‘Weekend’ took top honors in the third annual Dorian Awards, given by gay and lesbian critics. (courtesy photo)

Gay critics pick ‘Weekend’ as best film

HOLLYWOOD — The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association announced the recipients of its third annual Dorian Awards this week, which included the much buzzed about film, “Weekend.”

The British film about a brief love story won the top prize in the awards, given by a panel of 50 critics and entertainment journalists. Other honorees included AIDS chronicle, “We Were Here,” television series “American Horror Story,” and “Modern Family,” and performances by Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady,” and Michael Fassbender in “Shame.” Betty White was honored with a “timeless” actress award.

A tie in the “TV Musical Program” of the year was shared between “Glee” and “Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour.”

N.J. lawmaker under fire for anti-gay tweet

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A New Jersey lawmaker has released a hasty apology after sending out an anti-gay tweet on Sunday, according to OutSports.com.

“We are not going to just lay down, we come to play,” tweeted assemblyman and Jersey City police officer, Charles Mainor. “Who the hell do you think we are the DALLAS COWGIRLS OR THOSE GAYBIRDS FROM PHILLY…NO WE ARE THE NEW YORK GIANTS.”

Mainor claims that a friend sat down at his computer, where he was logged into Twitter, and posted the message under his account.

“I have to take full responsibility because it was under my name,” Mainor told The Star-Ledger on Monday. “I have no excuse, other than me not looking before he did send the post.”

Trans candidate in bid for Fla. commission

ORLANDO, Fla. — Gina Duncan, a transgender woman who serves as the Orlando-area Metropolitan Business Association president, has decided to seek a seat on the Orange County Commission.

“I have been interacting with so many business owners and major corporations, and it showed me there’s a need for new voice in Orange County government,” Duncan said. “Someone who knows how to create a welcoming environment to attract corporations.”

Illinois law targets ‘cyber bullying’

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A law has gone into effect in Illinois that will allow school administrators to intervene in cases when one student is harassing or threatening another on the Internet, according to the Advocate.

LGBT students are often the target of ‘cyber bullying,’ which was brought to national attention in 2010 with the suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clemente.

Illinois gay activists are also examining the possibility of expanding the state’s civil unions law to allow for full marriage rights for same-sex couples. Since passage, organizations have expressed confusion over the law, including the Illinois Department of Revenue in the case of filing joint taxes, as well as employers offering spousal insurance benefits to employees in civil unions.

“I do not delude myself into thinking this will be an easy process. But we need to take the first step,” said gay state Rep. Greg Harris, who believes the marriage legislation will not be introduced until 2013, at the earliest. “We have to be ready to stand up and defend the gains that we’ve made and to look toward the next steps,” he told the Advocate.

As an example of the confusion over civil unions, the Springfield Joint Labor/Management Insurance Committee unanimously voted this week to offer spousal insurance benefits to employees in civil unions, reversing an earlier decision not to do so.

Though he is opposed to equal benefits for same-sex couples, Donald Trump’s next ‘Celebrity Apprentice‘ could be gay ‘American Idol’ Clay Aiken or married Star Trek star George Takei.

In March, when the Des Moines Register asked the then-rumored potential candidate for the G.O.P. Presidential nomination about whether or not same-sex marriage ought to remain legal in Iowa, Trump responded with a sound declaration against maintaining the law.

“They should not be able to marry,” the television host and casino magnate told the paper.

When pressed as to whether or not same-sex couples should have access to the same rights as opposite-sex couples, Trump responded his “attitude on it has not been fully formed.”

“As of this moment, I would say no and no,” he told the paper.

But the icon of wealth may be forced to reevaluate his position this February when openly gay former Star Trek star George Takei — who married his long-time partner Brad Altman in California in 2008 — joins the cast of the NBC show in its fifth season this year. Takei will be raising money and awareness on the show for the Japanese American National Museum, to which he will donate his winnings if he takes the top spot.

Aside from Takei, gay ‘American Idol’ runner up Clay Aiken will also join the cast. Aiken is a native of North Carolina which is facing a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to bar same-sex unions in that state. Aiken, who is an outspoken advocate for curbing LGBT youth bullying, came out in People magazine in 2008 after years of speculation. He will appear on the show to raise money and awareness for his charity, the National Inclusion Project, which promotes inclusive classrooms and playgrounds for children with disabilities.

Takei and Aiken will also be joined by prominent straight allies singer Deborah Gibson, Former ‘Danity Kane’ singer and ‘Making the Band’ cast member Aubrey O’Day, who is appearing on the show to raise money for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), and long-time outspoken LGBT activist, comedian Lisa Lampanelli, who is playing for AIDS charity Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Two other scheduled cast members playing for AIDS charities will be TV personality Arsenio Hall, playing for the Magic Johnson Foundation and Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza, playing for the Latino Commission on AIDS.

Also joining the cast will be racer Michael Andretti, talk show host Adam Carolla, ‘Incredible Hulk’ actor Lou Ferrigno, magician Penn Jillette, ‘Twisted Sister’ front man Dee Snyder, ‘American Chopper’ cast member Paul Teutul Sr., actress Tia Carrere, ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ cast member Teresa Giudice, ‘Growing Up Gotti’ cast member Victoria Gotti, 70s supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, and model Patricia Velasquez

The nation’s capital marked World AIDS Day with a number of events on Thursday, beginning with a forum at George Washington University entitled “the Beginning of the End of AIDS” hosted by ONE and (RED). Speakers at the event included Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton as well as AIDS advocates Alicia Keys and Bono. The discussion was moderated by CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta. Later in the day, Whitman-Walker Health held the annual World AIDS Day candlelight vigil at Dupont Circle. Speakers at the vigil included Whitman-Walker executive director Don Blanchon and D.C. Mayor Vince Gray.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

President Barack Obama renewed the goal to eliminate AIDS forever. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

With an international audience watching through a live Internet broadcast, President Barack Obama included mention of the high HIV infection rate among black gay men in the United States in a World AIDS Day speech on Thursday at George Washington University.

“Today is a remarkable day,” he said. “Today we come together as a global community, across continents, across faiths and cultures, to renew our commitment to ending the AIDS pandemic once and for all.

“But the fight is not over – not by a long shot,” he said. “The rate of new infections may be going down elsewhere, but it’s not going down here in America. The infection rate here has been holding steady for over a decade.”

He added, “When new infections among young black gay men increase by nearly 50 percent in 3 years, we need to do more to show them that their lives matter.”

The president spoke at an internationally broadcast World AIDS Day event sponsored by ONE, a global grassroots organization dedicated to fighting poverty and disease; and (RED), an organization of businesses and corporations that raises money for the United Nations Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Joining Obama at the event through a satellite hookup was former President George W. Bush, who spoke from Tanzania, African, along with Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete; and former President Bill Clinton, who also spoke via satellite transmission.

The gathering in Washington took place in an auditorium on the George Washington University campus a few blocks from the White House.

Alicia Keys and Bono joined President Obama in addressing how to end AIDS on World AIDS Day this year. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

After Obama spoke, CNN medical editor and physician Sanjay Gupta moderated a panel discussion that included U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.); lead singer of the rock group U2 Bono, who co-founded the groups ONE and (RED); and artist and co-founder of the group Keep the Children Alive, Alicia Keys.

Also speaking on the panel were Dr. Patricia Nkansah-Asamoah, director of the PTCT Clinic at Tema Hospital in Accra, Ghana; Florence Ngobeni, HIV educator and Ambassador for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; and Elizabeth K. “Kay” Warren, founder of the HIV & AIDS Initiative of Saddleback Church, and wife of well-known pastor, Rick Warren.

The panelists, including Rubio and Lee, who often are at odds with each other on partisan political matters, each pledged to work cooperatively in a bipartisan fashion to seek an end to the AIDS epidemic.

Bush and Clinton expressed praise for one another on the AIDS front. And Clinton and Obama each praised Bush for starting the highly acclaimed U.S. global AIDS assistance program known as PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The program, under Bush and now under Obama, has been credited with saving the lives of millions of HIV infected people in Africa by providing the financing and delivery of life-saving AIDS drugs to countries that can’t afford the drugs.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta moderated the World AIDS Day panel. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Obama announced in his speech that his administration is “committing an additional $15 million for the Ryan White program that supports care provided by HIV medical clinics across the country.” He said he was also committing an additional $35 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP, a part of the Ryan White CARE Act that helps states pay for AIDS drugs for patients who don’t have medical insurance or whose insurance is insufficient to pay for the drugs.

“The federal government can’t do this alone,” he said in discussing the ADAP program. “So I’m also calling on state governments, and pharmaceutical companies, and private foundations to do their part to help Americans geet access to all the life-saving treatments.”

One year from now, American voters will return to the polls to elect their next president. It seems like just yesterday that Barack Obama took the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park after handily defeating John McCain to win the White House.

Obama’s victory represented a historic and iconic moment. And, for the first time, LGBT Americans were along for the ride in a meaningful way. Indeed, one of the Obama administration’s first acts was to post an LGBT section to the official White House website almost immediately upon Obama taking the oath of office. Since then, Obama has mostly honored his promises and commitments to LGBT voters and his support has grown from the symbolic (White House website upgrades) to the bold (refusing to defend DOMA).

Three years later, the 2012 campaign is already well underway, with fundraisers, GOP debates, wildly swinging polls and scandals of the week playing out. Sadly, as Obama and his administration have rolled out pro-LGBT advances — and as Obama himself slowly inches toward an inevitable embrace of marriage equality — his GOP counterparts have moved backward.

From Michele Bachmann’s twisted endorsement of “reparative therapy” to Herman Cain’s schizophrenic views on marriage to Mitt Romney’s laughable flip-flops on our issues, the GOP still doesn’t get it. Just three years after Sen. John McCain granted an interview to the Blade — a first for a Republican presidential nominee — and spoke movingly of his gay role models, the GOP hopefuls aspire to roll back the clock and reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and push for a federal ban on same-sex marriage. This isn’t progress; it’s pandering to the lowest common denominator, something the GOP has turned into a sick art form.

Despite the GOP’s sorry homophobic record, a solid 25 percent or more of gay voters regularly support the Republican presidential candidate on Election Day. As we start the process of evaluating Obama’s record in preparation for November 2012, it’s instructive to look back at candidate Obama’s 2008 promises and words.

Back then, in September 2008, Obama granted the Blade an interview in which he outlined his views. A few highlights follow. Obama:

• criticized President Bush’s record on combating the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and promised to implement a “comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies.”
• promised to “make sure the voices of LGBT people are heard in the White House” and criticized Bush for eliminating the position of liaison to the LGBT community.
• vowed to “work to pass a fully inclusive version” of ENDA and to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act and to enact a federal hate crimes law inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity.

How does Obama’s record stack up? As Obama noted in his interview, much of what he hoped to accomplish hinged on Democratic control of Congress and its priorities. Obama and the Democrats succeeded in passing the hate crimes expansion and, with key Republican support, in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” ENDA, sadly, is another matter. It stalled amid assertions that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t want to subject conservative Democrats to more than one gay-related vote at a time. When “Don’t Ask” repeal turned into the drawn out debacle it did, scheduling an ENDA vote was a non-starter as the clock ran out. Congress should have adopted a more aggressive posture on ENDA and taken better advantage of its large Democratic majorities early in Obama’s term. Once the Republicans retook the House, pro-LGBT initiatives were dead in the water. DOMA repeal never happened, either, but Obama’s Justice Department took the bold and welcome step of refusing to defend the statute in court.

On other promises, Obama did lay out a national HIV/AIDS strategy after holding 14 town hall events in cities around the country that drew several thousand attendees. The strategy is LGBT-inclusive from the very first page in which sexual orientation and gender identity are included in the vision statement. Unfortunately, the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Programs have seen a spike in patients stuck on waiting lists. The ADAP waiting lists made national headlines last summer, when, for the first time, the number of people on such lists topped 9,000. ADAP is part of the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program authorized by Congress.

Obama has appointed a record number of openly LGB and, yes, even T people to administration positions, most notably John Berry as head of the Office of Personnel Management. DNC official Brian Bond was named to the role of LGBT liaison, though his job was broader than just LGBT concerns. Bond left that post and Gautam Raghavan took over last month.

Perhaps more importantly, Obama has included LGBT issues in his broader agenda, including extending hospital visitation rights to partners of LGBT patients. One of the most memorable and impactful moments I’ve been fortunate to witness during his term occurred during Obama’s 2009 Pride month commemoration at the White House. In remarks to LGBT attendees, Obama said, “Welcome to your house.” It was a simple gesture, but one that made a huge impact on those in the room, including me. And it neatly sums up Obama’s approach. We are part of his agenda and welcome in his administration. The same cannot be said of the Republican field, with the possible exception of Jon Hunstman, who’s mired in the back of the pack and last week polled at just 2 percent support in Iowa.

But this isn’t a Bill Clinton/John Kerry moment in which LGBT people are stuck voting for the Democrat not because they are true advocates but because the alternative is so much worse. This time around, in Barack Obama, LGBT voters have a presidential candidate who truly supports them and backs up the words with action. Is Obama perfect? Of course not. But he’s battled a severe recession, multiple wars and an opposition party that has said its No. 1 goal is not to fix the economy or find jobs but rather to limit Obama to one term. In that environment, Obama has performed well on LGBT issues and will surely endorse marriage equality in 2013. The Republican nominee remains to be determined, but if it’s any of the announced candidates, then voters concerned about LGBT equality will have an easy decision one year from now.

Ellen DeGeneres, newly named U.S. Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness. (Photo by Alan Light)

In a speech outlining U.S. policy on global AIDS issues at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Clinton said DeGeneres’ connection with a large television audience would make her especially well suited to promote U.S. AIDS policies at home and abroad.

“Ellen is going to bring not only her sharp wit and her big heart, but her impressive TV audience and more than 8 million followers on Twitter, to raise awareness and support for this effort,” Clinton said. “I know we can look forward to many contributions from Ellen and her loyal fans across the globe.”

The State Department released a letter that Clinton sent earlier to DeGeneres discussing why the Obama administration believes her accepting the appointment would benefit the cause of fighting AIDS.

“By lending us your energy, compassion, and star power to serve as our Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness, your words will encourage Americans in joining you to make their voices heard in our campaign to achieve an AIDS-free generation,” Clinton said in the letter.

In a statement released Tuesday, DeGeneres said she’s honored to accept the post.

“The fight against AIDS is something that has always been close to my heart,” she said. “And I’m happy that I can use my platform to educate people and spread hope. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go look up what ‘envoy’ means.”

In her speech, Clinton discussed U.S. plans going forward to fight AIDS on the international front through the U.S. programs started during the Bush administration and continued by Obama called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

When President George W. Bush proposed the program in 2003 he called for Congress to approve $30 billion for international AIDS assistance for mostly third-world countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean over a five-year period.

Clinton noted that when the program started, only 50,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa were receiving life-saving anti-retroviral medication and other AIDS related drugs. Now, more than 5 million people receive such drugs as well as an addition one million people in other parts of the world through PEPFAR and the United Nations initiated Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Clinton said.

She said the goal of the Obama administration is to bring about an “AIDS-free generation” across the globe.

“Now, by an AIDS-free generation, I mean one where, first, virtually no children are born with the virus; second, as these children become teenagers and adults, they are at far lower risk of becoming infected than they would be today thanks to a wide range of prevention tool,” she said. “And third, if they do acquire HIV, they have access to treatment that helps prevent them from developing AIDS and passing the virus on to others.”

Among other things, Clinton said PEPAR would fund programs in Africa and other locations that promote “voluntary medical male circumcision,” which she said studies show has lowered the risk of female-to-male transmission of HIV by 60 percent.

Clinton did not mention in her speech specific budget figures the Obama administration has proposed for funding PEPFAR in fiscal year 2012 and beyond or the amount of funds the U.S. plans to contribute to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Some U.S. and international AIDS organizations have criticized the Obama administration for not expanding the funding for the two entities as much as the president promised he would at the time he took office in January 2009.

Clinton noted he her NIH speech that while budget constraints are always a concern during the current economic environment, the U.S. has contributed far more than any other country to international AIDS relief programs, both through PEPFAR and the Global Fund.

Halloween is America’s gay holiday.

In the words of the lesbian poet and scholar Judy Grahn, Halloween is “the great gay holiday.”

And the weekend of lavish costumed theatricality that just wrapped attracted everyone, but especially LGBTQ revelers.

Back in the day Halloween, the night before All Hallows Day (All Saints Day), was linked to the ancient Celtic festival “Samhain” in the British Isles, meaning “summer’s end.” And because the celebration is associated with mystery, magic, superstition, witches and ghosts, the festivity, not surprisingly, was limited in colonial New England because of its Puritanical belief system.

But today it’s an LGBTQ extravaganza that rivals Pride festivals.

Long before June officially became Gay Pride Month, and October “Coming Out Month” for the LGBTQ community, Halloween was unofficially our yearly celebrated “holiday,” dating as far back at the 1970s when it was a massive annual street party in San Francisco’s Castro district.

By the 1980s, gay enclaves like Key West, West Hollywood, and Greenwich Village were holding their annual Halloween street parties. And the parades the night of Halloween did and still do draw straight and gay spectators out to watch.

Gay cultural influence on Halloween has become such an unstoppable phenomenon here and abroad that anthropologist Jerry Kugelmass of University of Florida published a book in 1994 on the new trend, titled, “Masked Culture,” describing Halloween as an emerging gay “high holiday.”

“The ‘masked culture’ first developed by the gays of San Francisco has reached across the lines of orientation — and now jumped across the boundaries between nations and languages. It’s not just a party. It’s an ideal of personal emancipation, self-expression and self-fulfillment — an ideal that loses none of its power when it takes the form of a sexy nurse’s outfit,” CNN contributor David Frum wrote last year in “Halloween craze started in gay culture.”

Nicholas Rogers, author of “Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night,” points out that while Halloween is enjoyed by everyone, “it is the Gay community that has been arguably most responsible for Halloween’s adult rejuvenation.”

As Halloween flourishes as a gay cultural phenomenon, so too flourished a backlash by the fundamentalist Christians with their “Hell Houses.”

Hell Houses were a contemporary form of both anti-gay bullying and witch-hunting. Created in the late 1970s by deceased fundamentalist pastor, the Rev. Jerry Farwell, Hell Houses were religious alternatives to traditional haunted houses. They were tours given by evangelical churches across the country designed to scare and bully people away from myriad sins. And one of those sins was homosexuality.

In 2006 the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force issued a report titled “Homophobia at ‘Hell House’: Literally Demonizing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth,” explaining how hell houses specifically targeted youth.

“Instead of spooking youth with ghosts and monsters, Hell House tour guides direct them through rooms where violent scenes of damnation for a variety of ‘sins’ are performed, including scenes where a teenage lesbian is brought to hell after committing suicide and a gay man dying of AIDS is taunted by a demon who screams that the man will be separated from God forever in hell,” the Task Force stated.

A study published in the Journal of Psychology stated that a strong belief in Satan is directly related to intolerance of LGBTQ people.

Religious leaders who supported Hell Houses believed that by scaring LGBTQ youth into “heterosexual” behavior they are saving their souls.

However, the message that “homosexuals” are going to hell can have a deleterious impact on our youth. But with Halloween flourishing as a gay cultural phenomenon our children, too, can joyfully go door-to-door trick-or-treating.

Our influence on culture is being acknowledged and celebrated more as we come out.

Rev. Irene Monroe is a Boston-based freelance writer. Reach her at revimonroe@me.com.

The local D.C. AIDS service organization Us Helping Us received a $1.5 million grant earlier this month from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide expanded HIV prevention services for black gay men between the ages of 18 and 29 over a five-year period.

The grant, which will provide Us Helping Us $300,000 in funding per year during the term of the grant, will enable the group to provide HIV testing and counseling and HIV prevention through two CDC approved programs known as Healthy Relationships Intervention and “Mpowerment Intervention.”

Both programs employ proven techniques shown to reduce risky behaviors among men who have sex with men that could lead to HIV infection.

“We are honored to be one of only 34 agencies across the nation funded to provide programs and services targeting young minority gay men and transgender youth,” said Ron Simmons, president and CEO of Us Helping Us.

“Recent data show that young black gay and same-gender loving men have a particularly high and increasing risk of HIV infection. We view this project as a great responsibility that can be a significant factor in reducing HIV infection in our community,” he said.

Simmons said the “Mpowerment” program calls for the establishment of a youth-run center for gay youth and their friends as a means of building awareness for reducing the risk of HIV infection.

“There has never been such a center in the District,” he said. “Creating it will be a challenge, but it is an exciting challenge.”

Gay comedian Sampson McCormick will be at Baltimore Black Pride this weekend. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Baltimore Black Pride continues this weekend with an assortment of events all revolving around the theme, “I Was Born This Way: X-pression of Yo-self.”

Tonight there’s the youth event, “Where Is Your Voice?” from 6 to 9 p.m. at GLCCB (241 West Chase St.). This event will focus on educating youth on ways to make safer decisions as well as highlight some talented youth. Hosted by Sampson McCormick, designs by Hyman-Hyman will be featured as well as performances by J. Pope, DDm and a surprise guest.

There’s also the Black Out Party at Club Bunns (606/608 W. Lexington St.) from 7 to 10 p.m. This is the annual meet-and-greet party with Baltimore Black Pride’s Board of Directors. There’s a $10 after 9 p.m.

Saturday is the busiest day of Baltimore Pride with four separate events scheduled.

The day starts with a town hall to recognize 30 years of AIDS from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Metropolitan Community Church (401 W. Monument St.). The meeting will have discussions on how HIV has impacted the community as well as what can be done to take care of those infected and help prevent new infections.

There’s also a youth summit, “Who Runs the World?,” in the Student Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (621 W. Lombard St.) from 2 to 4 p.m. that will look at issues facing black LGBT youth including homelessness, HIV prevention and violent in the community.

The first event Saturday evening is the ninth annual Cultural Affair at Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center (847 N. Howard St.). There will be an open bar and music provided by Tona Brown. Tickets for this event are $45 in advance and $50 at the door.

The night ends with the main event, “Batteries Not Included” at Paradox (1310 Russell St.) from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. DJs Angel X and VJuan Allue will be spinning music and Lola Monroe will give a special performance. The Socialite, Damon Rhodes and Leiomy from Vogue Evolution, will be in attendance. Cover is $10 before 1 a.m. then $12 with a flyer and $15 without.

Sunday the Unity Fellowship Church will be giving a service aligned with the theme of Baltimore Black Pride at the Eubie Black National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The fall festival is also Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m. at Club Bunns with music, food and various vendors. A small donation of $3 is requested to help with costs.

Baltimore Black Pride is also sponsoring a couple of events to celebrate National Coming Out Day on Tuesday.

There will be a youth mixer at GLCCB from 6 to 8 p.m. Donations are welcomed and will benefit The Den, Baltimore’s LGBT youth center. There will also be a party at Club Bunns starting at 10 p.m.

For more information and to download the flyer for the main event, visitblackpridebaltimore.org.

The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee released a draft fiscal year 2012 budget bill on Sept. 19 that calls for cutting nearly $33 million in funds from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s office that pays for HIV prevention programs throughout the country, including in D.C.

The draft bill, introduced by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), also includes a provision that would ban federal funding for needle exchange programs aimed at curtailing the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users. Rehberg is chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which oversees funding for AIDS programs.

In a development likely to rile gay rights and AIDS activists, the bill would restore federal funds for controversial “abstinence only until marriage” HIV prevention programs that gained support under the administration of President George W. Bush. The Obama administration eliminated the abstinence-only funding.

An appropriations subcommittee in the Democratic-controlled Senate approved a separate budget bill that doesn’t include needle exchange and abstinence-only provisions included in the GOP House bill.

The bill approved by the Senate subcommittee calls for no funding increases in most AIDS-related programs. The Obama administration’s proposed budget calls for slightly higher funding levels for most HIV/AIDS programs.

House and Senate leaders are expected to clash over a compromise funding bill dealing with HIV/AIDS programs along with other health, labor and education programs that are folded into the fiscal year 2012 appropriations measure.

Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-Conn.), the ranking Democratic member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies, issued a statement criticizing her GOP counterparts for backing Rehberg’s bill without bringing the bill to a vote in either the subcommittee or the full appropriations committee.

“I am very concerned by reports that the chairman has no plans to convene a meeting of our subcommittee to consider and mark up this legislation,” Delauro said.

She said the Rehberg bill calls for cuts in a wide range of health, labor and education programs that go beyond the spending cap that the House and Senate agreed to as part of the highly contentious debate over the bill earlier this year raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

The Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress eliminated federal funding for abstinence only HIV prevention programs, saying evidence-based studies showed that they were ineffective in curtailing the spread of HIV.

Obama and the Democratic Congress also lifted a longstanding congressional ban on federal funds for needle exchange programs. Administration officials pointed to studies showing that providing clean syringes to intravenous drug abusers reduced their HIV infection rate. Officials said the studies also showed that clean needle exchanges did not result in more people becoming IV drug users.

With Republicans winning control of the House in the 2010 election, advocates of abstinence only HIV prevention programs vowed to push for restoring federal funding for the programs. Some of the same advocates also pushed for restoring the congressional ban on needle exchange programs.

The House GOP appropriations measure also calls for no increase in funding for any of the programs under the Ryan White AIDS CARE Act, including the financially struggling AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP.

With more than 8,500 people in nine states on waiting lists for life-saving AIDS drugs funded under ADAP, AIDS advocacy groups have declared the program in crisis, saying people with HIV could die if more federal funds aren’t allocated to the program.

“While we realize we are living in very difficult fiscal times, this bill is not just about making difficult funding decisions, but about resurrecting many controversial policies that will never pass the Congress nor be signed by the president,” said Michael Ruppal, executive director of the AIDS Institute, a national AIDS advocacy group.

President Obama’s budget proposes a $63.9 million increase in the overall Ryan White budget. The Senate appropriation subcommittee approved a $15 million increase for the Ryan White program.