Sex and Drugs

LAST DAYS

Chicago's Project CRYSP survey is closing September 30. Please click the banner NOW if you would like to participate.

And many hanks to the hundreds who have already filled it out!

'Risk reduction' strategies don't always prevent HIV infection for gay men

Over a third of gay men with recent HIV infection due to unprotected anal sex contracted the virus after employing a “risk reduction” strategy, according to an Australian study published in the October 1^st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Some of the methods of perceived risk reduction mentioned by the men were serosorting, insertive unprotected anal sex, and receptive unprotected anal sex with an HIV-positive partner who reported an undetectable viral load. The investigators believe that their study shows that risk reduction is not a substitute for consistent condom use.

The number of gay men reporting unprotected anal sex with casual partners has increased in many countries since the mid-1990s. The extent to which this represents a true increase in the risk of HIV infection is uncertain because men often employ personal strategies to minimise their risk of becoming infected with HIV despite having unprotected anal sex.

Read the rest on aidsmap.

LifeLube - once a day in your box

One of these men just received his once-daily dose of LifeLube goodness.

Let go of the bitter jealousy, have more fun and subscribe to the LifeLube blog today. You too can receive a once-daily e-mail of blog delights - pics included - in your box, or you can lube up your life with a web reader, like Google, Yahoo, Bloglines, AOL, etc...

Of course, you can always clickety click and surf over for your gay, sexy, healthy fix too...

No matter how you like your LifeLube, it's all good.

Friday is for Faeries #3

Men who smoke risk erectile dysfunction

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Otherwise healthy men who smoke risk developing erectile dysfunction -- and the more cigarettes they smoke, the greater the risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study.

Erectile dysfunction is the consistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. In a study of 4,763 Chinese men aged 35 to 74 years who were free of blood vessel disease and who reported that they had been sexually active within the last 6 months, the researchers found a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes smoked and the likelihood of erectile dysfunction.

"The association between cigarette smoking and erectile dysfunction was found in earlier studies," said first author Dr. Jiang He of Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans. "However, most of those studies were conducted in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and cardiovascular disease. What distinguishes this study is that it is the first to find this association among healthy men."

Overall, men who smoked had a 41-percent greater risk of erectile dysfunction than men who did not, the team reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

And there was a clear "dose-response" relationship, meaning that the more the men smoked, the higher was their risk of erectile dysfunction. Compared with non-smokers, men who smoked up to 10 cigarettes per day had a 27-percent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction ; those who smoked 11 to 20 butts a day had a 45-percent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction; and those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily had a-65 percent greater chance of suffering erectile dysfunction.

The investigators estimate that 22.7 percent of erectile all dysfunction cases among healthy Chinese men - or 11.8 million cases -- might be caused by cigarette smoking.

And even when cigarette smokers quit, their risk of developing erectile dysfunction did not decrease. The risk of erectile dysfunction was statistically about the same for former cigarette smokers as for current cigarette smokers, the authors found.

"This study really has a strong message for young men," He said. "It may get their attention if they know that smoking is associated with erectile dysfunction -- even in the healthy population."

"So the message is: Don't start."

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, October 1, 2007.

Folsom this Sunday in SF

The Kite Runner - trailer

This is the movie based on one of LifeLube's favorite books. It is opening the Chicago International Film Festival next Thursday...

Friday is for Faeries #2

Friday is for Faeries #1

Check out the NEW edition of Corpus!

Corpus is an HIV prevention journal that uses art, cultural criticism, poetry, short stories and humor to reveal the resilience in gay and bisexual communities. Corpus is produced once a year by Sexual Health Xchange (SHX) member, AIDS Project Los Angeles, and distributed for free across the country.


This fall issue - the 6th in a series - looks at the experiences, challenges and magic of gay men living in rural areas. As we attempt to forge viable national (and increasingly international) responses to the epidemic among gay and bisexual men, most official AIDS industry ideas and information emanate from the coasts and large central cities. There are reasons for this, having to do with power and politics, and because gay men and the disease are most highly concentrated in large, urban areas that therefore bear the brunt of the epidemic and serve as contact nodes for transmission. But those of us who operate in the metropolis can sometimes confuse our own needs for those of all gay men. This oversight is problematic and more silencing than any lonely country road, because the disease and the needs of gay men take on particular nuances across the many, diverse rural communities nationwide.


The AIDS pandemic is rapidly expanding in the South and on too many Native American reservations. How are rural gay men and their communities responding? Rural life has its own pace, one whose rhythms are dictated not only by development but also by growing seasons, unbuilt and wide-open spaces, and fewer bodies to either compete or connect with. What do these rhythms have to teach us about desire and wellness? A forest's sense of two hundred year growth? A mountain's millennial wisdom regarding survival? A rural, elder homosexual's stoic sense of subtlety? A teen queen's negotiation of family, boyfriend and belonging?


Just as our rural, urban and suburban communities are linked by history, weather and commerce (Who grew that food we're eating? Where was our favorite TV show produced?), so too are we connected by HIV. AIDS is a disaster. It is also an opportunity. As global trends in the pandemic and the movements in our own personal lives have shown, AIDS continues to require a more comprehensive, inclusive and holistic approach toward prevention and health.

Thus this issue of Corpus is not about locking down an airtight definition of country queers or creating yet another social service category. Like all previous issues of the journal, this edition instead seeks meaningful connections between people, places and possibilities. From the Pacific Northwest to the Heartland, Arkansas to Utah, Virginia to the Dakotas, New Mexico to Mississippi, Canada to California's Central Valley, this issue of Corpus encourages a strong rural presence in our shared conversations about gay men, HIV and the challenging and cherished moments of living in the country.

Check out Corpus here. And let us know what you think, leave a comment!

Getting It Up - Body of Life.3

by Norris Tomlinson
...only on LifeLube

Do you ever feel like you just don’t have the energy to get up and go, or, in some instances, to even get it up at all? When the morning coffee boost wears off, do you come crashing way down? Are you less energetic than you have been in the past? It might be time to take a look at the amount of protein that you are taking in through your diet.

Protein helps to provide sustained energy and is a catalyst for performing many vital functions for well being. Your body can capably uses protein as a fuel to produce energy or glucose. Protein plays a major role in building and repairing muscle tissue---including that which is relative to the heart---and helps in maintaining a strong immune system. Your body uses protein to make hemoglobin---the part of red blood cells than transports oxygen to every part of your being.

Now, don’t get carried away and decide to go on an extreme diet, i.e. protein only. Taking balanced meals that include protein, carbohydrates, fiber-rich foods, and even (good) fats is the rule here. Be sure to include protein in all of your meals, especially at breakfast time. Having protein first thing in the morning provides a more sustained level of energy versus the typical heavy carbohydrate breakfast of bagels, pancakes, or doughnuts.

The best food sources of protein include fish, chicken, turkey, beef, eggs, nuts, and beans. Don’t have time to scramble eggs in the morning? Try making a protein drink using any number of reputable protein mixes on the market. Combined with milk, fruit or fruit juice, it is the perfect breakfast for on-the-go. Speaking of combining, let’s just reiterate the importance of balance. Go ahead, have the bagel for breakfast; but be sure to top it with a smear of peanut butter or a slice of salmon.

Be careful not to overindulge on a good thing. Too much protein only taxes your kidney and liver as they work hard to eliminate the excess. How much is enough? A very general guide is to consume about one gram of protein for every two pounds that you weigh. Mr. Tall Fit & Handsome that weighs 160 pounds could stand to take in about 80 grams, less or more, of protein daily.

Take some time to look at the foods you eat on a daily basis alongside what are the physical requirements of your body---work, exercise, sex. If you are not always up to the tasks, maybe a tweak in the balance of your diet might need to be added to your “to do” list.

Stay tuned – we will cover the good fats the next time, as promised before; protein took up too much space this time.

For additional information on protein, take a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/protein.html http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html


Bio Norris
Norris Tomlinson has been a professional in the fitness industry for 18 years. He is currently the Program Director and a master Pilates instructor for Cheetah Gym Chicago. He is the former Director of Fitness Services for Bally Total Fitness Corporation, responsible for fitness programming at approximately 400 clubs across North America.

Have a question for Norris? E-mail him here.

The perils of viral apartheid

Hanging on the telephone?

by Shawn Syms for xtra.ca

What if you could find out whether or not your next sexual partner had tested positive for HIV, at the push of a button on your touchtone phone?

That's the premise behind the "Safe Sex License" offered by STFree Certifications, which claims 15,000 members internationally. Members can "instantly prove" they've been tested and share their most recent test results by showing a photo ID card and sharing their PIN number for STFree's computerized telephone service.

No one needs a license to have safer sex, a concept that originated in the gay community back when powerful forces were still arguing that people with HIV should be quarantined. Safer sex means making informed choices about the risks we take in our most intimate moments — including the risk that one or both partners might have HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Such a service might seem solely in the interest of HIV-negative people. After all, if you had HIV and told someone, who would ever accuse you of lying? The company's website admits the service can only provide a member's most recent test results, acknowledging the "window period" that means a person with a recent HIV infection can have the virus and still test negative.

Read the rest.

Chicago's Gay Men's Health Summit - MANALIVE - November!

Test Positive Aware Network is facilitating MANALIVE, a gay men's health summit for the fourth year. This year, the day-long conference will be held Saturday, November 3, at the new Center on Halsted. The event includes a continental breakfast and full lunch. Click here to register.

MANALIVE for 2007 is truly a Chicago community effort and will bring together over 200 gay men to network and discuss a variety of gay men's health issues. Eighteen workshops, a community resource fair, lunch and a closing reception will be held. Highlighting the event are two guest key note speakers, Mark McLaurin from the New York State Gay Men's Black Caucus and Tony Mills, MD from Los Angeles.

Hosting sponsor for Manalive is the Center on Halsted. Co-sponsors of this year's event include Chicago Department of Public Health, Better Existence with HIV (BEHIV), Chicago House, the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, A Church 4 Me/Metropolitan Community Church and Howard Brown Health Center.

Manalive is generously supported by the following: Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, EMD Serono, Steamworks and the Chicago Department of Public Health.

And LifeLube is delighted to help get the word out! And we hope to see you pretties there too!

Don't ask, don't tell, Iranian style

Why did Ahmadinejad claim Iran has no homosexuals?

It has to do with a quilt.

By Sandip Roy, via salon.com

Sept. 26, 2007 | At Columbia University Mahmoud Ahmadinejad established himself as the Great Denier -- of nuclear weapons, the Holocaust and homosexuals. "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he told the audience (see video below). "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."

Perhaps it was the ghosts of Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari.

On July 19, 2005, Marhoni and Asgari, both teenagers, were hanged publicly for homosexual sex in the Iranian city of Mashad. That was the year Ahmadinejad became president. Maybe what he meant to say is that in Iran we have no more homosexuals.

The loud, skeptical laughter from the audience showed that while some might still believe that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons for peaceful purposes, no one bought his homosexual-free zone.

But the problem lay in the question. Ahmadinejad was asked why his country denies women and homosexuals rights. If the questioner had asked the Iranian president about homosexual acts instead of a class of people known as "homosexuals," maybe Ahmadinejad would have conceded the existence of such a "phenomenon."

Iran is not alone in refusing to acknowledge homosexuals. From Uganda to India, many countries, especially ones with colonial histories, try to disown this Western import. (Cricket, Marxism, washing machines, are apparently OK despite their Western roots.)

This thing of darkness, Ahmadinejad seemed to say, I do not accept as mine.

The West always wants to label, classify, order. In the East, to label, classify, order, reveal or name can invite conflict. In 1944, in one of the first obscenity cases in India, famous Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai was hauled before the court for a short story about lesbianism called "The Quilt." It was clear to any reader what was going on under the quilt when a noblewoman and her favorite maid pulled it over themselves at night. "Begam Jan's quilt was once more swaying in the dark like an elephant ... The elephant was making sounds as if it was trying to squat. The sound of someone smacking his lips as if savoring a delicious sauce."

But the court absolved Ismat Chughtai because she never named the act that happened under the quilt. She never took the quilt off. Safely hidden under it, Begum Jan could do whatever she wanted.

Five decades later, Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta pulled the covers off lesbian sex in the film "Fire," where two Delhi housewives are shown not only making love but also wondering what name to call themselves. Theaters were ransacked, screenings disrupted, questions were raised in Parliament. And not just by homophobic religious fundamentalists. "There is a danger that many of those exposed to this controversy will learn to view all such signs of affection through the prism of homosexuality. As a consequence many will feel inhibited in expressing physical fondness for other women for fear of being permanently branded as lesbians," worried Madhu Kishwar, the editor of one of India's most famous feminist magazines, Manushi.

The protection of the quilt was gone. The act of naming is dangerous.

The act of showing is even more so. The soon-to-be-released film version of the bestselling novel "The Kite Runner" is causing a ruckus in Afghanistan for showing the rape of a young boy. The family of the 12-year-old boy actor wants the scene cut. "This is against Afghan culture," the boy's father told the Associated Press.

Yet if there is one country whose culture is imbued with boy-love, it's Afghanistan. Nineteenth-century British explorer Richard Burton wrote in his accounts of travels through the region about "lads almost in women's attire with kohl'd eyes and rouged cheeks." "The cities of Afghanistan and Sindh are thoroughly saturated with Persian vice," wrote Burton, in a blow to both Iran and Afghanistan.

A famous Pathan marching song goes, "There is a boy, across the river with a bottom like a peach. But alas, I can't swim." The Taliban even had an injunction against their fighters taking boys without facial hair into their private quarters.

But when an act is shown on film, it moves from private quarters to the public sphere. It gets a name. It gets an identity. It gets a marker on the Kinsey scale. And you cannot avert your eyes from it. It becomes real.

"The people of Afghanistan do not understand that it's only acting or playing a role in a film," the boy's father told the Associated Press. "They think it has actually happened."

And it has. It has happened thousands of times, hundreds of thousands of times. But now it's been dragged into the light, pinned down like a butterfly on an entomologist's table, available to dissect, label, name and even post on YouTube.

There are men having homosexual sex in Iran. Ahmadinejad knows that. His questioner knows that. The questioner tried to shame the Iranian president. The Iranian president retreated into blind denial. The real failure of the interrogation at Columbia University was in not being able to find a way to talk about that obvious truth without completely stripping off the quilt.

Once we figure out how to do that, we might even be able to discuss nukes.

A version of this story was originally published by New America Media.

See previous LifeLube post on this topic.

All Over Your Face by Cazwell

Sexy vid... If you are in Chicago, he is going to be at Berlin tonight...

AIDS Leaders Rebecca Haag and David Munar Call You to Act on the National AIDS Strategy

Tune in to AIDS Action's Rebecca Haag and David Munar of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago in this radio interview on "The Agenda," hosted by Joe Solomonese, Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign.

They discussed the National AIDS Strategy Call to Action.

Listen up and then sign on in support as an individual. Sign your organization on as well.

AIDS is a national crisis. The next President of the U.S. should develop a results-oriented AIDS strategy.

The wealthiest nation in the world is failing its own people in responding to the AIDS epidemic at home. Consider that in the U.S.:

* Every year, 40,000 people are newly infected with HIV. The HIV infection rate has not fallen in 15 years.

* Over a million people are living with HIV. In 2002, an estimated half of people living with HIV/AIDS were not in care.

* African Americans represent 13% of the population but nearly half of all new HIV infections. In 2004, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death among black women ages 25 - 34.

Woof Wednesday #3

Woof Wednesday #2

Combatting bigotry the gayest way he knows how

LifeLube loves Canadian goodies such as this great site...

From their FAQ's:

"So, what’s all this, then?

This is a website. It’s basically just a bunch of binary encoded text and markup, wrapped in an HTTP header, and sent to you via multiple TCP/IP packets.

At a higher semantic level, this is an anti-homophobia site. I read some news that either a) bothers me because it’s stupidly anti-gay, or b) delights me because it’s not stupidly anti-gay. Then I illustrate it. Poorly."

Woof Wednesday

Buenos Aires hosts Gay World Cup of Soccer

Read a bunch of posts on this here.

Mayor's gay remarks split black community

[originally posted in the Miami Herald, September 23]

Inside Fort Lauderdale City Hall, a contingent of gay white men squared off against black ministers this month, arguing over civil rights.

Outraged over the ministers' decision to announce their support of Mayor Jim Naugle's crusade against homosexuals on Sept. 4, about 20 gay activists wearing red shirts and AIDS pins condemned the clergymen the next day for not being sympathetic to their cause -- one they say mirrors the African-American struggle.

The ministers did not agree.

''You didn't have to drink from separate fountains. Our struggle is not the same ... you can't equate race and sexuality,'' O'Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center, told one activist. ``Slavery was not a choice.''

''Yours is a message of hate, minister ... you don't speak on behalf of freedom,'' answered Michael Rajner of the Campaign to End AIDS, a nonprofit group.

Now the debate over gay rights threatens to drive a wedge between members of South Florida's black community. Despite the support that many black ministers showed for Naugle, the local NAACP took a public stand against the mayor, calling his crusade a ``hate campaign.''

''I'm not here to condone or condemn gay sex,'' Marsha Ellison, head of the Broward NAACP, told The Miami Herald. ``This is a hate campaign against gays launched by the mayor.''

She said the branch's position -- adopted after a unanimous vote of its 22-member executive committee as well as branch members -- echoes the national NAACP's position. ''Anytime any group is discriminated against it becomes a civil rights issue,'' she said.

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond made national headlines with his recent endorsement of gay marriage -- a step several prominent black ministers publicly criticized.

While Bond has noted that ''no parallel between movements for rights is exact,'' his position differs with ministers and others who suggest that sexual orientation is a matter of choice. He wrote last year: ``Like race, our sexuality isn't a preference -- it is inborn, and the Constitution protects us all against discrimination based on immutable differences.''

Naugle drew scorn from gay activists nationwide after endorsing an advisory board proposal to spend $250,000 on an automated public restroom on Fort Lauderdale beach. The mayor said it would cut down on men having sex in public facilities.

Initially, the city said only two people had been arrested for sexual activity in a public restroom since 2005. But Naugle recently said that number is at least eight, including a recent arrest at Holiday Park.

Coming to Naugle's support this month was a coalition of ministers who argue that the NAACP's stand is out of step.

Read the rest in the Miami Herald.

Ahmadinejad: "In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals"

Read the post on Towleroad.

Speed, Sex & Sanity - Live!

[click image to enlarge]

This Wednesday, September 26!

Get LifeLubed right in your box, without ever leaving your homepage

Yes! You can now subscribe to the Gay, Sexy, Healthy [and adorable] blog that is LifeLube right this very minute. Figuring out how to "burn this feed" wasn't quite as hard as setting up that gd futon when we were 19, but we did cry almost as much and pounded our fists into the sky a lot. Why? Because many, many of you have asked for a web-based news reader/subscription service, and ya know what, we care, we really do care, so it was worth the pain, agony and not-so-gentle rocking that was all a part of getting this thing syndicated. Anywho, you can now subscribe to this tasty FeedBurned morsel of a LifeLube blog through a web-based news reader, or delivered right up in your box via e-mail once-a-day. All that without ever having to leave your cozy lil homepage to get some of that always fresh LifeLubed feeling. Just click the flame and you're halfway there.

Latino Spirits

Rafael habla about the Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy that took place on Easton Mountain this past weekend.

Guidance on gay bullying issued to schools

via Pink News (UK)

The Department for Children, Families and Schools has issued guidance to schools in England and Wales on how to tackle homophobic bullying.

The new guidance from the government gives teachers, head teachers, school governors and support staff practical advice on how to recognise, prevent and respond to homophobic language and physical abuse.

It follows on from Stonewall's wide-ranging study into homophobic bullying published in June this year, entitled The School Report.

Nearly two thirds of LGB students reported instances of homopbobic harassment.

That figure jumps to 75% of young gay people attending faith schools.

The survey of more than 1,100 young people found that only 23% of all UK schools explicitly condemn homophobic bullying.

92% of gay, lesbian and bisexual pupils have experienced verbal abuse, 41% physical bullying and 17% have been subject to death threats.

30% of pupils reported that adults have been responsible for incidents of homophobic bullying in their schools.

Nearly every interviewed student had heard phrases like, 'You're so gay', and remarks like 'poof' and 'dyke' in UK schools.

Kevin Brennan, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families, told PinkNews.co.uk in July that the government wants to eradicate homophobia in education.

"The guidance is strong, it has got the full force of the government behind it," he said.

"We are committed to making sure that every school implements the guidance.

"We don't like to simply put bureaucratic requirements on schools without the evidence that that is needed so at this stage it remains guidance. We will be monitoring its implementation."

The Department for Children, Families and Schools also launched an online cyberbullying campaign today.

New guidance and a short film will help schools tackle bullies who use the internet or mobile phones to bully other children or abuse their teachers.

To view the government guidance on homophobic bullying, click here.

For a number of gay bars, it's last call

A changing gay society might not need the bars as cultural centers today.

via OrlandoSentinel.com


The Full Moon Saloon went back to the days when gay bars didn't advertise their existence. No signs out front. No name on the door.

Faces was for lesbians only. No men allowed.

Southern Nights, one of the first gay bars in Orlando, built its business around drag-queen shows and "Lesbo a Go-Go" nights.

The Lava Lounge was an idea hatched at poolside by four friends, gay and straight, who thought it would be fun to run a bar. It lasted five years.

All four bars are gone -- victims of circumstance and changing times. Within a matter of months, Orlando's gay and lesbian community witnessed its bar scene shrink by a third, seemingly overnight.

To some, the loss of Full Moon, Faces, Lava and Southern Nights signals the end of an era in which bars served as the hub of social life in the gay community. They offered sanctuary, anonymity and intimacy in a world that was largely hostile toward gays and lesbians.

"It was the community center. There were no other social places to gravitate to," said Steve Tuhy, 54, a gay bar owner who moved to Orlando three years ago from Minneapolis.

But that changed as gays gained greater acceptance in society, older gays became more monogamous, and younger gays gravitated toward nightclubs that cater to a mixed crowd. "The larger percentage are in relationships, taking care of things at home. A lot have kids," Tuhy said. "If you're under 30, you don't care. You just go wherever it's a cool, hot bar."

Read the rest.

Tell Project CRYSP About Your Sex Life Chicago!

Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy - A taste of assets

The Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy converged on Easton Mountain in upstate New York this past weekend... Here is a post on ASSETS from their blog - the strategies section should be posted above your desk if you work with, or want to work with, gay men. Check out the rest of their blog for more fabu.

What does it mean to engage with gay men from an assets and strengths-based perspective?

As leaders in gay men’s health work, we could benefit from taking a critical look at the ways that we tend to focus entirely on the challenges and deficits in gay men’s culture, while largely ignoring the strengths and assets of gay men-- strengths that could be brought to bear on these challenges and deficits.

In our conversation today, we will discuss the following questions:

1. Do you love gay men in your work? Do you sometimes hate us?

2. What are the FACTS about gay men—how do we establish a fact?

3. How can we speak about us (and these facts) in a way that acknowledges our real challenges and deficits (GET REAL), while celebrating our many strengths and assets? How can we bring our assets and strengths to bear on challenges we face?

4. What conspires to keep some of us thinking about gay men’s deficits predominantly?

5. What strategies can gay leadership use to restore balance to the picture of gay men’s strengths and deficits.

What conspires to keep us thinking from a deficits-based foundation:

1. Media: we very seldom see positive media representations of our culture. Media stories (and the press releases that generate them) are often focused on the crisis-of-the-week among gay men.

2. Research/science: Research in gay communities tends to focus on deficits and problems, instead of strengths that could be utilized. There are counterexamples, for example research that has shown how family support leads to resilience in gay men.

3. Education system: Still largely structured to inculcate a negative view of gay youth. This is slowly changing.

4. Religious institutions

5. Government

6. Families

7. Ourselves

Strategies for doing assets based work

1. Provide a critique of programs/campaigns/efforts that are deficits-focused. Help the organizers of such efforts to see how they may have made gay men’s strengths invisible.

2. Seek balance between strengths/assets and deficits. This is not about making invisible our deficits—it’s about restoring some balance to a conversation that has been focused largely on gay men’s deficits. We want to hear about the strengths!

3. Confront Horizontal Hostility— this is the tendency for oppressed people to take out their hostility on others in the oppressed group, instead of on the oppressor. Other gay men (and our allies) are not the enemy.

4. Remind colleagues and friends about gay men’s strengths

5. Seek out strong gay men and ask them to share their strengths with you. Share your strengths with others. Model your assets. Celebrate each other.

6. Challenge institutions that insist upon speaking only of deficits. Teach them about gay men’s strengths.

Aint Mondays a Kick in the Skirt

RuPaul's "Starrbooty" Trailer

Foxy Brown has nada on this gal...

NEW YORK SEX ED IS COMPREHENSIVE-ONLY

Yo, it's good news Thursday! The same day New York Civil Liberties Union issued a new report "Financing Ignorance: A Report of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding in New York" chronicling the dangerous funding of medically inaccurate abstinence-only education in 39 New York State programs, State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines announced that as of October 1, state funds won't go for anything other than comprehensive sex education.

Daines' announcement followed his July move to cancel existing contracts with abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and no longer accept funds from Title V, one of the main federal funding streams for abstinence-only education.

"We're very pleased the Department of Health decided to stay away from dirty money, but we'll only be satisfied when comprehensive sex education is fully funded," NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said after a press conference Thursday to announce NYCLU's report. Organizations supporting NYCLU's proposal include Family Planning Advocates, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center, CHAMP, Housing Works, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Representatives from supporting organizations spoke at Thursday's release about the different ways abstinence-only education is damaging.

Read the rest via Housing Works.

AIDS is a Black Disease!

[Phill Wison, founder and executive director of the Black AIDS Institute, is now a blogger on AOL's Black Voices Blogs - taking over "AIDS - 25 Years & Counting" - and this is his first post!]

A while ago when I was staffing a booth at the Black Philanthropy conference in Washington, D.C. a young woman approached the booth. "That is sooo wrong." She said. "Excuse me?" I replied. "That's not true," she said, pointing at the slogan behind me in bold red letters, AIDS is a Black Disease! "Black people are not the only ones getting AIDS. Putting things like that out there just further stigmatizes us, and that's the last thing we need.

I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Phill Wilson. I'm the executive director of the Black AIDS Institute and I've been living with HIV for 26 years. Over the next few months I am going to be sitting in for Angela Bronner (BV's original AIDS blogger) while she is out on maternity leave. I'm very excited to be joining the Black Voices community. I'm looking forward to being a part of this dialogue about AIDS in our community.

I'd like for you to think of this blog as the 'Everything you ever wanted to know about HIV/AIDS but was afraid to ask' blog. I plan to talk about my own experience and the experiences of my family and friends. We'll look at the latest information on AIDS prevention, care, treatment and research.

And of course, no conversation about AIDS would be complete without thoroughly exploring the policy and politics of the epidemic. After all, I hear there is a presidential election coming up. There are a gazillion people vying for the job. Does anyone know what their plans are to end the AIDS epidemic in our community? Not to contain it or minimize it, but to end it? I think we should find out. What do you think?

AIDS in America today is a Black disease. Of course it's not just a Black disease, but, it IS a Black disease. No matter what lens you use -- gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, level of education, region of the country where you live -- Black people bear the brunt of the AIDS epidemic in America today. Nobody wants to talk about that, nobody wants to own that and that silence is killing us.

Read the rest.