Team Friendly is an all-volunteer organization headed up by Prophater, who said he wanted to give back to his community. A recovering crystal meth addict who was diagnosed with HIV in 2004, Prophater, who is gay, said he felt there was not enough taking place in various organizations about tackling HIV stigma head on.
“The goal is through one conversation at a time, create an HIV-neutral Atlanta. We approach everyone the same way. As much as there is a stigma of being positive, there’s also reverse discrimination from positive people to engage in relationships or other activities in that nature with negative people,” Prophater said.
“We know that we will have the largest support in the gay community; this is an opportunity for people outside the gay community to interact with Team Friendly and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” Prophater added. “For the newness of our organization, we don’t want people to strap us to a bar event or a nightlife event. One-on-one conversations happen best outside of those environments.”
The Atlanta Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a local LGBT fundraising machine and can be regularly spotted at events ranging from protests to gala dinners. The group was originally formed in San Francisco in the 1970s. Since then, the organization has expanded across the country, including here in Atlanta.
For more information about the Atlanta Sisters, please visit: www.atlsisters.org.
For more information about Team Friendly, please visit: www.teamfriendlyatl.org.