By Bailey Williams
For the past three years, Mayra Olivares has helped people living with HIV and AIDS achieve better health outcomes. As a Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program case manager at Erie Family Health Centers, Mayra makes sure her clients receive needed medication, medical appointments and referrals for vital services like housing. Prior to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Mayra...
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By Bailey Williams
Longtime housing advocate Debra La Joyce Thornton, age 64, passed away Thursday, July 1. Debra is survived by her mother, four children and three grandchildren she loved dearly.
Described by many as extremely hardworking and dedicated, Debra spent the last two decades helping hundreds...
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By Hannah Kopach, AFC associate board member and co-captain of the associate board’s AIDS Run & Walk Chicago 2021 Team
Ever since I was asked to write a piece for AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC)’s blog, Inside Story, about my Uncle Kevin, I wasn’t sure where to...
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AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC)’s associate board includes young professionals and emerging leaders who are passionate in the fight for HIV/AIDS services and prevention in the Chicagoland area. Members of the associate board act as ambassadors for AFC by taking part in fundraising, community service and advocacy activities that create health equity and justice for...
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By Bailey Williams
I n the summer of 2005, party promoters, bar and bathhouse owners, government representatives, community leaders, health providers and Black gay, bisexual and same gender loving men convened at what was formerly the Ramada Inn on 47th Street and South Lakeshore Drive to...
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By Jim Pickett, Senior Director Prevention Advocacy and Gay Men’s Health at AIDS Foundation Chicago
The last time I wrote about safer sex and pleasure during COVID-19 – last April (in other words, three lifetimes ago) – I focused on lots of tasty treats on the sexual menu . ...
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By Lauren B. Beach, JD/PhD @laurenbbeach
The term “ Pride” is synonymous with the history of protest and celebration for the liberation of LGBTQIA+ people and communities. Little known, however, is that the origins of Pride have bisexual roots . In 1969, Black and Brown transgender women, including Marsha...
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By Danie Muriello
Everyone in the LGBTQ+ community has a coming-out story. I am a 69 -year-old transwoman, and I’d like to share just the beginning of mine.
A little more than six years ago on a very ordinary Sunday afternoon, I was leisurely reading the paper, something I did almost every Sunday. One of the sections I really liked ...
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By Ella Shapiro
For over a century , drag has been an essential performance art within the LGBTQ+ community. While the roots of drag can be traced back to theatre performance in the late 1800s, the 1900s saw drag transform into a unifying space for the LGBTQ+ community in the face of oppression and criminalization. Drag shows have served as places to come together, be entertained, challenge...
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By Ella Shapiro
Marc Querol, a TEAM TO END AIDS (T2 ) athlete and a n e mergency room (ER) trauma nurse from Chicago , is one of many health care professionals who have dedicated themselves to caring for other s during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marc and other nurses working in hospitals...
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