VIDEOS

National House Ball Convening

This video documents the first national convening of HIV prevention leaders fro the House/Ball Community hosted by REACH LA in Los Angeles in October of 2011. Over 31 members came together to develop strategies and and an implementation action plan to address health disparities and incidence of HIV infection within their community.


"In my mind, all I could think about was the scene portrayed by Paris Is Burning, but this elementary understanding of the House and Ball community would change beginning with that first night at the inaugural dinner.  After listening to hours of speeches describing the tremendous health disparities affecting this community, the relevance of this convention became much more clear.  I will never forget Michael Garcon’s enigmatic speech that night, in part because of its philosophical depth, but mostly due to his emotional appeal for change.  At that moment I realized that although I had been greatly interested in this community’s cultural production, I was largely ignorant of the tremendous health problems affecting this culture."

                                                    -Alvaro Parra