“…the way to help strengthen my community as a whole is to improve the quality of my relationships…”

“It’s clear to me that I spent too much time in the past believing it was necessary to mobilize entire armies against the devastating effects of racism, and not enough time considering how one person can help another person to health from those effects. A chain, after all, is only as strong as its individual … Continue reading →

This Oscars, let action=life.

*Grateful that this piece was first posted at Positive Lite, Canada’s Online HIV Magazine. This has been adapted from letter for use by HIV advocates to raise awareness in the lead up to the Oscars first written by the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance. The Oscars are once again upon us, drawing our eyes to the compelling films … Continue reading →

In which there are so many ways to love

Since we are generally in agreement about how great love is (although we tend to approve of certain kinds more than others), it only makes sense to think about some of the ways we Since today is about love – celebrating it, making time for it, soaking it all in – I thought I would … Continue reading →

Rethinking suicide as ‘hate kills’

(trigger warning for suicide and state and institutional violence) While a lot of energy has been invested in determining why some people commit “suicide”, other work (as in, the work I am much more interested in talking about) draws attention to environmental and contextual factors in which suicide takes place. Rates of suicide are often … Continue reading →

There’s an app for that: homophobia and HIV

This week, the AIDS Committee of Guelph launched a very cool app, Halt HIV and Homophobia. The app combines information about HIV risk considerations for specific activities around sex and drug use, and witty comebacks to homophobic remarks. You can also take a homophobia quiz and assess your  level of homophobia, and get perspective on … Continue reading →

Treatment alone will not solve the HIV epidemic.

The Globe and Mail reported this week that B.C. is leading the way in HIV prevention with its treatment as prevention work. While I certainly support of everyone getting appropriate, self-determined HIV care, framing treatment as prevention diverts attention from structural drivers of the epidemic and focuses on biomedical solutions to issues that are social, medical … Continue reading →