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Kelowna  

Cause for optimism

Kelowna's Living Positive Resource Centre marks World AIDS Day on Tuesday.

With new drug cocktails promising preventative strategies, shorter testing times, undetectable viral loads, and decades of evolution in how AIDS affects the lives of gay men, AIDS Day is a far more optimistic moment in contemporary Western culture than even five years ago.  

“World AIDs Day is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate those who have passed away,” says Clare MacDonald, executive director of the centre. 

Author and performer Michael V. Smith will launch the inaugural anthology of The Annals of Gay Sexuality: A Contemporary HIV Zeitgeist, followed by a candlelight vigil at the Kelowna Art Gallery from 7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Smith is an author, drag queen, improv artist, radical faerie and creative writing prof.

Dylan Wall is the program co-ordinator of the Men’s Health Initiative, where he strives to create safe and inclusive spaces, help rid stigma, and follow his passion for sexual education and healthcare equality for gay and bi men.

The Annals of Gay Sexuality is billed as an “uninhibited exploration … into the visceral, often transgressive, realities of how we so-called men who have sex with men navigate sex with each other and our ever-present bloodborne lover.”



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