While holding a “Paris is Burning” type ball may seem like an unusual move for a hospital, they held the ball as a way to build a bridge to the GLBTQ community and those at risk for HIV.

The ball scene is quite competitive and each category in the ball required the creative integration of the AIDS ribbon, the color red, or latex.

Categories for the competition included: “twisters,” featuring dancers that can twist their bodies: “red shoes,” with the only requirement being clad in red footwear; “Soft as Red Rose,” showcasing gender benders in red; And and my personal favorite- “sexy!” with scantily clad young men.

If a contestant didn’t measure up to what the judges wanted, the judges would hold up a giant card that read “Chop” or the emcees would announce “They said no, they said no,” over and over again to the beat of the music. The performer would then do the walk of shame off the runway. Cold right? But don’t fret over that because they would just change outfits and come back for the next competition and win!

And if the performer really delivered, the judges would hold up signs reading “Paragon.”

Paragon!

View the whole set-

A live YouTube channel for World AIDS day. The President spoke and as of right now, they’ve assembled a high profile panel to discuss HIV and AIDS.

Magic regrets not playing longer but discrimination and fear of HIV forced him out of the game he loves.

“You don’t want to have the family planning clinic here, the pills clinic here, the injections clinic here, and the microbicides clinic over here,“ said Dr Stephen Becker of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Delegates were discussing the rapidly changing landscape of HIV prevention methods that use antiretroviral drugs. One year ago, at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, the world heard the results of the CAPRISA study, which showed that a microbicide gel containing tenofovir halved the risk of HIV infection in women who used the vaginal gel consistently.

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Keith Green, Marc Felion, Dr. Bob Grant and Fausto Fernós

One of the most exciting developments in the fight against HIV is a recent study that concluded that gay men could significantly reduce their risk of infection by taking an existing anti-HIV medication on a daily basis.

The study hasn’t received much media attention, and even though this type of preventative treatment could dramatically reduce HIV infections and some doctors don’t even know about it.

Is PREP or Pre-Exposure Prophilaxis a magic pill that we’ve been waiting 30 years for? And will our troubled health care system be able to adapt to this new way of approaching this disease?

Plus- why is the leadership of the nation’s largest AIDS organization actually arguing against this pro-active treatment?

Join us today for a live podcast form from the Center on Haslted in Chicago, as we’re joined by Dr. Bob Grant, the protocol chair for the groundbreaking study and Keith Green a consultant for Project PrEPare, which explores the acceptability and feasibility of the trial among men who have sex with other men.

Plus- live questions from you, the audience in person and testimonies from real gay men who participated in the trial.

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Marc Felion getting stuck with needles.

Why has this method of treatment been largely ignored when people in the East have used for thousands of years? Is it for real or just a bunch of woo woo.

Today we’re talking to our friend Michael Oliphant a comedy writer who took his life on a different course five years ago when he started to study acupuncture. He’s given up the late nights telling jokes in smoky bars and eating onion rings for an office where he pokes willing patients to help them heal.

Listen as we talk about skepticism, alternative medicine and the power of the human mind.

Can HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases be alleviated by acupuncture? Why do clowns wear hats and why do pirates wear golden earrings?

Okay, so maybe acupuncture is a little 'woo-woo.'

the hot viral videos: Amy Winehouse drunk comeback, the breakdancing gorilla and the Chinese bride who discovers her groom is gay on their wedding day.

Improved condoms soon to debut in Europe

And take our Google Rainbow Pride test! Can you unlock the secret words in Google’s rainbow Easter egg?

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LifeLube, Association of Latin Men for Action, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, Communities of Color Collaborative, Project CRYSP, and Feast of Fun are teaming up to present a free podcast forum exploring what HIV prevention looks like now.

It’s your chance to hear from real guys who are taking “the pill” to prevent getting infected with HIV and ask the tough questions about costs and risks.

Why can’t people just wear condoms? How far would you go to protect yourself? Is it really safe?

Wednesday, June 15 at the Center on Halsted. Click for more info and to RSVP.

Click to download the flyer you see below. Please share.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first AIDS diagnosis in the U.S.

It’s difficult to measure the devastating impact AIDS has had on humanity, not just the horrors of the disease itself but the inadequate response of governments and health care institutions to this incredible loss of life.

Gay activism in 1988. This poster could have been made yesterday, and yet, we've come a long way baby.

Today, we take a look at three decades of AIDS with David Ernesto Munar, the newly appointed President and CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. David got involved in the fight against AIDS at a very young age, and has seen our struggles and triumphs through the years as he’s risen through the ranks.

Most recently, young people have taken to digital media by storm as a way to inspire each other and find all kinds of information on how to create gay straight alliances or at schools.

The benefits of this are profound as studies show that LGBT people who’ve undergone severe trauma as a result of bullying are more likely to become HIV positive.

Listen as we talk about—

What it’s like for a gay man to discover he’s HIV positive today.

The Religious Right’s efforts to stop anti-bullying programs in schools.

You Will Rise- an online art therapy program for victims of bullying.

And Freddie Mercury- if he were alive today would he have done an amazing collaboration with Lady Gaga?

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Spring Luncheon is on Monday, May 2, 2011, with keynote speaker Dan Savage, who along with his husband, founded It Gets Better. Mr. Savage will talk about how bullying impacts depression, suicide, and other HIV-related risk-taking behaviors among LGBT youth.

Visit our sponsors:

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Matthew Harvat as Circuit Mom - photos by Bret Grafton - photografton.com

If you were in Chicago in the 90s, you probably know Circuit Mom, the queen of the circuit party scene.

Circuit parties were fun-filled extravagant affairs that leveraged the existing gay rave scene into fundraisers for healthcare organizations. Guys who liked to go to circuit parties were sometimes called circuit boys and Matthew Harvart was their Momma!

About six years ago, Circuit Mom stepped out of the limelight to focus on other aspects of her entertainment career. At the same time the Hearts Foundation, the non-profit that hosted Chicago’s biggest circuit party called “Fireball” went down in flames after financial mismanagement and drug abuse.

Since then, the circuit scene has never been quite the same in Chi-town but that hasn’t stopped Circuit Mom from performing and throwing fantastic parties- just like Cher, it’s hard to keep a good queen down.

Today, Matthew Harvat, the man behind Circuit Mom talks about the fabulous circuit party scene that once was and may still be again.

Plus all the hot news:

A snarky gay voice goes silent on the internet as Queerty the LGBT sass blog, suddenly calls it quits- no love lost from their former editor Japhy Grant, who says the company still owes him 20k for back pay.

Haters gonna hate- YouTube temporarily lets haters flag down Apple Employee’s “It Gets Better” video in support of LGBT youth.

Speaker of the House John Boehner wants to waste your tax money defending laws the President has deemed unconstitutional.

and a hot letter surfaces from John Lennon to Paul and Linda McCarney in which John Lennon calls his former band-mate the c-word.

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Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós as anime characters. Illustration by Rei Sato.

Natalie Portman in Black Swan. We're sure every drag queen in town will sooner or later put on this eye makeup.

Soon to join your collection of campy movies is Black Swan- a psychological thriller set in the competitive world of professional ballet. The film features Natalie Portman as a prima ballerina who’s gone insane over her quest for perfection when she gets cast in the lead for her ballet company’s production of Swan Lake.

Fans of Showgirls will relish the lesbian tension and fans of Mommie Dearest or Carrie will certainly enjoy the frightening mother/daughter scenes between Portman and a very tightly wound Barbara Hershey.

It’s a frightening movie that uses a lot of grotesque imagery to propel the storyline but is Black Swan just another M Night Shamalan-like film that twists the audience into a groaner at the end? We won’t spoil it for you. (Aliens are allergic to water)

One thing we know for sure is that drag queens and club kids will soon be dressed up like demented ballerinas. (Thanks to Rei Sato for the awesome anime illustation!)

Join us as we talk about all the hot news:

Actress Winona Ryder claims she has never gone on the Internet, or used an iPad.

NYC Dept. of Public Health’s bizarre HIV awareness ad takes a cue from the viral site goatse.cx, a nasty way to trick people into seeing graphic images.

San Francisco Macy’s fires their beloved Santa for making a naughty joke.

And tips for coming out to your family for the holidays.

Please vote for Feast of Fun in the 2010 People’s Choice Podcast Awards in the “Best GLBT” category and the top prize of the “People’s Choice.” We can’t win without your help. Thank you!

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The Ultimate Holiday Gift for the Gay Man in Your Life- Healthcare.

Just in time for the holidays, the folks at the New England Journal of Medicine released a study saying that taking Truvada on a daily basis, (an existing HIV medication) can significantly reduce HIV in gay men.

For people who infrequently took the daily pill, new HIV infections were reduced to 44%, and for those who took it 90% of the time, their rate of HIV infections was cut to 73%.

Now don’t throw away your condoms just yet, since you still have around 30% chance of getting it with the meds. But this does represent a significant breakthrough in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The study also points out that because of the regular doctor visits and HIV testing the subjects recieved, their number of sexual partners went down and the use of condoms went up. I guess seeing a doctor makes you less of a cock-hungry man-slut. It must have something to do with him sticking that thermometer inside you.

I can see the new ads now:
“For that sexually active gay man on your Christmas list, why not give them a year’s supply of Truvada?” The cost? Around $1000 a month in the U.S. depending on your insurance.

Jim Pickett during a taping of the Feast of Fun podcast.

FOF guest health advocate Jim Pickett, made an announcement:

“This discovery alters the HIV prevention landscape forever. While this level of efficacy is relatively strong, PrEP is not quite ready for prime time and work remains before this strategy is rolled out. However, we are thrilled to have a new prevention option beyond male and female condoms visible on the horizon,” said Jim Pickett, Director of Advocacy at AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Chair of IRMA – International Rectal Microbicide Advocates.

We like to call Jim “Mr. Rectal Microbicides” because of his life-long dedication to the fight for HIV/AIDS research and medicine.

The study took place with almost 2,500 gay and bisexual men from Boston and San Francsico, also from Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa and Thailand. This means a lot of strains of the virus in differing populations were considered in how the meds worked.

So will health insurance companies start covering this? Will this become part of our Universal Health Care plan?

Also published this week, Vitamin D deciciencies may cause bone loss or high parathyroid hormone levels In people with HIV taking Viread Or Truvada. Even if you’re not HIV positive, taking vitamin D supplements, especially for those who live in Northern cities like Chicago or Toronto with little sunlight is thought to be extremely beneficial for your health.

Paid for by the Illinois Department of Public Health

When I saw this ad on a bathroom wall in a gay bar in Chicago, I thought it was for a dating site and didn’t think much of it. It was just a weird composite of different men with the tag line “He’s the One” and a promise that if you register for the site you could win an iPad.

It wasn’t until weeks later that I saw the ad in print with the added message “He’s the one, that could infect you.” I was mortified that they’d try to send a safe sex message in this sneaky way and demonize gay men as monsters. But what’s even more appalling that it was paid for by the Illinois Department of Public Heath.

One commenter (TrickyToro) over at Lifelube said it’s reminiscent of Frankenstein monster, equating HIV positive men as monsters but “just like the story, the villagers or the authors of this campaign are the real monsters.”

We know so many brilliant and responsible people working in Public Health that it seems unreasonable that this would even make it out of the boardroom. Thankfully, the website is down and I’m sure someone has been sent out to the bars in Boystown to take down the ads.

We’re all about ad campaigns encouraging the use of condoms, but not make people think of gays as sick.

Here’s a lighter side to the scary ad campaign. I’m sure the eye on the left is that of Jeff Ramone, The Ungay Guy. At least the eyelashes and iris texture match perfectly. Don’t they usually find people out of town for these type of ad campaigns?

Many sexually transmitted diseases are still being spread- HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia. What about substance abuse, staph infections, alcoholism and depression? And to make things worse, without universal health care in this country, many wait until the last minute to seek treatment.

Although people with HIV/AIDS are living longer than ever, it’s still a terrible disease with no known cure. What are some exciting, sexy new ways we can protect ourselves and live happy health lives?

Writer, advocate and activist Jim Pickett, Director of Advocacy for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago joins us on today’s show to answer your questions and discuss your ideas on sexuality and health this Sunday. Jim is one of the founders of International Rectal Microbicide Advocates and is LifeLube’s blog diva. And he performed at one of our very first Feast of Fools live show almost ten years ago, did ya know?

Porn director and drag diva Chi Chi Larue put out last month a safe sex PSA urging us, other porn companies and actors to “wrap it up.”

Although her intentions are good, wouldn’t it be more effective to show some of her sexy athlete/porn stars like Blake Riley instead of Chi Chi saying the same thing? The way a message is delivered can be just as important as the message itself. If you want more people to use condoms more often, eroticize their use. Sex sells.

Listen as we answer questions from you, our beautiful listeners about sexual health. What are ways you can educate yourself about healthy sex? How do you keep it fresh and hot?

The podcast that brings more than just sexy back- Feast of Fools.

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