Tommi Avicolli Mecca

The AIDS Housing Alliance/SF celebrated its first anniversary at a special “rent party” performance of local activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca’s critically acclaimed one-man show, Italian. Queer. Dangerous on Friday, Jan. 28, at the Jon Sims Center.

Through monologue and spoken word, well-known San Francisco queer activist and writer Avicolli Mecca tells his story of growing up in South Philly’s working-class Little Italy, directed by Francesca Prada. At age 19, fired up with new pride in being gay, he came out to the world—and his traditional Roman Catholic southern Italian famiglia—on a TV talk show. The rest is history, and the subject of this performance. Critics have called the show “profound” and “a one-man, Italian Torch Song Trilogy.”

“I’ve done theater a lot in the past 30 years, but politics always lured me away from my dream in life—to tell stories on stage,” says Avicolli Mecca. “I love storytelling, and that’s what I do in the show. Tell stories from my life. Put some things in perspective. Make you laugh and cry. Hopefully make you understand a little about my life and all of our lives.”

All proceeds from the performance benefited the all-volunteer housing group, which has provided free housing counseling and apartment referrals for hundreds of people with HIV/AIDS in the last year. They also scored a legislative victory in November 2004 when the Board of Supervisors enacted its much needed eviction protections for people with AIDS, seniors, and other disabled people.

“Starting this organization on my disability check was the best investment I ever made,” says founder Brian Basinger. “We’ve been able to do so much with so little over the past year. It is community support like this benefit that helps us meet the AIDS housing crisis head-on.” He said the goal for the evening is to raise $1000, which will help pay their expenses for two months.

AHA does roommate referrals, has apartment listings, and develops relationships with friendly landlords who want to provide a welcoming place to live for people with AIDS. AHA also acts as a resource for landlords to help them understand how to modify their policies to accommodate the real needs of the AHA members. AHA strongly advocates for its clients within the different subsidy organizations to help them be accepted.

“We have relationships with all the people within the organizations, because we know the information flow, we know how the paperwork gets pushed, and we do it for the landlords so they don’t have to,” says Basinger.

“The 28th is a benefit for the AIDS Housing Alliance, which I believe is the only organization in San Francisco that actually gets housing for people with AIDS,” says Avicolli Mecca. It will be a year old on that day.”

The AIDS Housing Alliance/SF is a housing referral agency founded by and for people with HIV/AIDS. They protect the housing that people already have and provide resources to help people move, offering services such as apartment listings and deposit assistance. They promote public policy that increases housing and home ownership opportunities for their members. For further information on AIDS Housing Alliance, call 553-2535.