For the 7th year, Colorado State University students and veterinarians will partner with Dumb Friends League veterinarians to host an annual health clinic for companion dogs and cats, and their owners in north Denver. The event is also in partnership with Focus Points Family Resource Center.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3 in the parking lot of Swansea Recreation Center, 2650 E. 49th Ave., Denver, CO 80216. Due to COVID restrictions, the event will be a drive thru format; appointments, masks, and social distancing will be required.
The event, originally developed to meet an articulated community need, will assist 200 pets of families within the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods, and offers free vaccinations, wellness exams, behavior consultations, and supplies. A nonpartisan nonprofit will also offer voter registration.
“Participation in community events such as these is an invigorating way to connect with the people and pets around us,” said Dr. Danielle Frey, director of Veterinary International and Outreach Experiences at CSU. “When students participate in events with community members and partners, it ignites a flame that grows as they become leaders in our profession, working across barriers and improving access to care through connections, language, and experience.”
The CSU Spur campus is set to open in 2022 as part of the future National Western Center, which includes three CSU buildings focused on water, food, and animal and human health. CSU Spur will also be home to Dumb Friends League donor-subsidized pet care, including Solutions – Resource Center, the Solutions – Veterinary Hospital, and the Solutions – Cat Spay/Neuter Clinic.
“Access to healthcare services has become more difficult in 2020, so we're very excited to partner again with Colorado State University and Focus Points to bring pet wellness care directly to the community,” said Kristine Clay, coordinator of Solutions – Pet Resource Center.
2020 has left us with the need to take action and bring joy into our lives, which is why the 4th annual Lambda Litfest
has been transformed into a specially curated, virtual event
celebrating Black LGBTQIA+ excellence and abundance. The week-long
event, taking place virtually on Zoom from October 5 - 9 will feature
Black, Indigenous, and POC LGBTQIA+ writers, artists, and activists
engaged in dynamic, heart-driven conversations centering the Black
LGBTQIA+ experience.
Each
night of the festival is centered around timely topics vital to Queer
Black art-making including, including Politics & Activism, Black
Aesthetics, and Writing in Hollywood. The opening night will set the stage by bringing panelists Jordyn Jay, founder of Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective, novelist George M. Johnson, and others together for a discussion on Black Joy. The week will cap off with a discussion of Sex and the Body featuring Brontez Purnell, KOKUMO, Randa Jarrar, and others. Additional featured speakers include: Juliana Huxtable, Darnell Moore, Ianne Fields Stewart, t’ai freedom ford,
and many more. All events are free and offer audiences the opportunity
to listen and engage in discussion with some of the most crucial voices
working today.
Lambda LitFest is a program ofLambda Literary,
the nation's leading LGBTQIA+ literary organization, whose mission is
to nurture and advocate for LGBTQIA+ writers, elevating the impact of
their words to create community, preserve their legacies, and affirm the
value of their stories and lives. Lambda
Litfest resists the oppressive nature of a white supremacist, ableist,
cisgender, and heteronormative world by creating a space that uplifts
and celebrates Black, Indigenous, and POC folks in the LGBTQIA+
community.
This
presentation is supported in part by an Arts Grant from the City of
West Hollywood, as well as support from the California Arts Council and
the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass celebrates their 20th Anniversary this year with Let The Music Play On …. airing Saturday, October 3rd at 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET on Circle TV, HardlyStrictlyBluegrass.com,Facebook, YouTube, Nugs.TV and LuckReunion.com.
The broadcast will feature new performances from HSB veterans including
Boz Scaggs, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Earle and
the Halfgrass Dukes feat. Tim O’Brien & Dennis Crouch, Jim
Lauderdale, first-time performers Ashley Monroe, Shakey Graves, Sierra
Ferrell, Black Banjo Reclamation Project, returning artists Fantastic
Negrito, Aaron Lee Tasjan, The War and Treaty, Yola, Rhiannon Giddens,
and many more.
Hardly
Strictly Bluegrass has become an annual pilgrimage for music fans from
all over the world. This year Hardly Strictly Bluegrass enlisted fans
and staff to share memories from past years and is encouraging them to
share their at-home set-ups for creating Let the Music Play On
viewing space. The submissions have ranged from houses to dorm rooms, to
backyards and living rooms. “One of the great powers of this music
[bluegrass] is the ability to bring people together,” says long time HSB
performer Alison Brown.”Not just people who are alike, but people who
are different and who are from all different generations. It’s a really
wonderful common denominator. I think, maybe, Warren understood that...
but it’s no doubt that it’s just one of the best gifts that anyone ever
gave anybody, is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. “
As part of the Let the Music Play On initiative, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announced a charitable partnership with Artist Relief,
a fund created by a coalition of national arts grantmakers, to support
musicians affected by the COVID-19 crisis. In this partnership, the
festival has donated $1 million in immediate relief for musicians across
the country. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Artist Relief are working to
raise awareness and funds for musicians affected by the COVID-19 crisis
leading up to and during this year’s festival. The livestream will
include interactive fundraising features to engage the audience, share
real-time donation information, and highlight the amount raised by the
HSB community. Tax-deductible donations can be made at artistrelief.org/hsb; 100 percent of donations made through this link will be applied directly to aid for musicians.
Premiering October 20 on streaming platforms including Apple TV, Amazon Prime, OVID.tv & Kanopy, Dedalus is a fiction triptych portraying community, love, and loss.
In rural Iowa, a grocery cashier watches helplessly as classmates conceal their act of sexual violence against his teenaged step-sister. Will she keep the child? A hustler tricks for food, shelter, and intimacy during a winter in New York City. A young woman takes him in, but nothing satiates his unrequited love for an older gay client. Mortality compels a father to leave his home in Los Angeles and move in with his daughter.
Jonah Greenstein's gorgeously shot feature debut laces loneliness with beauty to create a film of startling cinematic intimacy.
Some forms of blindness and visual impairment can be cured with a corneal transplant surgery using donated eye tissue. However, federal regulations in the United States and Canada severely restrict the ability of sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating their eye tissue.
Corneal donation in the United States is limited by a decades-old policy that bans men from becoming donors if they have had sex with another man in the past five years. Canada similarly bans corneal donations from men who had sex with another man during the previous 12 months.
These restrictions disqualified as many as 3,217 corneal donations from gay and bisexual men in 2018, despite a worldwide need for corneas for vision-restoring surgery and a lack of scientific evidence of harm caused by corneas from these men, according to a new study published in the September 24 issue of the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
"With millions of people across the world in need of corneal transplants, these discarded corneas from gay and bisexual men could be used to address the shortage and safely restore vision to thousands of patients with corneal blindness or visual impairment," said lead author Michael A. Puente, MD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
The study is the first of its kind to review how these policies have restricted corneal donations and prevented patients from receiving sight-restoring care.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's prohibition on corneal donation by men who have sex with men was instituted in May 1994, out of concern that HIV rates were disproportionately high in that demographic. At the time, HIV tests were unreliable up to six months after viral exposure. Since then, however, HIV testing has become faster and increasingly reliable, identifying infection within four to eight days of exposure. All corneal donors in the United States are required to undergo three separate HIV tests. Despite these advances, the FDA continues to require gay and bisexual corneal donors to be abstinent for five years, even if all three HIV tests are negative.
"With modern virologic testing and a better understanding of the low risk of HIV transmission through corneal transplants, this five-year deferral policy for gay men is not supported by current science," Puente said. "We ask federal regulators to reconsider these outdated policies which are depriving patients of the possibility of sight restoration."
The United States and Canada are outliers when it comes to restricting corneal donations from gay and bisexual men, the article says. Many countries, including Spain, Italy, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, allow gay and bisexual men to donate their eye tissue just as easily as heterosexual donors. Other countries have deferral periods far shorter than five years. For example, the United Kingdom allows corneal donation by gay and bisexual men after only three months of abstinence, while the Netherlands and France only require gay and bisexual corneal donors to be abstinent for four months.
The article in JAMA Ophthalmology also reports that the risk of HIV transmission via corneal transplantation is low, further indicating that the restrictions should be reconsidered.
There has never been a reported case of HIV transmission through corneal transplant surgery. In 10 reported cases of corneal transplants from the 1980s and 1990s using tissue from donors who were found to be HIV-positive after surgery, none of the corneal recipients contracted the virus. Meanwhile, all 12 patients who received solid organ transplants, such as hearts, lungs, and kidneys, from those same donors did contract HIV, indicating that the corneas did not carry enough virus, if any, for transmission. These cases date from a time when HIV tests were unreliable, but now all corneal donors in the United States and Canada are required to undergo three separate highly reliable modern HIV tests. The cornea's avascularity likely prevents it from being a major reservoir of the virus, the JAMA Ophthalmology article says.
To calculate the number of corneal donations lost in one year due to the federal restrictions on corneal donation by gay and bisexual men, Puente and his co-authors surveyed all 65 eye banks in the United States and Canada to investigate how many potential corneal donors were disqualified in 2018 due to these federal restrictions. The survey data was gathered from May 2019 to February 2020.
Fifty-four of the 65 eye banks responded to the inquiries. Of those responding, 24 were able to provide a specific number of donation referrals that were rejected specifically due to the federal restrictions on gay and bisexual corneal donors. Using the reported data, Puente and his colleagues calculated an estimated number of potential corneal donations that were discarded in 2018 due solely to the donors' sexual orientation. They estimate it was between 1,558 and 3,217 eyes.
The need for donated corneas is substantial. An estimated 12.7 million people around the world need a corneal transplant, with only one cornea available for every 70 corneal transplants needed. Despite improvements in the reliability and efficiency of HIV tests, restrictive federal policies for cornea donations have not changed, even as limits on blood donation have been relaxed.
Prior to 2015, gay men in the United States were subject to a lifetime ban on blood donation. In 2015, an FDA review concluded that a lifetime ban was no longer scientifically justified and subsequently recommended that gay blood donors must be abstinent for one year. In April 2020, the FDA announced that blood donors should be deferred for only three months in cases when a man had sexual contact with another man. In cases of solid-organ donation, there is no deferral period at all. Meanwhile, gay corneal donors are still required to be abstinent for five years.
"If it's safe for gay men to donate their blood after three months of abstinence, I can think of no scientific reason to continue to require gay men to be abstinent for five years to donate their eyes," Puente said. "This policy can be changed without increasing the risk of HIV transmission, and I would urge authorities to act as soon as possible to help patients who are waiting for sight-restoring surgery."
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) will take place online Oct. 19-21. Registration is FREE for the first 4,000 community/non-profit registrants.* And all content will be available online for FREE after the conference. With all of this year’s extraordinary events, NMAC knows that many in our community are dealing with isolation and other triggering issues right now. That’s why they have decided to return to a recent theme: Family Reunion II. USCHA 2020 will give everyone a meeting that is welcoming and embracing and inspiring even if we can’t be together in person. Now more than ever, we need our family.
NMAC sees family as more than blood. Family is the people you trust to have your back, especially now. Family is the people you want to hug when you should be socially distancing. The HIV movement is a large and diverse family. During these uncertain times, USCHA celebrates the HIV Family!
The Virtual 2020 USCHA will have five plenaries, 60 workshops, 12 institutes, and an Exhibit Hall. New this year will be a Jobs Fair. The new federal resources for the Ending the HIV Epidemic plan means thousands of new jobs. USCHA wants to bring together the people who need jobs with the organizations who receive the new EHE funding. They also want to make sure that the people who get these jobs represent the communities hit hardest by HIV.
While there are many critical issues impacting HIV, right now the house is on fire and COVID-19 is stoking the flames. USCHA will prioritize trainings that help the HIV community manage the impact that COVID-19 has had on HIV prevention, treatment, and care.
The 4th annual Lambda LitFest, a free, weeklong celebration of Black LGBTQ excellence and abundance, starts next Monday, October 5.
LitFest features 20+ Black, Indigenous, and POC LGBTQ writers, artists, and activists engaged in dynamic, heart-driven conversations centering the Black LGBTQ experience.
Join us on Zoom for one (or more) of these events, October 5 through 9, at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET. All events include ASL interpretation.
Lambda LitFest is supported in part by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood, as well as support from the California Arts Council and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Dave Koz’s forthcoming album,A New Day, was conceived and recorded entirely under the umbrella of COVID-19. Always one to see the silver lining in a situation, Koz quickly
rose to the challenge of rolling out the album in a completely new
manner – culminating with a virtual record release party on October 9.
The special livestream event will find three of his quarantine
collaborators, joining in the festivities via Zoom: Dave’s all-time saxophone hero,David Sanborn, who collaborated with him on “Side By Side,” which was the #1 Most Added song in its first week at Smooth Jazz radio, Brian McKnight, who contributes vocals to the soulful leadoff track “Summertime in NYC” and the legendaryBob James, who plays piano on “Long Goodbyes.”
Performing in a Southern California studio, Koz will play a mixture of new songs and previous hits, backed by band mates Adam Hawley (guitar),Carnell Harrell (keyboards) andArthur Thompson (percussion). Dave will fieldfan questions and premiere a brand new video. Other highlights include Pat Prescott’s interview with Koz.
Tickets
are available now for the event, which will take place on Friday,
October 9, at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT, via looped. A download of the
full album is included in the ticket price. VIP experiences, including
exclusive one-on-one meet & greets, are also available. A portion of
the proceeds will go to the Recording Academy’s MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Efforts, which helps those in the music community affected by the pandemic. Tickets and further details are available HERE.
To determine the best local coffee scenes in America, WalletHub compared
the 100 largest cities across 12 key indicators of a strong coffee
culture. The data set ranges from coffee shops, coffee houses and cafés
per capita to the average price per pack of coffee.
Please participate in the 2nd Black LGBTQ Community Survey. The project is a partnership between the Center for Black Equity, Community Marketing & Insights (CMI), and many leading media, organizations, and thought leaders who serve the Black LGBTQ community.
The survey will provide free data to help nonprofits, universities, and organizations better understand and serve the Black LGBTQ community. The research report will be published for free download, available to all.
Answering the mostly multiple-choice questions should take approximately 15 minutes. The survey may be extensive, but we think completing it will be simple and interesting for you.
Everyone who completes the survey by October 30, 2020 may enter into a drawing to win one of twenty US $100 gift certificate prizes from Apple, Amazon, Etsy, Starbucks, Target, TomboyX, or Wildfang (your choice).
The SPICE GIRLS will re-release their 2000 album Forever for the first time on vinyl on November 20, 2020 via UMC.
The platinum selling album, which features tracks such as the UK No.1 hit "Goodbye" as well as the double A-sided single "Holler" and "Let Love Lead The Way," will be released on 180g heavyweight vinyl. Originally released in November 2000, the vinyl will feature a gatefold sleeve, four collectable art prints and artwork specially re-created for this vinyl release, making it the ultimate collectable for any Spice Girls fan.
Forever was the Spice Girls' final studio album.
Last year, the Spice Girls reunited for a headline tour across the UK and Ireland, where they performed to over 700,000 fans. They are still to this date the highest selling female group of all time, with their 1996 debut album Spice selling over 31 million copies worldwide.
Toronto, ON's Lydia Ainsworth has shared a cover of Chic's "Good Times" from the Ever New compilation. Ever New features new music and covers by Canadian artists with 100% of proceeds going to Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ2S charities: Black Health Alliance, Indspire and The 519.
Of the cover Ainsworth said "Out of the jaws of the apocalypse I'm fleeing to an imaginary desert island of Good Times. Let's hope we make it there for real and soon. Meantime, get out and vote."
Earlier this year, Ainsworth released "Forever," a digital single which Stereogum called "a departure from the chilly, synthetic music of Ainsworth's past. It's a warm, sunny piece of music, full of bright guitars and layered-up harmonies." Last month she remixed Girlpool's single "Like I'm Winning It" for their Touch Me (It's Like I'm Winning It) Remix EP, which The FADER said "offers anxiously stuttering drums over widescreen orchestration." The EP also featured remixes by Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and Porches. Most recently her string remix of "Diamonds Cutting Diamonds" was featured in Apple's "Privacy. That's iPhone" commercial.
NewFest,
New York’s leading LGBTQ film and media organization and one of the
world's most respected LGBTQ film festivals, has announced its full
line-up for The New York LGBTQ Film Festival’s 32nd year. The festival
will kick off with the New York City premiere of Francis Lee’s highly
anticipated AMMONITE starring Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet and
Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan. Winslet will also present Lee with
the festival’s inaugural World Queer Visionary Award ahead of the
special drive-in screening, taking place at the Queens Drive-In at
Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The festival will close with the virtual
New York premiere of Faraz Shariat’s Teddy Award-winner NO HARD
FEELINGS. The announcement was made today by NewFest’s Executive
Director David Hatkoff and Director of Programming Nick McCarthy.
The 32nd edition of The New York LGBTQ Film Festival will take place
October 16-27, 2020, with more than 120 new films accessible to ticket
holders nationwide via NewFest’s on-demand platform. Individual tickets
and all-access passes are on sale now at newfest.org.
The first-ever virtual edition of NewFest will include a robust lineup
of panels and conversations surrounding LGBTQ+ topics, in addition to
its regular programming of new features and short film premieres, and
will incorporate virtual live events as well as select drive-in
screenings. Introductions to the films will be shot in front of historic
LGBTQ sites, community organizations and queer-owned businesses
throughout New York City.
“With the Presidential election right around the corner and a Supreme
Court seat now open, it is more urgent than ever that queer stories be
told and celebrated,” said Executive Director David Hatkoff. “We have
created an 11-day event that will meet and speak to this moment,
delivering a thought-provoking, inspiring and joyful look at the LGBTQ
community and the unique challenges it faces, while also paying homage
to the incredible queer legacy that exists in NYC. We can’t wait for
audiences around the country to view these incredible films, and
hopefully be inspired to raise their own voices in pride and protest on
November 3rd and beyond.”
“Featuring the newest work from leading international auteurs, Academy
Award winners, and emerging LGBTQ filmmakers premiering their work for
the first time, this year’s line-up channels themes that inform our
community and society at large while confronting the edges of democracy
and celebrating our strong history of LGBTQ ancestry that broke barriers
before,” said Director of Programming Nick McCarthy. “By highlighting
portraits of hometown heroes and unsung global icons, celebrating the
clear fact that All Black Lives Matter, standing up for the visibility
of our LGBTQ siblings around the world, and encouraging
intergenerational dialogue within our community, our 32nd annual program
will raise human spirits by uplifting our diversity of voices.”
The full program for the festival’s 32nd edition includes three drive-in
screenings, 24 narrative features in competition, 14 documentary
features in competition, three full-season episodics, one global
episodic showcase, and 10 shorts program screenings, including a
specially-curated shorts program for LGBTQ-identified high school
students in partnership with the New York City Department of Education.
Among the 41 features playing the festival, all are New York City
premieres, with one world premiere (NORA HIGHLAND), one international
premiere (THE FLASHPOINT), two US premieres (ALWAYS AMBER and DATING
AMBER) and one sneak preview (UNCLE FRANK).
This year at NewFest, 63% of films are directed by women and non-binary
filmmakers, and 76% of content is about and/or by underrepresented
voices (women, people of color, trans, bi and differently abled).
Highlights announced today by the festival include a special sneak
drive-in preview of Academy Award winner Alan Ball’s road trip comedy
UNCLE FRANK, which follows a teenage girl and her gay uncle who take a
road trip back to their hometown. The film, which had its world premiere
at Sundance this year, stars Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Peter
Macdissi and Steve Zahn.
Each night of the Festival will feature a Spotlight film. Spotlight
Films include french auteur François Ozon’s drama SUMMER OF 85, a sexy
summer romance about two teenage boys who meet on the coast of Normandy,
and New Zealand filmmaker Max Currie’s RURANGI, in which a trans
activist returns to his hometown to reconnect with his roots and
estranged father. Other Spotlight films include topical time-loop drama
THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON, New Zealand trans drama RURANGI, recent
Toronto (TIFF 2020) favorite SHIVA BABY, hometown hero doc KEITH HARING:
STREET ART BOY, stunning supermodel portrait KELET and celebratory
lesbian documentary AHEAD OF THE CURVE. NewFest will not screen a
Spotlight film on the evening of Thursday October 22 to encourage
viewership of the Presidential debate.
Additional highlights include the International Premiere of THE
FLASHPOINT, a galvanizing documentary that examines political
polarization and the rise of right-wing homophobia in Poland through
public art and the symbolic meaning of the rainbow, and a special
one-night virtual screening event for NORA HIGHLAND, a feature based on
the play with the same name, shot entirely on computers during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. The screening of NORA HIGHLAND, which explores the
casting process surrounding an iconic and seminal gay character in a new
Broadway revival, will be followed by a Q&A with director Ryan
Spahn and actor Michael Urie.
The Festival will also host a special 25th Legacy Anniversary screening
for Kino Lorber’s BLOODSISTERS: LEATHER, DYKES, AND SADOMASOCHISM, the
iconic documentary about the San Francisco leather scene, which had its
New York Premiere at NewFest back in 1995.
Individual tickets for virtual films ($12 regular, $10 for members) and
drive-in tickets (starting at $45 per car) are now on sale for purchase
on www.newfest.org,
with all-access virtual passes starting at $95. For more information,
to purchase tickets/passes, or to become a member, go to www.newfest.org.
Musician, DJ & producer, DVRKO, today released his fourth original single, “Somewhere in L.A.” ft. Sarah De Warren, out now and streaming on all available digital platforms via independent label L1N3 Records. With his foot firmly on the gas, the mystery producer joins forces with Sarah De Warren for the first time since his debut track, “This is How,” also featuring the London-based vocalist. For their latest collaboration, De Warren lends her soft, ethereal vocals to a melodic assemblage of white-hot, uplifting basslines to package a sublime house tune with a feel-good, hands in the air vibe. The lyrics convey a love story set under the city lights of L.A., with said love story hilariously portrayed in the accompanied official music video featuring puppet characters from the Los Angeles-based master puppeteer behind The Muppets, Crank Yankers and more, Russ Walko.
Join the National LGBTQ Task Force and Creating Change for a day of exploring how queer and trans people of color are leading activism and the resistance to state-sanctioned violence. Build your skills, broaden your understanding, and invest in community organizing strategies for collective liberation.
