On Monday, May 19, 2025, the Erie County HIV Task Force held the 8th Annual HIV / AIDS Awareness Walk. The Erie County HIV Task Force is a collaboration of local organizations and individuals dedicated to educating, supporting, and advocating for people living with HIV/AIDS and preventing the spread of infection. The HIV / AIDS walk provides a reminder to the local community that making personal health a priority is everyone's right. This year's awareness walk was held at Perry Square. Participants enjoyed educational materials to learn more about testing opportunities with Community Health Net, PA Thrive Partnership, and the Erie County Department of Health at the event. The event was sponsored by Central Outreach Wellness Center Erie, Community HealthNet, the Erie County Department of Health, Erie Gay News, Northwest Pennsylvania Pride Alliance, and PA Thrive Partnership. For more information on local services, testing, and free condoms, visit the Erie County HIV Task Force at ECHIV.ORG or follow their Twitter account @EriePAHIV and like their Facebook page, or call 814-451-6700.

Save HIV Funding Campaign organizers want to remind everyone that the first Pride was a protest. At savehivfunding.org, we have also launched the #PrideIsAProtest Action Alert at a critical time when advocates are fighting The White House’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” which seeks to slash Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs essential to the wellbeing of people living with and vulnerable to HIV infection. At the same time, the President’s 2026 Budget Request proposes devastating HIV prevention and research cuts. Now is the time for people living with HIV, advocates, allies, and communities nationwide to denounce these cuts and urge their Senators and members of Congress to protect access to healthcare including HIV prevention and treatment, housing, food assistance, and many other critical supports relied on by people nationwide.

[June 9, 2025] - Atlantic hurricane season began this month. Disasters like hurricanes and severe summer weather can disrupt blood drives for several days and impact the momentum of a growing blood supply. Help the American Red Cross plan for the unexpected by making an appointment to give blood or platelets.

from Michel Dale Kimmel of Life Beyond Therapy: Many people make New Year's Resolutions. And most of us forget about them after a few days/weeks. I'd like to suggest that you check in on your resolutions half-way through the year, like now.

The President's FY26 Budget Request released on Friday proposes draconian cuts to HIV prevention, care, housing, and research which would jeopardize decades of effective programs that have consistently delivered outstanding results by saving lives, preventing new cases of HIV, and reducing health care costs. In addition to proposing dramatic funding reductions, the Administration suggests a new health care agency - the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) - lead on major HIV workstreams without providing details on how this new agency will continue to support and deliver the same high level of HIV programming with outstanding outcomes and valuable returns. Congress must reject these devastating cuts as well as halt efforts to move federal HIV activities into the poorly defined AHA.

Jacob Engelsman's, Lactation for the Rest of Us: a Guide for Queer and Trans and Parents and Helpers, was released by Jessica Kingsley Publishers earlier this year. This book is written to be, on the one hand, a modern lactation guide providing basic information which all parents will benefit from. On the other hand, it is a guide with information that specifically benefits members of the LGBTQIA+ communities.This information is arranged in an FAQ format with each question listed in the table of contents, making specific points of interest easy for readers to find and enabling them to skip over that which is not relevant to their personal situation.

from Michael Dale Kimmel of Life Beyond Therapy: The same bad experience - like getting a traffic ticket or having a fender bender - can happen to two people: one is depressed for a few days, the other bounces back to "normal" within a few hours. What's the difference?