POW-WOW Inc. and The Lesbian Leadership Council of Chicago Foundation for Women presented the event. Keynote presenter and lecturer Conscious led the night with clips from her one-woman performance and excerpts from her book Getting Unstuck: Girl to Girl, You Can Be Infected. A panel of doctors and experts—including National Public Radio reporter Cheryl Corley; Task Force, Inc.’s executive director Alicia Ozier; Dr. Margo Bell of the Chicago HIV Risk Reduction Partnership for Youth; and Lesbian Community Care Project Manager of Programming Christina Santiago—all joined to offer insight and share personal experiences on the sexual behavior of lesbian and bisexual women as well as about HIV/STI preventative measures.
“We just wanted to begin a dialogue. There has never really been a public forum on lesbians and HIV,” said POW-WOW Inc.’s founder, C.C. Carter. Text and photos by Terrence Chappell