Oklahoma is Not Okay. These LGBTQ Leaders are Fighting for Its Future.
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
3w ago
Mark S. King (center) with a group of Oklahoma queer activists and allies. When an audience member gives a dollar bill to a drag performer in Oklahoma City, they bow ever so slightly in a kind of reverent curtsy when handing it over. Here at the County Line nightclub on a recent Saturday night, I watch it happen again and again. Maybe it’s just how they do things here. Or maybe this sign of respect is not just an empty gesture. I am sipping my Diet Coke and watching the show with a dozen new friends I have met over the course of the last two days. Officially, I came to town to speak at a com ..read more
Visit website
Take the ‘LGBTQ+ and Aging’ Survey Now
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
1M ago
If there is anything I love sharing, it’s my opinion. I just love taking surveys. And talking to therapists. And writing blogs about myself. I think you see the pattern here. But my favorite kind of opinion-sharing is when it helps my community in a really tangible way. The LGBTQ + Aging survey is exactly just such an opportunity, so I hope you will take part in this and/or share it with someone who can. The deadline is February 29, so get busy, folks! SAGE, a national advocacy organization dedicated to making life better for LGBTQ+ seniors, has partnered with the University of Nevada, Las Ve ..read more
Visit website
The Emotional Triumph of Playwrights Living with HIV
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
Donja R. Love (seated center) and the playwrights of Write It Out! 2023. You should know the end of the story first, because the ending demands to be heard. It took place last month in the largest event space at The LGBT Center in New York City, where hundreds of people were excitedly greeting each other, grazing at the food table or sitting in rapturous anticipation for a unique evening of theater. Over the course of the next two hours, seven pairs of actors would take turns on stage, presenting individual scenes filled with insight, humor, and moments of joyful, sometimes painful truth. Th ..read more
Visit website
The Many Children of Dr. Jesse Peel
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
Mark S. King and Dr. Jesse Peel, center, with ECU students. The students who hang out in the Dr. Jesse R. Peel LGBTQ Center of East Carolina University (ECU) are welcome guests in a dynamic, welcoming space. Among them are all manner of gender expression and burgeoning sexualities. You’ll find them lazing on couches or typing at work tables in the colorful lobby area throughout the school year, discussing whatever topics capture the minds of Gen Z these days. Just above them, a portrait of their benefactor keeps a protective watch, even if his eyes might twinkle conspiratorially at any youth ..read more
Visit website
Confessions of a Guy Who Used to be Hot
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
As I say in my recent interview for Dennis Hensley’s podcast (“Dennis, Anyone?”), it’s hard to talk about this without sounding like a total dick. But really, when has that ever stopped me before? Dennis has a way of entertaining his audience with zippy one-liners while cleverly inviting revealing confessions from his guests. For me, aside from the usual tidbits about sex, Miss America, AIDS, and starring in a Mormon musical, our chat veered into what it was like for me to have once been hot. As Dennis says, it’s the ultimate gay currency. The question is whether or not you have anything else ..read more
Visit website
Once, When We Were Heroes
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
Richard King and Emil Matzner, 1982 (I will never explain the early days of AIDS better then this, so I post this essay to commemorate World AIDS Day every year.) My brother Richard smiles a lot. He has an easy laugh. But there was a time, years ago, when he held a poisonous drink in his hands and begged his dying lover not to swallow it. A time when Richard held the concoction they had prepared together and wept. Emil couldn’t wait. He took the drink from Richard quickly, because the release it offered was something more rapturous than the appeals of his lover of thirteen years. It was Emil ..read more
Visit website
The Day After He was Murdered, I Got a Card from Josh Kruger
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
Mark S. King and Josh Kruger at a 2016 queer journalism event. My husband Michael and I were sitting on the front steps of our new home in Atlanta. I tell you this because it is one of those moments that gets seared into your consciousness, one of those Where Were You When moments.  Michael was explaining where he wanted to plant a tree in the yard. He gets to decide these things. I dig the holes if my back allows it. The scene was a relieving bid toward normalcy after a shattering 48 hours.  A close friend back in Baltimore had just died of cancer. He wasn’t very old. We loved him ..read more
Visit website
Does This Book Release Make Me Look Anxious?
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
Credit: Darrell Snedeger for Positively Aware Magazine The day has come. Today, My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor is officially released. This book represents – and I know how this sounds – my life’s work. It features essays culled from writing over the course of four decades. It is joyful and dark and funny and sweet. And, because I am nothing if not transparent, I want you to buy it very, very much. Niche markets are tough. Major imprints largely take a pass on content devoted to LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS, addiction, and even funny stories about growing up queer. So, this book is a l ..read more
Visit website
Heading to USCHA 2023? Here’s Inspiration for You.
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
  You know what a fan I am of the annual United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA), produced by NMAC. I’ve been writing about it for years, and providing videos and photo essays for those of you who couldn’t make it or wanted to relive the highlights. If you’re starting to pack for your trip to Washington DC for USCHA next week, here’s some inspiration to get you jazzed up for the experience ahead. First, since the theme this year is “A Love Letter to Black Women” (the topic of my recent post, “How Do We Support Black Women in an HIV Arena Once Led by White Gay Men?”) the best piece o ..read more
Visit website
How Do We Support Black Women in an HIV Arena Once Run by Gay White Men?
My Fabulous Disease
by Mark S. King
2M ago
AIDS Activists in the 1980s; Women at USCHA in 2022 In the early days of the AIDS crisis, as a young gay white man finding my way in the emerging HIV arena, I was King of the Mountain even if I wasn’t conscious of it. I worked with people who looked like me, on behalf of people like me, at organizations founded and led by people like me. I operated in the same blithe state of privilege afforded me my entire life. Working with other gay white men meant we behaved in ways that today would give nightmares to human resources personnel. We were sassy and sexual and entitled and inappropriate. Abo ..read more
Visit website

Follow My Fabulous Disease on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR