PHOENIX (April 13, 2023) — Aunt Rita’s, whose mission is to end HIV in Arizona, announced Stacey Jay Cavaliere as its new Executive Director bringing fresh eyes and new perspectives to the Valley-based nonprofit leading the Foundation into its next chapter.

A dedicated and experienced leader in Arizona’s nonprofit community, with nearly 20 years of experience working in social services and nonprofit, Cavaliere will build upon Aunt Rita’s solid foundation serving as its chief fundraising and administrative officer and leading its development/administrative team.

Cavaliere is a respected professional in the field holding various executive leadership positions throughout his career. He is a tireless advocate for vulnerable populations and marginalized communities, including youth and young adults of color, justice-involved populations in recovery, houseless individuals, and those living with HIV. He has also developed and managed positive youth development and homelessness prevention programs, stewarded major, corporate, and sustaining donor initiatives, and has extensive experience executing record-breaking fundraising events.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to extend a warm welcome to Stacey Jay,” said Aunt Rita’s Board of Directors Chair, Daniel Sciortino, who led the search committee. “With nearly 20 years in non-profit leadership and a great track record as a team-builder, innovator, and change agent, I know he will be an excellent leader. We are thrilled to support him as he builds upon the solid foundation.”

Cavaliere walks proud in his truth as an HIV-positive individual, often serving as a personal resource for others. When he was first diagnosed, Aunt Rita’s Foundation was one of the first agencies he reached out to for resources, which led him to receiving services at several of the partnering agencies.

“My journey has now come full circle and I truly believe the universe is calling me to serve the community in a new capacity,” said Cavaliere. “As the incoming Executive Director of Aunt Rita’s Foundation, I look forward to leading this dedicated team and supporting the partnering agencies during this pivotal time in the Foundation’s history; building upon the Foundation’s rich legacy, and working each day tirelessly, to end HIV in Arizona. Let’s get to work!”

Aunt Rita’s partner agencies include Ebony House, The Bill Holt Clinic at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, CAN Community Health, Chicanos Por La Causa LUCES Program, HEAL International, HIV Care Directions, Valleywise Health, one n ten, Southwest Behavioral Health Services, Southwest Center, Shot in the Dark, Southwest Recovery Alliance, Terros Health, and more.

Aunt Rita’s has provided millions of dollars in grant funding in support of critical HIV prevention and treatment programs throughout Arizona. Aunt Rita’s distributes free 15-minute Home HIV oral swap test kits through GetTestedAz.org, where free vouchers for confidential in-person clinical testing at Safeway/Albertsons and Sonora Quest locations statewide for all STIs. Aunt Rita’s Foundation also works with the Arizona Department of Health Services to connect individuals of any status to knowledgeable providers covering the entire state through HIVAZ.ORG.

Aunt Rita’s Foundation was a founding member with the City of Phoenix Fast Track Cities initiative and plays a vital role in advocating at the Arizona legislature and State Government to establish laws, regulations, and policies that further our efforts to educate, prevent HIV, and treat HIV.

For more information on Aunt Rita’s Foundation, visit www.auntritas.org.

WHAT: ANGELS IN AMERICA: PART ONE, MILLENNIUM APPROACHES by Tony Kushner

WHERE:       Fountain Hills Theater
11445 N Saguaro Blvd., Fountain Hills, AZ 85268

WHEN: Mar. 3 – 19, 2023. Thursday through Saturdays at 7:30pm,
Sunday Matinees at 2:00pm * Rated R. For Mature Audiences 18+
Strong Language, Sexual Situations and Adult Content

HOW: Reservations: (480) 837-9661 x3 or visit fhtaz.org. Individual tickets are $35.00. Discounts for groups

Fountain Hills Theater announces the opening of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America: Part One, Millennium Approaches.

Angels in America: Part One, Millenium Approaches is a metaphorical and symbolic vision of America during the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. ​ In Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, set in New York City, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls. Other characters include the infamous McCarthy-ite lawyer Roy Cohn, Ethel Rosenberg, a former drag queen who works as a nurse, and an angel. Angels in America is an epic drama that has deservedly earned awards for its portrayal of contemporary America–its mixture of brutal reality and miraculous fantasy, its tragedy and comedy, cruelties and compassion.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the play’s Broadway premiere. Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1993) Tony Awards (1993): Best Play. Angels in America: Part One, Millennium Approaches is directed by Chris R. Chávez and stars Rob Allocca, Keith Chandler, Raheem D’Angelo, Debra Lyman, Katie Marburger, Cindy Pruett, Van Rockwell and Pat Russel. Presented through Special Arrangement with Concord Theatricals. *Rated R for sexual situations, language and adult content. For Mature audiences 18+.

  Angels in America: Millennium Approaches will play Mar. 3 – 19, 2023.  Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30PM and Sundays at 2PM.  Individual tickets are $35.00. Seniors receive a $5.00 discount on all Thursday performances. Group, Active Duty and Veteran discounts are available. All performances are at Fountain Hills Theater on its Mainstage at 11445 N. Saguaro Blvd. (The Corner of Saguaro and Rand). Tickets are available through the Theater Box Office at (480) 837-9661 x3 or by visiting fhtaz.org.  Box Office Hours are 10:00AM-5:00 PM Tuesday through Saturday. For additional information not contained in this press release, please call Fountain Hills Theater Artistic Director, Peter J. Hill at (480) 837-9661 EXT. 7.

Quixotic performs during Scottsdale Arts’ The ARTrageous Gala in 2022. The performance group will return to The ARTrageous Gala: Bloom this year. Photo: Chris Loomis

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Scottsdale Arts will bring its annual ARTrageous Gala back to the newly renovated Scottsdale Civic Center on April 1 for an outdoor celebration centered on a theme of “Bloom.”

The gala, blooming with radiant living art experiences and fantastical creations, is designed to be an ultra-sensory evening that will reignite the attendees’ passions for the arts.

“With the completion of the Scottsdale Civic Center campus and its new outdoor stages, we will have one of the most spectacular backdrops for a magnificent night under the stars,” said Dr. Gerd Wuestemann, president and CEO of Scottsdale Arts. “Our outdoor campus will provide a setting unlike any other.”

Wuestemann noted that over the past four years, Scottsdale Arts has reinvented its gala to become more engaging, glamorous and forward-thinking. During the pandemic, the nonprofit arts organization shifted its traditional gala date from winter to spring, with an eye on a potential outdoor event like this year’s The ARTrageous Gala: Bloom.

The transformation began with last year’s Luminescence gala, a cirque-style experience unlike any other in the Valley, thanks to entertainment throughout the night by the performance art collective Quixotic. This year’s gala will again feature performances by Quixotic.

“Quixotic is very excited to come back to Arizona to work with the Scottsdale Arts organization and team,” said Mica Thomas, executive producer of Quixotic. “We love this partnership that supports our group in exploring new creative collaborations. We are looking forward to the next adventure.”

Festivities throughout the evening include a red-carpet arrival, living art activations, silent and live auctions, a delicious coursed meal, dessert bar and performances by Quixotic and the Valley’s own Walter Productions.

Honorees and awardees include the Lifetime Award in Service to Oskar Knoblauch, a local Holocaust survivor who has worked with Scottsdale Arts on a number of educational arts initiatives; the Corporate Trailblazer Award to SRP, a valued partner for Scottsdale Arts events like Canal Convergence; and the Herberger Award for the Arts to Dorothy Lincoln Smith, a longtime supporter of the arts and committee member for Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

For information about attending The ARTrageous Gala: Bloom or donating, visit ScottsdaleArts.org/artrageous-gala.

Scottsdale Arts would like to thank the following gala sponsors and partners: Billie Jo Herberger; Pride Guide Arizona; SOAR Foundation; S|T|O|R|E Capital; Harvard Investments, Inc.; Nationwide; SRP; Tito’s Handmade Vodka; Lincoln Property Company; BMO; Northern Trust; Nelson Art; Dollar Radio Rentals; Rhonda & Gary Anderson; Merle & Steve Rosskam; So Scottsdale!; Quixotic; and Walter Productions. ________________________________________________________________________________

SCOTTSDALE ARTS
Through its partnership with the city of Scottsdale, the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts creates diverse, inspired arts experiences and educational opportunities that foster active, lifelong community engagement with the arts. Since its founding in 1987, Scottsdale Arts has grown into a regionally and nationally significant, multi-disciplinary arts organization offering an exceptional variety of programs through four acclaimed branches — Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Scottsdale Public Art and Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation — serving more than 600,000 participants annually. In conjunction with the city of Scottsdale, we also host more than 200,000 people annually on our campus through a robust rentals program.

As Mpox Public Health Emergency Declaration Ends, HRC Looks Ahead to Next Phase: Vaccinations, Prevention, and Partnerships with Community-Based Organizations

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization – marked the end of the Mpox Public Health Emergency, lauding the incredible efforts by the LGBTQ+ community to remain healthy while noting that Mpox continues to have disproportionately severe impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and individuals living with HIV.

“Today, we enter the next phase in the continuing fight to end Mpox and maintain the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people everywhere. Make no mistake, Mpox is still with us – and much the same with other health issues, it disproportionately impacts Black and Brown LGBTQ+ community members. We will work tirelessly to make sure as many people as possible remain healthy,” said Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign. “We urge members of the LGBTQ+ community to speak with their doctor about their options regarding vaccination, which has been proven to be safe and effective in preventing Mpox. This emergency declaration has ended, in no small part because of action from community leaders and organizations in partnership with the Biden-Harris administration and other federal, state, and local agencies. But the work is just beginning.”

HRC has taken an active role in the fight against Mpox as a natural extension of its pre-existing work to address health inequities within the LGBTQ+ community, immediately building a resource page to help educate people about Mpox. In September, as the virus was increasing in prevalence, HRC joined with a host of other advocacy organizations to ask Congress for $4.5 billion to combat Mpox, putting a stake in the ground as to the importance of fighting against the outbreak. It made a further ask for $900 million to combat the outbreak in December, calling for funding to restore the vaccine stockpile, expand cities’ testing capacity, and expand community-based organizations’ ability to connect individuals with care. Throughout the public health emergency, HRC has partnered with community-based organizations like the Valley AIDS Council in Texas to connect LGBTQ+ people, particularly Black and Latinx gay, bisexual, and other same-gender-loving men, with clinicians and host vaccine drives, increasing vaccine equity in the communities that were impacted most.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

With President Biden’s Signature, the Bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act Becomes Biggest Legislative Win in the Fight for LGBTQ+ Equality in Over a Decade

WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — celebrated today as President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law. Arguably the biggest legislative win in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality since the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law was repealed in 2010, this legislation will guarantee the federal rights, benefits and obligations of marriages in the federal code for same-sex couples; repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and affirm that public acts, records and proceedings should be recognized by all states. It also codifies the same rights for interracial couples.

The legislation garnered 51 House and Senate Republican votes, the most of any LGBTQ+ pro-equality legislation in history and did so in the most politically polarized Congress to ever exist. These 51 votes demonstrate beyond a doubt that support for same-sex marriage and causes of LGBTQ+ equality bridge even the deepest entrenched ideological divides in America.

“Today is a historic day and a much-needed victory for our community. It should be lost on no one that this bill signing comes less than a month after a deadly attack on our community in Colorado Springs, and at a time when the community continues to face ongoing threats of online and offline violence, as well as legislative attacks on our rights. In signing this bill, President Biden has shown that LGBTQ+ peoples’ lives and love are valid and supported,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “As a queer, married woman, this moment holds personal significance, and I will hold my wife and our son a little tighter tonight, alongside the 568,000 other same-sex married couples. We thank our legislative heroes and President Biden who fought to ensure that marriage equality will forever remain here to stay. And we continue our fight for the safety and security of our entire community.”

HRC worked tirelessly to engage our members and supporters in favor of this legislation, mobilizing 242 major businesses with over 8.5 million employees, a grassroots army of more than 3 million members, supporters and volunteers, and the nation’s 62 million “Equality Voters” to pass the Respect for Marriage Act. HRC supporters made more than 30,000 calls, sent over 76,000 emails, and wrote more than 58,000 letters to Congressional offices in support of the RMA. To read personal stories of why marriage equality is important to LGBTQ+ couples across the country, click here, and to watch a video featuring a D.C.-based couple, click here.

More Than Two-Thirds of People Support Marriage Equality

According to Gallup, 71% of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples. 55% of Republicans support same-sex marriage, along with 83% of Democrats and 73% of Independents. According to recent polling from HRC, 64% of people living in battleground states – AZ, CA, GA, MI, NV, PA, WI, FL, NH, NC, OH, TX, CO, and ME – support marriage equality, demonstrating the issue’s popularity even in politically divided states. The latest survey from PRRI this year found that support for marriage equality has increased by 14 percentage points since 2014 (54%). Today, majorities of most religious groups favor marriage equality. White evangelical Protestants (35%) and Latter-day Saints (46%) remain the only major religious groups with less than majority support for marriage equality. According to the last Census, about 58% (568,000) of couples in the nation’s 980,000 same-sex households were married and about 42% were unmarried partners.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

The Respect for Marriage Act – Which Passed 258-169, With All Democrats and 39 Republican Votes – Is Now One Step From Becoming Law

WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — celebrated today the second, and final, bipartisan passage of the Respect for Marriage Act in the House of Representatives. The bill passed 258 to 169, and garnered the votes of all Democrats and 39 Republicans, demonstrating the widespread and bipartisan support for marriage equality. The landmark legislation now heads to President Biden for his signature, after which it will be law. This legislation will guarantee the federal rights, benefits and obligations of marriages in the federal code for same-sex couples; repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and affirm that public acts, records and proceedings should be recognized by all states. It also codifies the same rights for interracial couples.

In response to the final passage of the bill, HRC President Kelley Robinson issued the following statement:

“Today’s vote in the House of Representatives sends a clear message: love is winning. At a time when the LGBTQ+ community continues to face ongoing attacks – from deadly violence to legislative assaults on our rights – today’s vote is a clear victory for this country’s 568,000 same-sex married couples, including me. The fact that this bill passed with strong bipartisan support in both chambers proves that marriage equality is supported by a wide swath of the American people. We eagerly await the president’s signature on this important legislation — and look forward to continuing to fight for full equality for everyone in our community, without exception.”

HRC worked tirelessly to engage our members and supporters in favor of this legislation. We mobilized 242 major businesses with over 8.5 million employees, a grassroots army of more than 3 million members, supporters and volunteers, and the nation’s 62 million “Equality Voters” to call on members of Congress to pass the Respect for Marriage Act. HRC supporters made more than 30,400 calls and sent more than 58,000 letters to Congressional offices in support of the RMA. To read personal stories of why marriage equality remains important to LGBTQ+ couples across the country, click here, and to watch a video featuring a D.C.-based couple, click here.

More Than Two-Thirds of People Support Marriage Equality

According to Gallup, 71% of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples. 55% of Republicans support same-sex marriage, along with 83% of Democrats and 73% of Independents. According to recent polling from HRC, 64% of people living in battleground states – AZ, CA, GA, MI, NV, PA, WI, FL, NH, NC, OH, TX, CO, and ME – support marriage equality, demonstrating the issue’s popularity even in politically divided states. The latest survey from PRRI this year found that support for marriage equality has increased by 14 percentage points since 2014 (54%). Today, majorities of most religious groups favor marriage equality. White evangelical Protestants (35%) and Latter-day Saints (46%) remain the only major religious groups with less than majority support for marriage equality. According to the last Census, about 58% (568,000) of couples in the nation’s 980,000 same-sex households were married and about 42% were unmarried partners.

Key Provisions of the Bill

The Respect for Marriage Act would ensure that marriage equality is protected nationally through several provisions:

• Repealing the 1990s era Defense of Marriage Act. Passed in 1996, DOMA discriminated in two important ways. First, Section 2 of DOMA purported to allow states to refuse to recognize valid civil marriages of same-sex couples. Second, Section 3 of the law carved all same-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, out of all federal statutes, regulations and rulings applicable to all other married people — thereby denying them over 1,100 federal benefits and protections. DOMA was rendered unenforceable, in two stages, by the Supreme Court’s 2013 Windsor v. United States ruling (which invalidated Section 3) and the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling (which invalidated Section 2).
• Establishing that “place of celebration” is the standard of recognition for federal benefits of a marriage. This provision ensures that the federal government will consider a couple to be married for federal purposes if the couple’s marriage was valid in the state where it was performed.
• Affirming that marriage-related public acts, records and proceedings of one state must be recognized by all states. Marriages, adoption orders, divorce decrees and other public acts must be honored by all states consistent with the Full Faith and Credit clause of the US Constitution.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.