Hello and welcome to your South Florida.

I'm Pam Giganti.

June is pride month, and today we're introducing you to the people working to create welcoming and safe spaces for LGBTQ plus people while combating deep rooted stigmas.

We are coming to you from Converge Miami, a hub for science, technology and innovation.

It's also home to researchers from the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, who are studying the effects of HIV here in South Florida, a region that remains among the highest in the nation for HIV cases.

With more than 55,000 people who are living with the virus.

And while anyone can acquire HIV, the latest data shows that gay and bisexual men made up 70% of estimated new HIV infections in the US in 2021, with black and Hispanic gay and bisexual men at the most risk and with some of the greatest barriers to care.

Now, um, researchers and doctors are hoping to develop more effective and equitable approaches to HIV prevention and treatment through a collaborative effort that brings life-saving resources directly into communities that need it most.

The University of Miami has been at the forefront for HIV research since the beginning of the epidemic.

Doctor Maria Al Qaida is an infectious disease professor and director of clinical research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, based out of the innovation hub Converge Miami.

Doctor Al Qaeda and her team are studying the lifelong effects of HIV on South Florida's diverse population.

People living with HIV are now living longer and living healthy life.

However, we know that they are suffering from early conditions that typically happen at older ages, such as cardiovascular disease, liver disease, development of cancer.

The research that we do at converge focuses on clinical research for both treatment prevention and a study of comorbidities in people with HIV.

In addition, we have really top technology and highly advanced research laboratory that are actually studying both technologies for curing HIV, as well as for evaluating what we call the HIV reservoir and why we are not able to eradicate HIV.

The bodies.

Do you have a sense yet in your research as to why this sort of early onset of aging is occurring in this population?

We know that people living with HIV, and even if the HIV is controlled, the HIV remains latent.

They are in a hyper state of inflammation and that predispose them to develop this early condition.

What we are trying to understand is that what are the factors that really influence the development of these early a complications that are not related to infection, to the infection itself?

And what can we do to intervene and prevent them now?

Armed with a new mobile unit, researchers are helping remove barriers like transportation for study participants.

So how do you identify these research participants?

So we have different ways.

We have an amazing group of community recruiters that advertise our studies.

We have connections with community sites, with community clinics.

We identify areas where they have high rates of HIV infections.

So we can actually go there and engage with those communities.

About how many.

People would you say are participating in the research?

Well, we have hundreds of participants at the moment.

Our largest study is the Max size combined Cohort study is the largest run study of people living with HIV in the US.

We are one site of many around the country.

We also included in our studies people who don't have HIV but may be vulnerable to HIV.

We are also able to capture those when we go out and connect.

The other thing is that through the studies that we do, we study mental health, we study oral health, we study liver disease, we study cardiovascular disease.

So sometimes we are able to detect conditions that otherwise participants will not know they have.

And we are able to connect them and link them to medical services.

The more we learn about how HIV affects is affecting our community, the more we can do to intervene and improve their health.

There's a wide swath of people who are affected by HIV in Miami, and it does not see color lines, financial lines, any sort of lines in Miami-Dade.

Doctor Hansel Tookes is the founder and medical director of the Idea Exchange, part of the University of Miami.

It opened in 2016 as the first legal needle exchange in Florida.

Now, it's a one stop shop for HIV health care for the area's most vulnerable.

One out of every 85 adults in Miami has HIV.

The amazing thing about the legislative process was that the Miami delegation almost uniformly got behind needle exchange.

That was a bipartisan effort, because you cannot live in Miami Dade County and not know somebody who has been affected by the HIV Aids epidemic.

So we were uniform in our advocacy and enthusiasm for doing everything that we could to prevent HIV.

Who is most at risk?

So the community in Miami that's at highest risk for HIV is the community of men who have sex with men who are Hispanic or Latino.

We've seen those rates actually go up.

That's the majority of new HIV infections, and that's a community that we really need to reach in terms of prevention and treatment, the lower socioeconomic status folks from the black community.

We have an issue where people have a lot of stigma and a lot of trouble with access to care and a lot of shame.

And that community in particular, we have challenges with advanced HIV where people have opportunistic infections.

People are very, very sick.

We have a lot of work to do.

Miami is the diaspora, and we have a lot of work to do to reach these communities in need.

What's it like for someone who comes in to the idea exchange?

Everybody that uses the idea exchange knows that they're at risk for HIV because HIV is transmitted through sex, it's transmitted through sharing needles.

We try to prevent the sharing of needles by handing them out.

But when people come in, we offer routine testing when they enroll and periodically throughout the year and when they get tested, if they test non-reactive or negative, we offer them prep.

That's a pill that can be taken every day to prevent HIV.

If they do test positive, we immediately start them on medication for treatment.

We have a path for everyone.

This is called a status neutral approach.

We treat people according to their needs and not according to their diseases.

I mean, right now we're in a shipping container and we are in Allapattah.

Yeah.

And but this is where we need to be to reach the community and beyond here.

If people can't come here, we have a mobile unit that goes all throughout the county to reach people so that they can access care.

It's meeting people where they are physically, but it's also meeting people where they are mentally and treating them with dignity and respect.

So our mission is not to make.

Sure that people do not use substances.

Our mission is to make sure that people use substances as safely as possible, and if they are interested in going into treatment.

The great thing about the idea exchange is we have that as well.

This is why the overdose rate has gone down in the state of Florida for the first time.

And that's because there's been massive distribution of Narcan.

It is so important for us to be able to geographically go out into Miami.

So on Mondays, when the mobile unit is in homestead, they are in wilderness encampments, and my team will get me on telehealth after somebody's been diagnosed with HIV to start them on treatment immediately.

Then when the van goes back later in the week, it goes with syringes and it goes with their medication.

We have seamlessly made a path to make it easier for people to get into health care, wherever they are in Miami-Dade County.

That's incredible.

The love that my staff provides to my patients is the key to why my patients have that sort of that respect for themselves.

Their health, and that motivation to take their medication and do everything that they can in order to, in a very difficult situation, live the most healthy life.

So I'm really proud in the division of infectious disease that one of the things we we really do a lot and I think is really important to us is getting out of the hospital and out of the buildings where our clinics are and where our research units are, and getting into communities in the places where people actually live and work.

Doctor Suzanne Dublic Lewis is head of um Miller's division of infectious disease.

In 2018, she founded Umms Mobile Prep program and Rapid access wellness clinic, making it easier to bring HIV health care and education to Miami-Dade county's most at risk communities at no cost to residents.

It's different than a lot of mobile services around HIV.

A lot of the vehicles that are out there are doing HIV testing and that's it.

So people may assume that that's what we do, but in fact, it's really a clinic.

It's a clinic on wheels.

It's sometimes people who come in thinking like, oh, this isn't for me, but I'll just check it out, you know, out of curiosity.

And, and over time, they may come back a couple of times and start to get services or even start to get prep.

I think building trust over time is one of the important things we do.

We've had an impact both in the provision of Prep and now HIV treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis, but also on the education component.

And really, um, trying to have seminars where we can talk about these things and answer questions.

And I think that the development of that relationship has been really helpful, um, in getting people to know what we do and to helping them to feel comfortable coming to the mobile.

And honestly, it's been really helpful for our team, too, because they get that chance to really get back and forth to hear what people are thinking, even to hear from the people who don't come in the mobile.

Right.

So we'll have events here in the community center.

And I think some of the most important information is from people who might say, you know, I don't know about that, or, you know, I have a question and I'm not so sure I want to come.

And then that's a great opportunity to explore that.

And for us all to learn a little bit about how we can best serve the community.

I think we've had a great relationship with the community in Liberty City, and that's really developed over time.

And it is also in collaboration with some of the other folks who do work in this neighborhood, because, you know, from the University of Miami in particular, there are a number of providers and a number of faculty who really consider this to be a center for their work.

This two square mile, historically black neighborhood is actually home to the highest prevalence of people living with HIV in the nation, is estimated that about 9% of residents in Liberty City are HIV positive.

Doctor Sanjaya Kenya is the founder of Um Miller's School of Medicine's community-based HIV awareness for Minority Populations program, also known as Champ.

The street based rapid HIV Testing Initiative aims to eliminate HIV in historically black communities like Liberty City.

I developed the Champ model to be led by community health workers.

Community health workers are people from the communities that we serve and their respected peers, their sort of local leaders without a formal title.

And we train these community leaders how to navigate the health care system and how HIV and other STIs work in someone's body, and how you can improve outcomes with medication adherence.

And then we deploy our team of community health workers into Liberty City and Miami's other black communities, and they do street-based HIV screening.

And if someone's positive on the very same day.

A community health worker will link them to care, and they will leave with 30 days of medication while their confirmatory HIV test is being processed.

And when they get the results of that confirmatory test, a community health worker is with them to help them either get onto Prep so that they never become HIV positive, or if they are positive, the community health worker helps them become adherent to their medications and understand how to navigate the health care system so they can become independent in managing their own health.

So when people receive help at this community center, it could be for a variety of things.

It's not just HIV care, and it minimizes the stigma of people coming to see us.

So reducing that stigma to accessing care has been incredibly important to achieving our goals.

There is a lot of stigma there.

There has been since the beginning of the epidemic and, you know, with all that we've achieved and how well people are doing on antiretroviral therapy, it's frustrating sometimes, you know, this is a treatable disease in our clients.

Our patients are doing so well.

But I think, you know, it's just trying to be present, to listen and to make all the information as available as possible.

And the services.

The only way we're going to make progress is if everyone gets tested.

For 70 years, the United Church of Christ, Fort Lauderdale has been a beacon of hope for the area's diverse community.

It's known for its inclusivity of LGBTQ plus people, its homeless, outreach, and other programs that provide a welcoming community and safe home for all.

The United Church of Christ has such a welcome to it.

That's really kind of our hallmark is that we welcome all people, we welcome all ideas, and we want this to be a diverse family of God, where everyone feels like they have a place.

In the UCC.

We talk about being open and affirming, and that's kind of a designation that our churches get meaning they welcome, you know, LGBTQ people.

And I love that phrase, open and affirming, because to say that we're open means that we welcome LGBTQ people into our sanctuaries for worship.

But a lot of churches say that they're open and welcoming.

But once you get in the door, you find that, oh, you're requiring me to change or I can't take on leadership or, you know, I can't marry my partner here.

So, so being open is one thing, but being affirming is takes it to a whole nother level.

And that means that we believe that LGBTQ people are children of God, that they are loved as they are, that there's nothing wrong with their sexual orientation or their gender identity, and that we call them into leadership.

We call them into be a part of the full life of the congregation in.

In those five years when I had no affiliation to any church down here, there were times when I felt really, totally on my own because I had moved from up north down here, didn't know anyone and didn't have any connections.

And there were times when I really wondered if I had made a mistake, a big mistake of buying property here and doing the move, and then finding my way to this congregation very quickly gave me the element of connection.

Connection to people.

Connection to a religious faith that met my spiritual needs and an opportunity to participate.

Joining the choir was great fun and I think I sang with the choir for seven years.

It just added that anchor in my life that I was needing in a new community.

I've never looked back.

I've since that time.

I've never wondered why I had come to Florida or why I was doing what I was doing in terms of this church.

It felt right for me, and it always has.

I think that LGBTQ people have a story to tell, and we have a witness to make, especially LGBTQ Christians.

And so we really want the people who come here to feel, yeah, empowered and engaged and affirmed so that they can grow in their faith and so that they can, you know, change the world.

I think church send the message and the example and be the change is important.

And I'm the example.

You know, this church is very inclusive.

We provide and we change lives for other people.

And I feel in the love of God and the love of this church.

Arianna, center, started working here at our church through our previous pastor, Patrick Rodgers.

He had known Arianna from out in the community and knew the important work that she was doing.

You know, serving really in such an underserved community, you know, trans women of color and, and people who are, you know, in need of HIV Aids assistance.

I really do think that we, as a church, need to be a place where the work of the church is being done, where the work of building community and saving lives is being done.

And that's exactly what Arianna is doing.

As a transgender person, immigrant, you know, living in the South, openly living with HIV and Florida.

For me, I'm scared.

So this is for me, it's a sanctuary to have a church to take me under their wings and protect not just me, but the services I provide for my community.

For about 25 years, this congregation has been running a feeding program called Ruth Ministry.

Today, we see about 120 to 150 people per week.

We do a one day event on Thursdays and we have a hot meal.

We have clothing, we have shower bus, and we have Broward Health comes with their health bus as well.

I came to Ruth Ministries, UCC church in general, homeless.

I had been out on the street for a few years.

And someone saw me and I was actually eating out of the garbage can.

That was 18 months ago.

Now fast forward, because of the members, the volunteers, my life has turned around dramatically.

I'm no longer on the street.

I have a job.

I actually have two.

The time that I've spent here has changed my life, has changed my opinion on people, and it has changed my opinion on myself.

You know, this church loved me when I didn't love myself.

When you're coming from a situation where you don't have anything or anybody.

And you get that it's something that stays with you, that you could never walk away from.

My hope is that this place continues to be what we've been for 70 years now, which is a community of welcome and love and justice for not only ourselves, but for the wider community, for all of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County.

What I would say to people in the LGBTQ community is, you know.

I know that so many of you have been hurt by faith.

I was hurt by faith.

You know, I'm a testament to that.

And I'm also a testament to the fact that there are places where you can come, where you can be fed spiritually, where you can be loved by a community, and where you can really be empowered and embraced.

And I know that's true because I serve a church that does exactly that.

And I know it can be hard.

I know it can be stressful to walk into a new place, but truly, a church like UCC Fort Lauderdale does.

Welcome everyone, and we'd love to see you here.

Women owned and operated skirt.

Soflo is a new magazine made for the South Florida LGBTQ plus women's community, shining a light on their contributions to the arts, food and local culture.

We spoke with Skirt Soflo publisher, Lolly Sarfati to learn more about the magazine and its goal of creating a stronger community.

We started off as Skirt magazine, but there is a skirt magazine in South Carolina.

We didn't want to step on their name and so we changed our name to Skirt Soflo.

It is all one word skirt.

So flow magazine very heavy lift, but really fun.

Incredibly fun.

It's a free magazine and it will always be free.

It's a monthly.

We just wanted to create something really, you know, fun and interesting just for the women.

I believe in print.

I believe it's making a comeback.

There's a different connection between a reader and a magazine than a viewer and a screen, and it's one that we believe in.

Get a cup of coffee, go sit outside and there's no electronics, there's a feel.

It's like the feel of the paper, the smell of the ink you flip through.

And it's, you know, you just kind of you make it your own kind of fold the page.

It's like books that we used to kind of like Dog Ear, you know, it's yours.

It's a different experience.

We were online for about 9 or 10 months before we printed our first issue.

Right now, just because we are only on our third issue, we have started to really focus on incorporating the print into the website.

We are going to start putting a lot of the pieces people submit or we write that don't necessarily make it into the print.

You open the pages.

We have typically 8 to 9 articles in each issue.

And so we write some of them, contributors submit some of them, and we have regular writers.

We have three standing columns a literary column, a food column, and our horoscopes.

The other 5 or 6 articles, anything goes.

We also have as detailed an events calendar for women, for LGBTQ women in South Florida, as we can possibly get on the page.

Before we have to send the file to the print shop, we have our skirt on the street spread, which is picture is like all the pictures that we take throughout the community throughout the month.

We want to stick with the vision that we originally started with, which is just providing something to the women's community that we felt was missing and sort of soul feeding to our community.

Every single one of you has a unique story.

People submit their stories.

We read through them.

They're amazing.

Sometimes we go out and we cover people's stories.

It's a personal magazine with personal stories, and we consider it a gathering place for women and their life stories.

The original vision has always been to provide something to the community that can enrich it, and they can benefit from it.

We're about to put out our fourth issue, so it's in its infancy.

We don't put out the stories with the aim of growth.

We put out the stories because we love what it is that they're telling, the stories.

The stories that we read like that is the stuff that we would read.

I moved down here from Washington, D.C., my friend Diane, who does marketing and outreach for us now for the magazine.

We moved down here together, and she and I sort of kicked around the idea of creating a magazine, a women's magazine here.

But because of the pandemic, we sort of shelved it.

And early last year it felt like the right time.

We cover arts and lifestyle.

We don't do politics.

We're not interested in that.

The lifestyle is much more geared toward the lesbian community.

But the arts, if they're connected to South Florida and we love their work, we'll put them in the magazine.

But, you know, you just kind of go out in the community and you mingle and you talk to people and stuff.

The people in our community are are doing such cool stuff that it's impossible to not have material.

We just go go to places, go to galleries.

There's so much art going on everywhere.

Mitzi Falcon, we found her at untitled Art during Miami Art week and she lives in Mexico.

She wasn't even here.

I've never even met Mitzi in person, you know?

But it was terrific.

She had amazing work.

If you've ever been to any of the large art fairs during Miami Art week, you go in and there's all this glam and there's all this boldness and everything.

And Mitzi had 12 black and white photographs hanging in a booth in the back of the room at untitled Art.

And they were these trans construction workers in Mexico.

Just it was a celebration of them.

They were.

Posing they had.

They were in their construction worker clothes, they were posing and they were proud and it was authentic and it was honest.

And it was it spoke to us.

It spoke to us.

We just want to make sure that everyone knows that our doors are open.

If they do art, if they want to write something, if they want to submit something, if they want to contribute to our magazine in any way, please contact us.

And all of our information is on our website.

It's, you know, our social media, and it's also on the inside cover of every issue.

We are looking for community engagement.

I wish that I could convey on this interview how pure our intentions are in creating each issue, how principled they are.

Like, my editor is like, I want to change X, Y, and Z, but I do not want to take away from the voice of this person.

We do everything we can to maintain the integrity of what it is that we're doing, and it just it pays off in like the gratitude, the good vibes, the positive feedback.

And again, it's not just from the women, it's also from the men in the community.

So, you know, that's really all we can ask for.

And we're having a terrific time doing it.

What more can you ask for?

For more on this and other LGBTQ plus related resources, follow us on Facebook at your South FL I'm Pam Giganti.

As always, thanks for watching.