About the Hotties Calendar Project
This calendar represents the unique efforts of some of us working to reduce the harms associated with risky behaviors including drug use and sex. As Dave Purchase, founder of the first North American syringe exchange put it, “Harm reduction is against harm, neutral on the use of drugs per se, and in favor of any positive change, as defined by the person making that change.”
The purpose of the calendar is three-fold; to raise money for syringe exchange and harm reduction based services, to raise awareness about harm reduction and harm reduction strategies, and to combat lookism by presenting a wide variety of Hotties.
The year the calendar was shot on location in and around San Francisco and yes, we were actually naked in public; the police were only called twice which is why our “Coit Tower” shot was taken in the Mission and Coit Tower was added in later (thank goodness for technology!).
This year the calendar is dedicated to one of last years model’s and a true Hottie of Harm Reduction; Luis Kemnitzer, PhD, who died this past spring at the age of 77. Luis was a radical activist and educator who was Professor Emeritus in the Anthropology department at San Francisco State University. In 1988, along with his wife, Moher Downing (featured with Luis in last year’s calendar) and a group of other activists, Luis helped found San Francisco’s first syringe exchange; the second in the nation.
Luis was an activist who supported indigenous people’s rights all over the world. During the American Indian Movement’s occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 he helped the occupation participants develop their educational curriculum. He was a long-time supporter the East Timor Action Network, a group fighting for the rights of indigenous people in East Timor. He was also a labor organizer, an anarchist, and former communist who was a strong advocate for peace and a fixture at anti-nuclear demonstrations. As a true world citizen Luis was a well informed advocate who was clearly able to see the connections between the oppressions occurring around the planet and in our own backyard.
Closer to home he volunteered tirelessly with Martin de Porres, a soup kitchen based on the principals of the Catholic Worker tradition serving San Francisco’s homeless. In 1998 Luis was also the recipient of a Grammy award for his work on a Smithsonian record collection called "Anthology of American Folk Music”.
He is survived by his third wife Moher Downing, five children, six grand children, one great grandchild, and several siblings.
For us it was an honor to have such a venerable activist model for us and for that we would like to honor his contribution both to harm reduction and to the world; his presence made a real difference and his example is one we would like to live by.
In Solidarity
The Hotties of Harm Reduction 2007