Crystal Meth and Gay Men's Health

with Michael Siever from
The Stonewall Project

This is the third episode in the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's four-part series on gay men's health. Michael Siever, Director of the Stonewall Project, a harm reduction program for gay and bisexual men, illustrates the dangerous links between crystal meth, sex and HIV transmission. The Stonewall Project and Magnet, a gay men's community health center in the Castro, will join the AIDS Foundation on July 1. In the fourth episode of this series, AIDS Foundation Executive Director Mark Cloutier will discuss the Foundation's commitment to gay men's health and ways we can build a healthier community.

Michael Siever is the founder and Director of the Stonewall Project. He is a licensed psychologist with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. Dr. Seiver has a long history of community activism as a gay man living with HIV and as an advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities with the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

To listen to the podcast on your computer or mp3 player, download this episode of the SFAF Podcast. (7 minutes, .mp3, 2.4 MB) If you need podcast help or would like to subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or another program, please visit the podcast help page.

Getting fucked 101

from MetroMate/GMFA

Foreplay
Fucking is like decorating – it's all in the preparation. Taking the time for foreplay will make fucking much more comfortable. This can include rimming, gentle fingering, lubrication, patience and listening to each other and responding appropriately. Making sure you take the time to do these things can all help the sphincters relax and reduce the amount of pain and discomfort men experience when having anal sex.

Positions
Different positions will be more comfortable for different couples, depending on the angle of the erection and the curvature of the penis. Any position where your knees are bent and drawn to your chest, whether you are kneeling, lying on your back or on your side, will probably lead to a more comfortable fuck, or will be a good position to start from. This position will straighten out the anal canal and the pubo-rectal sling will draw back to allow smoother entry to the arse.

Relax
If you are relaxed then you will find it easier and more comfortable to get fucked. (Yes, this is what Frankie Goes To Hollywood were singing about). Deep breathing can help you to relax and allows the arse to relax too. Take your time and make sure you feel comfortable, physically and emotionally, if you're feeling tense or pressured it's going to be harder for you to enjoy yourself. If you're struggling to accommodate his cock, try clenching your sphincter muscles around it, and then letting them relax.

Read the rest. It's good!

Click here for more sex tips on how to give and receive blowjobs and knowing your arse better. Love these Brits!

Tinky Winky aint gay?

what-ever

Ombudsman decides on Teletubbies' sexuality

Beyond Fierce: Black & Latino Men In the Life

Opening June 3 in Brooklyn

by Duane Wells Homosexuality has been under intense criticism for as long as anyone can remember. Pair that lifestyle with the scrutiny of being Black or Latino in America, and it’s a double dose of backlash. We’ve seen the sensational side of the gay Black and Latino man - the cross dressing fairies to the overly-animated, finger snapping queens to more recently, the controversial ’Down Lo’ brother. Photographer Delphine Fawundu-Buford, investigates a community of openly homosexual Black & Latino men in a new photography exhibition entitled, Beyond Fierce: Photographs and Words of Black & Latino Men in the Life.

"This community is one that the general public only really knows through stereotypes, the characters that we see on TV and in the movies," explains Delphine, a mid-career photographer and educator based in Brooklyn. "As a social documentarian, I am constantly producing work that dares us to think beyond common stereotypes and question societal prejudices."

Read the rest.
Showing at The Gallery at Harriet’s Alter Ego 293 Flatbush Ave. (btw. St. Marks & Prospect Pl.) Bklyn, NY 11217 718.783.2074

American support of gays up significantly

news story from The Advocate

Wednesday 30 May, 2007


American acceptance of gay rights is at its highest level in 30 years, according to a national poll released Tuesday. A Gallup Poll shows that 59% of Americans believe that “homosexual relations between consenting adults" should be legal.

This question, which is part of the Gallup Poll’s annual Values and Beliefs survey carried out each May, has been asked every year since 1977, when only 43% responded affirmatively.

The largest percentage of Americans voicing support for gays surfaced in May 2003, when 60% agreed that gay sex should be legal. Lawrence v. Texas, the June 2003 Supreme Court ruling that overturned sodomy laws, led to an apparent backlash among the American public regarding gay equality.

From 2003 to 2005 public support remained at about 50%, increasing to 56% last year.

Support for same-sex marriage has also increased to an all-time high. Although supporters are still the minority, 46% believe marriages between same-sex couples should be legally validated.

The most support comes in relation to equality in the workplace, with 89% believing that gays “should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities.” (The Advocate)

Europe's first gay bridal shop opens in Spain

TODAY

BARCELONA - It has all the trimmings of any luxury designer bridal shop - the only difference is it is only for gay men.

The shop, called By, which bills itself as the first in Europe to cater only for homosexual men, will open in Barcelona this week.

Made-to-measure suits, some inlaid with 22-carat gold, will retail for between 1,500 and 6,000.

Apart from traditional bridal suits, also on offer are a collection of rings, boxer shorts, bathrobes and other accessories by a collection of mainly Spanish designers for the big day.

It is will offer clients a tailor-made service for anything to make their weddings as special as anything which heterosexual couples might enjoy.

Owner Santiago Porrero said: "We saw there was a gap in the market for gay men though we are not only aiming for homosexuals.

"It is called By because each person can have a unique creation by one of our designers. There will only be one of these suits in the world."

The shop, in an area of Barcelona nicknamed 'Gaycelona' because of the large number of businesses which target the homosexual community, is to open on May 30.

Read the rest.

Woof Wednesday.2

Woof Wednesday

HIV Prevention is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Gus Cairns Responds to the CDC's "Lowered Expectations"

[see previous post on this topic here]


I personally think the CDC is realistic about this, and prevention advocates unrealistic. It would be very difficult to reduce the number of new cases over the next five years by 50% for several reasons. Reducing HIV incidence in an established epidemic is quite a tough nut to crack. For instance, see the forecasts that serosorting was behind an apparent 50% reduction in incidence in San Francisco gay men a couple of years ago. On further investigation it was found that the reduction in incidence wasn’t anything like as big as at first seemed, because behaviour changes compensated. Incidence in urban gay male populations in the US and Europe has been remarkably steady since 1999, varying between 2.5% and 4% a year but usually sticking around 3%.

Part of the problem is that if 50% of new infections come from people in acute infection themselves, they’re the people least likely to know they’re infected and least likely to change behaviour accordingly.

Partly it’s because the epidemic has its own momentum – the more people you have with HIV, the more people there are to infect others (at least until you reach ‘saturation point’ in a particular population and there are fewer at-risk people left to infect that ones already infected – this may be starting to happen in the African-American population).

And partly it’s because I don’t think the ‘HAART effect’ on increased lifespans for PLWHAs has yet fully worked its way through the epidemic curve: if people with HIV start living 30 years with the virus instead of 3, they have to be 10 times safer in order to infect less than one other person (the magic figure that makes the epidemic shrink, not grow).

Even in places like Uganda, reductions in prevalence (we find) have been more about people dying en masse of AIDS and much less about an actual decline in infections.

I’m also uncomfortable with calls for unrealistic targets to be retained because “even if [they’re] just rhetorical, to fight for more programs and more funding.”

Well, the history of HIV is peppered with examples of people crying doom and disaster that never happens - and forecasting bright dawns that never show (do I have to utter the words ‘HIV vaccine’?) If you keep doing this, it becomes ‘crying wolf’ and the criers become discredited. If the scientific evidence suggests 10% is achievable and 50% isn’t, then go with the 10% I say. [There are exceptions to this rule – such as, some would argue, the ‘3 by 5’ campaign – but even in that case not achieving 3 million on treatment by 2005 was seen by many as a failure by the WHO, even though achieving half that could be seen as a success].

It must never be about fighting “for more programs and more funding” but for effective programs and effective funding.

The real reason we should be fighting for prevention programmes is not because they’ll make things a lot better, but because if you don’t have them, things will get a lot worse, and often in unexpected ways and in unexpected populations. Examples of that one abound!

Prevention is now a marathon, not a sprint. Behaviour change in an established epidemic (as opposed to a sudden emergency, as in the 1980s) can take generations to achieve. It took 50 years to halve the proportion of the population who smoke. It may take as long to reduce – in any lasting way – new HIV cases. We’re in this – barring some magic-bullet prevention technology – for the long haul.
---Gus www.guscairns.com

A passing phase

Crafting a straight persona
may be detrimental to
individuals and gay rights movement

By RYAN LEE
Friday, May 25, 2007

Whether by the braided Mohawk atop his head, the soft features on his clean-shaven face or his tendency to wear form-fitting jeans and T-shirts, Avery Sparks believes it’s not too difficult for most people to look at him and tell he’s gay.

“I don’t think I hardly ever pass for straight,” said a laughing Sparks, a 21-year-old who lives in southwest Atlanta. “People give me looks all the time, and I know why they’re looking, but oh well.”

Michael Young, 20, is also used to occasional stares from neighbors and passers-by, but he is more confident in his ability to be “unclockable” than his best friend Sparks.

“I don’t feel like I scream ‘gay,’” Young said. “Most of the time, unless I’m going out or specifically trying to dress a little showy, people aren’t going to look at me and think first that I’m gay.

“When we’re around our house or in certain areas,” Young continued, “I usually try to be unclockable, just to avoid drama.”

Sparks agreed that comments about his appearance are sometimes both irritating and intimidating.

“You want to be who you really are, but you don’t want to get beat up for that,” Sparks said.

Benefits of passing

The practice of “passing” has long been a way for some members of an underprivileged or oppressed group to escape the consequences of belonging to that group, while benefiting from being perceived as belonging to the privileged group.

Read the rest.

May 31st in Boston!

Whatever Happened to Radicalism?

Club Cafe, Moonshine Room
209 Columbus Ave.
Boston

Come to the exciting season finale of Fenway Community Health's Living Well Series! Thursday May 31st, 6:30-9pm

This year we've addressed crystal meth, racism, HIV & STDs, prevention, AIDS in a global context, the Internet, and relationships-- with bold and daring presenters and lively audience participation.

Our final event will be equally unflinching. We think the time has come to have the following conversation: "Whatever Happened to Radicalism?" A conversation with national leaders in the gay and bi men's health movement, and the new radicals who will carry the flag into the future.

Featuring: Jim Pickett from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Sexual Health Xchange (SHX); Chris Bartlett from the Gay Men's Health Movement Leadership Academy in Philadelphia and Abe Rybek from Boston's Theatre Offensive.

Thursday May 31st, 6:30-9pm Club Cafe, Moonshine Room, 209 Columbus Avenue in Boston's Historic South End.

Food will served and there will be an entertainment portion of the program. As always, this Living Well event is free and open to the public. The 2007-2008 Living Well season will kick-off in September. Feel free to let us know what topics you'd like us to address.


"Living well is the best revenge." -George Herbert

Change Sex or Die

by Doug Ireland


The situation of the transgendered in Iran has been the subject of frequent media reports that paint a rosy picture of life for them in the Islamic Republic, and which characterize Tehran - in a recent description in the U.K. daily The Guardian - as "the unlikely sex-change capital of the world."

Western journalists seem to find it exotic that, in Iran's patriarchal society - in which sexuality and expressions of sexual identity are religiously codified with the force of law, women are restricted to second-class citizenship, and homosexuality is a crime punishable by death - sex reassignment surgery has mushroomed, with the approval of the country's religious authorities.

This came about after Maryam Khatoon Molkara, then a 33-year-old pre-op transman, forced his way into an audience in the early 1980s with the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and founder of and undisputed authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Moved by Molkara's pleas, Khomeini was eventually persuaded to issue a fatwa which declared that sex-change surgery was permitted since it was not mentioned as forbidden in the Koran.

Western journalists present the contemporary Iranian theological discourse on transsexuality that has developed in the ensuing years since Khomeini's fatwa as a curiosity that contradicts the West's prevailing view of Islamic attitudes toward all things sexual.

But Afsaneh Najmabadi, an Iranian who is a professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University, in a January 2005 article on Iranian.com wrote that she feels "uneasy" when reading these "celebratory" portrayals of Iran's attitude toward the transgendered.

"Every time I read one of these reports I want to say BUT, BUT, BUT, because there are some scary things going on that have gone almost unnoticed," she wrote.

Read the rest.

Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention... (yes, more on this topic!)

Is There Really Enough of the Right Kind of Evidence?

Click here for the article by Gary Dowsett and Murray Couch (Aussies both) from the current issue of Reproductive Health Matters.

Department of Lowered Expectations: The CDC Tightens its Belt

by Laura Whitehorn for POZ

Are the federal Centers for Disease Control ramping up or down on HIV prevention? The CDC fell way short of its 2001 target of reducing new HIV cases by 50 percent over five years—rates are up in some communities and barely down in others. But in March, the agency kicked up some excitement by announcing a “heightened response” to the HIV emergency among African Americans, a major prevention push that would boost testing and outreach from coast to coast in the hard-hit black community. Then earlier this month, the overall 50 percent target was quietly shaved to 10 percent. Confusion reigned—and AIDS advocates sounded an alarm.

A slew of prevention workers interviewed by POZ say the drop to a 10 percent goal will undermine fund-raising for their programs and shred progress made so far on stemming the epidemic. “It feels as though the CDC has given up” on HIV prevention, says Ruth True, who coordinates HIV testing and counseling at AIDS Services of Austin. Mark McLaurin of the New York State Black Gay Network says, “We’ve lost a weapon—even if it’s just rhetorical—to fight for more programs and more funding.” Adds David Munar at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, “How do we ask Congress to increase funding for prevention if the CDC puts forward this message that reducing infections is not achievable?”

Read the rest.

Happy Memorial Day kids

SHX welcomes the Black Gay Men's Leadership Council

The Sexual Health Xchange, the mother of LifeLube and this blog, is thrilled to announce a new partner in our work - Philadelphia's Black Gay Men's Leadership Council [BGMLC]

They join AIDS Action Committee (AAC) in Boston, AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC), AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), and New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis, and add a powerful voice to SHX's mission to raise public awareness about the sexual health needs of all gay men and other men who have sex with men and to expand the range of sexual health education options available to gay men, especially gay men of color.

The mission of the BGMLC is to use advocacy, education and community collaborations to empower Philadelphia's diverse communities of black gay men by focusing on their social and political advancement and health and wellness needs, while developing local, regional and national leaders.

Click here for a little history.

Some background on SHX: The name SHX was strategically selected to situate HIV/AIDS within a broader sexual health agenda and the group embraces a coalition approach as the optimal way to address the cross-cutting social issues underlying persistent health disparities affecting gay men and other men who have sex with men. In this regard, SHX strives to intensify an exchange of ideas and resources among individuals and allied organizations, and to expand opportunities for grassroots participation in the promotion of gay men's sexual health as a human rights issue. In doing so, SHX hopes to unite gay men in their desire to have healthy and satisfying sex lives.

Isaiah's PSA for GLAAD

“Words have power. The power to express love, happiness and joy. They also have the power to heal. When you use words that demean a person because of their sexual orientation, race or gender, you send a message of hate. A very powerful message. But we all have the power to demand better from one another and from ourselves. We have the power to heal and change the world by the words we use.”

Here is the video.

Thanks to Rod 2.0 - a blog we click a lot - for drawing our attention to this. Click there for more background info.

GLAAD

[The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation]

.

Preventing HIV: Ethics, Activism, and Promising New Strategies

Dr. Monica Ruiz

Louise Binder

Susan Kingston

Dynamic Speakers at the Center on Halsted
Mark National HIV Testing Day

In conjunction with National HIV Testing Day on Wednesday, June 27, the Center on Halsted and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago will present an exciting day-long lecture series entitled: "Preventing HIV: Ethics, Activism, and Promising New Strategies."

The event is organized into three parts: a morning talk - “The Brave New World of HIV Prevention: Human Rights, Human Risks” by amfAR's acting director for public policy Dr. Monica Ruiz, a mid-day lecture - “Public Health: Is it Good Medicine for Women Impacted by HIV?" by world-renowned activist Louise Binder of the Canadian Treatment Action Council and Voices of Positive Women, and an evening session with Susan Kingston, a methamphetamine expert from Seattle, titled “Crystal Meth Uncensored: What the DEA and the Gay Media Won't Tell You”.

All participants will be served breakfast and lunch; a reception follows the evening segment.

Capacity is limited so please visit www.aidschicago.org/preventingHIV to reserve your space today.

The Center on Halsted is located at 3656 North Halsted in Chicago, two blocks from the CTA's Red Line Addison stop. Special thanks for generous support of this program goes to Abbott Virology and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Ban Kept for Gay Men Donating Blood

Associated Press - May 23, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gay men remain banned for life from donating blood,
the government said Wednesday, leaving in place -- for now -- a 1983
prohibition meant to prevent the spread of HIV through transfusions.

The Food and Drug Administration reiterated its long-standing policy
on its Web site Wednesday, more than a year after the Red Cross and
two other blood groups criticized the policy as "medically and
scientifically unwarranted."

"I am disappointed, I must confess," said Dr. Celso Bianco, executive
vice president of America's Blood Centers, whose members provide
nearly half the nation's blood supply.

Before giving blood, all men are asked if they have had sex, even
once, with another man since 1977. Those who say they have are
permanently banned from donating. The FDA said those men are at
increased risk of infection by HIV that can be transmitted to others
by blood transfusion.

In March 2006, the Red Cross, the international blood association AABB
and America's Blood Centers proposed replacing the lifetime ban with a
one-year deferral following male-to-male sexual contact. New and
improved tests, which can detect HIV-positive donors within just 10 to
21 days of infection, make the lifetime ban unnecessary, the blood
groups told the FDA.

In a document posted Wednesday, the FDA said it would change its
policy if given data that show doing so wouldn't pose a "significant
and preventable" risk to blood recipients.

"It is a way of saying, 'Whatever was presented to us was not
sufficient to make us change our minds,"' Bianco said.

The FDA said HIV tests currently in use are highly accurate, but still
cannot detect the virus 100 percent of the time. The estimated HIV
risk from a unit of blood is currently about one per 2 million in the
United States, according to the agency.

Critics of the exclusionary policy said it bars potential healthy
donors, despite the increasing need for donated blood, and
discriminates against gays. The FDA recognized the policy defers many
healthy donors but rejected the suggestion it's discriminatory.

Anyone who's used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex also is
permanently barred from donating blood.

----------------------
Jim Pickett
via 'Berry

Welcome Leather Lovies to the City of Broad Shoulders... and Bottoms

Glad you're here

Safe, consensual fun!

National AIDS Marathon Training Program Offers Guaranteed Race Entry into Closed Chicago Marathon

We posted on this topic yesterday, but want to let you know that even thought the registration for the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon has already reached capacity, individuals wishing to run don’t need to wait until 2008! Just sign up through the National AIDS Marathon Training Program [NAMTP.] Runners throughout Chicagoland, or anywhere around the country, can gain entry into the closed Chicago Marathon via the program, as well as receive specialized coaching from AIDS Marathon trainers and support from fellow marathon participants. Space is filling up fast, so don’t delay in joining the AIDS Marathon! Learn more!

HPV, HIV and the intersections of BOOTY HEALTH - June 5 in NYC

Anal Cancer, HPV,
and Sexual Health:
Justice in healthcare for men and women

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
6:30 - 8:30 PM

LGBT Community Center
208 West 13th Street (between 7th & 8th Aves.), NYC

Free ~ Open to the public ~ Refreshments provided

Confused by all the discussions around HPV? How does HPV affect us, and how does it relate to anal cancer? Join us to discuss the intersections of "booty health" and the politics of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. With the New York State AIDS Institute having recently released new anal pap guidelines for HIV-positive men and women, this forum will bring together a group of experts who are the forefront of conversations taking place in clinics and health departments across the country.

Speakers Include:

Jim Pickett, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Charles Gonzalez, The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute
Donald Powell, Gay Men of African Descent
Jeff Huyett, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center

Moderated by: Gina Arias, GMHC

Co-sponsored by:

AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Causes in Common, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Gay Men of African Descent, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), LGBT Community Center, National Coalition for LGBT Health

For more information or to be added as a co-sponsor, contact Kim at champ@champnetwork.org 212-937-7955 x3

http://www.champnetwork.org/ // http://www.gaycenter.org/

"Just a snip?": A Social History of Male Circumcision

Click here for this article written by Peter Aggleton for Reproductive Health Matters. A must for anyone who is feeling all GUNG HO about rolling out male cirumcision as an HIV prevention intervention.

S.F.'s same-sex couples asked to adopt foster kids

Gino VanGundy lived in more than 20 foster homes in 14 years as a child. Placement after placement, VanGundy wished someone would keep and love him forever.

"I wouldn't have cared if my adoptive parents were a married man and woman, two gay guys or a single woman," said VanGundy, now 36. "If you have just one person who believes in you, you are going to make it."

With this intimate knowledge of foster children's needs, VanGundy and his partner, Chris Moffet-VanGundy, are adopting a 16-year-old foster girl whose birth parents are dead, giving her and her yellow Labrador, Reynolds, a permanent home -- and two dads who promise to keep and love her forever.

Today, the San Francisco Department of Human Services is starting a campaign [Adoption SF] to recruit more people like the VanGundys to adopt foster kids, especially teens, who are among the hardest to place. The agency sees gays and lesbians as an underutilized pool of potential parents.

Read the rest

Jagged Little Pills - POZ unpacks PrEP

by Adam Graham-Silverman

Some drugs approved to treat HIV may also protect people not infected with HIV if taken before they engage in high-risk activities. Then why has it been so difficult to conduct the necessary studies to prove—or disprove—the theory?

It begins with a study published in 1994 that showed that retrovir (AZT) given to HIV-positive pregnant women before and during birth—and to the infants immediately after delivery—reduced the risk of HIV transmission to the child by 67%. Next came guidelines, issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1998, recommending post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for health care workers who were accidentally exposed to HIV, followed by PEP recommendations for sexual and injection-drug exposure, issued in 2005. Then, in 2006, the world got a glimpse of some intriguing data gleaned from studying HIV-negative monkeys who remained uninfected even after being “rectally challenged” with the HIV virus. They had been given a combination of Gilead Science’s tenofovir (Viread) and emtrictabine (Emtriva).

These studies raised a logical question: Could an HIV drug (or drugs) already on the market be used by people before being potentially exposed to the virus to reduce risk of HIV infections? Are we, in essence, sitting on a valuable addition to the prevention arsenal? The idea is known as PrEP—pre-exposure prophylaxis—and at first glance it seems to present one of the most promising fronts in prevention research. The implications are many. If ARVs like Viread and Emtriva proved effective in preventing (or reducing the risk of) HIV transmission in negative people, serodiscordant couples, gay or straight, could add another layer of reliable protection or quite possibly forgo the condoms in favor of pills. And heterosexual couples could conceive the old fashioned way, without risking passing on the virus to the HIV-negative partner—let alone the baby.

“There’s no reason to believe it won’t work,” says Mark Harrington, executive director of Treatment Action Group in New York City. “People are going to have unsafe sex no matter what, so we are trying to get as many prevention interventions as we can. We desperately need any tool we can get.”

Read the rest.

Woof Wednesday

Go farther than you ever thought you could with the AIDS Marathon Training Program

LifeLuber Jim Pickett, the one with the REALLY BIG mouth pictured below, and below that with his beloved Pace Group - the Jeff Galloways - is doing his 4th marathon with the AIDS Marathon Training Program in Chicago this year. If you are in San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago, YOU, yes you can train to run a marathon and raise money for HIV/AIDS services along the way. It doesn't hurt (too bad) and you will have a blast. So SIGN UP already! And like many AIDS Marathoners, Jim had only run to catch the train prior to signing up for his first one many moons, and bloodied toes, ago... And now he's ADDICTED. It's a nice antidote to his BlackBerry addiction (which aint pretty.) And if you feel like coughing up some green in support of AIDS services in the Chicagoland area, Jim's runner# is 1001. All size donations are accepted :)

Learn more! Select your area:
Chicago Spring Training Program: Chicago Marathon or Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon (April to October 2007) Summer Training Program: Florence Marathon or Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon (June to December 2007) San Francisco Bay Area Summer Training Program: Florence Marathon or Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon (June to December 2007)	Los Angeles Summer Training Program: Honolulu Marathon, Florence Marathon or Disneyland Half Marathon (May to December 2007) Fall/Winter Training Program: Los Angeles Marathon (September 2007 to March 2008) Other Locations

One-in-five HIV-positive individuals thought of suicide in past week, finds US study

Thoughts of suicide are common amongst HIV-positive individuals, American researchers have found. However, in a study published in the May 31st edition of AIDS, they report that few people living with HIV actually plan suicide or would kill themselves given the opportunity. The study, which involved a diverse population of 2,909 HIV-positive patients in four large US cities, found that gay, bisexual and transgender individuals were significantly more likely to have thoughts of suicide, as were individuals who regularly smoked cannabis or who had depressive symptoms. Conversely, Hispanic patients, and individuals of any ethnicity or sexuality in a relationship, were less likely to think of suicide.

Read the rest.

Click here for more info from aidsmap on depression, anxiety and emotional distress.

Looking after your mental health in aidsmap, click here.

Demented, dribbling and diapers???

by Dr. Justin Varney

Looking around the gay community there aren’t many poster boys using walking aides or sporting grey with pride, yet as HIV medication gets better, we are as a community aging along with the general population.

I was recently asked to attend an advisory group for a small scoping project looking at older people’s experiences of mental health services and as the conversation progressed I was forced to consider my own potential for later life – a reality I’d been avoiding on the basis of a fantasy about having a life ending heart attack while engaged in a torrid sexual encounter with half the English rugby team around my mid 50s.

If I am unsuccessful in finding a life partner, then who will be around to notice when I put the smoked salmon in the washing machine instead of the fridge and forget to take my blood pressure tablets for two weeks. Unlike my heterosexual colleagues I am not procreating offspring to ensure that there is someone who will be popping in once a week to check I’m leaving them the sculpture collection in the will and who will advocate for me if the time comes to go into residential care.

Much as I have abused my body with chocolate and alcohol, the limited dalliance with recreational drugs and my high intake of anti-oxidants (did u know very good chocolate contains anti-oxidants!) means I might avoid early onset dementia, but if it doesn’t work then who will be the person in my life who will point out that I might be loosing my marbles.

My own great grandmother in her eighties started to loose her cognitive abilities, she reverted to padding her nether-regions with torn up rags then stuffing the soiled rags under the bed where my grandfather (her son in law) had to retrieve them when she was out of the room and dispose of them. In the presence of company she was alert and engaging and seemed pretty together up until she passed one week shy of her hundredth birthday, it was only if you spent lots of time with her that you saw the silent decline.

My grandfather, and only surviving grandparent, is still driving in his eighties – well driving is a slight exaggeration since he rarely goes about 25 kilometres/hour. He is mobile and goes dancing three times a week, elderly single men (he’s widowed) are a rarity and come valentines day his doormat is littered with valentine cards. But when I look at him I cannot conceptualize myself, we pay his bills for him and my father put in cable so he can watch sport, will there be someone who will pay my bills when I’m that old or will I be surviving on what little I’ve saved?

So why this little venture into my own paranoia about growing old? Medicine means that most of us can now expect to see our sixties, seventies and eighties. Some of us will find those life partners and have children, but most of us will rely on those ‘gay families’ that inspire us day in and day out built out of nights out, nights in and shared love, so invest in them. Talk to you friends about growing old, about what you want to happen in the end, if they don’t know, then who will? It is up to us in our 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s to invest in our bodies, minds and bank accounts to prepare for old age. If I’m going to be demented, dribbling and in diapers, you can bet your life I’m going to be doing it in style!

more on this topic

[about:senior health]

[sage - services and advocacy for glbt elders]

[gay elders: the second gay health crisis, check it out on queer sighted]

[gay elders: lives of courage, shattered hearts and crushed souls, also in queer sighted]

[gay and gray on barbary lane, check it out on planet out]

Dr. Justin's bio
Qualifying in 1999 in the UK as a physician, Dr Varney has worked across district general hospitals, general practice and acute secondary and tertiary care before settling in Public Health. Alongside his day job
as a public health professional in London, he has helped found the UK National LGBT Health Summit, is an LGBT advisor to the Metropolitan Police in London and Department of Health for England and Wales and is part of the executive of the Gay & Lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists. In the small hours of the night while pondering his batchelor status, he manages BearHealthUK , LGBTHealthUK, and has just helped to launch OutProudHere an international queer communitiy activism site following the 2007 Philadelphia LGBT Health Summit.

Call to Action - Ending AIDS in Boston's Black Community

Here are the facts:

HIV is one of the leading causes of death for Black adults in the U.S.

Among youth aged 13-24, Blacks accounted for 61% of HIV diagnoses.

Black women account for 70% of all female infections in Boston.

In one study, 46% of young Black men who have sex with men tested HIV positive.

Black Bostonians are 4 times more likely than other residents to die of AIDS.

1/3 of Blacks in Massachusetts who test HIV+ already have AIDS by the time they get into care.

Be part of the solution.

Join us for a community discussion about ending AIDS in our community. The statistics are shocking, and the silence and stigma must end. Through this local dialogue we are calling on the community and other partners to issue a call to action to stop AIDS in Black America.

Join us at Hibernian Hall, May 31, 2007, 6-9 pm. Click here to RSVP Today.

Keynote Speaker (pictured): Phill Wilson, Executive Director, Black AIDS Institute, Los Angeles.

Other Panelists Will Include:

Douglas Brooks, MSW, LCSW, Vice President, Health Services, Justice Resource Institute.

Catherine duBois Gaynes, HIV/AIDS Activist and Educator.

Reverend Martin D. McLee, J.D., Senior Pastor, Union United Methodist Church.

Harold Cox, Moderator, Associate Dean, Boston University School of Public Health.

This event is free and open to the public. Hibernian Hall, 182-184 Dudley Street, Roxbury, MA 02120 6:00 6:30 pm:

Free Catered Reception 6:30 9:00 pm: Town Hall Meeting Click here to RSVP or call 617-450-1644.

Cosponsored by: AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Black AIDS Institute, Boston Public Health Commission, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Justice Resource Institute, and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.