Steven Thrasher

Lots of big news from the White House yesterday about HIV/AIDS.

In the morning, the White House blasted out a press release with some historic news from the Food and Drug Administration: the FDA had approved Truvada, "the first drug -- to reduce the risk of HIV infection in uninfected individuals who are at high risk of HIV infection and who may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners."

Having recently written about How To Survive a Plague, one of the documentaries about the heyday of ACT-UP, we find it pretty amazing to see how far HIV management medication has come since those days. But after great progress, the rate of new HIV infections in the United States has been stubbornly lodged around 50,000 for the past few years. A preventative drug for people to take before they become infected with HIV has been sought for a long time and could finally provide a measure of movement in reducing new infections.

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Twenty-five years ago, Aundaray Guess started college at the age of 19. Shortly after, he was diagnosed with HIV and dropped out of school. Guess, who is from Minneapolis, then got kicked out of his house when his mom found out about his status and sexuality.

For months, he slept in his car and applied for job after job until he was hired by a community theater. It was there that Guess began writing plays and launched Flayva Cabaret, a company focused on LGBT artists of color. About 11 years ago, Guess decided to move to New York for a life change. But it wasn't until a chance encounter at a drug store that he also decided to return to school and complete his degree.

Guess graduated from New York University with a social science degree on Monday, and received extensive academic accolades. The Voice caught up with him to talk about the challenges of going to school as an adult with HIV.

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Activists upset with a new drug screening regulation for HIV-positive New Yorkers are going to protest the policy today by marching to a city commissioner and asking him to take a drug test. Y'know, it's one of those protests where the activists try to find the person they're mad at -- those are fun! If you find yourself feeling activist-y today, you can join HIV/AIDS organization Voices Of Community Advocates & Leaders (VOCAL-NY) this afternoon for a protest that the group says will bring together a hundred HIV-positive New Yorkers and allies.

This morning, Runnin' Scared caught up with one of the organizers to discuss what this was all about.

The group is pretty frustrated with the city -- for many reasons.

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Love is supposed to be everlasting. Unfortunately for many, the only permanent thing to come out of a relationship is an incurable sexually transmitted disease.

And that's why Cyrus Sullivan, of Portland, Ore., claims that he runs STD Carriers Disease Control and Prevention Services, a website that lists claimed and confirmed carriers by their names, locations, descriptions, and sometimes their photos.

The database is completely open to the public -- you don't have to login to browse the listings, and many of the recently added carriers' pics are displayed prominently on the site's front page. Users submit photos freely. There are about 1,500 listings.

From the workmanlike design and sluggish flash slideshow and bizarre comparisons between Pearl Harbor's "hostile Asian men" and STD awareness, you might get the impression that Sullivan, who also runs an online reputation-management business, operates with a tongue-in-cheek M.O.

And you'd be wrong: Sullivan is for real and his work (for better or for worse) is heartfelt, -- and he has updated his site just in time for Valentine's Day.

From the mission statement: "It is our goal that by promoting the sharing of information that we can ultimately protect you health from dangerous diseases while protecting your civil liberties and providing quality entertainment."

Oh boy.

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C.S. Muncy

Kevin Beauchamp (left) and Howard Orlick

Today is World AIDS Day, the day to remember the 25 million people killed by the disease and the over 33 million people worldwide living with HIV.

Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to profile Kevin Beauchamp and Howard Orlick in the Voice cover story "Maybe I Do and Maybe I Don't." Both Kevin and Howard are legally blind, have been living with AIDS for years, buried their former partners (at very young ages) to the disease, and now work as HIV/AIDS educators and activists. We chatted with them this morning to talk about who they're remembering and how'll they be spending their day.

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This past Pride Week has marked some amazing events, from passage of Marriage Equality in New York, to a President ducking that issue while visiting the city, to that same President marking National HIV Testing Day and preparing to host a White House Pride reception.

This Pride also marks the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic, which has killed over 33 million people worldwide. Marking the occasion, the New York Public Library's Mid-town branch is hosting an event tonight called "AIDS in Oral History: Doctors and Activists Look Back on 30 Years of the Epidemic," featuring the work of two historians on this subject.

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