We couldn’t say it better ourselves: “A Dallas man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for spitting at a cop. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, because he’s HIV-positive. So his spit is made of death!!! Except, uh… we were taught many years ago that much as you can’t get pregnant from oral sex, you can’t actually get the AIDS from fucking spit… Oh, Texas. You never cease to make us want to give you back to Mexico.” [Gawker]

We know that anti-gay leaders aren’t the most rational, but this borders on sheer lunacy: “Muslim leaders in Kenya’s North Eastern Province have resolved to campaign against the promotion of condoms as a means of preventing HIV… The leaders agreed to actively preach against the use and public promotion of condoms as a strategy to contain the pandemic and prevent pregnancy. They also agreed to oppose the distribution of condoms in villages and educational institutions across the northeast.” [Mamba Online]

Gays are slowly but surely coming into their own over in Vietnam. They may want to hurry up, however, because HIV/AIDS awareness has been ignoring them and it’s costing a heavy price: lots of lives. [Thanhnien News]

Art fans have no doubt heard the name John Connelly.

The 40-year old curator currently commands quite the cadre of artists, including AA Bronson, Scott Treleaven and Nick Lowe. One would assume that Connelly always felt the aesthetic love, but - as we all know - assuming only brings trouble.

In fact, Connelly originally wanted to be an actor, but found himself distracted by art history, a pursuit that plunged him straight into New York creative pool.

Now, a few years on, Connelly’s 27th street gallery, John Connelly Presents, consistently puts on a good show, like Nao Tsuda’s Tunnel Room, on view until May 10th.

Our pal Justin Conner recently sat down with Connelly to talk artistic evolution, how AIDS affects art today and why Bronson’s butt massages are bomb.

Read all about it, after the jump.
Continued…

The Peace Corp tries to keep thing copacetic, but some queer policies spurred the ACLU into full-on war mode.

Former volunteer Jeremiah Johnson contacted the group after being booted from the Corp for contracting HIV. Obviously the experience was not positive: I joined the Peace Corps because I wanted to learn more about the world and help people. It was hard enough to learn that I had contracted HIV, but to then be shipped home and told I was unworthy of finishing my service was incredibly humiliating.”
Continued…

“the Thai Ministry of Public Health released findings to indicate the leap in infection rates among the MSM group. However, it is indicative of the low priority placed on prevention and cure in the gay community by the authorities that little publicity was given to this dramatic rise in the Thai media.” [Pattaya Daily News]

There’s some bloody good news out of Thailand this morning.

The Red Cross announced that they are expanding their screening process to eschew gay discrimination. While the organization previously leaned on gay men in their vetting process, they will now include a number of questions that targets behavior, rather than people: “We didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” said Soisaang Pikulsod, director of the Thai Red Cross National Blood Centre. “It was just to ensure the highest possible safety of our patients.”

The Red Cross will rework the form to include more questions about all types of sexual behaviour, gay or heterosexual, that could increase the risk of diseases such as AIDS, she said. Now, … Continued…

There may be more reason to protest the Beijing-hosted Olympic games. Former government official and gay activist Dr. Wan Yanhai claims the government has launched a homophobic crackdown ahead of the athletic festivities. And he’s not the only one:
In his email about the new anti-gay crackdown, Wan detailed several of the police raids. They began on March 9 when police invaded Destination, Beijing’s most popular gay nightspot.
…
A foreigner residing in Beijing who had spoken to a number of Chinese gays said by telephone, “The authorities have begun this so-called clean-up to signal to Chinese gays that they better be really discreet and invisible during the Beijing Olympics. The government is … Continued…

John Caldera a human interest journalist’s wet dream: he’s gay, has HIV, served our nation’s military and will run with the Olympic torch in San Francisco. So, what’s he think of all the Tibet protest: This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. No one in my family has been a torchbearer. Those who want to protest should be able to protest. I just hope I don’t get hit with tomatoes.” Caldera’s obviously a comedian, as well! [eBar]

There’s a war brewing in the Middle East - and we’re not talking about Iraq.
Continued…

No doubt the internet has changed gay life in the 21st century, but should it be blamed for the spread of HIV? A journalist at Britain’s Channel 4 seems to think so… [The Inquirer]

Dr. Alan Cantwell claims the United States government created HIV and introduced it to the gay community: “The gay community was the most hated minority in America… In my view, what made gay men ‘high risk’ was the fact that they were the exclusive volunteers for government medical experiments that undoubtedly put them at ‘high risk.’” Uh-huh… [The Canadian]

While we’re pissing people off, enjoy this gruesomely funny Family Guy track: “The AIDS Song.”

Happy Friday!

It’s usually gay men who are the target of HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, but a new one launching in New York this week is going after a particular group: black women.

The initiative comes from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (which, of course, is launching a parallel campaign aimed at men-on-men) on the back of statistics that show new HIV diagnoses among black and Hispanic women and women aged 13-29 in NYC is on the rise, even though, city-wide, the number is decreasing (down 5 percent between ‘05 and ‘06).

Our one caveat: This looks to be yet another campaign that encourages testing, but doesn’t have any message for those who walk into a clinic … Continued…

Gay dating site Fitlads.net has asked its members to install a program which allows the The FightAIDS@Home project to add their PC to a supercomputer. By allocating unused space to this initiative, participants can help fuel HIV/AIDS research without really doing anything. It’s great for lazy wankers. [Pink News]