Testing America: Portraits of Everyday Heroes

By: AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Los Angeles, CA - February 8, 2010

Early in January, two AHF employees packed their bags and began their cross-country journey with the goal to Test America. To date, Azul MaresDel-Grasso and Eric Boyd, both of which are HIV Testing Counselors, have traveled 4,500 miles and tested over 550 individuals. You can keep up with them on their Testing America blog, where Azul writes:

Testing America can only happen with the collaborative efforts of agencies and people in each city we visit. Currently, I come to you from the road and I invite you to meet our partners that have taken part in this amazing journey...The portraits you see tell a story of the everyday heroes who work to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The following is a summary of a few blog postings…

Seattle: Ro Yoon

Ro Yoon, who works with Gay City in Seattle, was the first person to greet the Testing America Unit when we arrived in Seattle. When asked what challenges he sees in providing HIV prevention in the community, he replied, “Inequities of power and the fact that not all people are created equal.” We all have our reasons for working in this field, he explained that he chose to work in this field because he needed to balance his karmic debt and has worked in HIV prevention since he conquered his heroin addiction in 1991. When asked what he thought was unique about Seattle and HIV he responded simply: “Dear Seattle, what do you have to lose by wearing your heart on your sleeve? You gain everything by revealing your true self to one and the world around you.”

Portland: Shore, Forkner, Teed

In Portland, we met with Annika Shore, Brad Forkner, and Corinne Teed, of the Cascade AIDS Project, who combined represent over twenty-two years of experience in the field of HIV prevention. The greatest challenge they see to HIV prevention is creating an awareness of the realistic risk. Individuals still connect HIV with an identity, rather than risk behaviors, which makes it so much easier to believe, “that can’t happen to me, I’m not the kind of person who gets HIV.” That of course, also perpetuates stigma, the never-ending foe of prevention work. In addition, there is a serious lack of education in the younger generation, a byproduct of years and years of abstinence only education.

Annika explains that there are young people all over this city who feel truly passionate about this cause and until we live in a society less based in homophobia, racism, and classicism, there is a lot of work to be done to level the playing field.

Las Vegas: Mother Loosy

In Las Vegas, we worked with the Southern Nevada Public Health Department, LGBT Center of Las Vegas, AID For AIDS of Nevada, and the Holy Order-Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. The latter being under the leadership of Mother Loosy Lust Bea Lady/Abbess who brought a passionate energy to our outreach efforts.

In 1991 Mother Loosy Lust Bea Lady/Abess was diagnosed with HIV, but it wasn’t until 1999 when she had to go in the hospital for the first time, due to her illness. It was then that she had to face the truth, she was living with HIV. In 2003 she became sick again, and this time she made the decision to dedicate her life to educating people about HIV/AIDS.

After years of sitting on local councils, volunteering for local AIDS service organizations, trainings, and conferences, Mother Loosy decided to reach into her creative soul and start the order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Las Vegas lovingly called The Holy Order-Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and created and a program called Sister AIDS Drug Assistance Program whose mission is to provide funding for people living with HIV who need assistance to pay for their medication and much more. She simply wants to make a difference in the way positive people live their lives.

When asked what some of the challenges are in providing HIV prevention services, she responded, “I would still have to say the stigma that comes with HIV/AIDS within the community. So many people will look at you like you are from another planet when you start talking about HIV.” She goes on to say she hopes that not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas especially around conversations around HIV she may have while doing outreach with people from all over the country. “This is what’s so unique about Vegas, we reach everyone from everywhere!”

To find out more, please visit the Testing America blog or Testing America Photo Album.