Queer, Poz and Colored: The Essentials

Queer, Poz and Colored: The Essentials http://www.thebody.com/content/art56915.html A blog by Brandon Lacy Campos at TheBody.com. http://www.thebody.com/images/blog/brandon_biobox.gif Brandon Lacy Campos http://www.thebody.com/content/art56915.html 115 145 Why Voting Matters: Barack Obama, I Got You http://www.thebody.com/content/69626/why-voting-matters-barack-obama-i-got-you.html I have written a number of blog posts about Barack Hussein Obama (30 mentions to be exact). Last May, I wrote a blog titled Why I Will Be Voting for Barack Obama, and I stand by all that I wrote in that blog as well. If you want to know why I am voting to support our President, please check out one of those two links above.

I am writing today to talk about the practice of voting itself.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/69626/why-voting-matters-barack-obama-i-got-you.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Mon, 5 Nov 2012 10:04:00 GMT Volttage: A Dating and Hook Up Site for POZitively Sexy People http://www.thebody.com/content/69428/voltage-a-dating-and-hook-up-site-for-pozitively-s.html Back in late April-ish, my Facebook wall was bombarded by several of my loved ones who posted a call for HIV-positive models to participate in a new project that Jack Mackenroth, the HIV positive gay man of Project Runway fame and with a boogina that makes me think of sin and putting on a bib. FIRE IN THE HOLE!

Oops sorry ... that was my outside voice.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/69428/voltage-a-dating-and-hook-up-site-for-pozitively-s.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:51:00 GMT What Do Justice for People With HIV, the Working Poor, People of Color and Women Have to Do With Christine Quinn? Absolutely Nothing http://www.thebody.com/content/68635/what-do-justice-for-people-with-hiv-the-working-po.html While many in the LGBTQ community take paid sick days for granted, half of all workers in New York City -- and two-thirds of low-wage workers -- get no paid sick time. Many of these workers are LGBTQ. These workers don't have the luxury of putting their health first. When they get sick, instead of focusing on getting better, they are forced to choose between going to work sick to make rent at the end of the month or sacrificing their days' wages and/or getting fired. No one should be forced to make this choice.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/68635/what-do-justice-for-people-with-hiv-the-working-po.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Mon, 6 Aug 2012 13:00:00 GMT Meds Today http://www.thebody.com/content/67522/meds-today.html Today is the day. I pick up my prescription for HIV meds. And tonight at dinner, I will take my first pill.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/67522/meds-today.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sat, 9 Jun 2012 21:35:00 GMT An HIV Nonprogressor Starts Meds; or HIV Sucks http://www.thebody.com/content/67413/an-hiv-nonprogressor-starts-meds-or-hiv-sucks.html Let's start this way: I have an amazing job with amazing people, especially my co-director Amber Hollibaugh and my Shelter Program Director Jay Toole. I've known them both for years and years before working with them and I love them both dearly.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/67413/an-hiv-nonprogressor-starts-meds-or-hiv-sucks.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Wed, 6 Jun 2012 15:15:00 GMT Gay Marriage http://www.thebody.com/content/67362/gay-marriage.html In 2006, I was at the Creating Change Conference, the nation's largest LGBTQ conference, in Oakland, CA. At the time, I had met and eventually dated Pedro Julio Serrano. At the time, he was working from Evan Wolfson at Freedom to Marry.

Freedom to Marry held a workshop on marriage, and at one point, they panel was taking questions and comments from the audience. I walked up to the microphone, and I told the panel exactly why I was not on and would never join the marriage "movement." Since 1996, quite literally tens of millions of dollars have been spent on the gay marriage battle front by the LGBTQ community. At the same time, we saw a drastic decline in giving to any and all other fronts of the LGBTQ agenda except Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal.

Read more ...

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/67362/gay-marriage.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Fri, 1 Jun 2012 13:22:00 GMT Reproductive Justice and HIV: Comments at the 26th Annual CLPP Conference From Abortion Rights to Social Justice http://www.thebody.com/content/66694/reproductive-justice-and-hiv-comments-at-the-26th-.html Let me begin by saying that being a bio boy that grew up with a penis and male privilege, that I have one and only comment to make about abortion: as a man, I fully respect the autonomy and sovereignty of women over their own bodies and my only legitimate opinion on abortion is that I am required, by the privilege of being male, to use that privilege to protect in anyway and every way possible the right of a woman to choose.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/66694/reproductive-justice-and-hiv-comments-at-the-26th-.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sat, 14 Apr 2012 09:25:00 GMT The 99% Spring: A Skeptic Speaks http://www.thebody.com/content/66587/the-99-spring-a-skeptic-speaks.html You know, I am just learning about the 99% Spring ... and I am having some mixed feelings. I know a number of the letter signers, and I trust them (for example, Sarita Gupta -- Jobs with Justice -- and I were student organizers involved with USSA together in the mid-90s, and Rashad Robinson and I go way back). I do, however, have some issues with how organized labor centric the push is considered how few folks are actually part of organized labor at this point. Now, I believe that organized labor should be a central component of any organizing related to economic justice, but immediately, on looking at the signers and the labor focus, my first instinct was to say ... this isn't about me ... which is deep on a number of levels, right ... both on the level of why don't I see myself as an inheritor of the right to organized labor but also it has clearly to do with the racism, homophobia, and lack of ability of organized labor to speak to me and my experience as a nonprofit worker. Aka ... those of us that have spent the bulk of our lives agitating for change have largely done so within the non-profit industrial complex, which organized labor has ignored or been unable to crack (I am being clear that there have been widely divergent reasons and what is true on the national stage regarding energy and willingness does not often match up with local labor organizing).

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/66587/the-99-spring-a-skeptic-speaks.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:18:00 GMT Everyday Heroes: Wilson Cruz http://www.thebody.com/content/65673/everyday-heroes-wilson-cruz.html So, being gay famous and all, I have had the occasion upon occasion to meet folks that are actually famous. One of my best friends is Bebe Zahara Benet, I am acquainted with Cheyenne Jackson, though better with his partner (fellow Minnesotan) Monte -- you meet the craziest people at our dog park including Michael Urie, as well as Wilson Heredia (the other Angel from Rent), but there is one person I have come across who is legitimately famous and who is not only really real and sweet but lives his life, his politics, and gives to his community in a way that goes way beyond cutting a check or posing for a PETA ad.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/65673/everyday-heroes-wilson-cruz.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sat, 4 Feb 2012 19:09:00 GMT Great Expression Dental Denies HIV Discrimination Claim; I Deny Their Denial http://www.thebody.com/content/65252/great-expression-dental-denies-hiv-discrimination-.html Today I received word from Mr. James White that Great Expressions Dental has filed a defamation suit in federal court and a counterclaim saying that the EEOC finding of discrimination and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was erroneous in his employment discrimination case in Detroit where Great Expressions followed him around and sprayed down surfaces with Lysol after he disclosed his HIV status.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/65252/great-expression-dental-denies-hiv-discrimination-.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:52:00 GMT HIV Positive Detroit Man Faces Massive Discrimination by Employer: The James White Story http://www.thebody.com/content/65152/hiv-positive-detroit-man-faces-massive-discriminat.html At least once a day, I hear a piece of news that makes my blood boil and sends me into a nearly apoplectic rage. Usually it has something to do with injustice, hate, ignorance, willful stupidity, fear and violence against the vulnerable. Rarely do I have a personal connection to the story. Today, I do, and the story is so horrific that I am committed to supporting justice. No one attacks my community and gets to walk away from their acts of violence.

Read more ...

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/65152/hiv-positive-detroit-man-faces-massive-discriminat.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:59:00 GMT This Pozitive Life http://www.thebody.com/content/64733/this-pozitive-life.html Last night, I read my poem H-I-ME for the second time in public. The last time was a year ago, the day that I wrote it, and after completely breaking down and sobbing my way through that performance, I set it aside. Over the last year, I have either chosen to face or been force to face some of the realities of living with HIV. I have made good choices and bad choices, and I have had to sit with some very hard moments. Last night, when I read the poem, I didn't break down. Let's be real, by the end of the poem by entire body was shaking, I felt exposed and vulnerable, and I wanted to bolt from the room. Instead, I had to pull up a chair and face a half an hour of questions and comments from the audience during a facilitated panel.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/64733/this-pozitive-life.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:14:00 GMT "Does This Look Like AIDS?" http://www.thebody.com/content/63939/does-this-look-like-aids.html There are those moments in life when an individual opens up his mouth and something so far beyond ridiculous and inappropriate comes out that your first and immediate reaction is to start looking for hidden cameras. As the crazy continues you may even begin to wonder about your own insanity or eyeball your cocktail in an effort to figure out if perhaps you've been roofied and are about to pass out and wake up in a trailer park on the outskirts of Weehawken.

And sometimes when you have those moments you are given a harsh reality check of just how much work there is left to do in this world.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/63939/does-this-look-like-aids.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:42:00 GMT A Note on Pride: GP(oz)S http://www.thebody.com/content/art62058.html From 2001 to 2003 I served as the first chair of the National Lavender Green Caucus of the Green Party of the United States. Each year, I wrote an open letter to the queer community during Pride in which I exhorted folks to engage politically and do their part to create positive social change. It was the beginning of the Bush era, 9/11 went down very shortly after I became chair (and our Caucus was the FIRST queer political organization to come out against any retaliatory war), Ralph Nader was not a joke, and no one had even heard of American Idol. I was also HIV negative.

Ten years later, Osama bin Laden is dead, there is a black man in the White House, Donald Trump was considering running for president (talk about a joke), two tsunamis have devastated large swaths of Asia, Hurricane Katrina almost killed New Orleans, cell phone signals -- it turns out -- are killing bees, and I have been living with HIV for the last eight years.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art62058.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Wed, 1 Jun 2011 16:00:00 GMT Body Beautiful ... http://www.thebody.com/content/art62221.html I love Salt-n-Pepa ... a black, feminist, sexually empowered hip hop group from the early 90s? Clutch the pearls and call Tupac back from the dead.

One of my favorite songs by this hallmark group was featured in the opening credits of Too Wong Foo Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar: "Body Beautiful." It's a song about loving your body and who you are without taking on the body image baggage of the world. With queer men suffering from body dysmorphism and eating disorders at the same rates experienced by women, I have more than a passing familiarity with the need to love one's body. Though I have never struggled with eating disorders (other than the disorder of loving to eat all the damn time), I have always struggled with body image.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art62221.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Tue, 24 May 2011 11:56:00 GMT Addiction, HIV and the Healing That We Need: A Community Call to Action http://www.thebody.com/content/art61520.html Let me go on ahead and give a testimonial up in this piece for a minute. I am a recovering meth addict. And while there was an element early on, back in the late 90s, when I was bedazzled by the glam party boys at the club, my meth addiction had nothing to do with that. Meth came later, post HIV, and my meth addiction had everything to do with the mind blowing numbing power of the drug, the power of the drug to let me feel beautiful, wanted, loved, in control, powerful ... for as long as the high lasted, I was Superman and all the bull shit of the world just bounced off of my chest.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art61520.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:09:00 GMT You and Me: Needs You and YOU! (New York and San Francisco!!!) http://www.thebody.com/content/art61335.html Today's blog entry is another example of the ways in which I hope to continue fulfilling the mission of this blog. My boy Kirk Grisham is a fierce researcher and tireless advocate in the area of HIV/AIDS research and prevention. He is currently the Project Director of the You & Me study at Columbia that is examining the relationships between black and white men. Please check out the information about the study below, and if you or someone you know are the folks that Kirk is looking to find, please get in touch with him! This is important work for the community, and it can't happen unless YOU participate.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art61335.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:36:00 GMT Fraud, Forgiveness, and F***ery http://www.thebody.com/content/art61161.html It's been a while since I wrote anything for my poz family and for the folks at TheBody.com. This evening, as I was waiting for the pizza from Two Boots to arrive, I decided to check out the information on StatCounter about my main blog, myfeetonlywalkforward.blogspot.com, and I came across a link to a site called Nurse Tips. Nurse Tips has listed "Queer, Poz, and Colored: The Essentials," as one of their top 50 blogs about HIV/AIDS.

When I saw this, I was immediately overwhelmed by conflicting feelings.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art61161.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:55:00 GMT A Cure for HIV? http://www.thebody.com/content/art60065.html I believe in miracles. I believe that miracles come in two forms: those seemingly impossible happenings that can not be explained because the science has yet to be developed to explain them and those truly mysterious events that defy science, logic, rational thought and, sometimes, even hope.

When I first saw the headlines that a man called the Berlin patient, Timothy Ray Brown, had been cured of HIV, I believed the headline. Frankly, any credible news publication that would print that headline would have made sure that there was little to no doubt about the veracity of the claim. So, I believed the headline. What I didn't know was whether this was miracle type one or miracle type two.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art60065.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:14:00 GMT Poetry: H-I-Me http://www.thebody.com/content/art59056.html I live with HIV
I have been a part-time junkie
Trying to find something I missed
In between overachieving and the point of a needle
People generally look at me like I am lying
By trying to tell them I am recovering
And some days much less recovered than others
My Mother couldn't believe that her Straight-A-Beaver-Cleaver
Would cleave to whatever he could snort or swallow or fit in a needle
Powders and pills devouring the pain of little red ribbons
T-Cell Counts and technical knock outs by Chelsea boy faggots
That see only a status
It might mess with their A List adventure if they fall for a retroviral warrior

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art59056.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Thu, 21 Oct 2010 11:05:00 GMT Uncovered: Human Need vs. Condoms http://www.thebody.com/content/art58722.html I think about sex quite often. Even before testing positive for HIV, I thought about sex, well, almost constantly. Whether it was the politics of sex, teaching my peers about sex positivity, deconstructing sex, looking for sex or having sex, I was (and still am) thinking about the various ways that sex impacts my life and our lives as humans.

As humans as the key part of that statement, as more often than not we attempt, or others attempt, to separate sex from our basic humanity and the fundamental connection that sex provides between two (or more) human beings.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art58722.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Fri, 1 Oct 2010 15:07:00 GMT Pozitively Struggling http://www.thebody.com/content/art58475.html Living with HIV is a constant fucking struggle. It's a struggle against yourself and the internal tapes associated with being positive. It is a struggle to deal with stigma perceived or otherwise. It is a struggle to master fear and fear of rejection. It is a struggle to just live your life like any other human being does or gets to do.

I have been trying to do some serious work integrating HIV and acceptance of it into who I am. Recently I taped a video interview talking about that process for TheBody.com. Since May, I have been writing for TheBody.com, and I have received some really amazing support and love from other poz folks in the world struggling with the same shit that I am attempting to deal with, and that has been truly a wonderful experience.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art58475.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:58:00 GMT I Am NOT HIV http://www.thebody.com/content/art58172.html I am not HIV. I am HIV positive.

Do I need to repeat myself?

I AM NOT HIV! I am HIV positive.

Over the last few years, I have heard, time and time and time again the phrase/question/query, "Are you HIV"?

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art58172.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:30:00 GMT HIV and Crystal Meth: A Fairy Tale http://www.thebody.com/content/art57135.html SEX!

Now that I have your attention, I would like to share with you a little story.

I am a meth addict.

The end.

I know, the story could use a little more meat on its bones, so why don't we start this story as stories should be begun:

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art57135.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:37:00 GMT GI Joe Needs to Go to Washington http://www.thebody.com/content/art57050.html I think COBRA Commander must be running Congress because lord knows that COBRA Benefits for the unemployed are not.

In the 1980s cartoon G.I. Joe, COBRA Commander was a character with a mirror face, but when the mirror was removed, you found an evil snake like man-creature with a lisp and a penchant for all out drag queen temper tantrums. COBRA was an evil organization out the rule the world.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art57050.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:38:00 GMT Bebe Zahara Benet, Rakesh Satyal and Emanuel Xavier to Perform at Benefit for Words Without Borders http://www.thebody.com/content/art57051.html Words without Borders (WWB) magazine announces the line-up for Queer is the World/Word, a benefit hosted by Therapy Lounge and featuring RuPaul's Drag Race winner Bebe Zahara Benet, Lambda Literary Award winner Rakesh Satyal, and actor, author, poet, director, and music artist Emanuel Xavier.

In celebrating LGBT History Month, Words without Borders continues its commitment to providing a forum for the stories that are often untold or hidden. The Queer Issue, the first in an annual series focused on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, features stories and poetry from around the world that explore the queer experience.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art57051.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:42:00 GMT Working Through It http://www.thebody.com/content/art57049.html So, after Friday nights exchange with my teammate, whose name I shall not use as he asked oh so politely that I not do so. And even though I would be completely justified in ignoring a request that was made so lovingly, I will go ahead and respect the request boxed inside the venom.

I have been struggling hard core since Friday night. Today, I finally came to the astounding conclusion that the voice that I keep hearing, in Dolby Digital Stereo Surround Sound repeating that I am a piece of shit isn't my teammate's voice, it's my own.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art57049.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Mon, 7 Jun 2010 20:38:00 GMT Rough Night http://www.thebody.com/content/art56987.html It is 4:25am, and I am sitting at my desk working on not crying and chatting with a friend from junior high and high school on Facebook about the royally screwed up discrimination her daughter is experiencing in her Minneapolis suburb school district.

I believe everything happens for a reason.

For example, I believe that it is not coincidental that La and my good friend and ex Chris were both online dealing with their own emotional issues when I logged in with my own baggage in tow.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art56987.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sat, 5 Jun 2010 10:25:00 GMT Queer, Poz and Colored: The Essentials http://www.thebody.com/content/art56875.html My name is William Brandon Lacy Campos (talk about a heck-of-a-name). I was born and raised in Minnesota (bet you could guess that from my picture), though I had a bit of a nomadic childhood that took me to the Philippines and Missouri with stops back in Minnesota in between. My menu of ethnicities reads like the roster of member states at the UN.

I grew up in extreme poverty, precariously housed, and my family received public assistance. I come from illustrious stock. On my mother's side of the family, I am a direct descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and a cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under George H.W. Bush, Dave Anderson, is my cousin (I have never met him, and to his credit, he quit Bush's administration after one year).

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art56875.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Tue, 1 Jun 2010 16:00:00 GMT Sit With It http://www.thebody.com/content/art56918.html Right now, I am baking chicken wings, making brown rice, and trying to focus on the amazing amount of love that I have received over the last few days. Last night, I was reminded that God is out there, God is watching, and God forgives us even when we have a hard time forgiving ourselves and when others can't or won't.

Here's what happened.

I recently met a guy that I think is pretty cool. We've hung out a couple of times, and he is interested in hanging out more. From the gate, I was up front about my HIV status. I let him know that if that would be a barrier to us hanging out, then he should let me know, and we could call it quits before anything happened. His response was very affirming and sweet, and, in the end, it was at his invite that I went with him to an event last night.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art56918.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Sat, 15 May 2010 16:00:00 GMT Lessons Learned http://www.thebody.com/content/art56917.html The last couple of days are ones which I would never like to repeat. Ever. The great thing is that I can control whether or not I will have to relive this kind of experience. Of course, anytime I believe that I have control over anything, the universe has a direct and sometimes cruel way of dispelling that illusion. This list of lessons is by no means exhaustive, but it is what I have learned so far.

1) There is an ugly price to pay for fear. Much of this could have been avoided. If I had been sober, if I had been honest from the gate, if, after the first incident I had disclosed, if I hadn't lied, if after the second incident I had disclosed, if I had disclosed within the first four days, if I would have disclosed before being directly confronted, all of these would have made this experience less hurtful, less painful, less shameful, and less complicated. Each day that I failed to confront my own fear and shame made matters worse. If I had the mind and spirit to be brave, this would have been a better situation all around. I can control the impact of fear on me, I can be brave, because, frankly, facing my fear from the gate, despite the circumstances, would have been better than anything that has happened thus far.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art56917.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Fri, 14 May 2010 16:00:00 GMT Shame http://www.thebody.com/content/art56914.html I am ashamed of myself.

I am choosing my words very carefully right now, because there is a difference between guilt and shame. And right now, in this moment, I am struggling to keep ahead of the shame.

]]> http://www.thebody.com/content/art56914.html brandonlacycampos@yahoo.com (Brandon Lacy Campos) Thu, 13 May 2010 16:00:00 GMT