Hey everyone!

It's been a couple of months since my last entry, so I wanted to sit down a write a little about a leadership development retreat I went on with the Stop AIDS project here in San Francisco.

For those not familiar, Stop AIDS is a community based organization that focuses on HIV prevention and information for Gay and Bi men in San Francisco.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Luis Guerra, one of the program coordinators over at Stop AIDS. Luis and I had had the pleasure of working together on projects through my employer, Connect To Protect SF. Luis is also connected to the Gay Men's Health Summit and is sexy as hell...but I digress...

Anyway, I got an email from Luis explaining that Stop AIDS had received a small grant to do leadership development with community organizers and that they were using the money to take folks up to the Russian River for the weekend to network, strategize and problem solve.
Excited for an opportunity to mix business with pleasure, I said hell yes and waited for the upcoming weekend to arrive.

Joining us for the retreat was Walter Gomez, also from Stop AIDS, Robert Moore from Affirmation (a social and political group for LGBT Mormons) and One Struggle One Fight (a values based, direct action group fighting for LGBT civil rights) and Seth Fowler, also from One Struggle One Fight.

We all had a great time talking about our work, comparing challenges, finding solutions and brainstorming ways to support each other in our different battles.

Originally there was supposed to be 10 guys going, but after a series of cancellations the group was down to five. I wasn't sure what to expect of the weekend, but I was amazed at how each of us brought very unique experiences to the conversation and that we were all genuinely committed to the work.

And last, but not least, there was champagne, fisting stories, a hot tub, cut throat Uno and at least two guys who saw the sunrise. Just saying.