Before it turned into lazy comedians' anti-gay punchline at bad comedy clubs across the country, HIV/AIDS continues to kill scores of people all over the world. But it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, many people now live healthy and long lives thanks in part to the wonders of pricey medicine by greedy drug manufactures. That said, today is National HIV Testing Day. So, come on, get tested already! It doesn't hurt -- the swabs are nothing but gentle glides! -- and it's a super smart and respectful thing to do if you and your partner haven't done so already. more ›

After heading out to play in the Civic Center during the Gay Pride festivities and Gay Inc.-related parties and whatnot, be sure to check out Life Before the Lifeboat on KQED. Airing this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. It will be well worth your time as you comedown from your Corona-induced high. more ›

On Sunday, May 22, San Francisco will mark the 30th anniversary of when the first AIDS case was reported in the city. To reflect on the occasion, Twin Peaks will don a giant red ribbon, similar the pink triangle seen each Pride weekend. BAR reports: "San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano, Supervisor Scott Weiner, volunteers, and others will gather Sunday, May 22 at Twin Peaks Viewpoint. Installation begins at 8 a.m. The dedication ceremony will be at 11 a.m." The ribbon, visible across the Bay Area, will remain up from May 22 to June 19. more ›

While the battle cry for jesuit school's radio station gets louder and louder, the outcry over the closure over San Francisco's queer and HIV institutions grows quieter and quieter. (Except for a noted SoMa leather bar, naturally.) Local activist Michael Petrelis has compiled a surprising list of such establishments either in peril or shuttered. "I've gathered a comprehensive list, just to map out failed business enterprises in the Castro and other city districts, to get an understanding for myself of the queer landscape in San Francisco over the past two years," Petrelis writes. "Only entities that died or faced significant challenges since 2009 are included." more ›

The BAR (where one can now - at last! - comment on articles) says that HIV infections in San Francisco are now in "retreat." Over the last decade, the rate of new HIV cases has dwindled. Significantly so! Check it out: more ›

Today we find news about two local companies with HIV drugs that are receiving some fresh attention. more ›

Lightning-quick blogger Allan Hough of Mission Mission spotted this odd bit of AIDS cure awareness, or lack thereof. Namely, the new Tim Lincecum HIV/AIDS awareness PSAs on BART trains. The copy reads, "Until there’s a cure, Tim Lincecum throws strikes." more ›

Some last-minute screenings of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly have been scheduled on Friday night as part of a national protest of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's removal of the video from their Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit last week because it was declared “hate speech” by Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, incoming House Speaker John Boehner, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. more ›

Today, Dec. 1, is World AIDS Day, a time set aside to collectively "take action to tackle HIV prejudice and to protect yourself and others from HIV transmission." more ›

The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA) are "demanding a full explanation for the unauthorized and illegal disclosures of confidential identifying information of approximately 5,000 HIV-positive Medi-Cal recipients." Beginning in 2007, the leaked information was sent to a third party service provider. more ›

After 35 years of providing mental health, substance abuse, and senior services to the LGBT community, HIV/AIDS patients and beyond, New Leaf announced it will close its doors by the middle of October. Why? Because it ran out of money. Everything from high operational costs, reportedly poor management, and a tenacious economic crisis are to blame. more ›

LAN Airlines, a "gay-friendly" airline that served as the official international airline for San Francisco Pride 2010, has a new ad campaign popping up at Muni stops all over San Francisco. more ›

Sunday's 6.2-mile SF AIDS Walk pulled in more than $3 million. An estimated 25,000 participants showed up to help raise much-needed funds for HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and care. more ›

While AIDS humor will never fail to tickle the funny bones of lazy comedians and the BPR-swilling set, people are still dying from it. Yes, still. Right in your neighborhood too. The AIDS Memorial Quilt -- conceived by activist Cleve Jones as a way of remembering the dead -- now exists as one of our country's greatest contributions to folk art. Weighing an around 54 tons, it is the largest piece of community folk art in the world. more ›

by Justin Juul M.C. Mars is a 59 year-old rapper with HIV who has been driving cabs for over thirty years. He’s also a published writer and a former sex machine. No big deal, really. The cool thing about Mars is that, even though he’s of-a-certain-age, unsigned, and grappling with an incurable disease, he still gets up every morning and makes shit happen on his own terms. He may not be the best rapper in the world and he may not be famous or wealthy, but at least he never rolled over and got a desk job. Instead, he performs weekly at Royale, makes music like crazy, and works on his upcoming novel every day... more ›

A clinical trial is taking place in San Francisco for HIV+ people who are exhibiting flu symptoms in which they can qualify for free in-home doctor visits. Quest Clinical Studies, Conant Medical Group and Adamas Pharmaceuticals are testing a triple combination antiviral drug (TCAD) therapy for influenza. If you or someone you know has HIV and is exhibiting 100-degree or higher fever in addition to fatigue and other symptoms, you should call 1-888-5-HIV-FLU to see if you qualify. In addition to receiving home treatment, study subjects will have all their treatment, including prescriptions and lab costs, covered, and will be compensated for time and travel. more ›

Conducted by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, a new vaccine study has shown "modest" benefits in preventing HIV. Said results show that we could have a "safe and effective" preventive vaccine at some point in the near future. According to CBS 5/AP, "The vaccine—a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines—cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the world's largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok." more ›

The fine folks over at the Bay Area Reporter have word that local health officials will postpone "cutting AIDS contracts until mid-October in order to give the Board of Supervisors time to respond to a nearly $4 million cut in state funding." The nearly $60 million cuts to AIDS health care and HIV prevention services, which could prove disastrous, might even get restored. Somehow. While vacationing in Provincetown, San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty told the BAR, "'It should be a top priority, that is what those funds are for. I will start by asking for full restoration and see where we end up,'" going on to say, "'Neither myself, nor Supervisor David Campos, nor my other colleagues on the board will stand by and let agencies be decimated because of this state action.'" Read more about it here. more ›

While we'll wait to ask you all to throwout your condoms, we did just come across this interesting story about an American man who, it seems, "appears to have been cured of [the wily HIV virus] 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia." It seems doctors in Germany are claiming this major win. But! American Dr. Andrew Badley, the director of the HIV and immunology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., claims that said tests have probably not been extensive enough. Still: This news is always good to hear. We're certain to hear more about this alleged curing in the next few days. (CBS 5) more ›

(By Joe Kukura) more ›

Gay men and uppers go together like peanut butter and chocolate. It's just the way God wanted it. But that hasn't stopped Joel Schumacher's "I Lost Me to Meth" campaign from saturating San Francisco, even though meth use is down as of last year, before the campaign began. more ›

And speaking of methamphetamines, this above always unleashes a big brouhaha in the bent community: to chastise or not to chastise zippy drug use. The most recent ad campaign--a four-month media blitz produced by the California Methamphetamine Initiative called "Me, Not Meth"--can been seen throughout the city, mainly in the Castro and SOMA arrondisments. And those ads you've seen on TV, featuring men sitting at their desks and talking into webcams? Part of the same ad and directed by Joel Schumacher. SF Aids Foundation has more info here. more ›

For better or for worse, spring is in the air. And with that comes the many AIDS Lifecycle Fundraisers that will litter the city for the next few months or so. While AIDS charities aren't necessarily our bag -- they come off as a tad too insufferably A-gay for us or for anyone who makes less than a six-figure income -- this one will surely make the gays squeal for a while. more ›

While not all of us are fortunate enough to zip around in swank Aston Martins, or have sleek Tesla waiting for us on the horizon, the "bus of the future" is the next best thing. Well, almost. more ›

With over a dozen or so problems that the above graffiti could have critiqued about this poster advertising the Academy of Friends annual "gala" fundraiser for HIV/AIDS -- such as paying to attend an event to watch the Oscars; or the lack of originality with this year's title, "Shaken Not, Stirred" -- he or she takes the easy route here, pointing out the obvious homosexual nature of the event. Meh. more ›

Your Black Muslim Bakery -- the prominent and notorious Oakland setting featured in many a Chauncey Bailey story -- will probably be sold today to Vital Life Services, a nondenominational "nonprofit serving people living with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses," founded in 1987. The high bidder NCK LLC, a limited liability corporation, plans on buying the space, then turning it over to VLS. (Aw.) The property was also sought after by several other interested... more ›

So are we! more ›

As mentioned in today's Chronicle, the idea of a safe-space in which intravenous drug users can shoot up -- without fear of arrests, beatings, rapes, or whatever happens in those movies after heroin's sweet release -- might become a reality. Or at least, discussed in length at this Thursday's all-day symposium hosted by the city Department of Public Health. more ›

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro: Gary Singh wants the San Jose flea market to move to City Hall. Folks moving from city to city to run for office -- hey, at least they actually move into the city they want to represent down in the South Bay. Ed Jew, take a note! Cover: yay the environment, reduce your carbon footprint by buying a Prius. There's a gymnastics meet on the Olympics circuit this weekend. Stick the landing! Judd Apatow continues to have problems writing good female characters. A local guy's short films are really good. They screen Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes in a movie theater in Campbell? The new Philip Glass symphony sounded really good in Santa Cruz. Central Vietnamese food in a new Vietnam Town Santana Row-ish setting, And mmmm, stone fruit. more ›

Happy Anniversary, PAWS! more ›