Florida Agenda

By Rory Barbarossa & Bob Kecskemety

Photo: L-R:  Senator Ed Murray (D), Governor Christine Gregoire (D), and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D) All Support Same-Sex Marriage Legislation for Washington.

OLYMPIA, WA Last week, the state’s top lawmakers were divided over what priority to give the same-sex marriage debate at a time Washington is facing a budget crisis. Republican leaders threatened to bring budget talks to a standstill if Democrats insist on making a stand on “social issues.”

State Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt told the annual Associated Press Legislative Preview on Jan. 5 that the legislature’s time would be best occupied with matters other than same-sex marriage. “This is not the session for social reforms,” Hewitt told reporters. “The last thing we need to do is be down here in turmoil over social issues.”

Hewitt also took a swipe at fellow Washington state lawmaker Ed Murray, who is gay and a leading supporter of gay marriage legislation. Hewitt accused him of being too close to the issue to be objective, saying that Murray, a Democrat, is “vested in this personally.”

Murray shot back at the Republican leader: “We’re more than one-issue members,” adding, “I’m a little surprised he’s questioning my ability.”
State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, accused the Republican minority of trying to run down the clock on an issue whose time has come. “This is the right time to move forward with marriage equality,” she said.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire echoed Brown’s remarks, noting that the long-view of history.

“To those who say we don’t have the time, what will history say when we say, ’Sorry, we had a budget to pass, so we continued to discriminate.’ That answer does not work,” Brown said. “This is our test. This is what leadership is about. Now is our time.”

Gregoire announced last week that she will introduce legislation that would allow same-sex marriages in Washington state. The announcement represents a change for Gregoire. While she has supported gay and lesbian partners having the same rights that straight married couples enjoy, she has never specifically endorsed same-sex marriage publicly.

Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in six states: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont and the District of Columbia. Nine states, including California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington, provide same-sex couples with access to the state level benefits and responsibilities of marriage, through either civil unions or domestic partnerships.

Everyone looks towards the New Year as being better than the last – I am no different. The year 2010 was what I thought was a rough one so I looked forward to 2011 with great optimism. After all, what could have been worse than 2010? I soon found out.

I was at most major community events. I lived in the gay community. I was out there photographing, videoing, writing and reporting on the community for the last 25 years for just about every gay publication in the area at one time or another.

I started feeling ill in the summer of 2010. I knew I was under a lot of stress especially after having helped plan the Stonewall Festival in Wilton Manors. This, following the very successful “Wicked Manors” the October before, the last year “The Drive” had been shut down to car traffic on Halloween.

By the time the end of 2010 rolled around, I was having every little symptom of being sick you can imagine, but none of them at the same time. Some days I would have the chills, some days I would be very tired, some days I would be light-headed, some days other little symptoms, or I would feel just fine. But the temperatures were colder than normal over the holidays, so I thought I was just fighting off the flu because everybody was coming down with something.

I attended New Year’s Eve festivities in the Shoppes of Wilton Manors with no problem but within a few days, all of the symptoms – plus many more – started to attack me all at once. So bad in fact, I was taken to the emergency room on January 10 and just in time since I collapsed while in the waiting room.

I was admitted and went through the normal pre-examination “vitals”: temperature was high, blood pressure was high. The nurse removed my shoes and stated, “oh my god.” I thought she was talking about foot odor but no, she pointed out that my feet were orange and very swollen. The next thing out of her mouth was “kidneys.” Emergency testing of my blood showed that indeed my kidneys had failed and the toxins had built up to critical levels. I met my first doctor who told me had I waited another 24 hours, I would have died. I went through quick surgery to make preparations for kidney dialysis.

I spent the next three weeks in the hospital as the doctors checked everything out. In addition to the kidney problems, they discovered bladder cancer. I was told not to be too concerned with the bladder at this time as it’s a very tough organ but they needed to rid my body of the toxins with dialysis and treatment first, then take care of the bladder. $233,000 dollars later, I went home, continued with dialysis three times a week and was scheduled to return to the hospital in April to remove the bladder. The doctor told me that, though it is rare, the kidneys have been known to come back to life to some degree in some cases, but warned me not to count on it.

At first, the dialysis was helping and, though I felt weak immediately after treatment, I was feeling much better. Then, I started feeling worse than ever before and started to lose weight fast – too fast – in fact, I lost 110 pounds in three months and my blood toxin levels started to go crazy and I was often feeling worse than ever. The doctors didn’t seem concerned, so neither was I.

When I returned to the hospital in April for the bladder removal, initial tests showed that my kidneys had started to function at a very limited basis. My left kidney was literally dead with only working at around 1% efficiency; my right kidney was now working at around 38% — enough to operate on their own. The reason I was feeling so bad was because both the kidney dialysis machine and my internal kidneys were fighting each other over control of my body. Though my kidneys were partially working, dialysis was no longer needed.

It was also decided that since the kidneys were working again, we should try to save the bladder and cure than cancer instead of just removing it right off. However, what was also discovered was that I also had bone cancer in my hip.

As the year progressed, I’ve been off dialysis and I’ve been going through chemotherapy for the cancers. This past October, scans, prods, probes and tests show that the bladder cancer is in remission, but the bone cancer has somewhat spread. Again, my oncologist has told me that there are different treatments for bone cancer that we haven’t tried yet. I am now going through the second regiment of chemo drugs which are rougher on my body.

Being cynical by nature, I’ve learned some important lessons this past year. First, I’ve learned to appreciate life and what life has to offer.

Things that I would normally stress over–and I can’t afford any stress, now–I’ve learned to brush off. Second, I’ve learned to take life slower, but then again, I really didn’t have much of a choice. Finally, I’ve realized what great friends I have and my huge support group.

There are those people that didn’t walk, but came running to my side as soon as I took ill like Brad Casey, Tim Yatteau, Ryan Dixon, Sheri Elfman, Dan Renzi and Robert Cieslak. There are also those who were able to give me great advice to follow concerning my mental and physical state like Terry DeCarlo, Paul Hyman, Peter Clark, and longtime friend Norm Kent. Florida Agenda publisher Bobby Blair never lost faith in me and, through it all, I never missed writing in a single issue of the newspaper and also accepted my new, limited physical abilities. (Learning to type on a laptop while lying in bed is a skill that everyone should acquire.) Then there are those that would regularly call or email to find out how I was doing like Nicky Rose, Pompano Bill, Shane Phoenix, Gary Resnick, Julie Carson, Dale Madison, Eric Reivik and there are dozens and dozens more that I just don’t have enough space to list.

And then, there are those that have purposely avoided contact me fearing the worse and perhaps fearing their own mortality. Recently I ran into Victor Cody who confessed to me that he has been afraid to see me not knowing how I would look and was surprised how much better looking I was then he thought and said how glad he was to see me again. For those of you who have avoided me not wanting to deal with reality of a person who was sick, don’t worry – I was one of you up to this year – I just couldn’t deal.

Then, there were the surprises. Shortly after this past Halloween on Wilton Drive, it was brought to my attention someone wrote on the local blog, “Wilton Drive Online,” about how disappointed they were over what has happened to the annual big event. Someone suggested that the person (which was me) who used to handle the party start doing it again. Someone else replied that the person who used to do Wicked Manors was named Bob – but he died. I, of course, replied myself saying that, though sick, I was still alive–all while laughing to myself about the situation. Then again, I laughed too at the appropriateness of a dead person running a Halloween party. Was I upset? No. In fact, I was flattered knowing that the community really appreciated the hard work put into large public events.

The other night, longtime friend Ellen Friedman, who has also had her health problems, took me out for a holiday dinner that I will forever remember. As we sat there talking, I told her that I didn’t realize how many people would have cared what happened to me and how many friends I really have. She said to me, which prompted this piece, “Bob, they’ve been there all along. You’ve just been too blind to see them.”

Though I am sick, I’m getting better slowly; sometimes painfully, but I’m not going anywhere. I wish I could go out more, but my body starts to wind down around two in the afternoon.

Each year, I write a feature in the last issue of the year for whatever publication I have worked for, getting New Year’s resolutions from people in the community, and though I would have like to have gotten many more for the last week’s issue of the Agenda than I did, I was too weak to continue.

One person, who I asked for his resolution a week ago, turned the tables on me and asked me what my New Year’s resolution was. I simply replied, “2013.”

By BOB KECSKEMETY

Another piece of South Florida’s LGBT history ended last week with the demolition of the original location for the local Metropolitan Community Church, now known as the Sunshine Cathedral/MCC. The building was 50 years old and was located near the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, south of State Road 84.

Over recent years, the church building had been used as the Christian Romany Church. Despite protests by the local community to save the historic structure, the building had been demolished to make room for a social service facility that will house a drug rehabilitation program and sexual assault treatment clinic.

County Commissioner John Rodstrom joined with the neighbors protesting

the demolition saying that it was pointless to tear the building down. The debate over the sale and use of the property has waged for the last seven years.

The Christian Romany Church had been paid $2.2-million by the county in 2007 for the purchase of the property but remained located there paying monthly rent to the county.

In addition to church services, the old Metropolitan Community Church, founded by Reverend Grant Ford, was used as a LGBT community center before there was the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida or Pride Center. Many local organizations were founded and had meetings in the various meeting rooms located on the property. One such organization was the Stonewall Museum and Archives which was a mere cardboard box located in the corner of an upstairs meeting room.

Other organizations that were founded there or used the facility on a regular basis were Gays United  Against Repression and Discrimination (GUARD), Americans for Equality, GLB Vets Group and Sunshine Athletic Association.

Many of our community’s early leaders for equality also met together at the MCC to help plot the course of the progress we enjoy in our community today. Some of those early community leaders include Dennis Delia, Karl Clark, David Stack and Robin Bodiford.

In addition to religious services held by the Metropolitan Community Church being held on the property, Dignity (Gay) Catholics also used the church for their services.

The old MCC is the second former historic LGBT property to be demolished recently.

Two months ago, the former location of the Sea Monster bar on the Middle River immediately west of S.E. 3rd Avenue, was the target of the wrecking ball to make way for a new development.

By Bob Kecskemety

The up and down relationship between Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco appears to have come closer to an end with the LGBT community becoming the winner.

In what looks like a major victory for same-sex marriage, last week a federal judge ruled that the voter initiative banning same sex-sex marriage in California violated the state Constitution’s equal protection and due process clauses.

Proposition 8, officially titled “California Marriage Protection Act,” was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment which was narrowly passed in the November 2008 state elections. The measure added a new provision, Section 7.5 of the Declaration of Rights, to the California Constitution, which provides that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

It has been 5 months since 9th Circuit Court Judge Vaughn Walker presented his 136-page decision in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger rejecting Proposition 8 which California voters narrowly passed in November 2008.

Same-sex marriage licenses were granting in California beginning on  June 16, 2008 due to a ruling by the state’s Supreme Court and ended on November 5, 2008 due to the passage of Proposition 8. Prior to the passage of Proposition 8, Californian was only the second state to allow same-sex marriage. Marriages granted by any civil entity, foreign or otherwise, anytime before the passage of Proposition 8 remained legally recognized and retained full state-level marriage rights.

On August 4, 2010, Judge Walker declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional in Perry v. Schwarzenegger but temporarily stayed his ruling. On August 6, 2010, both sides submitted legal briefs to Judge Walker arguing for or against a long-term stay of the ruling. On August 12, 2010, Walker had scheduled to lift his stay. On August 16, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted the motion to stay, ordered expedited briefing on the merits of the appeal and directed both parties to submit briefs as to why the appeal should not be dismissed for lack of a standing. On August 17, 2010, the 9th Circuit panel ordered expedited briefing on the Imperial County appeal. The 9th Circuit requested that the California Supreme Court rule as to whether Proposition 8 sponsors have a standing to defend it in the courts and the Supreme Court set September 6, 2011 as the date to hear arguments. On November 17, 2011, the California Supreme Court ruled that the sponsors do have the right to defend the initiative, clearing the way for the case to be heard in the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

What added to the contentiousness of the appeal of Proposition 8 was that Judge Walker himself is a homosexual though he was appointed to the court by President George H. W. Bush in 1989.

While the constitutionality of Proposition 8 was being debated in the courts, California continued to allow domestic partnership which allowed same-sex couples almost all the state-level rights and obligations but did not include federal-level rights of marriage that cannot be granted by the states. These rights included hospital visitation rand health insurance coverage for the dependents of government employees covered by CalPERS, the state retirement system.

Though Proposition 8 has been overturned, this does not mean that gays and lesbians in California can necessarily start getting married anytime in the near future.

Proposition 8 proponents are arguing that Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision should be thrown out because he was, at the time of the hearing, in a long-term relationship with another man and thus could not be impartial on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Though Proposition 8 has been overthrown, there are still some legal hurdles to be overcome before same-sex marriages can resume.

The court is still considering whether the tapes of the testimony given by proponents of Proposition 8 will be released to the public.

However, a final ruling on California’s marriage ban could come at any minute.

At that time, Walker wrote: “ “Although Proposition 8 fails to possess even a rational basis, the evidence presented at trial shows that gays and lesbians are the type of minority strict scrutiny was designed to protect,” Walker ruled.

“Plaintiffs do not seek recognition of a new right. To characterize plaintiffs’ objective as “the right to same-sex marriage” would suggest that plaintiffs seek something different from what opposite-sex couples across the state enjoy — namely, marriage. Rather, plaintiffs ask California to recognize their relationships for what they are: marriages.”

“Proposition 8 places the force of law behind stigmas against gays and lesbians, including: gays and lesbians do not have intimate relationships similar to heterosexual couples; gays and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals; and gay and lesbian relationships do not deserve the full recognition of society.”

The judgment was the first offered by a federal court with respect to laws banning gay marriage at the state level and it promises to have massive reverberations across the political and judicial landscape. The decision is now expected to head to the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court, also based in San Francisco, for appeal, and from there to the Supreme Court. (Gay marriages will not resume immediately in California; the decision has been stayed until August 6 to consider arguments regarding an appeal.)

“Today’s decision is by no means California’s first milestone, nor our last, on America’s road to equality and freedom for all people,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement.

A White House official emailed reporters, “The President has  spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans.”

“It is not only a home run, it is a grand slam,” said Jon Davidson the legal director at Lambda Legal, the country’s largest and oldest LBGT legal organization. “This decisions is not going to be the end of this fight, the proponents have already said they will appeal.

But I think the factual findings that the judge has made and his clear and detailed analysis will be important to frame the case as it goes up on appeal.”

“This is part of an educational process that is going on in this country. When judges look outside of the political process and they go through the evidence and treat arguments as more than just sound bites they come to the conclusion that withholding marriage from same sex couples hurts them and their families and doesn’t help anyone. That helps move the conversation.”

Wednesday’s decision came after lengthy, substantive, and at times provocative legal deliberations in which an odd-couple pairing of lawyers took on the cause of overturning the same-sex marriage ban. Theodore Olson and David Boies — direct adversaries in the 2000 Supreme Court presidential recount battle — made the case that Prop 8 violated both the equal protection and due process clauses of the constitution. The law, the two argued, was discriminatory on the basis of both sexual orientation and on the basis of sex in addition to violating the principle that marriage was a personal liberty.

“The Supreme Court has said that marriage is the most important relation in life. Now that’s being withheld from the plaintiffs,” Olson said in his closing argument. “Marriage, the Supreme Court has said again and again, is a component of liberty, privacy, spirituality and autonomy.”

Representing the defense, another Washington-based lawyer, Charles Cooper leaned heavily on the social impact of codifying gay marriage, arguing that “marriage is to channel the sexual behavior between men and women into a procreative union.”

In deciding the case, Walker offered a variety of findings that may be as important as the ruling itself. Among them were the following:

“Sexual orientation is commonly discussed as a characteristic of the individual. Sexual orientation is fundamental to a person’s identity and is a distinguishing characteristic that defines gays and lesbians as a discrete group. Proponents’ assertion that sexual orientation cannot be defined is contrary to the weight of the evidence.”
“Individuals do not generally choose their sexual orientation. –No credible evidence supports a finding that an individual may, through conscious decision, therapeutic intervention or any other method, change his or her sexual orientation.”

“Same-sex couples are identical to opposite-sex couples in the characteristics relevant to the ability to form successful marital unions.

Like opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples have happy, satisfying relationships and form deep emotional bonds and strong commitments to their partners. Standardized measures of relationship satisfaction, relationship adjustment and love do not differ depending on whether a couple is same-sex or opposite-sex.”

“Marrying a person of the opposite sex is an unrealistic option for gay and lesbian individuals.”

“Same-sex couples receive the same tangible and intangible benefits from marriage that opposite-sex couples receive.”

“The availability of domestic partnership does not provide gays and lesbians with a status equivalent to marriage because the cultural meaning of marriage and its associated benefits are intentionally withheld from same-sex couples in domestic partnerships.”

“Permitting same-sex couples to marry will not affect the number of opposite-sex couples who marry, divorce, cohabit, have children outside of marriage or otherwise affect the stability of opposite-sex marriages.”

Perhaps the most important political finding that Walker made was his conclusion that the fact that Prop 8 passed as a voter initiative was irrelevant as “fundamental rights may not be submitted to [a] vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”

Photo: Dab Garner travels the world bringing awareness to HIV/AIDS and  helping the children living with the  disease.

By BOB KECSKEMETY

Dab Garner, if he didn’t already hold a place in the medical history books, would hold a place in history for the good he does for others.

Now in its 22nd year, Garner is bringing cheer to children suffering with HIV/AIDS during this holiday season through his “Dab the AIDS Bear” project.

In 1982, Garner became friends and godfather to a little girl affected with AIDS. In fact, she was the first little girl born in San Francisco with HIV. The child was an orphan and her mother died shortly after,  then Candice, the little girl, was born. The mother did not know who the father was. To make matters worse, Candice was also born deformed.

Garner himself was diagnosed with HIV earlier in that year on Valentine’s Day and immediately became an activist. He went to the hospital where Candice was being taken care of and noticed how Candice was being cared for in the pediatric AIDS unit.

“It struck me how horrible it was that even the nurses in the ward would not pay attention to this little girl. As you can imagine in the ‘80s, nobody wanted a child with HIV much less a deformed one so my second partner and I became her godparents. Back then, as a gay couple, we couldn’t legally adopt her.”

Garner and his partner shopped all year for Christmas presents for Candice as Christmas was Candice’s favorite holiday.

Candice died when she was 4-1/2 years old in August. At her bedside, Garner promised the dying child that he would make other children like her feel loved and special.

Garner remembered that at the time, there were about a dozen other children with HIV in the San Francisco Bay area, so he and his partner divided up the toys he had already bought Candice and gave those to the other children. He also gave each and every one of them a teddy bear.

This gesture of kindness and caring for others started an organization that has grown exponentially. Garner explained that he started looking for other kids afflicted with HIV and every two years would add another city and added more children to his Christmas list – first Los Angeles; then New York. Twenty-two years later, Garner reaches out to 21 cities, both in the United States and abroad with his special brand of caring and love.

“Candice is the whole reason I do this,” Garner explained, “I’m keeping the promise I made to a dying little girl.”

How is Garner’s health having been diagnosed with GRID (what AIDS was referred to back then) in 1982? Garner is doing fine. He said that according to the National Institute of Health, he’s the third longest living survivor they know of still living with HIV/AIDS. He was also the first person in San Francisco to make it out of hospital quarantine alive.

“Back then,” Garner explained, “there were no privacy laws to keep [AIDS patients’ names] out of the newspapers or anyone from disclosing my HIV status so my name, picture and status were published in the newspaper. I never really had a choice whether I was going to be out concerning my HIV status – it just was. I was raised by parents that taught me to make the best of my situation and to help those less fortunate than myself.”

Garner said that back in 1985, then-President Ronald Regan wouldn’t even mention HIV or AIDS.

“In 1985,” he said, “several of us chained ourselves to the White House to get President Reagan just to say ‘HIV.’” He also explained that he was fortunate enough to work with Elizabeth Taylor and Senator Ted Kennedy to get Ryan White funding started.

Garner moved to South Florida just over a year and a half ago. “I moved down here because South Florida has the highest incidence of new HIV infections in the country,” he said.

Garner also works with the Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County health departments to help with their HIV prevention programs.

“For the most part, it’s been very, very positive,” said Garner when asked how his AIDS Bear project has been accepted.

“I travel the world to about 120 to 150 events a year, speaking at AIDS walks, AIDS rides, HIV conferences , gay prides, women health fairs – just about to anyone who will put me behind a podium to help prevent the spread of HIV while helping those that are already infected.”

When Garner speaks, he tells people to get tested on a regular basis, not only for HIV but for other STDs. He explains that there are now medications to keep people alive. But he warns that it is important to be diagnosed while a person is still healthy because not only does it give you a better chance of living with HIV, but it also allow you to start medication while your T-cell count is higher, the lessening the side effects.

“The other major point I like to make,” said Garner, “is that in Florida and 13 other states, we have a waiting list to get assistance through ADAP (AIDS Drugs Assistance Program). I go to DC once a month and lobby for more funding because we have a waiting list of over 3,000 people in Florida and a total of 9,000 throughout the country. People can help just by picking up the phone or sending an email by contacting the elected officials.”

For more information about Dab Garner and the Dab the AIDS?Bear Project, please visit the website at www.dabtheaidsbearproject.com.

By BOB KECSKEMETY

Photo: The AIDS Memorial Quilt of the Names Project Foundation is displayed on the National Mall, 1987

December 1 of every year is known as World AIDS Day and is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic and the spread of the HIV infection. Various memorials are held each year, both locally and internationally, to honor persons who have died from HIV/AIDS. Health officials also use this day to educate the public on the virus along with prevention and treatments. The Red Ribbon is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS.

In 1987, James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Program on AIDS at the World Health Organization (now UNAIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland, first came up with the idea of World AIDS Day. Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Program on AIDS agreed with the recommendation and that World AIDS Day should be December 1 of each year — a date chosen because it was considered in the media as a “dead news” time of year between US elections, Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.

The first World AIDS Day was held in 1988.

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) became operational in 1996 and it took over the planning and promotion of World AIDS Day. Rather than focus on a single day, UNAIDS created the World AIDS Campaign in 1997 to focus on year-round communications, prevention and education.

According to the CDC, deaths related to HIV/AIDS rose sharply in the United States since its formal discovery in the mid-eighties to around 50,000 a year in the mid-nineties. Death rates then dropped dramatically in the late 90s to around 20,000 a year and have held at that level ever since.

AIDS TIMELINE

1930s

• Researchers found that sometime
in the 1930s a form of Simian Immuno-deficiency Virus (also known as African Green Monkey Virus or Monkey AIDS) which could infect up to 33 species, jumped to humans in central Africa. The mutated virus becomes HIV-1. HIV-1 is the most common and pathogenic strain of the virus. Scientists divide HIV-1 into a Group M (major) and several minor groups.

1959

• The first known case of HIV in a human occurs in a person who died in the Congo, later confirmed as having HIV infection from his preserved blood samples.

• A 49-year old shipping clerk in New York City dies of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a disease closely associated with AIDS.

1960

• HIV-2, a viral variation found in West Africa, is thought to have transferred to people from Sooty Mangabey monkeys in Guinea-Bissau.

1964

• Researchers at Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine synthesized AZT under a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. AZT was originally intended as an anticancer drug.

1966

• HIV first arrived in the Americas infecting
a person in Haiti. At
this time, many Haitians were working in the Congo.

1968

• It is believed that the HIV virus first arrived in the United States according to a 2003 analysis of HIV types compared to known mutation rates. The disease remained unrecognized for the next 12 years.

1969

• A St. Louis teenager dies of an illness that baffles his doctors. Eighteen years later, molecular biologists at Tulane University in New Orleans test samples of his remains and find evidence of HIV present.

1975

• The first reports of wasting and other symptoms, later determined to be AIDS, are reported in Africa.

1976

• A Norwegian sailor, Noe, dies and it is later determined that he contracted HIV/AIDS in Africa during the early 1960s.

1977

• Danish physician Grethe Rask dies of AIDS contracted in Africa.

• A San Francisco prostitute gives birth to the first of three children who would later be diagnosed with AIDS and whose blood, when tested after their deaths, would reveal HIV infection. The mother would die of AIDS in May 1987. It is believed she was infected in 1977 or earlier.

1978

• A Portuguese man dies. He will later be confirmed as having the first known infection of HIV-2. He was believed to have been exposed to the disease in Guinea-Bissau in 1966.

1980

• April 24, San Francisco resident Ken Horne, the first AIDS case in the United States to be recognized at the time, is reported to Center for Disease Control with Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS). He was also suffering from Cryptococcus at the time.

• October 31, French-Canadian flight attendant Gaetan Dugas is believed to have visited a New York City bathhouse. He would later be labeled as “Patient Zero” for his apparent connection to many early cases of AIDS in the US.

1981

• January 15, Nick Rock becomes the first known AIDS death in New York City.

• May 18, the first article on AIDS is written by Dr. Lawrence Mass in the New York Native, a gay newspaper. Mass received a tip from a gay man who overheard a physician mention that some gay men were being treated in New York City for a strange pneumonia. “Disease Rumors Largely Unfounded” was the headline on Mass’ article. Mass repeated a New York City public-health official’s claims that there was no wave of disease sweeping through the gay community. However, at this point, the Centers for Disease Control had been gathering information for about a month on the outbreak that Mass’ source was dismissing.

• July 4, CDC reports cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma and Pneumocystis pneumonia among gay men in California and New York City.

• By the end of the year, 121 people are known to have died from the disease.

• First known case in the United Kingdom.

1982

• June 18, The CDC reported: “Exposure to some substance (rather than an infectious agent) may eventually lead to immunodeficiency among a subset of the homosexual male population that shares a particular style of life. For example, Marmor et al. recently reported that exposure to amyl nitrite was associated with an increased risk of KS in New York City. Exposure to inhalant sexual stimulants, central-nervous-system stimulants, and a variety of other ‘street’ drugs was common among males belonging to the cluster of cases of KS and PCP in Los Angeles and Orange counties.”

• July 9, CDC reported a cluster of opportunistic infections (OI) and Kaposi’s sarcoma among Haitians recently entering the United States.

• Summer, first known case in Italy.

• September 24, Current Trends Update on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) – United States: “CDC defines a case of AIDS as a disease, at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that disease. Such diseases include KS, PCP, and serious OI… Diagnoses are considered to fit the case definition only if based on sufficiently reliable methods (generally histology or culture). Some patients who are considered AIDS cases on the basis of diseases only moderately predictive of cellular immunodeficiency may not actually be immunodeficient and may not be part of the current epidemic.”

• December 10, a baby in California becomes ill in the first known case of AIDS from a blood transfusion.

• First known cases in Brazil and Canada.

1983

• January, Dr. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, isolates a retrovirus that kills T-cells from the lymph system of a gay AIDS patient. In the following months, she would find it in additional gay and hemophiliac sufferers. This retrovirus would be called by several names, including LAV and HTLV-III before being named HIV in 1986.

• March, United States Public Heath Service issues donor screening guidelines. AIDS high-risk groups should not donate blood/plasma products.

• Australia has first death from AIDS in Melbourne, the government invests in a campaign that ultimately gives Australia on of the lowest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world.

• AIDS is diagnosed in Mexico for the first time.

1984

• March 30, Gaetan Dugas dies. He was a French Canadian flight attendant linked by the CDC directly or indirectly with 40 of the first 248 reported cases of AIDS in the US

• April 23, US Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announces at a press conference that an American scientist, Dr. Robert Gallo, has discovered the probable cause of AIDS is a retrovirus subsequently named Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). She also declares that a vaccine will be available within two years.

• December 17, Ryan White is diagnosed with AIDS by a doctor performing a partial lung removal. White became infected with HIV from a blood product as part of his treatment for hemophilia which was given to him on a regular basis. When the public school that he attended learned of his disease in 1985, there was enormous pressure from parents and faculty to bar him from school premises.

1985

• March 2, FDA approves first AIDS antibody screening tests for use on donated blood and plasma intended for transfusion.

• October 2, Rock Hudson dies of AIDS. He is the first American celebrity to publicly admit having AIDS. He was diagnosed with it in June 1984.

• October 12, Ricky Wilson, guitarist rock band The B-52s, dies from an AIDS-related illness.

• October, a conference of public health officials including representatives of the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) meet in Bangui and define AIDS in Africa as “prolonged fevers for a month or more, weight loss of over 10% and prolonged diarrhea.”

• First officially reported cases in China.

1986

• January 14, the New York Times reports that “…one million Americans have already been infected with the virus and that this number will jump to at least 2 million or 3 million within 5 to 10 years…”

• February, President Reagan instructs his Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to prepare a report on AIDS. Without allowing Reagan’s domestic policy advisers to review the report, Koop released the report at a press conference on October 22, 1986.

• First officially known cases reported in the Soviet Union and India.

1987

• AZT, the first antiretroviral drug, becomes available to treat HIV.

• Williamson, West Virginia closes its public swimming pool following an incident involving the local resident with HIV/AIDS. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” broadcasts a town hall meeting during which local residents express their fears about AIDS and homosexuality.

• The book “And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic” published chronicling the 1980-1985 discovery and spread of HIV/AIDS, government indifference and political infighting in the United States to what was initially perceived as a gay disease.

1988

• May, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop sends an eight-page, condensed version  of his Surgeon General’s Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome report named Understanding AIDS to all 107,000,000 households in the United States, becoming the first federal authority to provide explicit advice to Americans on how to protect themselves from AIDS.

• December 1, the first World AIDS Day.

• Two popular Argentinean rock singers die of AIDS complications in Buenos Aires.

1989

• The television movie “The Ryan White Story” aired. It starred Judith Light as Jeanne, Lukas Haas as Ryan and Nikki Cox as sister, Andrea. Ryan White had a small cameo appearance as Chad, a young patient with AIDS. Another AIDS-themed film, The Littlest Victims, debuted about James Oleske, the first US physician to discover AIDS in newborns during AIDS’ early years when many thought it was only homosexually-spread.

1990

• February 16, New York City artist/social activist Keith Haring dies from AIDS-related illness.

• April 8, Ryan White dies at the age of 18 from pneumonia caused by AIDS complications.

• Congress enacted The Ryan White Care Act, the United States’ largest federally-funded health related program (excluding Medicaid and Medicare).

1991

• November 24, a little over 24 hours after issuing the statement confirming that he had tested HIV positive and had AIDS, Freddie Mercury, singer of the British band Queen, dies at the age of 45. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.

• NBA star Magic Johnson publicly announces that he is HIV-positive.

1992

• The first combination drug therapies for HIV are introduced. These “cocktails” become more effective than AZT alone and slow down the development of drug resistance.

• American actor Anthony Perkins, known for his role as Norman Bates in the Psycho movies, dies from AIDS.

• April 6, popular science fiction writer Isaac Asimov dies. Ten years later his wife revealed that his death was due to AIDS-related complications. The writer was infected during a blood transfusion in 1983.

1993

• Tennis star Arthur Ashe dies from AIDS-related complications.

1995

• Saquinavir, a new type of protease inhibitor drug, becomes available to treat HIV. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) becomes possible. Within two years, death rates due to AIDS will plummet in the developed world.

• March 26, Rapper Eazy-E dies from AIDS-related pneumonia.

• Oakland, California resident, Jeff Getty becomes the first person to receive a bone marrow transplant from a Baboon as an experimental procedure to treat his HIV infection. The graft did not take, but Getty experienced some reduction in symptomology before dying of heart failure after cancer treatment in 2006.

1996

• Robert Gallo discovers that some natural compounds known as chemokines can block HIV and halt the progression of AIDS is hailed by Science Magazine as one of that year’s most important scientific breakthroughs.

1997

• September 2, Washington Post: “The most recent estimate of the number of Americans infected with HIV, 750,000, is only half the total that government officials used to cite over a decade ago, at a time when experts believed that as many as 1.5 million people carried the virus.”

• WHO’s cumulative number of reported AIDS cases from 1980 through 1997 for all of Africa is 620,000. For comparison, the cumulative total of AIDS cases in the USA through 1997 is 641,087.

1999

• January 31, studies suggest that a retrovirus, SIVcpz (simian immunodeficiency virus) from the common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes, may have passed to human populations in west equatorial Africa during the twentieth century and developed into various types of HIV.

2000

• The WHO estimates between 15% and 20% of new HIV infections worldwide are the result of blood transfusions where the donors were not screened or inadequately screened for HIV.

2001

• September 21, FDA licenses the first nucleic acid test (NAT) systems intended for screening of blood and plasma donations.

2005

• January 21, CDC recommends anti-retroviral post-exposure prophylaxis for people exposed to HIV from rapes, accidents or occasional unsafe sex or drug use. This treatment should start no more than 72 hours after a person has been exposed to the virus, and the drugs should be used by patients for 28 days. This emergency drug treatment has been recommended since 1996 for health-care workers accidentally stuck with a needle, splashed in the eye with blood, or exposed in some other way on the job.

• A highly resistant strain of HIV linked to rapid progression to AIDS is identified in New York City.

2007

• The first case of someone being cured of HIV. A San Francisco man, Timothy Ray Brown, co-infected with leukemia and HIV, is cured from HIV due to his bone marrow transplant in Germany. Other similar cases begin being studied to confirm what is believed to be similar results.

2011

• Confirmation of the first patient cured of HIV, Timothy Ray Brown, as having a negative HIV status, 4 years after treatment.

By Bob Kecskemety

The LGBT community made major gains in last week’s general elections capturing more seats in state and local governments then they ever have in a single election cycle. These gains more than made up for losses experienced in the elections of 2010. Pro-LGBT causes were also big winners in November 2010. There were, however, some losers.

THUMBS UP:

• Michael Smith won a spot on the Largo, Florida City Commission for seat 1. He beat out Mary Gray Black by 546 votes. Black had a history of anti-LGBT activism while sitting on the city commission.

• Annise Parker won re-election as mayor of Houston, Texas. Parker was first elected to mayor in 2009 becoming the first out lesbian woman to become mayor of a major US city. She won against five other candidates with a large enough margin to avoid a run-off. Prior to becoming mayor, Parker sat on the Houston City Commission and was the city’s comptroller.

• 22-year-old Alex B. Morse was elected mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts becoming the youngest mayor in the country. The Brown University graduate and Holyoke-native beat out 67-year-old incumbent Elaine Pluta for the mayorship by nearly 1,000 votes. The main issue that propelled Morse’s win was his opposition to casino gambling in Massachusetts, an issue that Pluta rallied around as a way to boost Holyoke’s economy. Transforming Holyoke’s education system was also at the top of Morse’s agenda, as well as creating jobs through tax incentives and building upon Holyoke’s arts and entertainment district. Being mayor will be Morse’s first job since graduating from college.

• Adam Ebbin was elected to the Virginia State Senate District 30 to become the first openly gay senator in the state. He defeated Timothy McGhee by a margin of 67% to 33%. Ebbin was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 49 since 2004 and was only the third openly gay elected official in Virginia. Ebbin is currently employed by the Service Members Legal Defense Network as its Director of Communications.

• Daniel Hernandez won election to the Tucson, Arizona school board. Hernandez received national attention earlier this year as an assistant to US Representative Gabrielle Gifford. He propped up Gifford’s head in a move that is credited with helping save her life after she was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center.

• In a special election, Liz Mathis beat Cindy Golding for the Iowa State Senate. Mathis is a former television news anchor. This election was pivotal in keeping same-sex marriage legal in Iowa. Had Golding won, the Senate would have come under control of the Republicans who had vowed to end gay marriage in the state. The National Organization for Marriage poured money into Golding’s campaign. The election turned particularly nasty when voters started receiving robo-calls urging them to question her about “what homosexual acts she endorses.”

• Dr. Timothy Eustace won in a race for New Jersey State Assembly. Eustace had been the mayor of Maywood, New Jersey and became the first openly gay non-incumbent to win a seat in New Jersey’s state legislature. Eustace is a practicing chiropractor. Eustace will become one of two openly gay members of the New Jersey State Assembly.

• Pedro Segarra won reelection to his position as mayor of Hartford, Connecticut. His main opponent dropped out of the race prior to the election.

Segarra was president of Hartford’s City Council and succeeded former Mayor Eddie Perez who resigned after he was convicted by a state Superior Court jury of bribery and extortion in a political corruption case. Segarra is the first openly gay mayor of Hartford.

• In Missoula, Montana, Caitlin Copple became the first openly gay member of the Missoula City Council serving Ward 4. Copple’s work history includes marketing and fundraising the Missoula YWCA and serving as interim director of the Montana Innocence Project.

• Chris Seelbach became the first openly gay city council member elected in Cincinnati, Ohio. Seelbach, 31, was vice president and chief financial officer of the marketing and public relations firm, The Seidewitz Group. He was also the first openly gay candidate to run for city council in Cincinnati. Seelbach was elected in what the Cincinnati Enquirer referred to as a major shakeup of the Cincinnati City Council with the removal of four Republican city councilmen and replacing them with Democrats with the majority being African-American and a major issue being the future of a streetcar project.

• LaWana Mayfield became Charlotte, North Carolina’s first openly gay city council member. She was just part of a LGBT wave in North Carolina’s elections. Openly gay Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt won reelection. Lee Storrow won a seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council. Storrow, 22, became the youngest member to serve on the city council. Incumbent Alderwoman Lydia Lavell won reelection to the Carrboro, North Carolina town council.

• Bruce Harris was elected Chatham Borough, New Jersey’s mayor becoming the nation’s first gay, African-American Republican mayor. An attorney, Harris holds an MBA and has 15 years of corporate experience. He began volunteering in municipal government 13 years ago, and was selected to fill a seat on the council vacated by Dick Plambeck when he was elected to mayor. Harris was re-elected to the council in 2005 and 2008. This was his first mayoral campaign.

• Zach Adamson was elected as Indianapolis’ first openly gay city council member. Adamson was a small business owner in downtown Indianapolis for 13 years and community development advocate for nearly a decade.

• Mary Doran was elected to the St. Paul, Minnesota School Board. Doran is the mother of two girls who attend Saint Paul Public Schools and has, over the last two years, volunteered over 250 hours at their school. She also served on the Citizen’s Budget and Finance Advisory Committee for two consecutive school years and served as the Chair for the second term.

• Edwin Mah Lee won election as Mayor of San Francisco. He was appointed mayor by the Board of Supervisors on January 11 to serve out the remainder of former mayor Gavin Newsom’s term, after Newsom resigned to take office as Lieutenant Governor of California. At the time of his appointment, Lee pledged not to run for the office, but he later decided to join the race. Lee won his own election to the office last week to serve a full term as mayor.

• By nearly a two-to-one margin, the voters of Traverse City, Michigan supported an ordinance prohibiting discrimination on sexual orientation.

THUMBS DOWN:

• By a margin of a mere 24 votes, Manuel Rodriguez, Jr. beat out Ramiro Fonseca in his reelection bid as Trustee for the Houston School Board. A week prior to the election, Rodriguez was accused of sending out an anti-gay ad against his opponent. The campaign brochure said about Fonseca: “his records show he spent years advocating for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender rights … not kids.” The day after Rodriguez won reelection, he apologized for the campaign brochure.

• Rose Marie Belforti won reelection to town clerk for Ledyard, New York. She won with 62% of the vote. Belforti made national news earlier this year when, shortly after same-sex marriage became legal in the state of New York, she refused to sign same-sex marriage licenses claiming that being forced to sign the licenses violated her religious rights.

By Bob Kecskemety

Microsoft has joined dozens of corporations, organizations and governments in support of a challenge on the constitutional grounds of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The friend-of-the-court brief Microsoft, and 70 other organizations filed late last week points out the significant costs and administrative burdens DOMA imposes on employers as well as the ways DOMA interferes with employers’ efforts to promote diversity and equal opportunity in the workplace and harms their ability to attract and retain talent.

The businesses and organizations, which include Starbucks, Google, Time Warner, CBS, Nike along with several cities, filed the brief in the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. US Department of Health and Human Services. It is one of two consolidated cases from Massachusetts challenging the constitutionality of DOMA.

In 1996, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. It bars the federal government from treating same-sex marriage as legal or granting gay couples federal benefits. This means that same-sex couples, who get married where same-sex marriage is legal, aren’t eligible for the benefits that come with federally recognized marriage such as filing joint federal tax returns or social security and immigration law benefits.

Same-sex marriage is only currently legal in the states of Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Washington DC and Vermont.

There are about a dozen cases around the country challenging DOMA. The joined Massachusetts cases, currently before the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, are the first to reach the federal appellate level, just one step down from the U.S. Supreme Court, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The friend-of-the-court brief said in part:

“Our enterprises are located in states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that recognize the marriages of our employees and colleagues to same-sex spouses.

At the same time, we are subject to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which precludes federal recognition of these marriages.”

Companies have complained that when a same-sex couple legally gets married, it requires them to maintain two sets of books because the couple is considered married under state law but not married under federal law. The double entries, they say, ripple through human resources, payroll and benefit administration.

In a major shift in policy, earlier this year, President Obama directed the US Justice Department to stop defending DOMA and Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to Congress to inform them that the Justice Department will now take the position that DOMA should be struck down as a violation of a gay couples’ right to equal protection under the law.

“The President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law, a crucial provision of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional,” Holder wrote.

Also earlier this year, it was rumored that Coca Cola pressured its law firm, King & Spalding, from defending DOMA in court. King & Spalding were hired by the Republican-held Congress to defend DOMA in court. However, Coca Cola is one of King & Spalding’s largest corporate clients. Coca Cola is not one of the 70 organizations which filed the brief in the U.S. Circuit Court.

The companies that joined in the friend-of-the-court brief filing before the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston are:

ABT Associates, Aetna, Inc., Akamai Technologies, Inc., Alere Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Biogen Idec, Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mass., Inc., Boston Community Capital, Inc., Boston Medical Center Corp., Bright Horizons Children’s Centers LLC, Calvert Investments, Inc., CBS Corporation, The Chubb Corporation, Communispace Corp., Constellation Energy Group, Inc., Diageo North America, Inc., Eastern Bank Corp., Exelon Corp., FitCorp Healthcare Centers, Inc., Gammelgaden, LLC, Google Inc., Integrated Archive Systems, Inc., Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC, Levi Strauss & Co., Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge Trust, LLC, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Massachusetts Envelope Company, Inc., Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Microsoft Corp., National Grid USA, Inc., Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc., New England Cryogenic Center, Inc., NIKE, Inc., The Ogilvy Group, Inc., Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Partners HealthCare System, Inc., Reproductive Science Center of New England, Skyworks Solutions, Inc., Starbucks Corp., State Street Bank and Trust Co., Stonyfield Farm, Inc., Sun Life Financial (US) Services Co., Inc., Time Warner Cable, Inc., Trillium Asset Management Corp., W/S Development Associates LLC, Xerox Corp., Zipcar, Inc., Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, The Boston Foundation, Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Inc., The National Fire Protection Association, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, Retailers Association of Massachusetts and by the following cities: The City of Boston, MA, The City of Cambridge, MA, The City of New York, NY.

By Bob Kecskemety

Axel Axgil 1915 – 2011

Axel Axgil, the last half of the world’s first registered gay couple, died last Saturday, October 29 at the age 96 from complications from a fall.

Axel Axgil and Eigil Axgil were Danish gay activists and a longtime couple. They were the first gay couple to enter into a registered partnership anywhere in the world following Denmark’s legalization of same-sex partnership registration in 1989, a landmark legislation they were instrumental in passing. They adopted the shared surname, Axgil, a combination of their given names. They chose this combination of their given names as an expression of their commitment after they met in the 1940s.

Axel (born Axel Lundahl-Madsen) and Eigil (born Eigil Eskildsen), inspired by the 1948 United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights along with several friends, founded F-48 or Forbundet af 1948 (The Association of 1948), Europe’s first gay rights organization. By 1951, F-48’s membership had grown to 1,339 and there were branches in Sweden and Norway. In 1985,
F-48 became the Danish National Association of Gays and Lesbians. The couple launched a magazine, Vennen (The Friend).

Axel’s sexuality gave him problems in his home town of Aalborg, where he was expelled from membership of the Justice Foundation, lost his job and was banished from the boarding house where he lived and ate, according to journalist Bjarne Henry Lundis who wrote a biography about Axgil.

At that time, Danish police would hunt for gay men. Together, they both saw their businesses destroyed.

In 1950 Axel and Eigil owned a small publishing company, the International Modelfoto Service, which produced and discretely sold photos of nude men. The IMS was run from premises that also housed Vennen.

In March 1955, both were arrested and confined in isolation for 11 months then sentenced to 12 and 18 months of prison, respectively, for distribution of material which, “although not obscene may be deemed a commercial speculation with a sensual intent.”

The police search of the premises of Vennen and the IMS, which led to the arrest of a large number of sexually active gay men and triggered the so-called Pornography Scandal.

In 1954, the Axgils founded The International Homosexual World Organization (IHWO), which mainly worked through correspondence between individual members.

Between 1968-69 the IHWO published the magazine UNI with articles in seven languages. In 1970, the IHWO successfully appealed to Willy Brandt, the German Federal Chancellor, to discontinue seizure by German authorities of pornographic material mailed from Denmark to individuals in Germany.

The International Committee for Sexual Equality (ISCE) and the Danish and Dutch national organizations for homosexuals kept a certain distance from the IHWO, which ceased its activities in 1970.

Both Axel and Eigil continued their activism and remained important figures in the gay rights movement.

Later they started boarding at the Hotel Axelhuus at Ringsted, Copenhagen, a refuge for many gay men especially from Germany, Sweden and Norway.

In 1989, after years of lobbying by the Axgils and other advocates, Denmark became the first nation in the world to recognize domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. On October 1, 1989, the Axgils and ten other Danish couples were married by the deputy mayor of Copenhagen, in the city hall, accompanied by worldwide media attention.

This made the Axgils the first gay couple to enter into a registered partnership anywhere in the world. Denmark, which still recognizes registered partnerships, is expected to move to full marriage equality next year.

Axel was described as a modest man who never cast himself as a lonely warrior and that he always underscored that there were many involved in the work and that it was a common cause.

Axel was honored at the August 2009 World OutGames which were held in Copenhagen and was a speaker at the

OutGames Conference on Human Rights.

“You have to be impressed by the colossal enthusiasm Axel Axgil has shown throughout his entire life for helping other homosexuals. Regardless of how hard they were hit themselves, he and Eigil tirelessly worked on,” said LGBT Denmark spokeswoman Vivi Jelstrup said in a written statement.

Axgil, she said, had lived “a long life focused on creating something for other homosexuals, regardless of the price.”

Eigil Axgil died in 1995, while Axel Axgil continued his active work for gay people into the 2000s. The Axgils had been a couple for 40 years.

BY BOB KECSKEMETY

Halloween, the unofficial gay national holiday, is upon us.

Your costume is all ready. Each stitch has been crafted with the care of Susan  B. Anthony or Martha Stewart. The BeDazzler is all but worn out making sure all the bling is in the right place. Each feather has been carefully placed in the proper position and correctly fluffed. And, if you’re planning on showing a lot of flesh, you’ve already visited your favorite tanning salon for “just the right look.”

You may even have accidently glued your glue gun to the coffee table. You’ve been planning your costume for this year since November of last year and now it’s all come together nicely. The best part of Halloween? The more trailer-trashy you look, the more fashionable you are so put away those designer labels for the weekend.

There has been much confusion this year as to when Halloween will be  celebrated – or if Halloween will be celebrated at all. For the last two years, Halloween has fallen on a weekend evening but this year, it’s falling on a Monday. Some places are celebrating on Saturday, others are Sunday, some more are celebrating on both nights. However, a party is a party so many are celebrating all three nights which means three nights of costume contests.

Then there are the other pertinent questions. Will there be a large block party? The answer is yes. Will Wilton Drive be closed? The answer is no. However, as last year proved, you can have a great and safe time on Wilton Drive without closing down the street.

WilMa’s finest will be out in force making sure the traffic yields to the ghosts and goblins and peacocks that are certain to line “The Drive.” (But it is still your responsibility to cross the street with care.) The WilMa City Commission even voted NOT to charge for parking on Monday night. The city has also extended drinking hours to 3 a.m. It can’t get any sweeter than that.

The following is perhaps the most complete list of parties, costume contests, and themes available anywhere.

THE PRIDE CENTER

Halloween at The Pride Center will be held on Saturday, October 29 with both day and night time events.

During the day will be a Sheriff’s Department Community Outreach Day and a Kid’s Costume Contest. The Broward Sheriff’s Office will be out to show off their finest equipment to the kids from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will also be a fire truck, snow cones, a bounce house, MacGruff the Crime Dog, music, food and a sketch artist. Come out to meet BSO personnel and Quiggley, the BSO mascot.

Free child fingerprinting will be provided by Crime Stoppers of Broward.

While BSO activities are being held outdoors, a Kid’s Costume Contest will take place inside the Main Hall. Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes at 2 p.m!

From 7 p.m., to 11 p.m., there will be a Halloween Youth Bash titled “Halloween Madness.” In addition to the dance, there will be a costume contest, food and drinks, music, prizes and more. Admission is $10 per person, $15 per couple ages 14 – 21.

“A LITTLE NAUGHTY”

“A Little Naughty” is the annual art exhibit and fundraiser to be held at the Broward Art Guild Gallery, 3280 NE 32 Street in Fort Lauderdale, FL. “A Little Naughty” is a one-night-only, multi-discipline erotic art event, with alluring art and installations, tantalizing treats, provocative performances, and an audacious raffle to benefit the programs of ArtsUnited on Saturday, October 29 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Costume contest judging starts at 9 p.m. with a $100 prize for Best Naughty Costume sponsored by LeatherWerks.

MANORS MASQUERADE

Two Halloween events are being held on Sunday, October 30 in Hagen Park in Wilton Manors.

From 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., “HOWL-O-Ween,” a Halloween party for your pets and their best friends. Include a pet expo, various pet activities, entertainment, trick or treat bags for people and their pets, food and beverages plus the highlight of the afternoon, a HOWL-o-Ween pet costume contest starting at 2:30 p.m. Admission and parking in Hagen Park is free for this event.

From 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Hagen Park is transformed into “OUTrageous Fantasy,” this year’s Manors Masquerade theme with DJ Roland Belmares. Includes dancing, a lounge tent with food, beverages, raffle and café seating, trick or treat bags. The costume contest will be judged by celebrity host and judge, fashion designer Jay Carroll, the winner of the first season of the television series, “Project Runway.” Admission is free, closed-in VIP parking in Hagen Park is $10.

“WICKED WEEKEND”

Alibi – Proving that you can’t have too much of a good thing, Alibi’s Halloween festivities begin on Thursday and continue through Monday. That’s five full days of fun using the theme “Horror High.” Thursday night, Alibi is having a theme party called “Guy Spy.”

GuySpy.com is the newest cross-platform, all male location-based mobile social networking app for iPhone and Android. Users who download the free mobile gay dating app are able to find, meet and chat with men seeking men faster, easier and with more features than any other dating app. Friday night is the “Pep Rally from Hell.” Saturday is “Horror in the Halls,” costume contest at 10 p.m. hosted by Nichole Halliway as Elvira, 1st place $500, 2nd place $300, 3rd place $200. Sunday night’s theme is “Detention” with a costume contest at 10:30 p.m. hosted by Nichole Halliway again as Elvira. Finally, on Monday, Halloween night is “Prom Night,” with a costume contest at 8 p.m. hosted by Florida’s own Dame Edna, 1st place $500, 2nd place $300, 3rd place $200.

Bill’s – Bill’s on Wilton Drive will be celebrating Halloween for four nights, Friday through Monday with the blanket theme, “Cirque de Freaks” where anything can happen. Friday night is “Growl O’Ween” in conjunction with GuySpy.com. Saturday night is “Sideshow Freaks” with a costume contest at midnight. Grand prize $350, 1st runner up $250, 2nd runner up $150. Hosted by Nicole Halliway as Elvira. Sunday is Misty Eyez’s “Trannie Palace – Nightmare on the Drive.” Show and costume contest at 11 p.m. Grand prize $250, 1st runner up $150, 2nd runner up $100. The big night, Monday is “Cirque de Freaks” hosted by Jennifer McClain. Show and costume contest at 10:30 p.m., Grand prize $250, 1st runner up $150, 2nd runner up $100.

Boardwalk – Friday through Monday is “Angel Rock” at Boardwalk presented by JetSetMen.com. On Monday, Halloween night, is a fundraiser for Bernadette from 7 p.m. to midnight with a drawing for the Allure Cruise at midnight.

Boom – Boom will be celebrating Halloween on Monday, October 31 with a “Haunted Forrest” theme and a costume contest at 8 p.m.
The Depot – “Hallo-Bear-Ween” T-Dance/Costume Contest poolside as special guest DJ Barry Thomas Huffine spins the spooky hits for our first “Hallo-Bear-Ween T-Dance” on Sunday, October 30 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. with the only poolside costume contest in Ft. Lauderdale with cash prizes. Hosted by guest Anita Barr.

Johnny’s/Ft. Lauderdale – Friday, October 28 is a “Scorpion Halloween” hosted by Cire Citron, Mr. Situation, Sushiman and others. Free admission before midnight, free drinks 11 p.m. to midnight, $5 drinks all night, $69 Moscato Bottles, DJ TPromix spinning. Sunday, October 30 is “Super Hero Halloween Event,” no cover all night long, MC Gemini Stone, $5 Margarita Madness midnight to closing, Florida’s largest strip contest, $1,000 prize.

The Manor Entertainment Complex – The Manor is planning their own block party which includes their newly paved parking lot on the west side of the building. On Friday, October 28 at 10 p.m., “Lost in the Devil’s Triangle,” $1,000 cash & prizes for best costume contest, DJ JPS, M.C. Daisy Deadpetals, $3 drinks 10 p.m. to midnight, $100 Rokk Vodka VIP bottle service all night, live band at 9 p.m. in the lounge. Saturday, October 29, it’s “Mutiny” with DJ Oren Nizri. Sexy pirate dancers with big shows and surprises. Noche Latina Room hosts Salsa music and drag shows. Live band entertainment at 9 p.m. No cover, extended liquor hours. Costume contest at 1:30 a.m., $500 in cash and prizes. Free raffle for a basket valued at $500 with DJ Larry Larr. For Sunday, October 30 at 9 p.m., it’s “Survivor Island” with DJ David Knapp, no cover. Finally on Halloween, Monday, October 31, 6 p.m. it’s “Pirates of the Manor” an indoor/outdoor block party. $2,500 cash and prizes, best costume contest, MC Daisy Deadpetals, DJ Kidd Modonny, no cover, extended liquor hours.

Matty’s on the Drive – Saturday, October 29 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., don’t miss DJ/comedian, “Cazwell Live!” performing his hits, “Ice Cream Truck” and “I Seen Beyonce at Burger King.” With DJ Jared Michael, mixing from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, October 30 and 31, costume contests both nights at 10 p.m., $250 cash and prizes each night.

Mona’s – For Halloween, Monday, October 31, Mona’s presents its “Halloween Extravaganza,” karaoke with Freak Boy Freddy at 9 p.m. “Burlesque or Cabaret,” dig into your closets and put together your most fabulous outfit. “Hallow Weenee Cookout” from 6 p.m. 11 p.m.

New Moon – Saturday, October 29, 8 p.m. don’t miss “Night of the Living Dead,” get your Zombie on or any other costume your rotting little brains can come up with Saturday night for a down right creepy Halloween Weekend. $500 in cash and prizes. Sunday, October 30, another costume contest with $500 in cash and prizes.

Ramrod – Monday, October 31, costume contest at midnight. Two categories: best costume and butchest costume.
Rosie’s Bar and Grill – Monday, October 31, “Villains & Vixens.” Costume contest at  9 p.m.

Royal Palms Resort – For fun on the beach, the new Royal Palms Resort will be celebrating on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, October 28 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. they are having a “Best of Rio Headdress Contest.”  Bring your best headdress and you can win $200 cash. With DJ Jason Gonzalez and hosted by Nikki Adams. Giveaways all night long. Saturday, October 29, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., don’t miss “Zombie Lane” hosted by Twat LaRouge with DJ Lydia Prim and giveaways all night long. Enter their costume contests and you can win a two-night stay at The Royal Palms.

Scandals Saloon – On Saturday, October 29 don’t miss “Muppet Ranch” with your favorite bartenders dressed as your favorite Muppets. Lady Fancy will be holding her “Gospel Jubilee” on Sunday, October 30 starting at 6 p.m.

Shoppes of Wilton Manors – The parties at Boom and Alibi spill into the parking lot with music and shows on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. The block party includes outdoor costume contests, bars and food and all the great stuff as Java Boys, Humpy’s and the other stores and restaurants in the shopping center join in the fun. Festively decorated, outdoor stage and plenty of good times.

Sidelines Sports Bar – Sidelines typically enjoys a “Parade of Costumes” for Halloween and his year will be no different. This year is no different as, Sidelines presents “A Ghoulish Weekend at Sidelines” on Sunday and Monday, October 30 and 31. Costume contest on Sunday, October 30 at 10 p.m. Don’t miss out on the prizes and games and drink specials.