May 30, 2014
We're all "HIV =" This Saturday in NYC!
JC Alvarez READ TIME: 2 MIN.
(New York City) To continue to drive the message that getting tested and knowing your status is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal to prevent the spread of HIV in our community, the HIV = campaign is driving the message into all our neighborhoods, and this weekend's stop will be the Hell's Kitchen haunt BarTini Ultra Lounge located at 642 10th Avenue. On Saturday, May 31st from 4 - 9pm you can join some of the community's most glamorous notables including Broadway's Billy Porter, "Drag Race" star Phi Phi O'Hara, film-maker and documentarian Michael Lucas, nightlife's Peppermint and many more who have bared it in black for the other march on equality.
It's only been eight months since the World Health Clinicians launched their "HIV =" photo campaign to encourage HIV testing and battling the stigma often associated with HIV. Through the elaborately glossy campaign the poignant message of "knowing your status" has been driven home by the likes of Bianca Del Rio, Greg Louganis, Todrick Hall and many others. This weekend you equally expect more famous faces to line-up and lend their support to the cause.
"We expect a full house based on (advance) RSVPs and responses on social media," noted Jack Mackenroth celebrity spokesman and co-creator of the "HIV =" campaign, "so we encourage guest to arrive early and be patient." Space is limited and only participants who are prepared to join the campaign will be admitted. Part of that participation, including the iconic photograph, is taking a confidential, rapid mouth-swab HIV test before your fierce close-up.
Know Your Status
As listed in the recent press release for the event, the purpose of the "HIV =" testing and anti-stigma campaign illustrates that everyone is equally valuable regardless of his or her HIV status --�and it is completely confidential.
Presiding over the evening's festivities will be event hostess DJ Chi Chi La Rue who will be joined by fan-favorite comedienne and actress Sandra Bernhard. Start off your weekend on a positive note -- know your status -- and come join the "HIV =" campaign on Saturday, May 31st from 4 - 9pm at BarTini Ultra Lounge in Hell's Kitchen, NYC located at 642 10th Avenue. Don't bring your negativity! We're all equal here!
For more information and check in to see when the campaign is coming to a city near you, visit HIVequal.org and RSVP to [email protected].
Native New Yorker JC Alvarez is a pop-culture enthusiast and the nightlife chronicler of the club scene and its celebrity denizens from coast-to-coast. He is the on-air host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Out Loud & Live!" and is also on the panel of the local-access talk show "Talking About".
