The Florida Keys have reopened to visitors, exactly three weeks after Hurricane Irma impacted the island chain Sept. 10.
Local officials chose Sunday, Oct. 1, as the official reopening date based on the speedy completion of significant infrastructure repairs, almost total restoration of utilities, and necessity of resuming the tourism-driven economy that employs about 50 percent of the Keys workforce.
“By welcoming visitors to the destination, it will provide the jobs and the hope that our residents are looking for so they can begin to rebuild their lives,” said Stacey Mitchell, director of marketing for the Florida Keys tourism council.
While Key Largo and Key West were least affected by Irma, a number of lodging properties and other tourism facilities in the Keys haven’t yet resumed normal operations. Recovery efforts are ongoing, especially in the Lower Keys and parts of Marathon that were hardest hit by the storm.
“It’s been a road of recovery and continues to be so, but we’ve made enough progress where the infrastructure is ready to accept visitors,” said Mitchell. “By the visitor coming down, they’re helping in the recovery and being part of that process.”
Visitors will find the Key West and Marathon airports open as usual, and the Port of Key West hosting cruise ships again. The Florida Keys Overseas Highway has passed inspection and is easily drivable throughout the 125-mile island chain.
Even Key West’s Southernmost Point marker, an iconic photo stop that designates the continental United States’ southernmost land mass, is being repainted after damage from Irma.
A number of Keys special events scheduled for mid to late October — including Key West’s Fantasy Fest, Marathon’s Stone Crab Eating Contest and Key Largo’s Humphrey Bogart Film Festival — are to take place as planned, according to organizers.
Robust zinfandels. Floral chardonnays. Crowd-pleasing pinot noirs. Sonoma County is known for its many varietals and the oenophiles who flock there to sip and swill. More than double the size of its more popular neighbor, Napa, Sonoma is a sprawling, diverse locale that offers much more than what’s under the cork. From 300-foot tall trees to manicured tea gardens to farm-to-table dining, it’s easy to fall under its spell.
Frriday
1) 3 P.M. Go Fish
Start what will inevitably be a decadent weekend with Sonoma’s purer draws: the spectacular landscape and outdoor activities. Lake Sonoma, formed in 1983 by the construction of a 319-foot-high, 3,000-foot-long dam, offers a surface area of more than 2,700 acres for swimming, boating and fishing. Rent a modest aluminum rowboat or double-decker patio boat ($45 to $110 for one hour) at the Lake Sonoma Marina and angle for rainbow trout, black bass and redear sunfish, all of which are plentiful in the lake. For land-loving mountain bikers, hikers and horseback riders, there are 40 miles of trails through grassy slopes, rugged hills and mixed forests. And if archery is your game, bring your bow and arrows — there’s also a 14-target archery range.
2) 5 P.M. Plaza Shopping
Just southeast of the lake, the landscape is considerably different but no less inspiring. Healdsburg, a well-heeled town anchored by a central square that is surrounded by restaurants, shops, art galleries and, of course, wine stores and tasting bars, is the perfect place to transition into evening. Start at Shed, a cavernous culinary market and cafe devoted to local farming culture that features everything from butter churns and herb shears to umami salt and kombucha on tap. At Lime Stone, Lisa Palmer, the wife of the well-known chef Charlie Palmer, stocks the housewares store with cheeky-chic items: Sonoma wine label decoupage platters, shatterproof wine glasses and serving trays plastered with words to live by: “There’s always time for a glass of wine.”
The king salmon, with fried green tomatoes and caviar crème fraîche, at Barndiva. Credit Drew Kelly for The New York Times
3) 6:30 P.M. Cocktail Kickoff
Wine country is not immune to the cocktail craze that has swept the country, as evidenced at Healdsburg’s Bravas Bar de Tapas, a lively Spanish restaurant that opened five years ago and remains a local favorite. The fenced-in patio, strewn with fairy lights, has a small bar tucked under an overhang and a cocktail menu where gin plays the starring role. Try the Primavera, a gin and tonic made with locally distilled D. George Benham’s gin, fennel fronds, lemon and cucumber bitters, or the Levante, a gin cocktail accented with orange, saffron and cardamom ($11 each).
4) 8 P.M. Dine With The Locals
On the other side of the town square is another residents’ favorite: Barndiva. The large barnlike structure, designed and built from the ground up by the owners, Jil and Geoffrey Hales, offers an urbane country-meets-industrial chic interior filled with art and antiques, as well as a picturesque patio beneath arching mulberry trees. Ryan Fancher helms the kitchen, marrying French technique with California ingredients, many coming from the Barndiva Farm in Philo, to deliver crowd-pleasing dishes like goat cheese croquettes drizzled with wild lavender honey, duck leg confit with gnocchi and caramelized endive, and local petrale sole with lobster risotto and pickled fennel. Dinner for two with wine is about $120.
Saturday
5) 9:30 A.M. Go West
Wend your way west on Route 116, through light-barring redwoods, past glowing green dairy farms and alongside the placid Russian River. Don’t blink as you near the Pacific or you might miss Duncans Mills (population: 175) and Gold Coast Coffee & Bakery. Inside the single-story strip mall storefront, you’ll have to wait your turn at the self-serve cabinet filled with turkey pesto croissants, blueberry lemon scones and generously frosted cinnamon rolls. Of all the tempting pastries, don’t miss the gigantic butterhorn ($4), which is made with swirls of cinnamon-saturated dough and topped with crumbled sugar bits. Pair it with the Rocket Dog ($3), a bracing mix of espresso and coffee.
6) 11 A.M. Ocean Views
Goat Rock Beach, located in Jenner just past Duncans Mills, is part of the Sonoma Coast State Park’s rugged expanse. Park at the top and hike the narrow path through the grassy bluffs and listen to the ocean roar, or drive down to the expansive sandy stretch of beach that sits at the mouth of the Russian River. While the currents make it too treacherous for swimming, it’s the perfect place for beachcombing, contemplating the grandeur of the jagged headlands and flat-topped rock formations, and potentially spotting wildlife — migrating whales are often seen from December to April, while a local colony of Pacific Harbor seals and their pups can be spotted from late spring through summer.
7) 2 P.M. Pick Up A Picnic
Established in 1881, the Dry Creek General Store is a historic landmark but has all the modern fixings for a picnic lunch. Go up the creaky front porch, through the swinging doors, and head to the deli counter, where an array of snackable goodies — deviled eggs! peppered beef jerky! — are the accompaniments you didn’t know you needed to go with your pressed turkey sandwich topped with homemade cranberry sauce and slaw ($12.95) or prosciutto tucked into a crunchy baguette ($7.95). As you wait for your sandwiches, do some time-traveling: The bar tucked in the rear has antiquated suitcases, cowboy boots, water jugs and other relics from yesteryears suspended from the ceiling.
A wine tasting in the gardens at Quivira. Credit Drew Kelly for The New York Times
8) 3 P.M. Time to Taste
Of course you can’t visit Sonoma without sampling some wines. With over 400 wineries across 17 appellations, it’s best to focus on one or two regions and maximize your tasting journey. If you fancy zinfandels, sip in Dry Creek Valley. Quivira offers biodynamic gardens and electric car-charging stations outside — this is California, after all — and flights of elegant Rhone varietals inside its cool-as-clay tasting room, while Truett Hurst bustles with lolling couples, groups of friends and multigenerational families picnicking and sipping the bright, fruity zinfandels on the terrace’s comfortable couches and cherry-red Adirondack chairs. Just southwest, the Russian River and Green Valleys are forested, lower in elevation and cool — ideal conditions for pinot noir and chardonnay. The tasting room at Iron Horse Vineyards happens to be an outdoor bar made of reclaimed redwood planks and oak barrels. Take in the views of the undulating hills stitched with rows of grapevines and Mount St. Helena’s double peaks in the distance as you sample the silky Estate Pinot.
9) 7 P.M. Farmhouse Dining
Despite being one of the most refined dining spots in Sonoma, the Michelin-starred restaurant at Farmhouse Inn in Forestville manages to keep a comfortable, cool vibe. Located in a restored 1873 farmhouse, the soothing neutral shades in the dining room are given added character by the raw wood chandeliers and quirky mural that depicts scenes from the family albums of the siblings and owners, Joe and Catherine Bartolomei. The tasting menu ($99 for three courses, $115 for four) teems with local ingredients such as the ricotta from Bellwether Farms, an artisan creamery in Petaluma, that fills the delicate rainbow chard raviolis; fresh asparagus from Salinas; and hon shimeji mushrooms from Sebastopol that artfully encircle a filet of Alaskan halibut. Whether you opt for a modest half glass or splurge on the wine pairing ($74 and $84 for the three and four courses, respectively), wine service, led by Jennifer Jespersen, is as wonderfully unsnobbish as you can get.
10) 10 A.M. Heaven
Not many original redwood groves survived the West Coast’s 19th-century logging boom, but one of them, happily, is in Sonoma. Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, in the backyard of the thriving foodie scene along Guerneville’s Main Street, is a magical 805-acre oasis of old growth trees. Pick up the 1.7-mile Pioneer Nature Trail just inside the park entrance and meander past the tallest specimen in the grove (the Parson Jones Tree, at more than 310 feet) as well as the oldest (the Colonel Armstrong Tree, estimated to be over 1,400 years old). Educational placards along the flat, well-marked path relay biological and historic facts on the remarkable natural spectacle.
11) 12 P.M. Brunch Alfresco
After the cool, enveloping silence of the redwoods, the sunny energy at Canneti Roadhouse Italiana will be welcome. Created in the spirit of a Tuscan trattoria, the restaurant’s interior is painted a neutral Mediterranean palette, and a garden patio sits draped in wisteria. Have another glass of wine — perhaps a crisp pinot gris from the local Moshin Vineyards — with the creamy scrambled eggs with endive, served in a bowl of toasted brioche and saffron hollandaise sauce, or go for the gusto with pennette carbonara. Brunch for two with wine, about $70.
12) 2:30 P.M. Detox
Because it’s been so exhausting, finish your weekend at Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in the historic village of Freestone. The grounds have been magnificently landscaped to include a Japanese meditation and tea garden, pagodas and hammocks, but the real reason to visit is for the Cedar Enzyme Bath ($109). A ritual in Japan, these baths are warm from the natural fermentation of finely ground evergreens and rice bran. The 20 minutes you spend immersed — with visits from an attendant who offers sips of water and cold compresses — are said to draw out impurities, relax joints and muscles and activate your metabolism. Finish with a shower and meditative lie-down in the spa.
Lodging
With its 60-foot outdoor pool and Jacuzzi and in-house Charlie Palmer restaurant, Dry Creek Kitchen, the 56-room (including six suites) Hotel Healdsburg has been a hot spot since opening in 2001. Located on the main square in Healdsburg, it’s perfectly situated for eating, drinking and exploring. Rooms in peak season start at $549.
For a more eclectic experience, check in at Boon in Guerneville. Tucked between Main Street and the redwoods, the 12 rooms and two suites (rates start at $225 on weekdays) are minimally appointed, but cozy, featuring organic linens, platform beds and custom reclaimed redwood furniture.
The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, in collaboration with UNAIDS, brought together six heads of state or government to accelerate action and get countries on the Fast-Track to end AIDS. World leaders joined around 500 partners from government, the private sector and civil society on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to reinvigorate political leadership around HIV.
The Fast-Track approach is saving more and more lives. In 2016, 19.5 million people—more than half the 36.7 million people living with HIV—were accessing life-saving treatment. The number of people who died from AIDS-related illnesses has been reduced by nearly half since 2005, and the global number of new HIV infections has been reduced by 11% since 2010.
However, the pace of action is still not enough to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. In order to step up progress and achieve the global targets adopted in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, all partners need to fully implement their country Fast-Track strategy. Ending AIDS requires steadfast political leadership, commitment to action and accountability towards shared responsibility and reaffirmed global solidarity. Increased effective and efficient investments are, and will continue to be, an essential prerequisite for success. Elimination of stigma and discrimination and full recognition of human rights are cornerstones of sustainable progress.
“Leadership, partnership and innovation will transform the epidemic,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.
President Museveni was the first head of state in Africa to launch a presidential Fast-Track initiative on ending AIDS as a public health threat, known as “Kisanja Hakuna Mchezo”, or “no time for playing games”.
“I am confident that working together with you all, we shall attain an AIDS-free Africa. It is possible to end AIDS in our generation!” said President Museveni.
During the event, the speakers outlined the positive impact that the Fast-Track approach to ending AIDS is having on people, health systems and the broader Sustainable Development Goals in Africa and beyond. They noted that addressing HIV within the Sustainable Development Goals will pave the foundation of the AIDS response.
“We must build on the Fast-Track commitments. We cannot stop before we have reached the finish line,” said Jacquelyne Alesi, a civil society representative from Uganda.
Speakers made a strong call for political leadership, global solidarity and shared responsibility to build momentum and deliver on the goal of ending AIDS by 2030, highlighting the role that supporting strengthened health systems plays, not just in making progress towards the Fast-Track Targets, but also in addressing stigma and discrimination.
“I am not speaking of a vague hope, but of a willingness of the heart. I do not say “we could defeat AIDS,” but rather “we will end AIDS,” said Line Renaud, singer and AIDS activist.
Momentum is building, but has not yet reached a critical mass. When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on Ending AIDS in June 2016, Member States committed to achieve global and regional Fast-Track Targets by 2020.
In 2016, UNAIDS estimated:
19.5 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy
36.7 million [30.8 million–42.9 million] people globally were living with HIV
1.8 million [1.6 million–2.1 million] people became newly infected with HIV
1.0 million [830 000–1.2 million] people died from AIDS-related illnesses
While the world’s top HIV experts reported no earth shattering progress in preventing, treating or curing HIV at the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017), which took place in July in Paris, it did serve as an important marker of progress. HIV researchers revealed new data that further strengthened the case for PrEP and HIV treatment as prevention — and issued a resounding declaration that a person with full viral suppression is essentially incapable of passing on HIV to their sex partners.
On the other hand, a joint meeting of HIV and cancer scientists, just before IAS 2017, ended on a more somber note. Though noting the rapid progress in our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms that make both HIV-infected cells and cancerous cells so hard for the body to get rid of, experts there also acknowledged that while long-term viral remission — with HIV still present in the body — can likely be achieved in many people, completely eliminating the virus will remain rare.
Here are some key highlights from the conference.
HIV Treatment Scale-up, Treatment as Prevention, and U=U
Two presentations and one issuance of a declaration statement, when combined, demonstrated just how much progress we are making at simultaneously improving the physical, mental and social health of people with HIV and substantially reducing the number of new HIV infections around the globe.
In terms of the societal impact of HIV treatment scale up and viral suppression, a new study out of Swaziland in the Kwazulu-Natal province in South Africa found that doubling the number of people with HIV who had full viral suppression was accompanied by a 50% drop in new infections. Though previous studies in multiple countries and cities had demonstrated less directly that increasing the number of people with HIV on ART was associated with significant drops in new HIV cases, this study represents the most direct correlation between viral suppression and HIV incidence to date.
A second presentation took these data to a very personal level. The previously reported PARTNER study, which predominantly enrolled heterosexual mixed HIV status couples, found zero cases of HIV transmission between people with HIV who had fully suppressed virus and their HIV-negative primary partner, despite thousands of condomless sex acts. The PARTNER study did enroll couples where both partners were male and where condomless anal sex was the primary risk, but the numbers were so small it was not possible to derive firm conclusions other than that lower HIV levels did offer good protection.
The Opposites Atract study focused solely on male-male mixed HIV status couples, and also found zero new infections between positive and negative partners despite nearly 17,000 condomless sex acts, a fair number of them occurring when the HIV-positive partner also had a sexually transmitted infection. Combined with the original PARTNER study, the top experts who convened the IAS 2017 conference, and high level officials from the U.S. government issued a strong declaration in support of the Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) campaign from the Prevention Action Campaign, which stresses the critical importance for people with HIV and the communities they live in to be aware of the fact that when a person living with HIV is on ART with a persistently undetectable viral load there is a negligible risk that they can transmit HIV to their sex partners. Growing consensus around this statement, and gaining buy-in and support from medical societies and various branches of government could considerably improve the physical, emotional and social well-being not only of people with HIV, but others in their communities.
PrEP
Perhaps the most helpful presentation on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) came from a second look at data from the IPERGAY study, which took place in France and Canada a couple of years ago, and which studied intermittent rather than continuous daily PrEP. Though efficacy rates were very high in IPERGAY — an 86% reduction in new HIV infections overall, but zero new infections in people who actually took their medication as directed — a critical uncertainty remained. Since the protocol recommended PrEP just before, during and after sex, and because so many participants had a lot of sex, a lot of the guys in the study were essentially taking daily PrEP.
The re-analysis of data on the subset of people who did go for longer stretches between sexual encounters, and who therefore could be considered as truly taking intermittent PrEP, showed that they also had high levels of protection against HIV transmission. It thus seems pretty clear that intermittent PrEP is a reasonable approach for those who go for longer periods between having condomless anal sex (provided that it is taken similarly to the protocol used in IPERGAY). It also lends further weight to the argument that even daily oral PrEP is likely to be incredibly forgiving of missed doses in those whose HIV risk is from condomless anal sex.
Pathway to a Cure
Since approximately 2010, when the world’s top scientists and government agencies began openly using the word “cure” as an achievable goal in the fight against HIV, we have gone from an initial burst of exuberance to an attitude of more sober optimism — the result of repeated experiments documenting the stubborn persistence of the virus and its ability to surge back to life when ART is stopped, even when the most sensitive tests seeking a trace of it come up blank over months or years.
Interestingly, as the consensus among scientists is that total elimination of the virus from a person’s body is highly unlikely, but that a long-lasting remission free of ART might be, we are now most intensively utilizing drugs designed for another condition where the word remission is the key: cancer.
Because both HIV-infected and cancerous cells hijack the biological machinery that protects the immune cells from attack by most viral infections, the IAS 2017 organizers convened a small pre-conference devoted to exploring the commonalities and the ways that some of the newest cancer drugs might also be promising as part of a combination approach to achieving long-lasting suppression of HIV when people stop taking ART.
Predominantly, those drugs are focused on the molecular markers on the outside of CD4 and CD8 cells that communicate with other immune cells. These checkpoint markers can affect whether a cell that has been activated by the presence of a virus essentially goes to sleep and becomes invisible to the rest of the immune system. While this is a desirable ability if we want to retain cells that can immediately mount strong immune response if we are exposed to a virus a second time, it is a total liability if those cells harbor reproducible portions of genetic material that can lead to the reemergence of HIV disease or cancer.
The good news is that several of the immune check-point blockers are so much more potent against some cancers than previous drugs, also appear to enhance the immune system to recognize and eliminate cells that are latently infected with HIV. Unfortunately, the drugs approved so far stop or reverse tumor growth in only about half of people with cancer, and the drugs almost always lose potency over time. This is leading researchers to believe that immune-checkpoint blocker therapy for cancer is possibly going to look a lot more like modern ART — combinations of drugs used together over the course of a person’s life.
Though sobered by these realities, however, the two-day pre-conference ended on a note of determination to succeed with the same zeal that delivered the medications that are making ending the epidemic a plausible reality for many parts of the globe.
Planned Parenthood has announced a multi-phase pilot program to build and expand its comprehensive HIV prevention and education efforts. Gilead Sciences, Inc, a research-based biopharmaceutical company, awarded the $900,000 grant to support and expand efforts of HIV prevention and education, including the integration of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness, at Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers across the country over the next 18 months. It is the first significant corporate grant of its kind awarded to Planned Parenthood, and will focus critical prevention efforts in communities hardest hit by the epidemic.
The grant work will be carried out in partnership with The Black AIDS Institute, the only national HIV/AIDS think tank in the United States focused exclusively on Black people.
“Planned Parenthood is thrilled to be launching this incredibly exciting project. Although this country has made progress toward greater health care equity, disparities in HIV rates remain a serious issue for too many people and too many communities,” said Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Rates of new HIV cases, along with barriers to treatment and health care access, continue to more greatly impact marginalized communities. With this grant, Planned Parenthood can implement life-saving awareness and care not otherwise funded at this scale. It furthers our mission to provide all people, especially those already facing barriers to accessing quality health care, with comprehensive and cutting-edge HIV prevention methods, including PrEP”.
PrEP is the medical practice of prescribing antiretroviral medication to prevent against HIV infection.
“The Black AIDS Institute is proud to partner with Planned Parenthood to expand comprehensive HIV prevention services to Black Women”, Phill Wilson, President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. “Given the disproportionate impact HIV is having on Black women and the new tools we have at our disposal, this is the right thing to do at the right time.”
The majority of the grant will directly support the efforts of Planned Parenthood affiliates to develop training and resources aimed at delivering a comprehensive program of HIV prevention, including PrEP and other methods, in health centers across the country. It will also go toward the creation of patient education materials to reach populations most at-risk for HIV, as well as capacity-building sustainable learning modules across affiliates.
“Scientific innovation has greatly improved our ability to address the HIV epidemic,” said Gregg Alton, Executive Vice President, Corporate and Medical Affairs for Gilead Sciences, Inc. “Alongside that innovation, diverse programs and partnerships are helping to ensure we can reach those most in need of treatment and prevention options. Prevention strategies, including PrEP and other methods, can have a meaningful impact on public health, offering an unparalleled opportunity to avert new infections and reduce long term costs to the healthcare system.”
Planned Parenthood provides high-quality, compassionate care in health centers across the country, including nearly 700,000 HIV tests each year. Planned Parenthood health centers are uniquely positioned to deliver HIV prevention services and education to disproportionately impacted communities, including Black women, Latinas, transgender people, young adults of all backgrounds, and men who have sex with men, especially people of color.
Dr. McDonald-Mosley added, “Training and resourcing more medical providers to provide HIV and PrEP education, with a particular focus on prevention in underserved communities, is a job for which Planned Parenthood is uniquely suited. For over 100 years, we’ve been fighting to ensure that people — no matter where they live — can access accurate, nonjudgmental preventive care and education so they can keep themselves and their families healthy.”
Despite the life-saving advances in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for treatment and prevention, HIV remains an urgent public health crisis, especially for certain marginalized communities who face barriers to affordable, quality health care. According to a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance report, women of color, particularly Black women, are disproportionately affected by HIV, accounting for the majority of the HIV infections, women living with HIV, and HIV-related deaths among women in the U.S.
“Over 40% of people living with HIV in the U.S are Black. Nearly 50% of new HIV infections in this country are Black. and 1 in 32 black women, 1 in 16 black men, and 1 and 2 Black Gay men will be diagnosed with HIV infection in their lifetime. Yet 85% of current PrEP users are white men. What’s wrong with this picture”, says Leisha McKinley Beach, technical assistance consultant, Black AIDS Institute.
While awareness of antiretroviral medication as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among men who have sex with men (MSM) has risen significantly, women at risk for HIV still face several challenges in getting the services and information they need, including structural and cultural barriers such as poverty, HIV stigma, and a relative lack of access to healthcare professionals trained to offer comprehensive HIV prevention, including PrEP and other methods.
As part of our mission to help people live healthy lives, Planned Parenthood works every day in communities across the country and with partners around the world so that everyone — no matter who they are or where they live — can access accurate, high-quality, compassionate sexual and reproductive health care.
The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), the business voice of the LGBT community, and the USBLN (US Business Leadership Network), the disability inclusion business resource, have announced that The Billion Dollar Roundtable has voted to expand their criteria of diverse businesses counted toward a corporation’s billion dollar supply chain spend on diverse-owned businesses to include: certified LGBT Business Enterprises (LGBTBEs), Disability-Owned Business Enterprises (DOBEs®), Service-Disabled Veteran Disability-Owned Business Enterprises (SDV-DOBE™) and Veteran-Disability Owned Business Enterprises (V-DOBEs™).
“The inclusion of LGBT, disability, and veteran-owned businesses into the Billion Dollar Roundtable reflects the national best practice in supplier diversity of including all communities at the table of opportunity,” said NGLCC Co-Founder and President Justin Nelson. “In the United States, LGBT-owned businesses are creating tens of thousands of jobs and adding over $1.7 trillion to the economy, much of that due to inclusion in corporate supply chains. We’re proud to see our businesses included in the criteria that rewards corporate excellence in creating new opportunities for diverse-owned businesses to thrive.”
The Billion Dollar Roundtable was created in 2001 to recognize and celebrate corporations that achieved spending of at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers. The BDR promotes and shares best practices in supply chain diversity excellence through the production of white papers, thought leadership, and annual meetings. The group encourages corporate entities to continue growing their supplier diversity programs by increasing commitment and spending levels each year.
“In a country where 1 in 5 Americans have a disability, corporations are realizing the importance of disability inclusion across the enterprise,” said Jill Houghton, president and CEO of USBLN. “People with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to be self-employed as people without disabilities, and nearly one in 10 small businesses nationwide are veteran-owned. The inclusion of disability and LGBT-owned businesses presents more opportunities for diversity in The Billion Dollar Roundtable and will lead to more economic opportunity for people with disabilities”
To date, the Billion Dollar Roundtable reports at least $72 billion in spend with diverse-owned businesses. That number is expected to continue climbing as corporations are encouraged and incentivized to work with LGBT, disability, and veteran-owned firms.
It’s no great surprise that cities and neighborhoods that boast significant LGBTQ populations tend to be the ones with the most gentrification. And while that’s great for local economies, it also means that many of the same queer folk who help make vibrant neighborhoods such attractive places to live are left priced out when rents inevitably tick ever more skyward.
Add to that the inherent historical challenges of finding queer-friendly housing, and securing a spot to rest your head can be an incredibly daunting task.
While panning for queer-friendly housing gold can still yield success on sites like Craigslist, more people are turning to a bevy Facebook groups across the nation to link up with potential like-minded roommates.
“Let’s keep our friends together in this beautiful city,” reads the tagline of Juanita’s List, a San Francisco group set up by local drag queen Juanita More.
Another group — Gay Area Housing — also connects queer and queer-friendly house hunters in the area.
With the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment clocking in at around $3500 a month in San Francisco, these groups are needed more than ever for the city to retain the identity that made it a mecca for queer people seeking community.
In New York, where the average rent for a one-bedroom will set you back around $3000, the Queer Housing New York City group has over 22,000 members.
Using one of these groups is easy — just request to join. Once you’ve been cleared by an admin (not as scary as it sounds), you’re free to post housing opportunities or respond to others’ posts to your heart’s content.
Here’s a handy list of some of the more popular groups operating on Facebook. Happy hunting!
In a sign of growing acceptance for transgender children, a new survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association finds 53% of American adults would support their teenage child’s request to transition to another gender.
Early intervention and family support are shown to improve mental, physical and emotional outcomes for children with gender dysphoria, broadly defined as a conflict between a person’s anatomy and the gender with which they identify.
The importance of family “Parents have a significant role in raising transgender kids,” says Laura Arrowsmith, DO, who practices at a transgender clinic in Oklahoma. “Once they get on board—often after stages of denial, rejection, condemnation and grief—they become powerful advocates at school and with extended family. This is crucial to the child’s well-being.”
Historically, transgender youth and adults experience higher rates of homelessness, substance abuse, HIV infection, depression, anxiety, self-harm and thoughts of suicide than the general population. Rejection by family and community are considered the main catalysts for these issues.
“Watch your child for eating disorders, self-harm, substance abuse and suicidal tendencies,” says Dr. Arrowsmith. “A mental health counselor who is familiar with transgender people and local support groups can make all the difference.”
Transgender and gender-expansive children do best when their family helps them cope with social pressure and bullying while affirming their journey. Simple actions can ensure a child feels safe and loved. In many cases, patience, support and careful listening are the best ‘medicine’.
What parents need to know “Trans children are living in a body that doesn’t match how they view themselves,” says Dr. Arrowsmith. “To address the dysphoria, some may wish to transition socially or to medically transition through gender-confirmation surgery and/or hormone treatment.”
For children who have not reached puberty, gender transition consists solely of social changes like name, pronoun and gender expression.
The clinical protocol for children indicates that when a child who has socially transitioned is “consistently” and “persistently insisting” they are transgender, they can be placed on puberty-blocking medications to postpone physical traits.
These medications prevent the child from developing the secondary sex characteristics of their birth gender, such as breasts for females or facial hair for males. Stopping the onset of puberty is reversible and makes medical treatment simpler if the patient decides to fully transition. On average, adolescents stay on the puberty-blocking medications from one to three years.
“We know that if a child persists through puberty in identifying as the sex not assigned to them at birth, then it’s pretty certain that they are transgender,” says Dr. Arrowsmith. “Should they decide to change course and stop the puberty-blocking medications, they will simply go through a delayed puberty of their birth gender.”
What parents can do Parents should understand that early intervention eases transition. A young patient may choose to delay the onset of puberty through puberty blockers, which prevent biological changes and allow additional time to consider transitioning—or not. Adolescents who initiate hormone therapy prior to puberty do not require the same level of medical care as a fully developed adult. Females transitioning to males take testosterone while males transitioning to females receive estrogen with an androgen inhibitor. Unlike social transitioning and puberty suppression, hormone therapy is only partially reversible after puberty.
Parents first need to educate themselves on gender dysphoria, gender identity and the complexities of living transgender. Often, support groups are the turning point for families who are struggling with accepting their transgender children, says Dr. Arrowsmith. Once they meet other parents and see children who have transitioned, they are more likely to be supportive.
Support is available to guide families and children through gender transition. Depending on the person’s age and individual needs, the steps may include medical, social, surgical and legal changes. For more information, speak with your physician. Additional resources are available online, including the Human Rights Campaign’s detailed reference guide Supporting & Caring for Transgender Children.
Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of American Osteopathic Association from June 20-22, 2017 among 2,192 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Jessica Bardoulas.
Many of us in our 60’s or older are feeling that our community has moved on without us. While we were stuck with having to choose between “lesbian” or “gay,” “butch” or“femme, a whole new vocabulary is evolving (and our acronym expanding!) to describe an ever-expanding range of sexual preferences and gender identities. Many LGBT youth have also reclaimed the umbrella term “queer” that we who lived in less-accepting times grew to hate. Also meet-ups, websites, and on-line social media options catering to a wide range of LGBT interests have replaced the smoke-filled bars that were often our only option for socializing and dating.
Do we, as LGBT elders, continue to have a role in our community? If so, what do we have to offer our youthful counterparts? I am recommending an exciting forum for exploring answers to that question – the upcoming LGBTQ+ Summit scheduled for September 16th at Sonoma State University.
The LGBTQ+ Summit is the vision of Javier Rivera-Rosales, the director of Positive Images. With seed funding from the Community Foundations’ s LGBTQI Giving Circle Fund, Javi has put together a creative and diverse Summit planning team of individuals and agency representatives. The team is committed to producing an innovative event that will bring together a cross-section of Sonoma County’s diverse LGBTQ+ community with the intention of stimulating an ongoing collaborative approach to building safe, welcoming, inclusive communities for LGBTQ+ individuals of all ages, races, ethnicities, sexual preferences and gender identities.
It is important that we LGBT elders make sure our voices are represented in this effort. We have personally experienced our tumultuous history. In our fight for equality and for compassionate treatment of those affected by HIV/AIDS we learned the importance of working together. We also know how quickly our rights and protections can be lost if we do not maintain solidarity. We have the skills and experience to lay a strong foundation for collaboration. That is our collective legacy.
The planning team is making every effort to ensure that all segments of our community are represented including LGBT elders so I am encouraging my peers to seize this opportunity to contribute their rich history and wisdom in community-building that will ensure that future generations of LGBT and, yes,“Queer” individuals will not have to experience what we have. Registration is limited and will soon be open so you can continue checking the Summit website (www.lgbtqsummit.com) to learn when.
By the way, the planning team is seeking sponsors to provide help with funding and donated goods and services so that Summit participation can be offered at no cost. It is also seeking volunteers. You can do either or both at the Summit website. Don’t miss out on this opportunity for you to contribute the legacy of our generation!
Buz Hermes is co-facilitator of the Sonoma Valley LGBT Seniors Group and a former staff member of Spectrum’s Senior Outreach Program. He is currently a consultant on LGBT aging and can be reached at GaryDHermes@comcast.net or (707) 227-6935.
When you think of a gay vacation in Illinois you immediately think of Chicago, which has an incredibly vibrant community and a city that embraces it. But, if you need a little R&R and want to get out of the big city, head about three hours from Chicago to the quaint historic town of Galena in Northwest Illinois about a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River.
Gay-friendly Galena is perfect for a romantic getaway where you can get lost in each other as you meander down Main Street by well-preserved buildings — some dating back to the Civil War. Here you can enjoy microbrews and locally made spirits, go antiquing, play a few rounds of golf, hit the slopes in winter and so much more to bring you and your significant other closer together.
When you get hungry or need a drink …
One Eleven Main – Romance is in the air at One Eleven Main, one of the more upscale yet very approachable Galena restaurants. With a farm-to-table menu featuring locally sourced ingredients from farmers, artisans and purveyors, the delicious options include poutine with homemade fries and cheese curds; almond-encrusted walleye with seasonal veggies and sour-cream mashed potatoes; and braised pork cavatappi pasta with bacon, spinach and onions. And many of the cocktails, beer and wine all come from places in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Otto’s Place – With the look and feel of an old country inn set inside a classic red building dating back to 1899 adjacent to the circa 1857 Train Depot, Otto’s is a great spot for breakfast and lunch. Come for butternut squash, kale and smoked gouda frittata; bread pudding French toast; and corned beef hash — and of course a Bloody Mary with homemade mix.
Fried Green Tomatoes – With a name like Fried Green Tomatoes, you’d think it’d be a country diner, but this Italian-inspired restaurant set inside a building once owned by Ulysses S. Grant’s father, offers hearty steaks, great seafood and a Wine Spectator-recognized wine list.
Little Tokyo – Yes, it may seem a little strange to get sushi in Northwest Illinois, but Little Tokyo has super-fresh fish for their sushi and sashimi. And they have other Japanese dishes like teriyaki chicken, shrimp tempura and a range of hibachi dinners including filet mignon, lobster tail and scallops.
Galena Brewing Company – When you want award-winning beers like IPA, hefeweizen and amber ale — all handcrafted on site — to go along with baked chicken wings; hefe lime nachos; and slow-roasted hand-pulled pork while listening to live music, you definitely want to be here.
Get active in Galena
Galena Wine Cellars Tour – What’s better than seeing a gorgeous country vineyard up close? Getting to taste through a bunch of their delicious wines! Take an approximately hour-long tour that first covers the history of the winery before you visit the vineyard to see the 22 grape varietals they grow. You’ll then tour the cellars before returning to the tasting room to get six half-ounce wine pours chosen from the 40 wines they make on site. Public tours cost $10 per person with an additional $7.50 admission fee.
Breakfast Diva Cooking Class at Farmers Guest House – You don’t have to book a room at Farmer’s Guest House to take advantage of the cooking prowess of Susan Steffan, a.k.a. the Breakfast Diva. The 90-minute classes cost $35 and Steffan will teach you how to make a multi-course meal with dishes like chicken piccata, barbecue ribs or some of her renowned breakfast desserts.
Blaum Brothers Distilling Co. Tour – Blaum Brothers is growing acclaim within the craft spirits world with its bourbon, gin, moonshine and other spirits and you can see how everything is made. The $10, 45-minute tours take place daily and you’ll learn about the entire process and end with a guided tasting.
Chestnut Mountain – Whether you want to check out the Alpine slide or go zip lining in summer or hit the slopes to ski or snowboard in winter, this year-round resort offers plenty of things to keep you moving.
Golf and Spa at Eagle Ridge Resort – The Galena area has 10 top golf courses, and you’ll definitely want to play some rounds at the award-winning Eagle Ridge. The property has four championship courses set among natural beauty. And when you’re done on the links, hit the Zen ambiance of the 6,000-square-foot Stonedrift Spa for facials, body work, couples massage and more luxurious indulgences.
Galena on the Fly– What better way to see the full scope of the countryside than from the basket of a soaring hot air balloon? Each balloon can hold up to 14 people and you can book a sunrise or sunset cruise and even get married at 3,000 feet up!
When you want to get your shop on
A Bushel & a Peck – About 25 minutes from downtown Galena, this country store is an antiquer’s treasure chest. Find vintage and reclaimed furniture, house wares and locally crafted foodstuffs including honey, maple syrup, cheese and eggs.
Galena Clay Works – If you love handcrafted functional objects like bowls, dishes and other beautiful pottery, you must make a stop at Kent Henderson’s adorable studio in Galena’s “Old Town” district. You’ll likely end up leaving with a bunch of goods.
Galena Canning Company – Discover a bounty of delicious sauces, jams, jellies, dressings, olive oils, barbecue sauce, seasonings, rubs, relishes, pickles, bloody mary mixes and even more to stock up your kitchen back home.
All That’s Vintage – For antiques right on Main Street, you can’t go wrong with All That’s Vintage. You’ll snag house wares, bake ware, vintage cameras, fancy hats and so much more.
And when you want to sleep
Aldrich Guest House – This gay owned, five-bedroom B&B about five minutes from Main Street dates back to a time when both President Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant roamed the halls. It has a very lovely, country feel with plush brass beds and rooms with sitting areas, free Wifi throughout, Beekman 1802 bath products, full hot breakfast and wine and snacks daily at 5 p.m.
Jail Hill Inn – The nicest thing about the Jail Hill Inn is that, unlike when it was a real prison, you actually get to leave when you want. But seriously, this charming inn set inside a 135-year-old building atop a hill overlooking the Galena countryside underwent a complete renovation in 2015. Today, the six-suite, four-story inn features rooms each boasting king size beds with luxe linens, Aveda products, fireplaces and Kohler bathrooms with steam showers or massage tubs. Guests are welcomed to their room with chocolates and Champagne upon arrival and enjoy three-course breakfasts each morning.
Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa — In addition to golf and spa services, Eagle Ridge is the area’s premier resort set over 6,800 acres. You’ll find well-appointed rooms and villas, award-winning restaurants, hiking and biking trails, fishing, kayaking and a host of other activities.