What Does HIV Look Like?

Vatican City: Naked FEMEN Activists Disrupt Speech By Pope Benedict XVI

Gotta love them.

Joe.My.God. reports:

Yesterday topless Ukrainian activists FEMEN disrupted a Vatican City speech by the Pope by disrobing and screaming “Homophobe! Shut up!” at the little man in the window. Police moved in quickly and one woman attending the speech repeatedly smacked a protester with her umbrella. Below is FEMEN’s own video of the action, which begins with a strategy session. Cube dwellers should note that there are boobies ahead.

Katy Perry: Trevor Project Hero Award

Nude HIV/AIDS Protesters Storm House Speaker John Boehner’s DC Office

Joe.My.God. reports:

More from ACT UP New York: “As the US Congress and President begin negotiating on the so-called fiscal cliff, ACT UP/NY ACT UP/Philadelphia, Housing Works and Student Global AIDS Campaign plan to give Congress a pre-World AIDS Day Message that AIDS Budget Cuts Kill.”UPDATE: Mediaite has a few more photos.

Activists, White House Mark Transgender Day Of Remembrance

BuzzFeed reports:

More than two dozen activists gathered at the White House Tuesday to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance to honor transgender victims of hate crimes, the first time such a formal commemoration of the day has happened at the White House.
Vigils were held across the country and globe on Tuesday in commemoration of transgender people killed due to anti-trans violence. This is the 14th year the transgender community and allies have held a day of remembrance.
Office of Personnel Management director John Berry, who is gay and one of the administration’s highest-ranking out LGBT officials, led the group in a moment of silence recognizing victims.
Among the attendees were Diego Sanchez, the first out trans Hill staffer, who works for retiring Rep. Barney Frank; Babs Siperstein, the first out trans member of the Democratic National Committee executive committee; Kylar Broadus, the first out trans person to testify before the Senate; and National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling.
“To have a senior Administration official like John leading us in commemorating transgender victims of violence is a really good thing,” Keisling said. “But to have President Barack Obama’s commitment to solving anti-transgender violence affirmed in today’s meeting is a great thing.”
The trans leaders and White House officials discussed “policies that make transgender lives safer” at the meeting, NCTE officials stated in a news release.

Trailer: How To Survive A Plague 

Sears Launches “Team Up To Stop Bullying”

Sears launches Team Up To Stop Bullying, a first-of-its-kind web portal that connects students, parents, educators and communities to solutions for their bullying problems.

Check out Sears.com/teamup for more information.

All Out Celebrates Global Activism: You’re One In A Million

WASHINGTON D. C.:Day Two At The AIDS 2012 Conference

Via debramessingaround:

Event:
Messing, Shah, and global and local leaders dedicated to creating an AIDS free generation will discuss how packaging a wide range of HIV interventions helps to dramatically reduce new infections. Speakers will highlight the role partnership plays in delivering HIV prevention tools where they are needed most.

Hosts:
PSI (Population Services International)

Speakers:
Debra Messing, Award Winning Actress, PSI Global Health Ambassador
Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator
Dr. Paul De Lay, Deputy Executive Director UNAIDS
Paul Hempel, Senior Vice President, Ethics and Compliance, Alere
Dr. Krishna Jafa, Director, Sexual & Reproductive Health and TB, PSI
Chief Mumena of the Kaonde people of Solwezi, Zambia

When:
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

Where:
Walter E. Washington Convention Center (Press Conf. Room #1)
801 Mount Vernon Place NW
Washington, DC 20001

Source

President Obama Addresses Netroots Nation

Here’s the list of his accomplishments (thus far) regarding to ONLY Civil Rights & Anti-Discrimination:

• He advocated for and signed theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal crime to assault anyone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.  http://bit.ly/gsMSJ7
• He pushed through, signed and demanded the Pentagon enact a repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that forced soldiers to lie to fight for their country, and put our troops at risk by disqualifying many qualified soldiers from helping.  http://bit.ly/fdahuH http://bit.ly/mZV4Pz
• He appointed Kareem Dale as the first ever Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy.  http://1.usa.gov/fi5IY0
• Helped Congress pass and signed the Civil Rights History Act. http://bit.ly/th0JC8
• He extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.  http://1.usa.gov/g2RLCj
• He’s appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history.  http://bit.ly/g1lA7D 
• He issued a Presidential Memorandum reaffirming the rights of gay couples to make medical decisions for each other. http://1.usa.gov/aUueGT
• He established a White House Council on Women and Girls  http://1.usa.gov/rFfqMM
• He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. This was after the GOP blocked the bill in 2007. Only 5 Republican Senators voted for the bill.   http://bit.ly/fT3Cxg
• Wrote and signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies evaluate the effect of their policies and programs on women and families.    http://bit.ly/e1puTk
• He expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. http://1.usa.gov/dSbI0x
• Under his watch, National Labor Relations Board has issued final rules that require all employers to prominently post employees’ rights where all employees or prospective employees can see it, including websites and intranets, beginning November 2011.  http://1.usa.gov/qu2EhQ 

United Kingdom: Olympian Gymnast Louis Smith Gets Naked For Cosmo For Male Cancer Awareness

Prop. 8 Attorneys, David Boies and Ted Olson, Team UpTo Get Bully Rating Changed

The Advocate reports: 

Attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson, who successfully challenged California’s ban on same-sex marriage, are now urging the Motion Picture Association of America to lower the R rating for the documentaryBully.

Last night while being interviewed at a special screening of the film cohosted by Boies, Olson, and actresses Meryl Streep and her daughter Mamie Gummer, the two attorneys praised the film, a nonfiction chronicle of American schoolchildren being bullied by fellow students, as one that all teenagers should see. The two men even suggested that there could be legal consequences for the MPAA if they don’t reconsider the restrictive rating for the documentary.

“How ridiculous and unfair and damaging it is to have a film of this power and importance that is being censored by a rating system that has got simply no rational basis,” Boies said. “You can kill kids, you can maim them, you can torture them and still get a PG-13 rating, but if they say a couple of bad words, you blame them. I hope, for heaven’s sake, that they find some rational basis before we have to sue them to revise the rating system.”

Olson suggested that students be permitted to see the film, which will be released March 30, so they can understand the damage caused by bullying.

“This is an irrational decision, and I’ve heard it defended as ‘[The MPAA] really can’t do anything about it because if we make an exception here, they’ll be all sorts of people lined up wanting to have exceptions made with respect to their movies,’” Olson said. “What a reason for not doing something. So they better shape up, or here we come.”

During the event at New York’s Paley Center for Media, Streep learned that her daughter had come to the aid of bullied classmates. TheNew York Daily News reports that actress Regency Boies, David Boies’s daughter, remembered the times her classmate Gummer came to the aid of fellow students who were being tormented.

“I saw her on more than a few occasions come to the rescue of some of our classmates that were being ridiculed when none of the rest of us were brave enough to confront them,” Boies said, adding that she knew Gummer’s actions were a product of the integrity and the kindness that Streep had instilled in her.

USA: Mayors For Freedom To Marry

Daniel Radcliffe Records New Trevor Project Message