u HIV & AIDS Education q
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uTroix Bettencourt
At twenty-eight, Troix Bettencourt knows first hand that gay, lesbian, and HIV-positive teenagers fall through the cracks of society. After Troix was violently removed from his home as a teenager both by his parents and police because he was gay, he became an advocate on gay youth and HIV related issues. HIV-positive for the last ten years, Troix was appointed member on the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Youth Commission, spoke at the 1993 Gay & Lesbian March on Washington, and is the program director of HIV Support Services at the Justice Resource Institute of Boston. Troix's program stresses the need for young people to avoid sexual risk and communicate with each other before intimacy. Troix has taken what could have been a tragic situation and has turned in into a positive message for people everywhere.
uSteve Moore
Out but not down, staying positive about living with HIV, gay comedian and lecturer, Steve Moore turns his fight for survival into the edgiest of fodder in his one man show; Drop Dead Gorgeous: The Power of HIV-Positive Thinking. As featured on his "HBO Comedy Special", Steve powerfully and eloquently opens up his life in a way that few performers do, let alone one with AIDS. Having survived turning 40 against the odds, Steve says. "through anecdotes my presentation allows the audience to meet the people in my life... They can understand my friends and family and perhaps through that they can help understand themselves." One would think that AIDS is not something to laugh about, but Steve is more than an entertainer, he is a highly courageous individual with a hard and enduring story to tell.
uSteve Yurcik
Middle class, white, male, heterosexual, father of two, New York City Police Officer, and HIV-positive; these all describe Steve Yurcik. Steve was one of the first cases of infection through heterosexual sex. Steve's wife passed away from AIDS in 1992 as her former husband had been infected through IV drug use. Steve now speaks around the country and his message is clear - AIDS can happen to anybody and he has been on the front lines of education, just recently as the cover story for POZ magazine. As Steve says in his highly informational presentation, "This disease is far from over. People have to be careful with their behavior. There is nobody on this Earth that is immune from getting it."
uSuzy Berger
Suzy Berger has been described as "comic perfection" by the San Francisco Chronicle. She performs hysterically funny stand-up and improv and is a featured in two comedy anthologies, Revolutionary Laughter and A Funny Time to be Gay and has the CD Gay From Las Vegas. Suzy also does a solo AIDS education play "The Talking Cure". Critics have raved "it is both side-splitting funny and heart-breakingly affecting" and "Berger works wonders with the spectrum of emotions in a witty insightful catharsis". Suzy performs comedy from Las Vegas to the U.K. and as one of the first out lesbian comics, she has truly been a ground breaker.
uRudy Galindo
Rudy Galindo is the 1996 U.S. Men's National figure skating champion as well as the only Mexican-American and only openly gay man to hold that title. In his autobiography, Icebreaker, Rudy tells of his heartbreaking struggle to achieve his dream of winning the gold medal. After winning two national championships with Kristi Yamaguchi, in 1990 she dissolved the partnership. As well, Rudy's coach died from AIDS that year. Struggling with a singles career Rudy was beset by personal tragedies: his brother and a second coach dying of AIDS, struggling with alcohol and drugs, and an abusive relationship. Rudy's inspirational story is one of overcoming personal demons as well as racism and homophobia and having the perseverance to fulfill ones dreams through courage and determination.
uTodd Fogel
Todd Fogel is an award-winning educator in the field of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. After losing a life partner to AIDS, Todd wrote and developed an interactive instructional curriculum, entitled, HIV/AIDS Awareness and Prevention, Using The AIDS Memorial Quilt as a Learning Tool. Endorsed by The NAMES Project Foundation, The AIDS Memorial Quilt, Todd's presentation utilizes The AIDS Memorial Quilt as a visual learning tool, in place of the traditional textbook, in order to start the dialogue. The Quilt offers a unique way to reach people with the message of HIV prevention. “Seeing The Quilt creates a ‘teachable moment’, when young people are receptive to information that can save their lives”. This open-forum style, learning situation is designed to encourage students to discuss issues and ask questions concerning HIV transmission and AIDS prevention. This upbeat seminar with the students is more diverse than just HIV/AIDS. It includes discussions on self-esteem issues; the ability to say, ”No”; care and compassion issues; and talking to parents.
uSarah Schulman
Author of eight novels and an award-winning playwright and non-fiction writer, Sarah Schulman has spent as much time over the last twenty years writing about gay rights as she has fighting for them. In her novels After Delores, People in Trouble, Shimmer, Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS and the Marketing of Gay America, and Rat Bohemia, Sarah not only chronicles a community plagued by AIDS, but how society responds from the levels of the individual, family, corporate, and as a whole. A longtime member of ACT UP and a founding member of the direct action group Lesbian Avengers, Sarah is one of the country's best cultural critics and novelists, and what she has to say needs to be heard.
