Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Survival
Sean Strub has been an internationally recognized authority on AIDS treatment and policy reform for more than 25 years. This blog will serve as a forum for Sean’s thoughts and ideas about HIV criminalization, educational, treatment and other urgent issues in the HIV/AIDS global community.
Holiday traditions are an important anchor in our lives, connecting families and friends through time-honored customs, foods, music, decorations and gatherings of familiar faces. A Christmas tradition in the Strub family was to share Christmas dinner with people who might otherwise be alone on the holiday. For as long as I can remember, our family Christmas dinner has included these “holiday orphans.”
Read MoreLast night, the U.S. Senate passed, 84-15, the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act, which included two provisions of particular importance to the HIV and LGBT communities -- and especially significant for advocates for HIV criminalization reform.
Read MoreKudos to Delaware Senator Chris Coons, who introduced the Repeal HIV Discrmination Act in the U.S. Senate, a companion bill to the H.R. 1843, introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).
Read MoreFashion mogul Kenneth Cole produced a documentary this year about amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, an organization whose board of trustees he has chaired for many years. The Battle of Amfar is being shown on HBO, but frankly, I'm not eager to see it. After all, the film's promotional material emphasizes a melodramatic mistruth: "In the darkest days of the epidemic, two very different women—Hollywood superstar Elizabeth Taylor and research scientist Mathilde Krim—joined forces to create amfAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research), America's first AIDS research organization."
Read MoreThirty-three years ago this evening, John Lennon was murdered as he entered the Dakota, his apartment building at the corner of Central Park West and 72nd Street in New York City. When journalists report on the anniversary of this tragedy, they often call me for comment. That's because I was one of the first on the scene.
Read MoreIt seems more money is being spent these days on billboards or bus advertising or other promotional activities targeted to the public to presumably reduce HIV-related stigma. Every time I hear about this, I get annoyed.
Read MoreWhen I made the short film HIV is Not a Crime for Sero Project several years ago, it was out of frustration. At the time, so few leaders in public policy leaders were talking about the terrible policies that promoted HIV criminalization.
Read MoreDr. Paul Bellman, a longtime AIDS physician in New York City, is closing his practice. This news marks a community loss, as well as a challenge for me, as Paul has been my physician the past few years, ACT UP veteran Mike Petrelis wrote a lovely tribute to Paul on his blog recently.
Read MoreIn my new memoir Body Counts, I write about the People With AIDS Coalition in New York. They and other early networks of people with HIV played an incredibly important role helping newly-diagnosed people cope.
Read MoreYesterday, ProPublica, the independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest, published an in-depth piece on HIV criminalization.
Read MoreSean Strub, founder of the groundbreaking POZ magazine, charts his remarkable life—a story of politics and AIDS and a powerful testament to loss, hope, and survival.
