With the music of “Fiddler in the Roof” playing in the back of my head, this week I have been dreaming about what we could do with $1.5 million to win global equality.

My international network of friends has been working on a three-year grant proposal focusing on the intersection of LGBT oppression with HIV. For every person we place on life-saving medications (ARV’s), two people become newly infected somewhere on Earth. Meanwhile, draconian laws remain on the books of 76 countries where it is illegal to serve criminalized populations including LGBT people.

“They threw my clothes and furniture out from my home. I had nowhere to live but in my car and nothing to eat. My head was spinning – where to go, what to do?”

Only 10 days after the Spirit of 76 initiative was celebrated in Washington, D.C., one of our bright and talented African activists was deliberately targeted by his government for retaliation. His crime: He attended the International AIDS Conference and was sponsored by St. Paul’s Foundation here in San Diego.