Episode 009: WORLD AIDS DAY: Where We Are (Greg Millett)

For World AIDS Day, Greg Millett surveys where we are in the fight against HIV: the good news, the challenges & concerns, and the surprising news. Greg is the Vice President and Director of Public Policy for amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and has previously held leadership roles at the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and at the Centers for Disease Control. A globally recognized advocate and researcher, Greg's work has fundamentally transformed how we understand the disparities of HIV infection for African American gay, bisexual, and other men who sex with men. This is a must-listen interview!

Links:

• Linda Villarosa, “America’s Hidden HIV Epidemic”, New York Times (June 6, 2017)

• Greg Millett, "Time to Close HIV's Racial Disparities", CNN (Feb. 7, 2015)

• Tim Murphy, “HIV: Mystery Solved”, The Nation (Feb. 15, 2016)

Episode 007: "The Buzzfeed Video Changed My Life" (Irene)

What do you know about the “I” in “LGBTI”? On this week’s episode, we talk with Irene, an activist with Intersex Russia, who talks about her experiences being intersex – including how a Buzzfeed video (really!) changed her life.

As mentioned in the episode, here’s Irene’s article, “I Discovered I’m Intersex from the Buzzfeed Video, along with the original Buzzfeed video, “What It’s Like to Be Intersex.”

Intersex Russia can be found on Facebook here (in both Russian and English); also, you can check out InterACT’s website. The two 2017 reports mentioned in our conversation are:

• Human Rights Watch and InterACT, “I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me: Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US”

• Amnesty International, “First, Do No Harm: Ensuring the Rights of Children Born Intersex” (report available in five languages here)

Episode 002: A Rainbow Railroad (Kimahli Powell)

This week, we’re tackling 2017’s biggest story in queer human rights: the crisis in Chechnya. My guest is Kimahli Powell, the Executive Director of Rainbow Railroad. Based in Toronto, Rainbow Railroad has been working very closely with Russian activists to get gay Chechens to safety. We’ll be discussing this urgent work and the organization’s other work to offer a “rainbow railroad” to LGBTI people all over the world at immediate risk of danger.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Rainbow Railroad

• Russian LGBT Network: English | Russian

• Human Rights Watch, "They Have Long Arms and They Can Find Me": Anti-Gay Purge by Local Authorities in Russia's Chechen Republic (May 26, 2017