Make your own version of the ‘I am…’ poster series for World AIDS Campaign (Facebook, Twitter) in honor and awareness of World AIDS Day tomorrow, December 1st.  World AIDS Day is celebrated on December 1st each year around the world. It has become one of the most recognised international health days and a key opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on, and celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services.

Our submission is above with our logo added afterward – we specifically support two of our favorite non-profits, Child Cause and Population Services International.  Child Cause provides a positive peer network for kids affected by AIDS and substance abuse through education, sports and the arts.  Population Services International is a leading global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health.

We ask everyone to please support these charities, as well as your local charities.  Please urge our leaders to take action, use your voice.  Light a candle tonight for a cure, for those we remember and the fight continues on.

The post Create Your Own World AIDS Day Poster and Support the World AIDS Campaign! appeared first on Gay Online Magazine | Out Impact.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Purple, Spirit Day, White House Photo by Pete Souza

Not only did U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stand out in purple among the men at the table in the Situation Room at The White House (including President Barack Obama and his national security team) today in honor of Spirit Day, but she is doing even more.  Today for Spirit Day, people from all the world wore purple today in honor of  gay youth who committed suicide due to homophobic abuse in their daily lives.

Clinton recently released a  “Tomorrow Will Be Better” video at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday,  speaking candidly to gay youth and the gay community. “I have a message for all the young people out there who are being bullied, or who feel alone and find it hard to imagine a better future: First of all, hang in there and ask for help. Your life is so important—to your family, your friends, and to your country,” Clinton said.  ”And there is so much waiting for you, both personally and professionally— there are so many opportunities for you to develop your talents and make your contributions..”

“So take heart, and have hope, and please remember that your life is valuable, and that you are not alone. Many people are standing with you and sending you their thoughts, their prayers and their strength. Count me among them.”

For the full text, visit the U.S. Department of State official website at http://www.state.gov/video/.

The post U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wears Purple In Honor of Spirit Day appeared first on Gay Online Magazine | Out Impact.

CONTACT: Malia Schlaefer, feminapotenspress@gmail.com

FEMINA POTENS VISUAL ART OPENING RECEPTION: Bust ED

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 14, 2008 – Femina Potens presents “Bust ED” artwork around breast cancer awareness and breast health. Please allow us to tease, tantalize, and captivate you with our dirty pillows. “Bust ED” celebrates the lovely and erotic nature of the bosom, while reminding everyone of the way breast cancer affects our lives. 2.4 million women living in the U.S. have been diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. An estimated 182,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in American women during 2008 (ACS 2008). Artists Annie Sprinkle, Elizabeth Stevens, Madison Young, Jennifer Clary, Laura Drugal, Mary Ellen Scherel, and Talia Green all address this prevalent issue with their art. Join us to pay tribute to the mighty and healthy breast for the “Bust ED” opening reception October 9, 2008 at 7pm – 10pm. During the reception we will be hosting a live body casting of breast cancer survivors, a “Mamorial”, for artist Mary Ellen Scherl. Show runs October 9 through October 26, 2008.

Bust ED is sponsored by Abigail productions www.abigailproductions.com

“Bust ED” Visual Art Exhibition

October 9 – 26, 2008

Femina Potens Art Gallery

2199 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94114

Visit feminapotens.org for more information

Annie M. Sprinkle is an internationally known multi-media artist whose work is often studied in History of Performance Art classes, gender studies and film studies at major universities and colleges. Sprinkle has continuously toured theater pieces about her life and work in sexuality since 1989 and her work has long championed sex education and equal rights. Her film The Sluts and Goddesses Video Workshop has been screened at over 200 film festivals, and at museums and galleries, including at the Guggenheim in NYC. Her autobiographical book, Post Porn Modernist broke new ground in art books that incorporate sexually oriented imagery. Hard Core From the Heart; The Pleasures, Profits and Politics of Sex in Performance was published by Continuum Press for the academic market and won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award (2002). Her current work is about love, and is in collaboration with her partner, artist Elizabeth STephens. For more information about Annie Sprinkle, go to her other web site, www.anniesprinkle.org. For her work with Stephens go to www.loveartlab.org.

Elizabeth M. Stephens lives in San Francisco and Santa Cruz. She is a Professor of Art and of Digital Art/New Media the chair of the Art Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Stephens is an inter-media artist who works in sculpture, installation, photography, web-based media and performance art. Her most recent works include the bronze sculptural installation, The Academic/Porn Star Panty Collection; the road trip performance piece Wish You Were Here; the video installation Kiss, as well as her ongoing collaboration with Annie Sprinkle in the Love Art Laboratory. She has exhibited in museums, galleries and non-profit spaces throughout the United States and internationally. For more information about Elizabeth’s other work see http://www.elizabethstephens.org

Madison Young , your kinky girl next door, is making waves in feminism one orgasm at a time with her award winning queer production company Madison Bound Productions and her award winning nationally recognized art gallery and performance space Femina Potens (www.feminapotens.org). Femina Potens is a sex positive art gallery and performance space dedicated to women and transgendered artists. Madison has traveled the world with her sex positive performances, workshops, panels, art work and readings from her upcoming memoir “The Tail of a Bondage Model”. Madison ‘s writings have been published in On Our Backs and Girlfriends Magazine and can also be found in the anthology “Baby Remember My Name”. Madison has been featured on MTV’s LOGO channel program Out and About, the documentary Lesbian Sex and Sexuality Porn Today : Pushing the Limits, and was featured in Brian Alexander’s recent book release “America Unzipped”. Madison’s art work has been exhibited in San Francisco,Seattle, NYC, and London. Her performance art work delves into the exploration of what is public vs private and female/queer identity and sexuality.

Talia Greene received her BA with honors from Wesleyan University, and her MFA from Mills College. Her graduate studies were funded by several grants, including a Graduate Research Mini Grant, the Elkind Fellowship, the Alumni Tuition Scholarship, and two Assistantships. She has had solo exhibitions in Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Brooklyn, and most recently at American University Museum in Washington, DC. She has exhibited her work in group shows across the United States, including the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD, The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, SC, International Print Center New York in New York City; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Rosa, CA, and Internationally at expositions for digital art in Cuba and Mexico. Her work is in private collections throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as in California and Oklahoma. Talia currently lives in Philadelphia, and is a Lecturer at University of the Arts. taliagreen.com

Laure Drogoul is an interdisciplinary artist, cabaret hostess, olfactory spelunker and cobbler of situations who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Laure’s artworks are participatory, sensorial and often incorporate video and/or sound. Her process includes collection and her work examines the relationship between biology and culture. The Nipple Project began in1997 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing surgery. The Nipple Project invited the viewer to design the areolar tattoos for her breast reconstruction. Later a nipple library was created for the submitted designs. The project lives on in the form of “The Nipple Library” for all those that find themselves in need of new nipples. http://www.cultofmarms.org/nipple/grid.html

Jennifer Clary is a 2004 graduate of Vassar College and the co-owner of jenkev productions, a media company that provides production services to companies like GE Healthcare, MBA Diversity, Jewels by Park Lane and The Montessori Foundation. She produced Discover Me, a feature film about internet deception, in 2005. Discover Me won the Audience Choice Award at Indiefest Chicago that year and was an official selection at the Kansas International Film Festival and at Tromafling-Edinburgh. In 2006 Jennifer produced and acted in See Jane Run, a feature film about deadly BBQs. See Jane Run was released nationwide on October 9, 2007 by Cinema Epoch and is represented internationally by MultiVisionnaire Pictures. Dirty Girl is Jennifer’s first directorial endeavor. www.jenkev.com and www.dirtygirlthemovie.com

Mary Ellen Scherl is a sculptural artist that creates work about women’s bodies. Her figurative sculptures address body issues, dignity, pain, and healing. “In 2005, in an effort to try to help heal on a larger scale, I asked myself, “What if my art could help fight breast cancer?” The result of my query was “Mamorial”; a breast cancer awareness installation that has grown into a project echoing the AIDS Awareness Quilt. Mamorial reflects Joseph Buey’s theory on ‘social sculpture’ and Sol Lewitt’s definition of conceptual art, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” Mamorial provides therapeutic healing for breast cancer survivors and a visceral awareness experience for the general public. Two-hundred-fifty survivors from twenty-three states have made molds of their cancer affected chests and have written about their breast cancer experience. The resulting life-casts and soundtrack of testimonials comprise the traveling multi-media Mamorial installation. Creating Mamorial and witnessing its powerful and healing benefits recently inspired Hallowed Ground; a new direction intended to combat systematic genocide. I am neither a breast cancer survivor nor a relative of a victim of genocide. Yet, I find it meaningful that I am able to make a difference through my art. That said, the practice of developing ideas, crafting images and objects feels as essential to me as food, water and shelter. I love making objects. I love making a difference. And I love making objects that make a difference.” www.Mamorial.org

Brittany Howard Outside Looking In Window Installation. Brittany was born in Los Angeles, but does not say she is from there. As a child she wanted to be an astronaut or a doctor when she grew up. Things changed. Both of her ring fingers are longer than her index fingers. Scientific research has noted that this could be suggestive of higher than normal levels of testosterone while in the womb. In palmistry this is indicative of a creative mind. Her “other-job” is as a professional delouser. Yes, really. For her, making art is more about the emotionally exhaustive process than the finished product. She would like to own a tractor one day, maybe. She enjoys panda bears. However, this does not mean that she wants you to give her things that are “panda-related” i.e. t-shirts, porcelain figurines or notepads from Japan with pandas on them. She simply likes them. With the exception of Kim who always has fun presents and sometimes they do have a panda bear on them. Kim can buy her “panda-related” things. She has never beaten her younger sister at Scrabble or finished a game of Monopoly. She is quite certain her sister cheats at both Scrabble and Monopoly. Her life is a series of missed connections and bad timing. She does crosswords before bed and then can’t sleep because she is trying to think of a six-letter word for a popular garden flower. No one has ever used the word “patient” to describe her. She has absolutely no navigational sense of direction. If it weren’t for gravity she would have a difficult time negotiating between up or down. She believes artists are physical philosophers, realizing their ideas through tangible manifestations. She has just discovered how terrific raspberries are. She believes that only self-proclaimed idiots refer to themselves in the third-person.

Abigail Productions creates real porn in which lesbians and women are portrayed as sexual beings and an outlet where the directing team showcases lesbian erotic experiences and sexual fantasies for everyone to identify with, where all viewers are comfortable with the art of erotica. Abigail Productions was founded in 2004 as a way to represent lesbian porn with quality and honesty, today, Abigail Productions stands for quality sensual chemistry drenched with authentic sexual experiences. Abigail Productions writes real scripts, uses real storylines, hires actors who enjoy what they’re doing and are allowed to pick a filming partner in order to capture the most passion and chemistry for the films. www.abigailproductions.com

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Femina Potens is located at 2199 Market St. at Sanchez, San Francisco, California 94114

Gallery Hours Thursday – Sunday Noon – 6pm.

www.feminapotens.org

415-864-1558

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Femina Potens is a nationally-recognized art gallery and performance space dedicated to the advancement of women and transgendered artists since 2001.

Sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center with support from California Arts, Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, the Zellerbach Foundation and Grants for the Arts. Femina Potens is a leading queer organization in San Francisco, and has been featured on the LOGO channel, Q-Television, Bitch, Bust, Spread, Brian Alexander’s book “America Unzipped”, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the San Francisco Chronicle where Violet Blue called Femina Potens, “the most happening art space in the city; a revolution in art and sex.”

The post San Francisco: Oct. 9-26, 2008 “Bust ED” Visual Art Exhibition appeared first on Gay Online Magazine | Out Impact.

bands:
PYGMYLUSH
THE GUILT
TIDELAND
HELSINKI
and more
7pm $6 all ages

Contact katyotto@gmail.com for info!

The post October 4th DC Benefit for DASH (District Alliance For Safe Housing) appeared first on Gay Online Magazine | Out Impact.

Dear Readers:

Much love and peace to everyone who reads this – take some time today to honor Dr. King’s life and the legacy he left and that leads on….to serve. I found some videos that I felt would be appropriate to share about Dr. King’s life, enjoy and think about it, and be sure to check CNN’s special on Dr. King’s life if they replay it.

I’m checking this out online too, starting at 10a EST:
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/pennstate/king They are debuting a civil rights collection online for the world to see, and the collection contains video of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches, including one in Bessemer, Ala. during the Poor People’s Campaign in March 1968, just a few weeks before he was assassinated, an excerpt of which will be shown during today’s webcast.

Sincerely,
Bambi Weavil
CEO and Publisher of Out Impact, Inc.
OutImpact.com – Making a positive impact in the gay community. Make yours.
—

For Information on the MLK Day of Service visit
www.MLKDay.gov

(image credit: zingerbug.com)

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Out Impact is your gay online magazine for gay men and women in the LGBTQ community and our allies, encouraging readers to create a positive impact in the gay community. Our content focuses on activism/philanthropy; expert advice for your professional life; pet care by leading experts; a yoga/wellness column in health, spirituality and wellness; as well as columns in food, comics, fashion, an expert travel specialist; engaging features in the arts and more. We have movie, music and book reviews, as well as the latest interviews. Out Impact also produces events benefiting various non-profits around the country, as well as comprehensive media campaigns to raise awareness for various philanthropic causes while bridging the non-profit, activism, artistic and gay communities. OutImpact.com – Making a positive impact in the gay community. Make yours.

To subscribe to our free newsletter for the latest at Out Impact, as well as exclusive content and giveaways please visit: http://www.outimpact.com/out-impact-newsletter/

The post Honoring and Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. Today: To Serve appeared first on Gay Online Magazine | Out Impact.