Dear friends, this is a long one.


Here goes.


This is my second year participating in SFStrips - a wonderful show where sexy dancers raise money for an amazing cause. Last year I played the Tin Man and took Dorothy’s clothes off before making out with a sexy Cowardly Lion and then later on a Wascally Wabbit.


It was art, don’t judge.


All proceeds from this event go to the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation locally and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS nationally who both provide aid to a great many direct service agencies. Please consider supporting with a donation of any amount and I personally guarantee your money is helping make a big difference. And don't forget to buy tickets to the show. I hope to see you there, here’s a link to donate: https://pages.donately.com/richmondermetaidfoundation/fundraiser/chris-hanner-sf-strips-iii-strip-a-thon


And a link for tickets to the show: https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2018/06-17.html


HIV is still a problem for so many people and there is still no cure. More people are living with it than ever before and your donation to my personal fundraising page will go a long ways in helping people stay alive and healthy.


Anyone who knows me is very much aware that I have no problem losing an article of clothing or ten, but I don't strip for just any old reason. I decided to strip in this show because all the money raised goes to provide services to people who desperately need them.


People like me.


People who still live with stigma and shame and self-esteem issues associated with a lifetime of being HIV positive.


I’m stripping for the nurse practitioner in Savannah Georgia who told me I should try to stay off meds as long as possible because eventually I’d develop drug resistance and die.


I’m stripping for that same nurse who told me over the phone at my brand new job straight out of college just three months later that if my CD4 levels got any lower I’d have full-blown AIDS. After that all I could do was go back to my cubicle and put my head down and cry. I was alone in a new city far away from any support, as if I could tell the people in my life at that time anyway. I wasn’t even out.


I'm stripping because back then I thought I would die at 40.


I’m stripping for the Arkansas HIV clinic doctor who said five months later that I should just get a dog and go live alone in the mountains in Colorado somewhere because if I stayed in Arkansas, state health department workers would someday come to my job in order to serve me the information about my responsibilities for not spreading the virus.


I’m stripping for the casual acquaintance who once wondered “who would possibly want me” now that I’m positive?


I’m stripping for the ex-boyfriend who left me crying alone at a Starbucks because he was afraid to touch me.


I’m stripping for that Grindr trick who threatened to turn me in to the San Francisco health department even though we used condoms and by that point I had been undetectable for years. Who then proceeded to anonymously email the guy I was trying to start a relationship with and had actually starting having feelings for at the time, telling him that I was deliberately trying to expose people and thereby crushing any chance we ever had.


I’m stripping for my sister who has supported me in every possible way from the moment I came out to her (twice) and who’s support has kept me alive even though she can be a total bitch sometimes.


I’m stripping for my mom who probably going to get a call as soon as this gets posted.


I’m stripping for the many friends who have shown me that in their eyes I’m not any different than them.


I’m stripping for the person I love who has held my face in his hands and has simply said, “…it doesn’t matter”.


I’m stripping because its something I can actually DO in order to make a difference besides simply running and hiding under a rock like I have done in the past.


Well at least I hope it makes a difference andI hope you will help, please consider donating to my Strip-A-Thon or maybe come to see the show on June 17th. I promise we won’t disappoint.


Love and Peace.


-Chris