On PBS tonight, FrontLine will be showing the first of a two part series called “The Age of AIDS.”  If you are in the DFW area, this will be shown on KERA13 at 8PM.

More information can be found by clicking on the link (or on the the logo).  Also, to coincide with this program, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released its 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic earlier today.

While the report outlines some progress in the treatment of HIV/AIDS throughout the world, one area which is not improving is the level of HIV prevention education that is being made available to those at greatest risk.  One figure from the report, states that “only 9% of men who have sex with men received any type of HIV prevention service in 2005″ - nine percent!  Education is an important - if not the most important - component of an effective treatment against the ongoing spread of HIV, so why is this number so low?

Last night, we saw X-Men: The Last Stand (otherwise known as X-Men 3, or X-Men³). Of course, I just went for the dinner.

Being a huge X-Men fan, I couldn’t wait to see that guy in the wheelchair, or the other guy that turns things to ice (I’ve followed their careers religiously). To my suprise they inroduced this very cute character (well the guy who played the character was cute), and my fan-ness was becoming more engorged than I thought possible.

As for the movie - engorged fan status aside - I enjoyed it. I think this film made a good final movie, though they did leave a remnant of hope that a further sequel could be possible if needed. I will have to rewatch the other movies over the summer, just to make sure.

What really suprised me about the previews - and maybe it was because of the movie we were seeing, but there seems to be a large number of movies being made based on comic books (am I catching on to this trend a little late perhaps?). Superman Returns & Ghost Rider were just two of the previews we saw prior. One “super-hero” movie that is coming out - not based on a comic, as far as I know, is My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which we saw the short for (trailer at the link). It looks like it will be a funny movie!

We’ve all said at some point in our lives, if only I were a fly on the wall. Normally, it’s referenced when we are interested in learning about things that you may not be exposed to if you were in the same room. Today, I was that fly.

Some of you may have heard of MySpace. For those of you who haven’t, it’s an online social networking site that has become a phenomena amongst anyone under 30, band/music types, geeky types that have to be on everything, and tramps (the category I fit into).

For those of you who have, you’ll understand - and probably seen - how those of us in this world are becoming even more closely connected. Which brings me to being a fly. Today, I joined Chris in meeting up with a guy he knew way back when (we’re talking elementary school) who now lives in the Dallas area. Chris “found” him on MySpace. A feature of MySpace is the ability to enter your high school, college or university education history and then click on that school name and find people who you may have gone to class with. Interestingly, this seems to work better than ClassMates.com; due in part to there being over 80 million accounts on MySpace (double that of ClassMates).

The evening was focused on catching up on the past (and Jeff - the MySpace connection - has a few good stories to tell about his), learning about the present, and developing (hopefully) an ongoing connection. I’m always amazed at how small the world has become, and feel great when it works out as well as it can.

So being this fly, I learned more about a guy called Jeff, I learnt a great deal about growing up in the small East Texas town that Chris and Jeff shared a history with, and I learnt what it was like being a fly on the wall.

Have the recent discussions about illegal immigration triggered a reaction from CCGLA’s board of directors that now has this community organization discriminating against immigrants?

Recently the CCGLA board amended its’ bylaws to prevent anyone who is not a registered voter to be eligible to be a director or officer of the organization. To become a registered voter, a person must be a United States citizen. People who can’t become citizens include temporary workers (H1-B visa holders), international students, green card/permanent residents, and undocumented immigrants.

This action reinforces the widely held (and destructive) view that immigrants are second class citizens. While immigrants may not have the same protections under the law as citizens, they deserve the same levels of dignity and respect. How can an organization that advocates equality, dignity and respect, offer none of these to a group of residents in Collin County? Isn’t this new bylaw in conflict with the values for which CCGLA stands?

One of the original purposes of CCGLA was to bring together a community that reflected the diversity of people and their backgrounds that lived and worked within Collin County. I believe the founding CCGLA board reflected this diversity. I also now believe that the current board does not.

It is a concern to me that CCGLA now appears to support what many of us on the founding board were fighting against: discrimination. Discrimination is not just a GLBT issue. Everyone can be discriminated against for any reason. It happens every day, but should it happen within an organization that’s purpose is to fight against it? As one of the founding board members, I am disgusted that the CCGLA board has written such a discriminatory rule into their governing documents. I am equally surprised that the only founding board member remaining on the board supported this change.

With the annual meeting only days away, let’s hope the membership of CCGLA hold this board accountable for their actions, and refocuses the organization on its core values of advocating equality, dignity and respect in our community.

OMG! It’s Ian’s birthday today. He doesn’t look a day over 21!  Happy Birthday Ian (TDL)!