Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  IDENTITY

AIDS group prez Kelly skips hearing
by Sam Worley
2010-04-01

This article shared 5456 times since Thu Apr 1, 2010
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Lloyd Kelly—whose HIV-prevention organization, the Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation ( LTLTF ) is under investigation for misusing state grant money—failed to take part March 18 at a scheduled hearing with representatives from the Illinois Department of Public Health ( IDPH ) . That hearing, held by telephone, was one in a series in which IDPH is asking Kelly to account for parts of the $1.2 million the department gave to his organization. Kelly had been the group's executive director since its founding in 2002.

The grant was funded out of the African-American HIV/AIDS Response Fund, a legislative initiative intended to fight the spread of HIV infection in the Black community. Kelly helped conceive the fund—with state Rep. Constance "Connie" Howard, for whom he had worked as an unpaid aide—and in 2007, LTLTF received the bulk of the initial $3 million appropriation. Howard was also a co-founder of the group.

Last year, IDPH announced that it was seeking the repayment of over $500,000 of that grant money. Separately, LTLTF is being asked to return a $500,000 grant it received from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The organization received both grants in 2007.

Kelly said that he skipped the hearing with IDPH because he cannot afford a lawyer and sought, over the department's objections, to represent himself. IDPH spokesperson Melaney Arnold said that her department has filed a brief objecting to Kelly representing himself because "allowing Mr. Kelly to represent LTLTF would constitute the unlicensed practice of law." ( Kelly is not an attorney. )

She said that the judge in the case had not yet ruled on that objection. Arnold said that LTLTF's former lawyer "was granted leave to withdraw only weeks after entering his appearance."

Although Kelly declined to comment in December—when this story was initially reported—he recently spoke with Windy City Times, denying wrongdoing and expressing frustration with the treatment of his organization by IDPH and other members of the LGBT community.

Kelly offered examples and defenses of the ways in which he spent IDPH grant money: At its peak, he said, LTLTF employed more than 30 full- and part-time employees. He added that between July and September 2007—IDPH cut its check to the organization in August 2007—LTLTF held "14 community events" that included HIV education and testing.

"We did not misappropriate anything," he said. "We did everything the contracts [ with the state ] called for."

Kelly did acknowledge that some of LTLTF's activities were undertaken "not in the most orthodox way." Some of the expenditures called into question, he said, were loans he made to individuals and organizations whose work coincided with LTLTF's.

When the LGBT organization Youth Pride Center was evicted from its offices, Kelly said, he loaned the organization $50,000 to open a new space. He said that from his perspective, YPC's work was relevant to his own: "They were a demographic that was really hit hard by HIV."

In another instance, Kelly said that LTLTF loaned money to an employee after his car was destroyed, since that employee's car was necessary to his work with the organization. Kelly said that the loan was repaid.

Kelly broadly defended the money he spent as being necessary to his organization. "It wasn't my money," he said. "It was for the community."

In addition to the hearings with IDPH, Kelly said, he has traveled to Springfield to meet with the representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A Windy City Times e-mail to the Springfield office of the FBI went unreturned at press time.


This article shared 5456 times since Thu Apr 1, 2010
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem'
2024-03-29
Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds
2024-03-21
It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools
2024-03-15
In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77
2024-03-12
On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

AMA launches toolkit to increase screenings for HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis
2024-03-06
Press release - CHICAGO — With disruptions in clinical care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and viral hepatitis across the U.S., the American Medical Association ...


Gay News

NATIONAL School items, HIV/AIDS activist dies, Nex Benedict, inclusive parade
2024-03-01
In a new survey, the Pew Research Center asked public K-12 teachers, teens and the U.S. public about the ongoing scrutiny placed on classroom curricula, mainly regarding race and LGBTQ+ identities, ABC News noted. Among other ...


Gay News

Advocates call for increased HIV funding amid state's 'disappointing' pattern of flat funding
2024-02-27
Governor JB Pritzker's proposed 2025 budget has no increase in HIV funding, continuing a years-long pattern of flat spending toward tackling the epidemic in Illinois. Pritzker outlined his $52.7 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year ...


Gay News

HIV criminal laws disproportionately impact Black men in Mississippi
2024-02-21
--From a press release - A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that at least 43 people in Mississippi were arrested for HIV-related crimes between 2004 and 2021. Half of all arrests in the state ...


Gay News

'West Side Story' gets a sex-positive spin with new burlesque show
2024-02-19
In partial observance of National Condom Day, which was Feb. 14, Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) presented A West Side Story Burlesque at the Harris Theater for two hour-long performances on Feb. 17. The show, ...


Gay News

$200,000+ raised at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate Fundraiser to fight HIV/AIDS
2024-02-13
--From a press release - (Chicago, IL) More than 950 guests gathered at Chicago's famed Union Station (500 W. Jackson) for Chicago's Sweetest Fundraiser, AIDS Foundation Chicago's (AFC), World of Chocolate on Friday, February 9. ...


Gay News

THEATER Dot-Marie Jones talks Goodman production, 'Glee,' 'Bros'
2024-02-12
Running through Feb. 18 at the the Goodman Theatre, the production Highway Patrol works with a script conceived entirely from Emmy-winning actor Dana Delany's (TV's China Beach) digital archive of hundreds of tweets and direct messages ...


Gay News

Munar prepares to step away from Howard Brown leadership
2024-02-11
After 10 years of leadership at Howard Brown Health, President and CEO David Ernesto Munar has decided to step down from his post on Feb. 29. Munar, who'd previously been president and CEO of AIDS Foundation ...


Gay News

Chicagoans indulge in a World of Chocolate
2024-02-11
AIDS Foundation of Chicago hosted its 2024 World of Chocolate celebration the evening of Feb. 9 at Union Station. Top chocolatiers from across the city allowed guests to sample numerous confections, hors d'oevres and libations for ...


Gay News

Pritzker Military Library to close in July, move to Wisconsin
2024-02-08
On Feb. 7, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library announced that it is closing its downtown Chicago location on July 27 and moving to an archives center in Wisconsin later this year, according to The Chicago ...


Gay News

National Black Justice Coalition commemorates National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
2024-02-07
--From a press release - WASHINGTON — Today, Feb. 7, marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). In commemoration, Dr. David J. Johns, CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a leading Black LGBTQ+/same-gender ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.