AIDSLifecycle 2014 UPDATE #1 (Matthew Mullins, creator of Underground Voice LA, will be riding in AIDS Lifecycle 2014.)

Today, I give thanks for my friends who are living life to the fullest, and pay homage to the ones who have fallen from HIV/AIDS. In support of the mission to fight and put an end to AIDS, I made a very big decision this morning.

From June 1-7, 2014, I'm bicycling in AIDS/LifeCycle with my team, The Payasos. It's a 7-day, 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to make a world of difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS. My team plans to raise $50,000, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to donate whatever you can to help make a difference in our community.

On this day of friends and family, I do not celebrate Christopher Columbus and his conquest of annihilating the natives in America. Instead I celebrate my friends and family, all of you so dear to me.

After his first voyage, Columbus was appointed Viceroy and Governor of the Indies, which gave him power he ruled those territories from 1494 to 1500. He created work camps (where Indians were worked to death in as ghastly a manner as anyone in 20th century), led the troops, established slavery & mines.

Christopher Columbus used disease, firearms, and power to try and decimate the Native Americans and Spaniards.

Bartlome de Las Casas said,

'There were 60,000 people living on this island [in 1508], including both Spaniards & Indians. So that between 1494 and 1508 more than three million people died from war, slavery and the mines.'

Even if his figures were exaggerated, either 3 million as he says, a million, as some historians calculate, or some think it was 8 million, it was Columbus,who was responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people, in 6 years.

521 years later, we have other problems.

According to AIDS.gov,

'More than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and almost 1 in 5 (18.1%) are unaware of their infection.
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM),1 particularly young black/African American MSM, are most seriously affected by HIV. By race, blacks/African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV.
An estimated 15,529 people with an AIDS diagnosis died in 2010, and approximately 636,000 people in the United States with an AIDS diagnosis have died since the epidemic began.3 The deaths of persons with an AIDS diagnosis can be due to any cause—that is, the death may or may not be related to AIDS.'

AIDS and Christopher Columbus have a lot in common, but AIDS hasn't been stopped and has no 'estimated death date.'

Ending the reign of this virus is part of my mission in life.

Riding in the Haunted Hollywood Halloween Ride

I am HIV negative, and I will stay that way, but I have held more than a few hands of friends as they died from Aids related illnesses. I don't want to lose anymore. Lets stop this TOGETHER. Please donate to me today, I will be eternally grateful, and you will help my friends, my family, our community, and me.

Follow the link to my AIDS Lifecycle homepage: Donation Page for Matthew Mullins

HIV Incidence (new infections): The estimated incidence of HIV has remained stable overall in recent years, at about 50,000 new HIV infections per year. Within the overall estimates, however, some groups are affected more than others. MSM continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV infection, and among races/ethnicities, African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected.

HIV Diagnoses (new diagnoses, regardless of when infection occurred): In 2011, an estimated 49,273 people were diagnosed with HIV infection in the United States. In that same year, an estimated 32,052 people were diagnosed with AIDS. Since the epidemic began, an estimated 1,155,792 people in the United States have been diagnosed with AIDS.3

CDC estimates that 1,148,200 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, including 207,600 (18.1%) who are unaware of their infection.1 Over the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has increased, while the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. Still, the pace of new infections continues at far too high a level— particularly among certain groups.

 

 

 

 

EVENT: Open Forum on CSW LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival Wednesday, Oct. 30

Come tell CSW what you think of LA Pride. Think about your position and tell them what you want, how you feel and what you love about LA Pride.

The City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board Seeks Community Input

WEST HOLLYWOOD – The City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board will hold an open forum on the Christopher Street West (CSW) LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, in the Community Room at the West Hollywood Library. Community feedback and input regarding CSW’s annual Pride Parade and Parade and Festival will be heard during open community forum. The goal is to hear from the community at-large on what improvements may be made to make the annual event more engaging and inclusive. Input will be conveyed back to the West Hollywood City Council and the all-volunteer board of directors of Christopher Street West LA Gay Pride.

West Hollywood has been the home of the annual LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival since 1979, and has been official host and partner of the celebration since the City’s incorporation in 1984. Planning is currently underway for the 44th annual Celebration, which is scheduled for June 6-8, 2014.

The forum will be moderated by the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board Co-Chairs (Amy Ruskin and Robert Gamboa) and the Transgender Advisory Board Chair (Karina Samala). Everyone will have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes. There will be no cross talk and feel free to share in a non-biased environment. Say whatever it is you want to say about the event, positive or negative. All comments will be collected by staff and submitted to LGAB, City Council and CSW. For those unwilling to speak in public, there will be paper to write down your comment. If you need more than three minutes to speak, you will need to wait another turn. As always, please be respectful of others.

For more information on the forum, please contact Jeff Book, staff liaison for the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, (323) 848-6471. For press inquiries, please contact Kaitlin Egan at (323) 848-6431. 

2014 LA Pride Festival Overhaul Letter (Tell the city what you want!)

My last blog was for those who want to attend the city council meeting tonight in West Hollywood, where they will be approving the 2014 LA Pride Festival. If you still feel like pride isn't what it used to be, and needs an overhaul.. You can email council@weho.org and send them this prewritten letter. I have a docx copy of it, PM me for it.

The letter is as follows:

Email: council@weho.org

Subject: Regarding Item 5.A. WeHo Pride

Dear Councilmember,

Gay Pride in West Hollywood needs a major overhaul. It saddens me to see the City of West Hollywood ignoring all of the talent the entertainment capitol of the world has to offer. Yet again, you seem to be poised to give a rubber stamp of approval to the same outdated production by producers who have demonstrated only a negligible ability for improvement.

Item 5.A on Monday night’s agenda does not seek to improve CSW’s handling of their event. It only allows for Council Members to make suggestions. No doubt Councilmembers will air the same suggestions that come up year after year. These are the same suggestions that were part of an old CSW task force report done eight years that is included in the item.

Some of the recommendations that have been ignored are:
• Make LA Pride a Premier Global LGBT destination
o Hotel occupancies are down in June
o Rather than coming here, people are leaving town. Residents plan on leaving town during CSW
• Month long cultural celebration
o There has been no observable effort to promote private/public partnerships
o There is no Disney style park map, or web page listing the events that exist
• High standards for Parade Participants
o Global standards are the Rose Bowl, Macy’s, Sydney, Berlin, and Gay Games. We are nowhere near that standard.
• WeHo City Hall Liaison
o A formal liaison does not exist

These and many other suggestions will all be ignored again by CSW. The LGBT people of West Hollywood will once again be subjected to a marginal celebration of Pride when we should have the “Premier” experience. All of it will be rubber stamped by the five City Councilmembers and then you will wonder why residents leave town in droves and the hotels remain empty.

Please stop this do nothing cycle. You, as a Councilmember in the gayest city on planet earth, have the power to provide real leadership for your largest constituency. Look forward to the future, not back to the well-worn path.

Either demand substantial, accountable, changes from CSW, or put the permit out for RFP and let new talent bid on what will one day be the quintessential Pride experience on the globe. The only question is, “Will that amazing quintessential experience happen on your watch?”

Sincerely,

(Your Name)

Please help with this. It's time for a change.

Event: West Hollywood City Council Meeting "LA Pride 2013"

Tonight at the City Council meeting in West Hollywood, they will be approving the 2014 LA Pride Festival. I still feel pretty strongly about pride needing an overhaul, and there is strength in numbers..

Some of us should show up and voice our opinion. Just a thought. 

If you think that LA Pride should be different, show up!

If you are going to speak, there are a few things to remember:

1. Show up no later than 6pm. Speakers are called in the order they submitted their forms. You can leave and come back at 6:30 when the meeting starts. 625 North San Vicente Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069
parking is validated.

2. Submit a “speaker slip” in the lobby. Put 5.A in the box on the form.

3. You’ll have 2 min to speak, but you don’t have to use all two minutes.

Here are some talking points for the meeting. These are all good ideas to bring up at this meeting.

Talking Points
· WeHo Gay Pride is known for being lousy
- it needs new producers
- or it needs to be held accountable for broken promises
· Where is the list of things to do the rest of the month?
- Parties down town
- Gay sporting events
- Ethnic celebrations, Latin, Asian…
- Literary events
- Leather/fetish events
- Parent/kid events
· Local talent is non-existent. Where are the:
- talent agents
- sponsorship experts
- party producers
· Why is the broadcast low budget?
- again the talent exists here to do the best job of anywhere on the planet
· Where is the A-List experience (Packaged Deal) $500 per
- special Viewing area for parade
- brunch before festival
- special entrances to everything
- hotel roof top poop party
- special performances at House of Blues, or other venue
- transportation to events
- A-List area with food and drink
- back stage passes
· We are tired of asking CSW to show us accounting numbers
- why does Council continue to let this slide?

If you are going to go, email me. Thanks!