Positive Lives
Encyclopedia
Positive Lives was a HIV
charity
set up by two well-known gay businessmen, David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis, and three other trustees, William Curry, Simon Brycesson and Glyn Maddocks, in 1996.
At the time, Bridle and Sollis owned Chronos Publishing, the company that published gay weekly magazines The Pink Paper and Boyz
. They also had a stake in the commercial gay pride
festival London Mardi Gras.
According to its trust deed, Positive Lives was set up to run a helpline, produce information videos, provide housing and promote safer sex. Bridle and Sollis said it would also take over running of a magazine, Positive Times, which they had previously run as a successful commercial venture.
In May 2000, Outcast magazine
ran an exposé claiming that Positive Lives had "done no charitable work whatsoever" and alleged that all the money raised by the charity had "mysteriously disappeared".
The Charity Commission
investigated the allegations made in the article and concluded:
Positive Lives was shut down by the Commission.
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
set up by two well-known gay businessmen, David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis, and three other trustees, William Curry, Simon Brycesson and Glyn Maddocks, in 1996.
At the time, Bridle and Sollis owned Chronos Publishing, the company that published gay weekly magazines The Pink Paper and Boyz
Boyz (magazine)
Boyz is a free, London-based magazine, targeted at gay men and distributed mainly through gay bars, clubs and saunas in the United Kingdom. Published weekly, it tends to focus on news about the gay scene and celebrities popular with young scene-going gay men.Boyz is relatively light on "serious"...
. They also had a stake in the commercial gay pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
festival London Mardi Gras.
According to its trust deed, Positive Lives was set up to run a helpline, produce information videos, provide housing and promote safer sex. Bridle and Sollis said it would also take over running of a magazine, Positive Times, which they had previously run as a successful commercial venture.
In May 2000, Outcast magazine
Outcast (magazine)
Outcast was a controversial 'queer' magazine in the United Kingdom. It was launched as a non-profitmaking project by Chris Morris in 1999....
ran an exposé claiming that Positive Lives had "done no charitable work whatsoever" and alleged that all the money raised by the charity had "mysteriously disappeared".
The Charity Commission
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales....
investigated the allegations made in the article and concluded:
- The Commission found little evidence that any charitable activity had ever been undertaken by Positive Lives
- The accounts produced for Positive Lives did not show a true and fair view of the charity’s activities
- The charity’s accounts suggest that [The Pink Paper] donated £55,300 to the charity but the reality is that little or no money changed hands
- The Commission found that the trustees of Positive Lives failed in even the most basic duties that would be expected of them
Positive Lives was shut down by the Commission.