I was there.  I have a memory and I’m going to use it—and extrapolate from it.  I was there when the Vietnam War ended.  I remember the protests, the turmoil, the political upheaval, and the body bags.  When we hit 50,000 of those, the critical mass in public opinion was achieved to end the war.  Everyone knew that there was some threshold beyond which the people would no longer tolerate the continued slaughter of our children in a war that had no discernible purpose, no justification in reality.  That threshold turned out to be 50,000 body bags.  At that point the moms and dads of this country rose up as if with one voice and said, “The war is over.  We don’t care whether you call it a win, a loss, or a draw.  It matters not.  It’s over.”   And it was, almost overnight.  Burned into my memory are the pictures of helicopters evacuating people from the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon, beating a fast retreat to a waiting aircraft carrier.

President Barack Obama, as we all know by now, won a second term as President of the United States collecting 332 to former Governor Willard Mitt Romney’s 206 Electoral College votes, while garnering 62,157,012 votes to Romney’s 58,805,092. In fact, the Republican Party has only carried the popular vote in presidential elections twice, 1988 and 2004, in the last 24 years.

Though Romney pulled in nearly 60% of the White vote, a voting demographic that has steadily declined relative to the overall electorate since 1992, fully 45% of President Obama’s total came from minoritized communities carrying 93% of African Americans, 73% of Asian American, 71% of Latino/a. In addition, since the election year of 1964, more women than men have voted, and President Obama garnered 55% of the women’s vote this time around. Young people between the ages of 18 to 29 made up nearly one-fifth of the total votes cast in this election, with Obama carrying 60% to Romney’s 38%.

As I remember the story being told to me there was a frail old man that lived with his son, his daughter-in-law, and his four-year-old grandson. His eyes were blurry, his hands trembled, and his step faltered, he was not in the best of health.

The family would eat together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon, drooping to the floor. When he grasped his glass of milk, it often spilled clumsily at the tablecloth.

With the 2012 popular vote supporting marriage equality regardless of gender winning in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington, the struggle for marriage equality has turned a corner. It’s not the corner, but an important corner nevertheless.

We can quibble all we want about whether human rights should ever be put up for a popular vote, but the fact that for the first time on a state-wide level activists have been able to beat back the huge funding mechanisms and built-in grassroots networks of right-wing churches and bigots is a symptom of an on-going cultural shift. And that’s worth celebrating.

I’d like to believe that Malawi's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) citizens and tourists had a few days to breathe easier.

On November 5, the government issued a moratorium suspending all laws decriminalizing homosexuality. Three days later, on November 8, homosexuality was illegal again.

HIV related apps for your smartphone

The AIDS epidemic has been one of the first truly modern epidemics. From the first few cases in the early eighties down to the present, our understanding of the HIV virus and our reaction to it has been shaped by science and technology. The lack of a permanent "cure" for the disease obscures just how far we have come in understanding and treating the disease in a relatively short period of time.

Since the beginning activists have used the latest technology to get the word out, to organize, and to educate. In the eighties that might have meant photo-copying fliers and pamphlets, handing out condoms, or giving safe sex talks. Throughout the nineties and the first decade of this century that meant organizing online, creating websites, and sending emails. Now, increasingly that technology goes with us, in the form of a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device.

December 1st was World AIDS Day, and the entire month of December is an opportunity for people worldwide to raise awareness about the disease and unite in the fight against HIV.

We’ve made great progress over the past few decades in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but there is still much more work to be done. Young people make up about 40 percent of all new HIV infections, and the LGBT community is disproportionately affected by high HIV/AIDS rates. While this disparity is concerning, we also have reasons for hope. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and new recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force will greatly increase access to HIV screenings, education, and information. In support of World Aids Day this month, let’s commit to supporting the investments and policies that will help us curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.