Baltimore Outloud July 13, 2012 Issue
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FDA Approves Rapid At-Home HIV Test Kit BY PHIL REESE Washington Blade The FDA has approved for home use the rapid HIV test OraQuick al- OUT July 13, 2012 | Volume X Issue 5 ready in use at clinics and testing centers throughout the nation. The U.S. Food Club Hippo and Drug Admin- istration approved Celebrates Tuesday the rapid OraQuick In-Home 40 Years HIV Test for over- the-counter sales BY STEVE CHARING for the first time. Music was pulsating throughout the night “The test has as Maryland’s largest gay bar, Club Hippo, the potential to celebrated its 40th anniversary on July 7. identify large num- The popular club is situated on the corner bers of previously of Eager and Charles Streets in the heart undiagnosed HIV of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighbor- infections, espe- hood. cially if used by The staying power of the club over its 40- those unlikely to year tenure is not lost on its owner Chuck use standard screening methods,” Bowers. “This is unheard of,” he said in his the FDA said in a release. nostalgia-filled office. “It’s because of the Experts estimate one-fifth of people in the community. I hope and pray those infected with HIV are un- it continues.” aware of their status. The Centers Farrell Maddox, who works at the Hip- for Disease Control and Prevention po as a DJ agreed. “It’s amazing that a estimates 1.2 million Americans are club can maintain its presence in the com- living with HIV, and that there are munity for this length of time. It’s a trib- +LSSRRZQHU&KXFN%RZHUVLQKLVRIÀFHVXUURXQGHGE\QRVWDOJLDcredit: Steve Charing 50,000 new HIV infections annually, —continued on page 6 primarily transmitted from people unaware of their HIV status. As such, increasing access to the HIV screener has become a cornerstone An interview with Kelly Hogan of the fight against the disease. The newly approved test, which allows users to swab their gums in Pleasure and ‘Pain’ order to detect the presence of an- BY GREGG SHAPIRO chatted with her about tibodies to HIV in 20 to 40 minutes, Kelly Hogan has not been resting on her I Like To Keep Myself will soon bring into homes a tool considerable laurels in the 11 years be- in Pain. that clinics have been using since tween the release of Because It Feel Good Gregg Shapiro: 2004. and her brilliant new album I Like To Keep The songs on your “Knowing your status is an im- Myself in Pain (Anti-). “Exploring all the new disc, I Like To portant factor in the effort to prevent musical crayons” in her box, she toured Keep Myself In Pain, the spread of HIV,” said Dr. Karen behind the 2001 release for a couple of were for the most Midthun, director of the FDA’s Cen- years, was singing with Neko Case, and part written for you. ter for Biologics Evaluation and she did the Love Hall Tryst record with What was involved Research in a press release, Tues- John Wesley Harding and Nora O’Connor, in that process? day. “The availability of a home-use on which they sang Elizabethan madrigal Kelly Hogan: Cer- Kelly HIV test kit provides another option tunes. What was supposed to be a one- tain songs might not Hogan for individuals to get tested so that month residency with The Wooden Leg, have been written for they can seek medical care, if ap- her jazz band at The Hideout (in Chicago), me specifically, but they were given to me. “there’s this song, I think it’s a great song propriate.” turned into three years. As Hogan so elo- Like in the case of The Magnetic Fields’ and it never really got its due, its day in Clinical studies of the test quently puts it, “I’ve been busy, Gregg! I (“Plain White Roses”), that was an old the sun,” so she sent me a version from a showed a 92 percent sensitivity never stopped singing,” exploring other song of theirs. Stephin (Merritt), was go- Merge (Records) compilation from a long rate, which means that of every 12 ways to make music and be on a stage. I ing to write me one, but he was busy do- time ago. Now they do it in their live show —continued on page 3 caught up with Hogan in spring 2012 and ing an opera, so Claudia (Gonson) said, —continued on page 15 NEWS Mark Registering Voters for Equality Patro BY STEVE CHARING ers at the Farmers Market, and I also can Co-Publishers Mark Patro sells roasted coffee at Pink train others to become Voter Registration *IM "ECKER s *IM 7ILLIAMS PUBLISHER BALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM House Coffee at the Fells Point Farmers Volunteers.” Executive Editor Market on Saturday mornings. He decided After being trained and certified, a per- Jim Becker that while there, he would collect pledges son is able to complete a voter registration BECKER BALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM for the Marylanders for Marriage Equality application for another – instead of encour- Managing Editor (MD4ME) campaign. As he was collecting aging them to do it themselves and never $ANA ,A2OCCA signatures, several people said they would really knowing if they followed through. It’s EDITOR BALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM sign if they were registered to vote. an important part of the marriage equality Production Director "ILL !NDRIETTE Working independent of MD4ME, Pa- campaign to ensure that people who sup- Sales Director tro, who is the president of the Baltimore port marriage equality are registered to -ARY 4AYLOR County chapter of PFLAG, launched his vote before October 15. TAYLOR BALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM own voter registration drive to boost mar- Over 20 people turned out at the Leather Columnist riage equality at the ballot box in Novem- GLCCB on the evening of July 3 to receive 2ODNEY "URGER ber. He underwent training to teach volun- the instruction from Patro. On the Face- Contributing Writers teers who would then be certified for either book page, “Marriage Equality Information *OEY !MATO s 3HAWN "RADLEY s #ATHY "RENNAN s 4ERRENCE "ROWER s *OSHUA "UCHBINDER s 3TEVE #HARING s *EFFREY #LAGETT s instructing others or to perform actual voter Exchange,” Mike Bernard, one of those #HUCK $UNCAN s *ON &AIRBANKS s -ICHAEL &ARLEY s 'ERRY &ISHER s registration. trained, went one step further and posted, “I %VA (ERSH -$ s 4YE (OGAN s 3AM +UNZ s *ESSICA ,EMMO s *AY ,OANE s 2EV -EREDITH -OISE s 6ANN -ILLS s #OREY 2EIDY s “I went to the Catonsville election challenge all of us to train 10 of our friends 'REGG 3HAPIRO headquarters for Baltimore County and got and colleagues.” unregistered voters, making such registra- myself trained to register people to vote,” College students, according to recent tion efforts critical in winning the referen- Graphics Patro told Baltimore OUTloud. “Now I can polls, are more likely to support marriage dum. Several hundred thousand eligible *OE 6ELASQUEZ s "OB 7ELLINGTON offer to register unregistered pledge sign- equality and represent a large number of voters in Maryland are not registered. W Cartoonist "RUCE 'ARRETT WWWBRUCEGARRETTCOM Photographers "RUCE 'ARRETT s *AY 7 0HOTOS s *USTIN .IXON Web Editor Barney Frank Weds !NJA 3AINE WEBMASTER BALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM -ANAGED 7EB 3ERVICES in Massachusetts 4HE &USIO 'ROUP WWWTHEFUSIOGROUPCOM Congressman Barney Frank married his National Advertising Rep long time partner Jim Ready on July 7. 2IVENDELL -EDIA 908-232-2021 Frank, a congressman since 1981, was Founders the first openly gay sitting member of con- *IM "ECKER s *OE "ERG s -IKE #HASE s gress. ,EE -OONEY s *IM 7ILLIAMS Over 350 guests attended the ceremo- ny at the Marriott in Newton, Massachu- Baltimore OUTloud 0/ "OX "ALTIMORE -$ setts. Gov. Deval Patrick presided over 410-244-6780 the wedding in a short ceremony where WWWBALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM the newlyweds vowed not only to love one another for better or for worse, but Additional Information Baltimore OUTloud IS PUBLISHED EVERY OTHER &RIDAY BY 0RIDE also “under the Democrats or the Repub- -EDIA ,TD IN "ALTIMORE -ARYLAND 2EADERS COMMENTS AND licans.” UNSOLICITED MATERIALS ARE WELCOMED AND MAY BE SENT TO EDITOR Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer BALTIMOREOUTLOUDCOM !LL MATERIALS APPEARING IN THIS NEWSPAPER ARE THE PROPERTY OF 0RIDE -EDIA ,TD AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED was in attendance, as were Nancy Pelosi, WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE EDITOR John Kerry, and local liberalatti. His sister, Ann Lewis, escorted him down the aisle. The 72-year-old congressman an- nounced his retirement earlier this year. His term will expire in 2013. He was the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee from 2007 until January of 2011, a period that ush- ered in the current financial crisis. During that time, he supported passage of the The opinions expressed in Baltimore OUTloud are solely those of the writers unless otherwise indicated and do not necessarily American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure reflect the views of Pride Media, Ltd., and the staff. Prevention Act, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, and other legislation to © n !LL RIGHTS RESERVED protect Americans from financial ruin. #HAIR OF THE "OARD OF 4RUSTEES n *IM "ECKER Barney Frank Ready, a 42-year-old carpenter/weld- 0RESIDENT n *IM 7ILLIAMS 3ECRETARY AND 4REASURER n -IKE #HASE & Jim Read er, met Frank in 2005 at a political fund- raising event. W 2 WBALTIMORE OUTLOUD-8/<BALTIMOREOUTLOUD.COM NEWS // LOCAL FDA APPROVES RAPID three months.” AT-HOME HIV TEST KIT The OraSure test is the first test that al- – continued from front page lows users to learn their results at home im- mediately, without interacting with profes- HIV-infected individuals tested with this sionals, which some experts say may not kit, one negative could be expected, which be ideal.