News and Events

Helping to educate Children with HIV or with Parents with HIV

On Monday 13^th July, Ian Phillips, Chairman of the Phuket Loves You Club (PLU) along with other members from the PLU, presented a cheque to Hélène Fallon Wood the Vice President and Chief Fundraiser of The Life Home Project Foundation for 130,823 Baht.

The PLU, along with their other activities and events, has been organising Phuket Pride week’s for the last 4 years. During the weeks celebrations they have been raising money to help fight HIV in Phuket and from these proceeds has, each year, given part of these proceeds to The Life Home Project, where the PLU assists in the funding of the education of children with HIV or children whose parents have HIV. Some of the PLU members also sponsor these children’s education separately.

During the past 4 years the PLU has donated 463,192.31 Baht to the Life Home Project Foundation.

Hélène Fallon Wood, who is also the Irish Honorary Consul to Phuket and the southern provinces, said “On behalf of everyone here at the Life home Project, I would like to thank so very much the PLU and all of their supporters who have donated so much money to us and for their continued support. The Life Home Project Foundation is a non-profit organization with the goal of offering children, women and patients suffering from HIV/AIDS a more dignified life, preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Phuket, Thailand and fighting against the stigmatisation of people living with HIV/AIDS and we could not carry out this work without the very generous donations of people like the PLU”

Ian Phillips, Chairman of the PLU said “ The Life Home Project’s goals work so closely with our aim to fight HIV in Phuket, that they are a natural partner of ours and I am delighted that we have raised so much money for them to assist with the wonderful work they are doing here in Phuket. I would like to thank all those who worked tirelessly to organise Phuket Pride Week’s events, those who attended and donated, and to all of our highly valued sponsors, including Karex Berhad, and Colin Gallagher’s epic Marathon run and all of his sponsors, without whom none of what we are now delivering to our community would be possible”.

For more information about The Life Home project visit their web site: www.lifehomeproject.org

For information on how to get involved in the PLU and Phuket Pride as a volunteer or sponsor, please email:   or visit their web site: www.phuket-pride.org

Phuket Loves You Club

Chairman’s Annual Statement

I personally believe that this has been the most successful year in the history of Phuket Loves You Club, made possible by some very generous sponsors, some fantastic partnerships and a small team of dedicated volunteers, all achieved during a time which has seen major turmoil and disruption for Thailand, but especially for Phuket.

The highlights for the year include, but are not limited to;
• Launch of the HARP Campaign
o 3 Posters Promoting safe Sex distributed to gay venues
o 475 Free HIV Test in Soi Paradise
o 70,000 Condoms and lube distributed in gay venues
o A Massive reduction in HIV infection rates within the focus community
• Partnerships with Leading Local Organisations
o Sabai Dee Clin & Patong Hospital
o Phuket Provincial Health Authority
o Prince of Songkla University
o Class Act Media
• Soi Paradise World Aids Day Event
• Phuket Pride Week – 305,000 baht raised
• The first PLU event to really build bridges with the Phuket Town LBGT Community
o Beautiful Lady / Sexy Man Competition
• Colin Gallagher running the Laguna Phuket Marathon raising money and HIV awareness
• Over 900,000 Baht raised in 4 years
• Carex Sponsorship for 100,000 Condoms and Lube for 2015/6
• 30% of al money raised donated to The Life Home Project

So much achieved in 1 year and so much more that needs to be done.

For the coming year PLU will continue the HARP Programme, and will continue to offer free HIV testing, free condoms and information on safe sex. We will also extend the HARP programme to offer financial support to people testing positive, if necessary we will fund their initial CD4 test, a test required to determine the best medication to start treating the patient. This will be managed by Sabai Dee Clinic who will also be working with the individual to ensure that they get immediate access to free medication.

I am proud to be a member of this team, to be working with so many driven and focussed people that truly want to make a difference to the community in which they live. I would also like to thank all of our sponsors and supporters who have helped us through this year, without each and everyone of you, none of this would have been possible.

Thank You

Ian Phillips
Chairman
Phuket Loves You Club

Phuket Pride week 2015

The Phuket Loves You Club, the organisers of Phuket Pride for the past 4 years has managed to raise 305,000 Baht during this year’s Phuket Pride week, subject to all monies coming in. The money was raised through the support of the local community and tourists, either attending or sponsoring events. The amount raised was increased to the same level as last year through an anonymous donation. The money raised will allow PLU to continue with their programs to fight HIV in Phuket.

Over the last 4 years the continued support of our local community as well as our supporters from many countries, has enable PLU to raise over 900,000 Baht.

The proceeds from this year’s Pride celebrations, after retaining some funds for future events, will be distributed to the Life Home Project foundation, where the PLU assists in the funding of the education of children with HIV or with parents with HIV, and the PLU Community projects which aim to increase the awareness of HIV and safe sex.

The main programme within the Community projects is HARP – HIV and Aids Related Programme which, over the past year, has provided for 475 free HIV tests for the community in Soi Paradise and has seen a large scale reduction in positive tests. This together with a poster campaign in Thai, promoting safe sex and the importance of HIV testing, 25 free condom boxes in all the gay venues in Soi Paradise and issuing over 70,000 free condoms, of which 50,000 of these condoms and lubrication packs were supplied free to the PLU from Karex Berhad and 20,000 from the Sabaidee Clinic.

Ian Phillips the PLU Chairman said “I would like to thank everyone who has supported our last four Phuket Pride weeks. With less people coming to Phuket this year, to achieve this figure is a great achievement and I would like to thank all those who worked tirelessly to organise the week’s events, those who attended and donated and to all of our highly valued sponsors, including Karex Berhad, without whom none of what we are now delivering to our community would be possible”.

The Chairman of the PLU Community project Team, Ken Miller, said “I am delighted that we have managed to raise this amount of money which will allow us to continue the work we have already started. Our goal this year is to expand our outreach to the Community in Paradise Soi by collaborating with another community donor to provide funding to support Sabaidee Clinic in offering free CD4 testing for people who have tested positive. We feel that by partnering with Patong Hospital, Sabaidee Clinic, and Phuket’s Health Department, we will reach our goal of reducing the rate of HIV to Zero in our local LGBT community. Until we reach that goal, we will continue to work towards the goal of assuring that all of our local LGBT community who are positive are able to use the Thai Health System to live a normal and healthy life.“

For information on how to get involved in the PLU and Phuket Pride as a volunteer or sponsor, please email: info@phuket-pride.com.

For up-to-date information about PLU activities and view our Pride 2015 photo gallery visit our web site: www.phuket-pride.org

Running to help fight HIV in Phuket

Colin Gallagher, an English Lecturer at the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism from the Prince of Songkla University (PSU), recently ran the Laguna International Marathon on 7^th June 2015. He entered, having never undertaken a marathon before, but wanted to raise money for the Phuket Loves You Club (PLU) who, as well as organising the past 4 years Phuket Pride Week, raise funds to fight HIV in Phuket.

Colin initially entered the half marathon, with a personal target to raise 50,000 Baht, however as he started telling people and the PLUs marketing campaign gained momentum, together with assistance from its huge supporter, Class Act Media, the attention, sponsorship and pledges started rolling in, Colin decided he needed to complete  the full Marathon at 42.185Km run.

He finished the run in 5 hours 41 minutes and 43 seconds, wearing a specially printed shirt with the World Aids Day ribbon on the front and ‘Fighting HIV in Phuket’ on the back.

Colin raised 151,774 Baht for the PLU, which will be distributed to the Life Home Project Foundation, where the PLU assists with funding for the education of children from extremely poor backgrounds with HIV or with parents with HIV, and the PLU Community Projects which aim to increase awareness about HIV and safe sex in Phuket

Thanks to the generous air time that Class Act Media gave to Colin, he was interviewed prior to the race by Live 89.5FM and Phuket News TV, at 4am before the race began with Tim Newton from Class Act Media and again as Colin crossed the finishing line before he could even sit down, which  brought in more donations and pledges. Colin’s first words as he finished the race was “no-one told me about all those hills”

Colin said “I am so pleased with myself for finishing the full marathon, there was a point at which I was not sure, but the support of people cheering me on as they saw the T-shirt I was wearing and knowing how much I would raise by finishing kept me going. I am a huge supporter in what the PLU is achieving in fighting HIV in Phuket and I am so pleased to have raised so much money for them. I cannot thank all the people individually who sponsored and pledged that money but, from the bottom of my heart – thank you.”

Ian Phillips the PLU Chairman said “I would like to thank Colin sincerely for raising so much money for the PLU, and what a fantastic personal achievement for him also. It is only through the amazing support we get from the many people like Colin, and for all the people that donate money that we are able to support our chosen charities and Community Projects. With this money, it will mean that in just 4 years the PLU has raised over 1 Million Baht to help fight HIV in Phuket” he also added “I am also very pleased to announce that Karex Berhad, who last year donated 50,000 free Carex condoms and lubricant packs to us, have just agreed to give us a further  100,000 Condoms and lube for this  coming year”

The Chairman of the PLU Community project Team, Kenneth Miller, said “I cannot thank Colin and all his supporters for the large amount raised, it will mean more money being available to spend on our HARP – HIV and Aids Related Programme.  Our goal this year is to expand our outreach to the Community in Paradise Soi by collaborating with another community donor to provide funding to support Sabaidee Clinic in offering free CD4 testing for people who have tested positive. We feel that by partnering with Patong Hospital, Sabaidee clinic, and Phuket’s Health Department, we will reach out goal of reducing the rate of HIV to zero in our local LGBT community.  Until we reach that goal, we will continue to work towards the goal of assuring that all of our local LGBT community who are positive are able to use the Thai Health System to live a normal and healthy life.“

For information on how to get involved in the PLU and Phuket Pride as a volunteer or sponsor, please email: .

For up-to-date information about PLU activities and view our Pride 2015 photo gallery visit our web site: www.phuket-pride.org

 

PICTURE:

Presenting the cheque to Ian Philips, the Chairman from PLU is Colin Gallagher (marathon man) alongside Anon Boonworachot, who helped Colin raise sponsorship.

Pride = Power

After a long history of being harassed by the New York City Police, and after an early morning raid on June 29, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village bar popular with drag queens, and young gay men, the patrons of the bar fought back and pushed the police out of the bar into Sheridan Square. The police quickly found themselves in a defensive position in that small park, with a growing crowd of angry queer people gathering. The police called for backup, and found themselves involved in a full scale riot. The disturbances went on for several nights.

This initial scene of violence got the attention of and raised the awareness of both Gays and Straights to the casual indignity that this group endured on a routine basis in New York City, one of the most liberal of large cities in the world, at the hands of the police, whose duty is to serve and protect.

During those first few days, there was a sense of empowerment and pride, a sense that equality would soon be ours. The fight for equality and acceptance in the larger human community has taken much longer than we would have expected. It is, however, important to remember where we have come from, and retain a sense of pride in our history and in our personal self-worth.

Fast forward to 2015, and the discussion in our community is still what does Pride mean? For some it means having the biggest party ever, where there are massive crowds of half-naked men listening to loud music, dancing till the sun raises, alcohol and drugs. There is nothing wrong with having a party and pushing the line, not at all. However, when all is said and done, what have we as a community accomplished.

Phuket Loves You Club’s (PLU) goal is to create a week of activities that individual in our community can put their heels on, prancing down the street to “I am what I am” and feeling proud. Whereas the other part of our celebration is beginning to address the major issues that are affecting our community: the lack of protection in the work place, no proper medical care, lack of housing protection, transgender issues such as changing one’s ID to reflect who they truly are and marriage rights. Yes to make a difference we need to raise money. No government or agency provide enough resources to make a difference. We need to take control of the health and wellbeing of our community.

This year we implemented our HIV/AIDs awareness program. This program’s intent was to reach out to the workers in Paradise and to provide educational material about safe sex, to provide necessary tools such as condoms, to provide HIV testing so one knows their HIV status and to help those individuals who are HIV positive connect to the medical programs which will help them get the necessary medications.

There have been many studies to determine what percentage of the total populations is LGBT. A safe figure would be around 10%. With these relatively small numbers, we need allies who are ready to advocate with us when fighting for all of the rights listed above.

A key component of our strategy is to reach out to others in the broader population who would be natural allies. Communities who represent women, those that are working to help those in the straight community that are dealing with this AIDs crises, those who are marginalized and look down upon. We are building bridges to those communities by working with them and providing financial support.

Just recently, there was a big uproar in America when one of the Midwestern states decided to pass a Freedom of Religion law that would discriminate again our community. This is an example of the constant attacks made against us by the extremist Christian Right. With the relationships that our community has developed over the years, many companies, organizations and gay friendly religious organizations decided to challenge this law. Instead of a few members in our community speaking up, there was a ground swell of support.

Finally, this year we are actively working to bring down the walls that separate our communities. To change the social stigma of how the broader community views who we are. We are challenging our diverse community to come out of the closet and showing the world who we are. From April 20th to 26, there will be a photo exhibit at Jungcelyon Shopping Mall show everyone the many faces of our community.

Globally, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (ladyboy) communities have come a long way towards achieving equality. In Thailand, we are just starting to see the foundation being built towards achieving equality. With the building of bridges and relationships with those outside of our community and in addressing our community’s immediate needs, will we finally achieve our dream of Equality.

Kenneth J.Miller
PLU Community Program Chief