Top HIV Stories of 2014

This was a banner year for HIV, with many inspiring stories about advances in rights for people living with HIV in prisons, health care and even in remembering their legacies. One man instituted the first national long-term survivors day, and another got healthy and ran the Boston Marathon, in memory of the bombing victims. If you're looking to have your heartstrings tugged, look no further.

POBA Site Helps Preserve Legacies of Artists Lost to AIDS: From a literary lion with a hidden gift for drawing, to a young choreographer whose early success was cut short in the early years of AIDS, many established and undiscovered artists leave behind a wealth of work with little or no direction on how it should be preserved for future generations. Now, their legacy lives on with POBA/Where the Arts Live, an online platform.

"A whole generation of the best and brightest creative talent had their lives and their work cut short," said POBA Spokesperson Jennifer Cohen. "Though we'll never know all of the great work they had ahead of them, we can and should celebrate the great work and stories they left behind. They can still "speak' to us, if we have the opportunity to listen. That's what POBA does, it gives us the chance to hear and see the exceptional creative output of an entire generation that might otherwise be silenced by the passing of time."

Dedicated to helping families, representatives, estates, publishers and anyone who owns the rights to an artist's creative legacy, POBA is an online platform that provides the first and most comprehensive resource for preserving, showcasing and promoting the work of artists who died without recognition of the full measure of their talents.
Read more here.

Long-Term AIDS Survivor Runs Boston Marathon for Victims: On Monday, April 21, long-term AIDS survivor Stephen Kovacev returned to run in this year's Boston Marathon, in honor of those who lost their lives, including eight-year-old Martin Richard. After coming back from near death, in 1997 Stephen Kovacev became the first person with full-blown AIDS to complete the Boston Marathon.

"What happened last year shattered many lives and a historic annual event that fills the streets from Hopkinton to Boston with camaraderie and love was turned into a tragedy," said Kovacev before the race. "I am running to be part of reclaiming the spirit of the Boston Marathon and honored to be running in support for those who lost their lives and limbs."
Read more here.

June 5 is the First National Long Term HIV Survivors Day: In 1983, while he was still in his 20s, Tez Anderson found out that he was HIV-positive. Although doctors told him he only had two years to live, somewhere along the way he turned 50. Faced with the prospect of a future he hadn't planned for, Anderson fell into a deep depression. When he finally realized that he wasn't the only one dealing with "AIDS Survivor Syndrome," he started Long Term HIV Survivors Day, the first of which will be held on June 5.

"What I hear most is that I'm not the only one," said Anderson. "I thought I was going crazy, and was ashamed of it. But once I began talking about my experience, I realized I was on to something."
Read more here.

Ross Mathews, SF's Grand Marshal, Says Get Tested for HIV: Talk show host Ross Mathews, who just finished wrapping season two of "Hello Ross!" is honored this week to serve as Grand Marshal of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. He will use the platform to provide a positive role model for LGBT youth, and to encourage HIV testing as part of his partnership with OraSure and their at-home oral HIV test, OraQuick.

"The parade is mostly about me waving while sitting on the back of a convertible, but it is also a validation of something I set out to do long ago when I first started working in this industry," said Mathews. "I always wanted to be a talk show host, and to have something I didn't have as a kid: A happy, openly gay, successful grown-up role model. I consciously try to provide this for kids to know that they can be whoever they are and have a happy life. After all, I was chosen as Grand Marshal of San Francisco Pride, so that shows that it works!"

He is also using his platform to encourage people to get tested for HIV, in tandem with June 27, National HIV Testing Day. Mathews has worked for the past year to promote OraQuick, the at-home HIV testing kit.
Read more here.

Philly Fight Holds 12th Annual Prison Health Care Summit: On June 10, as part of Philadelphia FIGHT's city-wide month 20th Annual AIDS Education Month, they will tackle the problem of incarceration and return to the community with "Beyond the Walls: The 12th Annual Prison Health and Reentry Summit," at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. New York Times bestselling author Michelle Alexander will be the keynote speaker.

"The summit provides a unique opportunity to bring diverse stakeholders to the table to explore the effect of mass incarceration on our communities," says Hannah Zellman, Director, Philadelphia FIGHT's Institute for Community Justice (ICJ), and Coordinator of the Prison Health Care & Reentry Summit.

"Our goal is not only to highlight innovative work happening in the field, but to bring the experiences of those most directly impacted to the forefront of these conversations. The summit prioritizes hearing from individuals with records, their loved ones, and those still on the inside, because we know that for our work to be successful it must be grounded in their wisdom."

The event is part of a series of events, conferences and workshops to increase HIV/AIDS awareness, and explore the issues of prevention, treatment and social justice. Through panels and workshops, they will take a closer look at health and reentry challenges facing people who are incarcerated or reentering our communities, including HIV, mental health issues, substance use, housing, employment, advocacy, mentorship and educational programs. Read more here.

Criticism High for FDA's New Blood Donation Policy: On December 23, after more than 30 years, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would recommend replacing their outdated lifetime blood donation ban on men who have sex with men, in favor of a one-year deferral period, requiring MSM to be celibate for a year prior to donation. While many consider this a step in the right direction, criticism still runs high for the policy, which many consider to be discriminatory toward gay and bisexual men.

"I am encouraged that the Obama Administration has taken this step forward because I have long fought to revise this outdated policy that is medically and scientifically unwarranted," said sponsor Sen. Tammy Baldwin. "Our goal is to replace this discriminatory, lifetime ban on blood donations by healthy gay and bisexual men with a policy based on individual risk. While this announcement represents needed progress, I remain concerned that it does not achieve our goal of putting in place a policy that is based on sound science and allows all healthy individuals to donate."

Last week, Senator Baldwin led over 75 members of Congress in calling on HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell to end the outdated and discriminatory ban, and replace it by instituting a risk-based policy.Read more here.