San Diego LGBT Pride honored San Diego AIDS Project co-founder Dr. Keith D. Vrhel as this year’s Spirit of Stonewall Champion of Pride for his longtime activism in GLBT healthcare. The annual award is bestowed to an individual or couple who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the GLBT community during an extended period of years and/or has made an exceptional contribution in the past year.

In a medical career spanning nearly 30 years, Vrhel opened his practice to patients suffering from HIV/AIDS at the start of the crisis, at a time when other physicians feared treating patients with the disease. Since then, he has trained hundreds of interns and residents in progressive HIV/AIDS therapies that incorporate respect and compassion towards patients.

Dr. Vrhel is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and HIV/AIDS, and an associate professor of medicine at Scripps Mercy Hospital. He has worked with the San Diego County Task Force on AIDS, the California Medical Association and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. He is also a founding member of the American Academy of HIV Medicine and a charter member of the Greater San Diego Business Association.

The award will be presented at a ceremony on July 14, at the W Hotel in San Diego. Each year the Pride organization invites the community to submit nominations for the prestigious community awards that are presented in four categories for individual community service, group or organization services to the community, plus Champion of Pride and the Friend of the Year.

Community members are being sought to help construct the 2008 Leather Realm at the San Diego LGBT Pride Festival.

The Leather Realm is an adult, BDSM/kink/leather space put together by leather community volunteers during the festival, which will take place July 19-20.

A number of volunteer opportunities are available, including set-up and construction, tear down, program committee, Show and Tell Toy Table and information table volunteers, workshop runners, erotic art volunteers, and hosts/hostesses. Also, the leather community’s Pride parade float needs volunteers to help build the entry for the July 19 parade.

For more information, contact Wendy Sue, Leather Realm Den Mother and volunteer coordinator, at 619-563-1086, or by e-mail at wsueb@aol.com.

Brothers United, a group for black gay, bisexual and questioning men, will host a mixer on Saturday, May 17 at the Bamboo Lounge. Community members are invited for a day of friends, food and empowerment from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch will be provided. All attendees will receive two free AMC movie tickets.

Brothers United is a program of Family Health Centers of San Diego.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Harold Cooks at 619-515-2578, ext. 2940, or e-mail haroldc@fhcsd.org.

San Diego LGBT Pride introduced an “instant e-ticketing system” on its web site that allows festival goers to securely purchase and print tickets from home computers. The amenity is designed to eliminate long lines at the festival gates and diminish wait time for those who normally purchase tickets on site.

The two-day festival, scheduled for July 19 and 20 at Marston Point in Balboa Park, will feature multiple performance stages, beer gardens, a Wine Steals grotto and hundreds of exhibits and vendors. The cost is $15 for single-day tickets or $25 for a weekend pass. Attendance this year is expected to exceed 40,000.

”The instant-print, online ticket option is just like printing an advance boarding pass for a flight from your home computer. Visitors to the festival will find the system to be fast and efficient,” says Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride.

The e-tickets, which print on a regular sheet of paper, will feature bar codes containing secured information that will be quickly scanned at the festival entrance. They cannot be duplicated or used more than once.

”We expect that 25 percent of our festival ticket sales will be purchased online,” adds deHarte.

To buy advance e-tickets, go to www.sandiegopride.org.

The May LGBT Community Coalition Breakfast will feature UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and SDSU President Stephen L. Weber, who will discuss the ways in which a diverse student body enriches the educational experience and the importance of diversity in determining the overall campus climate. The breakfast will take place on Friday, May 16 from 7:30-9 a.m. at The Center.

Fox is the chancellor of the University of California at San Diego. One of the nation’s most prominent physical organic chemists, she is the author of 350 research publications, five books and 29 contributed book chapters. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame College in Cleveland, her master’s degree from Cleveland State University, and her doctorate from Dartmouth College. She joined the faculty at the University of Texas in 1976 and was the M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Regents Professor in Chemistry and the Vice President for Research at Texas in 1998. She became the 12th Chancellor of North Carolina State as a distinguished university professor at that institution.

Weber is president of San Diego State University. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1969 and is the author of numerous articles on philosophy and higher education. Before coming to San Diego State University, he served as interim provost of the State University of New York (SUNY) and served seven years as president of the SUNY Oswego campus.

The Community Coalition Breakfast takes place the third Friday of each month and is sponsored by the Gay & Lesbian Times, Wells Fargo, San Diego LGBT Pride and Peet’s Coffee. Its mission is to bring together fair-minded individuals to network, educate and discuss the diverse issues of concern to GLBT and allied neighbors and citizens of San Diego. A full breakfast is available for a $10 donation; coffee and tea are complimentary. RSVPs are not required. ASL interpretation will be provided upon request, which must be sent to Caroline Dessert at cdessert@thecentersd.org at least seven working days before the event.

The Center is located at 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest.

The community is invited to celebrate the life of legendary artist Frida Kahlo. The Center will host the annual Happy Birthday Frida: Arte! Vida! Y Tequila! event on Friday, June 28 from 6-10 p.m. at The Center.

The event will include live bands and traditional dance performances, a Frida Kahlo look-a-like contest, fantastic work by Latino/a artists, great food, beer and tequila.

Advance tickets are $10 or $15 at the door for the event, which is for those 21 years and older. For more information visit www.thecentersd.kintera.org/frida2008.

The Center is located at 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest.

The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Positive Action program is offering a comprehensive educational course for people living with HIV. The course, called Positive Living, focuses on being HIV-positive and maintaining mental, emotional and physical health.

“Positive Living is about providing people living with HIV with the knowledge and resources that can assist them living a long and healthy life” said Rick Braatz, The Center’s Positive Action coordinator. The course covers a variety of HIV-related issues and subject matter including nutrition, medication, sexual health, depression, social support and stress reduction. All people living with or impacted by HIV/AIDS are invited to participate, said Braatz.

Beginning May 13, Positive Living will meet from 7-9 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays for four weeks at The Center, located at 3909 Centre Street. The course is free and food and beverage will be provided.

To register or for more information, contact Rick Braatz at 619-692-2077, ext.133 or via e-mail at rbraatz@thecentersd.org.

The University of California, San Diego AIDS Research Institute (ARI) and the ZATA (Zimbabwe AIDS Treatment Assistance) Project will co-sponsor a Zimbabwean art exhibit and sale to raise funds for AIDS treatment in Zimbabwe, Africa and to benefit HIV/AIDS research at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The event will be held at on Saturday, May 10, from 4- 7 p.m. at the Mission Hills United Church of Christ, located at 4070 Jackdaw Street, San Diego. Admission is $20.

The event will include sale of Zimbabwean paintings, masks and story quilts. The ARI at UC San Diego is actively involved in research studies in Zimbabwe as well as nine other countries. Faculty physicians and researchers who have collaborated on HIV/AIDS clinical trials with the University of Zimbabwe faculty will be present to meet with participants and answer questions.

To register visit www-er.ucsd.edu/ari. For more information, call 858-534-5545 or e-mail cfar@ucsd.edu.