Petrelis Files

May 19: 
AIDS Cure Forum vs. EQCA Town Hall

How well do Gay Inc and AIDS Inc leaders communicate and coordinate community engagement plans with each other? Considering neither the Equality California executives or their counterparts at the SF AIDS Foundation are known for holding regular public forums, I would think they would check with each other before organizing and hosting important town hall meetings. 

A demerit goes to all of the leaders at EQCA and the SFAF who are holding urgent public meetings open to all, quite a rare occurrence in these parts, on the same evening at nearly the same time. Why should I or anyone have to leave the AIDS cure forum early, schlep up to the community center for the gay town hall, in order to be at both?

There is a constituency of queer folks who would be at the EQCA and SFAF debates and discussions, if they weren't competing for attention and participation on May 19. The other thing is, in terms of mainstream, gay and blogger coverage, those outlets will also have to either choose one forum over the other to cover, or dash from one to the other. This potential shrinkage of media attention could have been avoided.

It should not be rocket science for the all the communication folks at both groups to, ahem, communicate with each other and better meet the needs of the community by coordinating town halls meeting dates.

Competing town hall #1:

SFAF Forum
Thursday, May 19
5:30 to 7:30 pm; reception to follow
SPUR Urban Center
654 Mission St, San Francisco

Long a taboo subject, the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS has recently resurfaced as a hot topic among advocates and researchers. But what does all the talk really mean? ...

Competing town hall #2:

Come and be part of the conversation! Equality California is holding a series of town halls across California and online for members of the community to come together and discuss the wisdom of moving forward with a ballot initiative. ...

No decisions have been made yet about whether to pursue a ballot measure. Please, join us and share your perspective. Help shape the decision.

Thursday, May 19
07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
SF LGBT Community Center
1800 Market Street