Brad Vanderbilt Joins Positive Force Staff

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Posted by jjones, Monday, October 24, 2011 3:14 PM | Comments (0)

As the newest member of the Positive Force team, I want to introduce myself and share a little bit of my background in AIDS activism and queer men’s health promotion. I virtually exploded out the closet as soon as I left for college, diving head first into HIV/AIDS activism in the late 1980s.

I got started in activism working as a volunteer with our local AIDS service organization where highlights of my service involved such glamorous duties as filing forms and setting up tea and cookies for support groups. Soon thereafter, I began marching in demonstrations, and by the time I finished college, I was a full-fledged militant, helping to found ACT-UP/Dallas. We were a small but committed group, and the experience gave me a sense of strength and empowerment I’d never known before.

Since then, my work on queer men’s health has involved coordinating a free, anonymous HIV testing program; developing a treatment resource library; supervising HIV prevention grants through the US Conference of Mayors; producing two documentary films related to LGBT sexuality; and leading a peer-based health project for men in sex work. Most recently, I worked at City Clinic for a nine-site national study looking at the effectiveness of HIV/STD risk reduction counseling in the context of rapid HIV testing in urban STD clinics. 

Outside of work, I’m sometimes known as Novice Sister Hera Tique with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I also participate as an active member of Glide Memorial Methodist Church, where I volunteer with Glide HIV Services. For several years now, I’ve served as a community advisor on issues related to men in sex work at the St. James Infirmary, and I’m a hospice volunteer with Maitri Compassionate Care.

Joining the Positive Force team represents an exciting new chapter for me in peer-based health activism, and I look forward to meeting all the guys in the Positive Force community in the months ahead!