MEDIA ADVISORY: Art, Music & Discussion Surrounding FDA's Ban on Blood Donations from Gay/Bisexual Men
WHAT: Experts, activists and blood donors gather to discuss the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s discriminatory policy on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Opportunities for interviews will be available throughout the night, and filming and still photos are allowed.
WHO: Prof. I. Glenn Cohen, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics at Harvard Law School, U.S. Food and Drug Administration expert
Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal
Kelsey Louie, CEO, Gay Men's Health Crisis, the world’s first and leading provider of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy, and a Blood Mirror donor
Panel Moderator: Mark Joseph Stern, Slate.com writer who has covered the ban since 2013
WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6 (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
WHERE: American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Transportation and parking information: http://www.american.edu/cas/katzen/visiting/index.cfm
BACKGROUND: American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center presents BLOOD ILLUMINATED,an evening of conversation, art and music to address the FDA’s discriminatory policy on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. This public program runs in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition Blood Mirror, which features artworks made in protest of the policy. Artworks are made with the blood of nine gay, bisexual and transgendered men. The key artwork is a 7-foot-tall, interactive, monolithic sculpture made of the donors' blood -- from gay and bisexual men who cannot donate blood under current policy. A totem of science and equality, the sculpture confronts the 32-year history of the FDA’s ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men.
Also on the program: Artist Jordan Eagles will present a special, luminous, one-night-only blood and light installation to accompany the exhibition, in which viewers will have “blood light” projected on them, transforming the space and allowing viewers to “bathe” in the blood light of the nine donors. Rock Creek Singers of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., will perform.
Blood donors Oliver Anene, Howard Grossman, M.D., and CPT Anthony Woodswill be in attendance. FDA Commissioner, Stephen Ostroff, M.D., was invited to participate in the event and declined the invitation and declined to send an FDA representative in his place.
To view more about Blood Mirror,visit http://www.american.edu/cas/museum/gallery/2015/blood-mirror.cfm
Media Contact: Event is free and open to the public. Media members are requested to RSVP with Rebecca Basu, Public Relations Manager, 202-885-5978, [email protected]
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