted a crossed-out rainbow flag on its storefront, signaling it will refuse service to customers who request 'content promoting homosexuality.' BY Daniel Reynolds A print shop in Kenucky has created a customized ban on LGBT shoppers.
Herald Embroidery, which creates personalized merchandise like T-shirts, prints, and banners, recently stamped antigay signage on its Oak Grove, Ky., storefront: a rainbow flag with a red line through it. The sticker reflects the print shop's policy to refuse service to LGBT customers and those seeking products “that promote ideas that are not in keeping with our consciences,” according to a statement on the store’s website clarifying the meaning of its graphic. “While we will serve all customers who treat our place of business with respect, we reserve the right to refuse to produce promotional products that promote ideas that are not in keeping with our consciences,” the statement reads. “This includes, but is not limited to content promoting homosexuality, freemasonry, the use of foul language, and imagery which promotes immodesty.” The crossed-out out pride sticker is one of five circular graphics on the Herald Embroidery storefront, which have been created in the style of “no shoes, no shirt, no service” policies often seen on retail establishments. Another that also has a prohibitive red line through it is a graphic that reads “foul language.” Three other images are circled in green, signaling approval: a beard, a gun, and a Biblical verse. The antigay policy has sparked a flurry of criticism on Herald Embroidery’s online reviews. In the past week, a spurned LGBT customer, Jeri Vercetti, recounted experiencing intolerance during a recent visit to the store with her wife. “My wife and I went into this shop to get shirts for my parent's anniversary,” Vercetti posted on the store’s Google Plus page. “We went in holding hands and the clerks gave us dirty looks the entire time. We didn't understand why; maybe they thought we were suspicious? I confronted one of the employees and they directed me to a sticker in the window. It had a pride flag on it and it basically meant gays weren't welcome. My wife and I were heartbroken; we just wanted shirts made! But...we wasted a trip for nothing. Guess we'll get our shirts online next time. So sad about this treatment. ):” In March, Kentucky lawmakers overrode Gov. Steve Beshear’s veto of a so-called “religious freedom” bill, which provides protections for the expression of "sincerely held religious beliefs.” Groups like the ACLU have warned that such legislation could be used as a “license to discriminate” against LGBT people and other minority groups in the public and private sectors. Description Since childhood Keagan had always felt that something was wrong; she was a girl, but felt drawn to behaving like a boy. Later in life, Keagan decided to do something about her problem. She opted for surgery that would change her life and body completely; she became a man. On the surface, Juno was a picture of success; he had been married for 29 years and had a PhD in biophysics, but never felt completely at ease. He too took the bold decision to realign his gender. This new documentary, by RT America correspondent and director Aleksey Brazhnikov, delves into transgender life in the US and explores how people face their problems, past, present and future. Hot off the presses, Gaming in Color is streaming now, over on VHX. The best part: it’s pay-what-you-want, so you can watch it for as little as $1. (But you should probably chip in more, because come on.) The doc dives deep into the game world, interviewing everyone from casual gaymers and industry insiders about queerness in gaming. What we see is a familiar story: while some folks find companionship and solace in games, others find that their online interactions are even more homophobic than in real life. The documentary charts the abuse that gaymers face, but it also highlights the community that they create and the progress that the industry has made. Slowly but surely, mainstream games are featuring more inclusive content. A decade or so ago, it would have been unthinkable for a major title like Mass Effect to include a gay storyline for the main character. But there it is! And with it comes a persistent nudge to the larger gaming community to remember that LGBTs like games too. Another major highlight is the 2013 GaymerX convention in San Francisco. Thousand of queer gamers descended on SF’s Japantown for several days of panels, tournaments, cosplay and dancing. It was a major milestone for the gayming community: everyone coming together to say “hey look! We exist, and there are a lot of us, and we are awesome!” Now would probably be a good time to pop on over to our gallery of cosplay cuties from last year’s convention. So many sexy nerds! And it’s going to be happening again, from July 11-13. Tickets are on sale now, starting at $70 for a three-day badge. We’ll be there, challenging anyone we can find to a MarioKart DS showdown Elton John graces the stage for the 2012 Rocktronic Festival in Ibiza, performing his greatest solo hits such as ‘Your Song’, ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Tiny Dancer’ and is joined by Aussie dance duo Pnau to perform their new songs together. Eddie Outlaw, a Jackson hair salon owner, displays the stickers he and some other business owners display and have distributed to others in a show of support for gay and lesbian customers, Tuesday, April 22, 2014, outside his business in Jackson, Miss. The group sees this as an effort to push back against a religious-practices bill recently signed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. The round, blue window stickers declare: “We don’t discriminate. If you’re buying, we’re selling.” JACKSON, Miss. — In conservative Mississippi, many business owners who support equal treatment for gays and lesbians are pushing back against a new law that bans government from limiting the free practice of religion. Critics fear the vaguely written law, which takes effect July 1, will prompt authorities to look away from anti-gay actions that are carried out in the name of religious beliefs — for example, photographers refusing to take pictures for same-sex couples because they believe homosexuality is a sin. But hundreds of businesses, from hair salons to bakeries and art galleries, have started displaying round blue window stickers that declare: “We don’t discriminate. If you’re buying, we’re selling.” Rogelio V. Solis, APEddie Outlaw, a Jackson hair salon owner who went out of state to marry his husband, sits in the barber shop he owns in Jackson, Miss. Rogelio V. Solis, APA Jackson hair salon displays a round, blue window sticker declaring: “We don’t discriminate. If you’re buying, we’re selling,” Tuesday, April 22, 2014, in Jackson, Miss. The sticker campaign started earlier this month in response to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant’s signing the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law says government cannot put a substantial burden on religious practices, without a compelling reason. While it does not specifically mention gays or lesbians, “People are going to take it as permission, if you will, to discriminate against people they don’t necessarily agree with or like,” said Jackson hair salon owner Eddie Outlaw, 42, who went out of state to marry his husband. “We have a long and well-documented history of discrimination in this state,” Outlaw said. “To think there won’t be any discrimination is laughable.” Outlaw is among the leaders of the “We don’t discriminate” campaign, and he displays one of the stickers in the window of his salon in Jackson’s eclectic Fondren neighborhood. Organizers say the first 500 decals were distributed in about two weeks to businesses from the Tennessee state line in the north down to the Gulf Coast. Another 1,000 stickers were on order. Bryant won praise from national conservative groups, including the Family Research Council, by signing the legislation that was backed by the state’s Pentecostals and Southern Baptists. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who traveled from Washington to Jackson for a private bill signing ceremony April 3, is among Bryant’s backers. “Those who understand the importance and cherish the historic understanding of religious freedom are grateful for leaders who respond to fact and not fictitious claims of those who are trying to quarantine faith within the walls of our churches or homes,” he said. Bryant said the Mississippi act mirrors a federal law President Bill Clinton signed in 1993 and that 18 other states have enacted since the mid-1990s. The governor also said he does not believe Mississippi’s law, which also adds “In God We Trust” to the state seal, will lead to anti-gay discrimination. “I would hope that people will realize that the law has no element in it that the federal law does not have in it,” Bryant told The Associated Press in his Capitol office. “It is the same discussion of not burdening someone’s religious freedom — that the government, government should not burden someone’s religious freedom without a compelling interest.” In 2004, 86 percent of Mississippi voters approved a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The state has a hate-crimes law, but it does not cover acts committed against gays and lesbians. Mitchell Moore owns Campbell’s Bakery, which is just up a hill from Outlaw’s salon. Moore helped create the “We don’t discriminate” sticker campaign, though he jokingly calls himself an “interloper” because he’s not gay. Moore, a Republican, said he’s angry because he believes Bryant and legislators are presuming to speak for the business community, and he said emphatically that they’re not. “I am a straight, white, Southern, Christian conservative male,” Moore said. “I don’t understand why Christians consider one sin worse than another sin.” Joce Pritchett, 46, grew up in north Mississippi’s Webster County and lives and works in the Jackson area. She displays one of the “We don’t discriminate” stickers in the window of the civil-engineering business she owns. Pritchett and her wife wed in 2013 in Maine, which legalized same-sex marriage, and they have two young children. She said she’s tired of hearing religious people say, “Love the sinner, hate the sin,” while speaking of gays and lesbians. “We don’t consider it a sin,” Pritchett said. “They pat you on the head and say, ‘I love you, honey. I’ll love you all the way to hell.’” She said when the Mississippi House and Senate passed the bill on April 1, she heard from a friend who told her: “‘Oh, my God. We’re going to be Arizona.’” Arizona is among the states that has had its own Religious Freedom Restoration Act on the books for years. It drew national attention earlier this year with a bill that would have altered the existing law by allowing businesses to refuse service to gays. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the bill after companies said it would hurt the state. An early version of the Mississippi bill was similar to the one vetoed in Arizona. The final version, however, had been changed to only specify that government could not put a burden on religious practices, without a compelling reason. Portions that would’ve allowed private businesses to refuse service were removed. While the Mississippi law angers him, Outlaw said he sees it as backlash from religious conservatives who are resisting equal treatment for gays and lesbians, including the right to marry. “The rational part of me realizes this is just the death rattle of the old way of life.” Eddie Outlaw, a Jackson hair salon owner who went out of state to marry his husband, sits in the barber shop he owns in Jackson, Miss. A Jackson hair salon displays a round, blue window sticker declaring: “We don’t discriminate. If you’re buying, we’re selling,” Tuesday, April 22, 2014, in Jackson, Miss.
Reince Priebus is Chairman of the Republican National Committee As bans against same-sex marriage crumble and public opinion on the issue shifts rapidly, some Republicans are pushing the party to drop its opposition to same-sex unions, part of a broader campaign to get the GOP to appeal to younger voters by de-emphasizing social issues.
APReince Priebus is Chairman of the Republican National Committee. This month, the Nevada Republican party dropped statements on marriage from its party platform, making it the second state party in the nation to do so after Indiana’s GOP quietly jettisoned its plank in 2012. A gay rights group last week launched a $1 million campaign to get the national party to remove from its platform a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, while a group of major Republican donors is pushing for the GOP to become more supportive of gay rights across the board. “There are people with sincerely held beliefs on both sides of the marriage issue, and that seems to be where the party is heading,” said Jeff Cook-McCormac, an adviser to the American Unity Fund, which has been financed by wealthy donors such as hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer to push the GOP to back gay rights. “The Republican Party in Nevada is doing something that I think we’re going to see a lot more of, which is appealing to the things that unite Republican voters across the country — bread and butter issues.” But social conservatives warn that if the GOP abandons its core moral principles, it may also lose loyal voters. “It is very much a mistake for the GOP to step away from marriage. The rank-and-file Republicans, mainstream Republicans, very much believe marriage is between a man and a woman,” said Chris Plante, spokesman for the National Organization for Marriage. “For the GOP to give in to elites, to promises of money, and to progressives within the party is the wrong thing. It’s bad politics. Marriage is a winning issue.” The greatest test will come in Nevada, a swing state where the state party also dropped its opposition to abortion during its biannual convention on April 12. The push arose from Clark County, home to libertine Las Vegas and three-quarters of the state’s population. “Younger people believe they’re getting screwed by the Democrats on fiscal issues, and screwed by Republicans on social issues,” said Nick Phillips, the Clark County party’s political director. “Take that away, and you’ve got a party you can get behind.” The state has no organized bloc of socially conservative voters. The state’s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, supports abortion rights, recently decided to drop the state’s defense of a lawsuit challenging its gay-marriage ban, and is so popular that no significant Democrat is challenging him for re-election this year. But there is still some bitterness over the platform within the party, which has been riven for years by infighting among rival conservative factions. “If they come up with a totally neutered, watered-down platform that stands for nothing, they’re going to disgust the base,” said Ira Hansen, a Republican Nevada assemblyman. “They alienate them and humiliate them and then expect them to vote.” Seventeen states allow gay marriage and 59 percent of Americans supported it in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. That’s a sharp turnaround from a decade ago, when same-sex marriage was a Republican wedge issue that galvanized social conservatives and was widely unpopular with voters. Although a majority of Republicans remain opposed to same-sex marriage, the dynamic is reversed among younger members of the GOP. A Pew Research Poll found 61 percent of Republicans ages 18 to 29 supported marriage equality Even before Nevada’s vote, activists in other local Republican parties were trying to shed the gay-marriage issue. Oregon Republican activists at an annual conference last month endorsed a ballot measure to legalize gay marriage in that state, though social conservatives boycotted the event. In liberal Marin County, Calif., where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1, the county party issued a statement last summer saying it supported legalizing same-sex marriage. “No one really knows where you stand on something until you tell them,” said Kevin Krick, chair of the Marin County Republican Central Committee. Still, pushes to change course on same-sex marriage have provoked staunch resistance. In Broward County, Fla., a Republican party secretary who tried to rally support for pro-gay-marriage Republicans last summer faced fierce internal backlash and has since left the post. In Illinois, then-Republican party chairman Pat Brady took heat last spring when he made statements supporting gay marriage, and he stepped down to become a lobbyist. In party elections last week, however, six of the seven committeemen who had called for Brady’s ouster were themselves replaced. One of the main national gay-rights groups, Freedom to Marry, argues that Republicans now are like Democrats a decade ago — they want to support gay marriage but are afraid of possible political repercussions. Freedom to Marry is helping fund a campaign to change that by urging delegates to remove opposition to same-sex marriage from the party’s national platform. Campaign manager Tyler Deaton said the goal is simply to remove the language opposing gay marriage rather than replace it with an endorsement of a union that remains opposed by some members of the GOP. “Our aim is to make the national platform less divisive toward gay people and their families — and more focused on unifying all conservatives around our core beliefs,” Deaton said. Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said the party platform “stands for traditional marriage” and potential changes won’t come up until the next national convention in 2016. Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, said that even if Republicans are balking at publicly accepting gay marriage, they are clearly walking away from the issue. “The heat is off, the wedge has lost its edge,” said McKinnon, who is helping Freedom to Marry promote same-sex union support in the South. “Republican candidates this cycle may not be running on the issue of gay marriage, but they’re not running against it.” LOUISVILLE, Ky. — City officials in Louisville, Ky., have told the town council they can not approve expenses to keep a city pool open late for local Boy Scouts because the organization’s ban on gay scout leaders violates the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
Louisville, Ky. Councilwoman Cindi Fowler sought to direct neighborhood development money to expand swimming hours at a local park for scouts pursuing their swimming badge, reports the Courier Journal. But the request was blocked because “the Boy Scouts organization cannot provide documentation of an employment policy that does not discriminate against individuals, specifically sexual orientation.” The county attorney’s office must approve all expenditures of neighborhood development funds. A spokeswoman for County Attorney Mike O’Connell, confirmed the request had been denied. City pools are still available to Scouts during normal operating hours. Louisville is one of six Kentucky municipalities with “fairness” ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The others are Covington, Frankfort, Lexington-Fayette County, Morehead and Vicco. Fingersmith: Susan "Sue" Trinder is a fingersmith (British slang for thief) who lives in the slums of London with a baby farmer (person who looks after unwanted babies) Mrs.Sucksby. When a once rich man, who gambled all his money away, presents them with a scam that has a payout of 40,000 pounds, Sue signs on to swindle rich Maud Lilly. Maud is an orphan who lives with her uncle, but what exactly is going on in the Lilly house? Sue will pose as Maud's maid so that Mr.Rivers (the gentleman) can get close to and eventually marry her. Their plan is to put Maud in the madhouse and take the money for themselves. All goes astray though when Sue falls in love with Maud. And the question is: Who can you trust? The Men Next Door: This is a fast-paced comedy about a 40-year-old gay man who finds himself dating two equally lovable men - a secure 50-year-old who came out later in life, and an adventurous 30-year-old who wasn't looking for a relationship. What he doesn't find out right away is that the two men are, in fact, father and son. And as they say, wackiness ensues.
Released: July 14, 2012 “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, a former pro wrestler once declared by the WWE as the most profitable wrestler in the history of the company, let his thoughts on gay marriage be known during a podcast he now runs for pro-wrestling fans. The comments were made months ago, but have only recently begun to catch wind in the media and wrestling circles alike.
If you expected the man who made millions being a hyper-masculine mass of total destruction to give a tame opinion on the subject, think again. His forceful and solid defense of same-sex marriage is as explicit and blunt as his career was: “I don’t give a shit if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is, I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the goddamn world, that wants to be married, and if it’s same-sex, more power to ‘em.” “What also chaps my ass, some of these churches, have the high horse that they get on and say ‘we as a church do not believe in that.’ Which one of these motherfuckers talked to God, and God said that same-sex marriage was a no-can-do?” Blessed be, Stone Cold. “OK, so two cats can’t get married if they want to get married, but then a guy can go murder 14 people, molest five kids, then go to fucking prison, and accept God and He’s going to let him into heaven? After the fact that he did all that shit? See that’s all horse shit to me, that don’t jive with me.” Amen. John-Manuel Andriote Journalist and author, 'Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America' Thirty years ago, in an April 23, 1984 press conference in Washington, D.C., the world learned that American microbiologist Robert C. Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute had proved that a retrovirus first seen by their counterparts at Institut Pasteur in Paris was the cause of AIDS.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Heckler also announced that day that the Gallo team had created a blood test to detect antibodies produced by the body to fight infection. With it we finally had the ability to know who was infected, to screen donated blood and to track the spread of the virus. By the time of the announcement, 4,177 AIDS cases had been reported in the United States across 45 states. New York City alone accounted for more than 1,600 cases. San Francisco, far smaller than the nation's largest city and the East Coast's biggest gay mecca, had more than 500 cases. The majority of these cases were among gay men of all skin tones. Although the HIV test was originally intended to screen the blood supply, it became available to the public in early 1985. After early uncertainty about what, exactly, a positive test meant, it became clear it meant that a microbial time-bomb was ticking inside you, set to explode at some unpredictable time in a nightmare that would eventually lead to your death from the cancers, dementia, brain infections and other horrors that attack a body when HIV has destroyed the immune system. Fortunately, it has been nearly two decades since a positive HIV test meant an inevitable death sentence. I had to learn this myself after my doctor shocked me in 2005 with the news that I'd tested HIV-positive. I had no idea I was infected -- just like the startling number of people today who learn they are HIV-positive only after HIV has seriously damaged their immune system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about 1.1 million people in the United States were living with HIV at the end of 2010, the most recent available figures. Of them, the CDC estimates that about 16 percent do not know they are infected. What's more, the centers say that fewer than 30 percent of those who know they are positive are adhering to their medical treatment -- the only way to keep the virus as close to 'in check' as it can be today and to reduce to nearly zero your infectiousness to others. April 23 also marks another important anniversary in the HIV epidemic. It was 20 years ago -- April 23, 1994, the 10th anniversary of the Heckler press conference -- that a man described as "the father of the HIV prevention lobby in Washington" died from AIDS at age 34. William A. Bailey, better known as Bill, was the reason I moved to Washington, D.C., after finishing journalism school in early 1986. We were a couple when Bill tested HIV-positive that year. We struggled together with the terror that was life with HIV in those days. To say it was tough is really an understatement. With Bill's encouragement, I focused my reporting beginning in 1986 on the HIV epidemic and the drama unfolding in Washington as gay Americans mounted a political lobby with the aim of getting federal funding for what were largely volunteer community-based, volunteer care and support programs. For his part, Bill became a powerhouse lobbyist for the American Psychological Association -- advocating for the nation's mental health professionals to take a leading role in designing HIV prevention interventions aimed at those at greatest risk, which is to say gay and bisexual men. As a co-chair of National Organizations Responding to AIDS (NORA), a Washington-based coalition of professional and trade groups interested in HIV/AIDS, Bill influenced and shaped important legislation with enormous impact on thousands of gay men's (and other Americans') lives. As a co-chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, he worked to make sure that gay men's needs didn't get shunted aside as the government focused on politically safe women and kids with AIDS while neglecting the largest single group of Americans affected by the epidemic. Later in the spring of 1994, the American Psychological Association hosted Bill's memorial cocktail party in its impressive building on Capitol Hill. People were there from Congress, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from the National Institutes of Health and from every gay rights and HIV/AIDS organization in Washington. The APA created, and continues, the William A. Bailey Health and Behavior Congressional Fellowship to honor Bill's "tireless advocacy on behalf of psychological research, training and services related to HIV/AIDS." Bill died only a year before life-saving combination medications became available. But it could never be said that Bill slipped quietly into that good night. He went out fighting, a proud gay man, unashamed to have had the misfortune of crossing paths with a particular microbe that many still believe is something shameful, a warrior. The anniversaries marked on April 23 -- the 30th anniversary of the scientific discovery that unlocked the door to developing treatment for HIV and preventing new infections, the 20th anniversary of the passing of a key figure in gay America's heroic efforts to direct national prevention resources toward those most impacted by HIV -- will forever stand out in the history of the HIV pandemic, and, I would suggest, humanity. I never tire of telling other gay men -- especially younger men -- about the proud legacy that men like Bill Bailey left us. But it's up to us to claim for ourselves the power of that legacy. Own it for yourself. Let it inspire healthy behavior. Believe you have a future worth living for because you can look to role models, like Bill, who faced some of the worst that nature and other human beings can throw at us -- and are still being remembered with gratitude two decades since departing this life. |