With Eddie Stone and Rico Mandarino (centre), Toronto Pride 2009. Photo: Shaun Proulx Media

‘Tis the Season!

I cannot express how excited, energized and elated I am for this time of year (even more than the sparkle and lights of Christmas!).

As we enter the 42^nd year since the Stonewall riots and the beginning of the LGBT movement, I embody every ounce of Pride that comes from an equaled amount of hate that fueled those riots.

From this middle-aged, HIV+ gay man, I wish all of you a Happy, Festive and Colorful PRIDE Season, no matter where you are!

Play hard, Love lots and be safe.

SNAP! Lot 33 - Nelson French: New World Venice

Oh, SNAP! you little minx of a fundraiser.  Ten years old you say?

Well you look terrific.  Who did your shots?

Remember that image my friend Rico and I submitted to you?  Just perusing today through my advance catalog of photographic inspiration all up for auction March 27th, (LOVE page 6!) I’ve got to tell you I’m embarrassed we even thought to send it such a dreadful submission.

I apologize: I apologize for even being part of such a bad photo shoot, apologize on behalf of myself, Rico, and, in fact, every other idiot out there with a camera who thinks they’re making art.

But in a weird way that photo is testimony to how much you’ve grown in one quick decade; evolving into the spectacular demonstration of artistic aplomb you are today is a long way from twits like me and my pal sending in this. (Really?  A photo he shot of me smoking a joint, Soap Opera Digest by my side like a Mormon with a Bible?)

We called it ‘It’s Been A Bad Day Please Don’t Take A Picture’ because it was taken January 3^rd some year and I was still recovering.  A guy the radio started singing, It’s been a bad day, please don’t take a picture, and so Rico, inspired, shot up off the couch and began snapping me within a thick cloud of smoke.

Suddenly we were so clever, submitting away, two copies, as required.  God we were high.

Moving on, SNAP! I am stunned by the leading edge images up for bid this year – some of them the most beautiful photographs I’ve ever seen. In particular, I love Lot 4 to pieces and bits, Globe De Mariee by Carole Suety:

Keep growing, kid and ignore snap-happy fools like me.  Each year you bring art, beauty and gorgeous people together like one big glam squad, all to fund raise for the awesomeness that is The AIDS Committee of Toronto and that’s just damn hot. See you March 27^th.

xShaun

P.S. Rico and I didn’t win.

P.P.S. Don’t you think Jeff Harris on this year’s jury is hot?

- Shaun Proulx

GGT guest blogger Enrico Mandarino continues to share some of the fascinating ideas emerging from this year’s World AIDS Conference in Vienna.

What’s old is new again: A huge focus of this year’s World AIDS Conference was on when to start treatment, which is a question you may have thought had been long-answered.

Over the years the pendulum has swung back and forth between starting treatments early, or waiting until CD4 counts are below a certain level. (CD4 cells are the immune system cells targeted by HIV, so concentrations (counts) of CD4 in blood are a key indicator of disease progression.)

Back in 1996 the moto was “hit early, hit hard” and although the meds caused a lot of side effects, the goal back then was survival. Since then, many people waited until CD4 got to a certain level before starting the meds to avoid the side effects of being on the drugs for a long period of time.  It is now known that keeping CD4 cells as high as possible may further improve the quality and length of life for persons living with HIV.

According to new 2010 treatment guidelines released by the International AIDS Society-USA, the benefits of starting treatment even when you don’t have symptoms outweigh the risks. There is increasing evidence that even though someone living with HIV may have no symptoms, HIV can still cause a lot of damage to the immune system. Today there’s also now more knowledge about the effectiveness, toxicity and potential uses of newer drugs in HIV management. Drugs used to treat HIV today have become more tolerable with fewer side effects and much easier to take.

The panel I heard in Vienna recommends:

• There is currently no CD4+ cell count at which initiating therapy is contraindicated, although patient readiness is a key factor for deciding when to initiate antiretroviral therapy.

• Treatment is recommended for symptomatic patients regardless of CD4 cell count, and for asymptomatic individuals with CD4+ cell counts of 500/µL or less. This marks a new era in the treatment of HIV infection. By treating HIV earlier and not waiting until CD4 cells fall, you can avoid long-term complications and stay healthier longer.

It’s incredible, after three decades of a world with HIV/AIDS how science, stakeholders, and those infected and affected by this disease are still having to adjust and learn to it’s mysterious ways.

From the opening of The World AIDS conference in Vienna, long-time AIDS activist Enrico Mandarino shares what would be this year’s key message.

At the opening of the XVIII International AIDS Conference, scientific, community and political leaders applauded recent progress towards universal access but said that if will ever see a world without AIDS we must “ finish what we started”:

Three pillars of success are said to include:

• Protection of human rights
• Widespread evidence based interventions ( eg needle exchange)
• Sustained financing

In the welcome speech president of the International AIDS Society and Canadian Dr Julio Montaner continued his strong messages to start people on ARV treatments earlier, setting the stage for the entire conference.

For the first time since the development of life saving treatments for HIV there is evidence of game-changing scenarios demonstrating that sustained and widespread access to ARVs can save lives and help reverse the epidemic.

We have gone from almost no one on HAART in 2005 to nearly 5 million today.  Julio mentioned his profound disappointment with G8/G20 commitment in 2005 to have universal access by 2010 and they “quite simply, failed us”

The WHO has put forward new guidelines calling for better HAART regimens and earlier initiation of therapy, at a higher CD4 threshold of 350.

In the last several years, several groups have generated a compelling body of evidence demonstrating that HAART is not only effective at preventing HIV- related morbidity and mortality, but also dramatically decreases HIV transmission from all routes.  “This has now been widely accepted as the way to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV and WHO and UNAIDS have called for the global elimination of HIV as a result”

It is high time to acknowledge that “Treatment is Prevention” and this new understanding is a game changer.  He said that his clinic reported in the Lancet that the progressive roll out of HAART in BC, leading to a 50% decrease in new HIV diagnoses among injection drugs users in BC over the last 3 years.

Julio quoted France’s first lady Ms Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who said,  “We have a historic opportunity, in a few years we can eradicate AIDS from the surface of the planet.  Treating everyone means halting transmission of the virus, in other words, stopping the epidemic”