Rectal Microbicide Advocates Call For 5x Funding Increase

End Silence, Increase Scientific Investment Say International Rectal Microbicide Advocates

New Delhi, India (Feb 24, 2008)– International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) released Less Silence, More Science: Advocacy to Make Rectal Microbicides a Reality in India today at the Rectal Microbicdes Update at the Microbicides 2008 conference. The report [color version, B&W version] serves as an authoritative reference on recent developments and current efforts in rectal microbicide research, and describes global challenges, and key advocacy goals and strategies to advance scientific discovery on topical rectal products confering protection against HIV transmission.

“Unprotected anal intercourse is a driver in the AIDS epidemic among both men and women around the world. Unfortunately, this fact is obscured by debilitating silence and stigma,” said Jim Pickett, IRMA chair. “We demand less silence and more science, and call for at least a five-fold increase in funding for rectal microbicide research by 2010, from the current US$7 million/year to US$35 million/year. Governments and foundations from Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United States should partner in this critical investment in desperately needed new prevention technologies.”

Currently in development, rectal microbicides are products that could be available in the form of a cream, gel, douche or enema, that may be used to reduce a person’s risk for HIV infection from anal intercourse without a condom or provide additional protection with condoms.

“This work is so incredibly important. Every day we don’t move forward, thousands more get infected”, stated Dr. Peter Anton from UCLA, principal investigator for the world’s first rectal microbicide safety trial. “There is an ethical obligation here to advance the research and development of rectal microbicides, with good science and community awareness.”

Anal intercourse among gay men and other men who have sex with men, as well as between women and men, is recognized as an important driver of the HIV pandemic in many parts of the world. Globally, most anal intercourse is unprotected.

“It is imperative that morality not get in the way of protecting human beings and life; people of every sexual orientation have practiced anal sex since the begining of time”, stated Rick Jones of Amsterdam, representative from the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and IRMA Steering Committee member. “The time for bigotry is over. We need to help those who are not infected stay that way.”

However, research into rectal microbicides has been hampered by a deplorable lack of funding. According to IRMA, in 2006, only US$7 million/year was invested globally in rectal microbicides research. It is conservatively estimated that it will cost a minimum investment of $350 million over the next 10 to 15 years, or roughly $35 million a year to develop a comprehensive rectal microbicide research program. Therefore, annual spending must increase five-fold to ensure timely discovery and development of a rectal microbicide.

“Rectal microbicides are an essential technology that could allow men and women to protect themselves, without fear, without shame, without taboo,” stated Ghana’s Manju Chatani, Coordinator of the African Microbicides Advocacy Group and IRMA Steering Committee member.

Click here to view the presentation delivered by IRMA's Jim Pickett at the Rectal Microbicides Update.

Post-conference, IRMA will hold a teleconference highlighting key presentations. Stay tuned for more details, which will be first announced on the highly active listserv.

Patti Labelle talks to CNN about new down low movie

The boys behind LifeLube invite readers' comments on this story below.

Legendary soul singer Patti Labelle appeared on CNN Newsroom Saturday morning to talk about her new film "Cover" that explores the connection between men on the down low and the HIV/AIDS epidemic among black women. CNN host Betty Nguyen interviewed Labelle and introduced the piece by describing men on the down low as "having unprotected sex with other men and transmitting HIV to their girlfriends, even their wives." Labelle, who plays a role in the movie as a mother with a son in the closet, described the down low problem as "a subject that people don't talk about." In the movie, the down low "ends up killing" a young woman who "dies of AIDS," she said. "It's because everybody's so secretive and so down low and undercover." During the interview, Nguyen said that "African-American women account for 70 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases." That figure is actually incorrect, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Blacks as a whole account for 49 percent of all new HIV cases and most of those cases are men. Black women only make up about 17.6 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases (6,243 out of 35,537 total cases), not 70 percent as was reported. But HIV infection is still "the leading cause of death for black women" aged 25-34 years. Labelle offered advice to women who find themselves in these situations. "I say if you have a little suspicion, walk, girls. You know, because sometimes there are signs and you might not see them, and sometimes there are signs and you ignore them because you're so in love with these people." She also offered advice to those who are living on the down low. "If you're going to live a lifestyle, don't be afraid of it, don't be ashamed. Tell somebody so that you can save somebody." The film is directed by Bill Duke and includes stars Vivica A. Fox and Louis Gossett Jr., among others.

14 DAYS OF LUV

From our friends at thegayte-keeper.blogspot.com

I give you ... Romero

At just 2ft 9in, Indian muscleman Aditya 'Romeo' Dev is the world's smallest bodybuilder. Pint-sized Romeo is well-known in his hometown of Phagwara, India - for his ability to lift 1.5kg dumbbells - despite his overall 9kg body weight. Every day, crowds flock to the local gym to the see the mini-muscleman in training. Click here to learn more.

Friday is for Faeries

Speakin the Truth: Black Brothers Supporting Themselves

Tony Bradford, Program Manager for Black Brothers Esteem, discusses the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's community-based program to empower gay and bisexual African-American men who live in the Tenderloin/Polk Gulch and Sixth Street Corridor neighborhoods of San Francisco. In addition to providing HIV prevention and support to a community disproportionately vulnerable to HIV infection, Black Brothers Esteem addresses issues affecting program participants' overall health such as racism, addiction, poverty, homophobia, violence, and marginal housing conditions.
Listen to SFAF Podcast #27 - Black Brothers Esteem fights HIV with a community-based program. (7 minutes, .mp3, 3 MB)

Woof Wednesday

Egypt steps up HIV arrests

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press, 15 Feb 2007

CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian police have stepped up arrests of persons suspected of having HIV, detaining four men this month in a crackdown that violates basic human rights, two international rights groups said Friday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch and London-based Amnesty International warned in a joint statement that the arrests could undermine HIV/AIDS prevention effort as people in Egypt become increasingly afraid to seek information on the subject.

Police denied making any HIV-related arrests but one police official speaking on condition of anonymity said there is a campaign to get persons registered in hospital records as HIV-positive into treatment in "special clinics." The official said he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The latest arrests bring to eight the number of HIV suspects in detention.

Four men were convicted in mid-January of "habitual practice of debauchery," a term used in the Egyptian legal system for consensual homosexual acts, Human Rights Watch said. Those men have been sentenced to one-year prison terms that have been upheld by an appeals court, the group said.

Homosexuality is not explicitly referred to in Egypt's legal code, but a wide range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution and debauchery are applied to homosexuals in this conservative country.

"This not only violates the most basic rights of people living with HIV. It also threatens public health by making it dangerous for anyone to seek information about HIV prevention or treatment," said Rebecca Schleifer of Human Rights Watch.

The police official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that police recently rounded up four men and sent them to "precautionary hospital detention" for treatment. He declined to elaborate.

The two watchdog groups called on Cairo to release all 12 men, both the four convicted and the eight in detention.

The rights groups urged Egypt to establish training for all criminal-justice officials on medical facts and international human rights standards in relation to HIV, and to immediately discontinue all testing of detainees that is not consensual.

New wave of drug-resistant HIV predicted

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A mathematical model predicts a new wave of drug-resistant HIV infections in San Francisco, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles said.

However, paradoxically at same time, the evolution of drug-resistant HIV may have actually reduced the severity of the city's epidemic, saving many men from becoming infected, the study said.

UCLA biomathematics professor Sally Blower said the model enabled the researchers to reconstruct the epidemic's past and predict its future by calculating the evolution of several classes of drug-resistant HIV strains in San Francisco.

The researchers examined the rise of HIV strains resistant to the three major classes of drugs -- nucleosides, non-nucleosides and protease inhibitors from 1987 to 2007.

Researchers found complex waves of rising and falling single-, dual- and triple-class drug-resistant HIV strains over 20 years. The model predicts that resistance to nucleosides will decline substantially and protease resistance will fall slightly through 2012, and that resistance to non-nucleosides will rise over the next five years and then begin falling.

The findings are presented at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

So, a chunk of the LifeLube crew is headed on an Indian - Nepali adventure, beginning this Saturday - tomorrow. Our travels will take us to New Delhi and Kathmandu and Indira knows what points in between. This means our lovely little blog here is going to be a titch quieter for the next couple of weeks, until March 3 or so. Why? Cuz we aint gonna be clickity clackin on this flippin' thing while we are supping on exquisite curries, sipping exotic juices and chasing off pesky touts. One has to live! And one can't do that attached at the metatarsel to a stinkin' 'puter. Okay?


During this time of lighter posting activity, if you stop by and we are, shall we say, less than fresh, we do encourage you to visit some of our lovely www friends, and re-visit some of the more popular posts and topics on the blog.

Indian Condom Song
Barebacking
Feast of Fools
Swiss declaration
Bloggernista
LifeLube.org
Woof Wednesdays
Anal sex
Rectal microbicides
IRMA
Bilerico
Circumcision
Joe.My.God
MRSA
Beautiful
Knucklecrack
Blabbeando
Fridays are for Faeries
Made in Brazil
AIDS Action Committee blog
Chicago Pride
Prometa

Rod 2.0
Gay sex

Five medical legal issues every gay man should consider

[courtesy of Planet Out and The Advocate Guide To Gay Men's Health And Wellness]

"This section is meant to be informative only. Individual situations are likely to vary. I strongly urge you to contact and obtain legal advice and assistance from an attorney when considering any of these options. It is important to note that, depending on the state in which you reside, laws may vary, particularly with respect to civil unions, marriage and domestic partnerships as they relate to gay people."

Read the rest.

Straight Guy Goes to a Bathhouse, Hilarity and Fear Ensue

One Fey's Tale, Installment 2

my first trip

by middle, only on LifeLube

I spent most of my pre-adult life in bedroom communities that epitomized suburbia. Even so, I’ve come by my love of land and the outdoors honestly. My parents grew up in post-depression Virginia, Dad on a country farm and Mom in a small Virginia town. I’ve visited the log cabin where my Dad was born and the farms where he spent his childhood picking berries and pole beans for pennies. I’ve attended family reunions on the farm where Mom spent summers packing peaches for a favorite uncle. Even in 70s suburbia where I grew up, I enjoyed adjacent natural green spaces – farms and pastures, undeveloped lands adjacent to our neighborhoods where I and other neighborhood boys had more than one kind of adventure.

When my fey friends and I are talking to someone interested in our gatherings, we often say, “when you are ready, you will go.” In March of 2000, after serving as my Mom’s primary caregiver for 15 months, she died at home as she’d wished. Suddenly, I was free to seek healing and peace in some new experiences.

I attended three “retreats” that spring – a local Christian camp for persons living with HIV/AIDS, a Body Electric erotic workshop, and my first faerie gathering. If that doesn’t reveal something about my nature, perhaps the fact that I saw major similarities among them does. Each was an attempt to create a safe space to explore self and consider spirit. At each, I encountered lost and found souls searching for new bonds – platonic, spiritual, sensual and erotic -of community, of circle, of created families. In each setting, human touch was recognized for its significance and value. I saw persons celebrating as they worked to defy their self-bondage.

The trip began on an interstate just blocks from my urban condo. As I followed the directions, each turn of the route took me onto smaller, then onto more primitive roads until my car was creeping down the dirt and gravel driveway along a mountain ridge.

Without a doubt, I was met with hospitality. Volunteers helped me unload my bags, tent, and supplies, and shuttled me to a remote parking area. Once I got my tent pitched and my things situated inside, I headed to the bathhouse for a shower. In no time I was showering face to face with a beautiful copper-skinned woman with coal black hair (a first!) That was just fine by me. I’d come for new experiences, and I was off to a fine start.

I’ll never forget waking up the next morning. I was camped on a wooded ridge. The sun rose over the edge and filtered through the greenery of spring to light the interior of my tent. The breezes were soothing as I emerged from dream-filled sleep. Most memorable was the cacophony of animal sounds- bird song, the sound of woodpeckers drumming, and the scratching of other animals – echoed around my tent in a three dimensional cacophony.

It took several days to really transition into sanctuary. Gradually I begin to “feel” the land beneath my feet, the skies above, the people and energies around me. Each struck me with their beauty. I couldn’t help feeling that the elements were meant to gather and dance some profound cosmic dance in this place.

A lot happened - much more than I can cover in this small bit of writing - but it is safe to say my investment in faerie culture began with my participation in a ritual that was the focus for this gathering. Hundreds of faeries of all shapes, genders, colors, and ages gathered in a circle. They were nothing if not fabulous, dressed simply or extravagantly, brightly painted or just nude, all radiant with spirit. As we joined hands and gazed into others’ eyes, I felt an energy dashing around the circle we’d created. A fat bumblebee landed on my shoulder. I clasped my neighbors’ hands more firmly, wished the bee well, and watched it fly away.

The directions were called: north, east, south, west, above, and below. Someone in the center asked us to remember and invoke the names of our ancestors and others who’d gone before us. I spoke their names: “Tony,” the first ‘buddy’ I’d watched die in a hospital room of AIDS; “Matt” the gay brother that helped me out of the closet and who I lost too soon to a car wreck; “Tony,” my co-worker and coaster-freak friend who also died of AIDS, missing effective treatment by just 5 years. I called out, “Mom.” I felt emotion and spirit well up in me, and with the shedding of a few tears I made a small peace with their and my own HIV infected mortality.

Sooner than I would have wished, the time came to pack everything up, load the car, and head back to what I now considered my other home. The gradual devolution of the road was reversed as I drove out of the area. I began to feel a vague feeling of sickness as I approached the on-ramp and turned onto the interstate.

I didn’t know it that day, but making the transition in and out of these sacred places would become less painful with practice, but never easy. I braced myself and let my thoughts wander among myriad visions of “what could be.”

(to be continued)

Read middle's first installment, only on LifeLube

NYC Dept of Health - ??? on Bathhouse Policy

More on the NYC bathhouse - do we hold 'em, do we fold 'em story... from Gay City News

After meeting with senior city health department officials, gay and AIDS groups are saying that the agency appears to be open to regulating sex clubs and bathhouses and has not decided to shut those businesses down.

"They were saying that they were entertaining everything, that they were looking for a direction," said Terry Evans, public health outreach coordinator at the Positive Health Project, an AIDS group. "They were very open to our suggestions and to having additional meetings."

Evans and representatives from five AIDS, gay, and research organizations met for nearly two hours with health department officials, including Dr. Isaac B. Weisfuse, deputy commissioner for disease control, and Dr. Thomas Farley, a special advisor to Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city's health commissioner, on February 12.

Read the rest.

Friday is for Faeries

Condom-Free Sex? Interview w/ Author of Controversial Swiss Declaration

February 12, 2008

At the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston, Regan Hofmann of POZ Magazine talks with Bernard Hirschel, MD, of the University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland about a controversial Swiss position paper he co-authored declaring that HIV-positive people with undetectable viral loads cannot transmit HIV.

Check out the excellent, informative video here.

Read other LifeLube posts on the Swiss declaration here.

Get Some NYC

New York City health officials on Wednesday unveiled the city's new official condom as part of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's efforts to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as to prevent unintended pregnancies, the AP/Google.com reports (Kugler, AP/Google.com, 2/13).

The health department in January 2007 approved a $1.57 million contract to deliver Ansell Healthcare's Lifestyle condoms and packets of lubricant to organizations and venues in the city. The health department will pay Ansell four cents per condom, putting the cost of the program at about $720,000 annually, according to health officials. Officials plan to track the progress of the program through an annual community health survey, which polls 10,000 city residents by telephone. Organizations or venues can request an unlimited supply of condoms at no cost through an online ordering system set up by the health department.

City health officials in February 2007 unveiled the first official condom, which featured a subway theme with different colors for various train lines (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/9/07). The new condoms -- which were redesigned by Yves Behar of the San Francisco-based agency fuseproject -- features the letters "NYC" in black and the word "CONDOM" directly below it in bright colors (AP/Google.com, 2/13). The condom packages also feature the new slogan "Get some," the New York Post reports (Edozien, New York Post, 2/14). According to the AP/Google.com, teams from the health department will begin distributing the condoms around the city Thursday. An ad campaign featuring the new slogan is also scheduled to launch soon on television, radio, subways and buses.

"We want to give away as many condoms as people will use because we're trying to make New York City an even safer place to have sex, and this is a powerful way to do it," Monica Sweeney, assistant commissioner for HIV prevention and control at the health department, said (AP/Google.com, 2/13). She added, "We gave out more than 36 million of [the condoms] last year. I hope the fresh look will help even more New Yorkers protect themselves from infection and unintended pregnancy in 2008" (New York Post, 2/14).

Will You Be LifeLube's Valentine?

Source (Johnny Wacker)

Keen gay sex guide by Superdrewby

What is a Superdrewby?

Turns out some guy named Drew with a superduper website with a kinda "gee wiz, nifty keen" vibe, requiste eye candy ('Top Ten Cutest Boys in the World"), and a plethora of STUFF to peruse.

Our fav part is Drew's very hands-on, full frontal Gay Sex Guide with lots of clear, practical advice and tips on gay sexiness, covering topics like Kissing, Erotic Massage, Sex Toys, Blow Jobs, Masturbation, Fetishes, Anal Sex, Sex in Relationships, Masturbation, Threeways, and more, more more. Cuz ya can't stop at just one.

Suggest you check it out.

Sample this:

Sex Toy Rules
- Never share tex Toys between partners, if you do use a condom on it!
- Always wash your sex toys after use in warm soapy water (if rubber, metal etc.)
- Never put anything in your ass that you can't remove
- Never use anything that can break like glass etc.
- Don't insert edible items inside - they can rot and cause enormous infections
- Ditto on anything alive like a gerbil
- Don't use anything flammable

The First Time
- The first time you are fucked can be an incredible experience, but can also be a little bit painful as well, especially since you may be a little (or a lot) nervous and your muscle may be quite tense.
- Take it slowly and don't just let your partner push his cock in until you are really ready.
- Start off with some foreplay, kissing, licking touching and massaging and get yourself nice and horny.
- Get your partner to help you relax by maybe massaging you or just let yourself go and be free.
- Make sure you have condoms and lubricant and lots of it.
- Start by gently lubricating and concentrating on loosening up your ass. Take your time with this, it can take half an hour sometimes to even get two fingers in your ass.
- Make sure that you are relaxed and loose.
- Lie on your side with your partner behind you with a condom and lube on his cock.
- Slowly let him push his penis against your ass,
- Try pushing out like you are going to the toilet as this helps open up the sphincter.
- As he gets a little bit in stop and breathe deeply and wait for any pain or discomfort to pass before proceeding.
- If at any time you want to stop tell him to take it out. Always make sure that he understands that if you ask him to stop he stops. Trust is very important in anal sex.
- Bit by bit push all of the penis inside until there is no more or you can't take any more.
- Once you are ready let him push his penis slowly in and out of your ass.
- As he passes over your prostate you may get jolts of pleasure and cum - this is perfectly normal!

WHEW.

After you're done soaking in that, Madge, Drew also offers up a handy fitness guide to keep the goods in shape for the next "first time."

Happy Birthday to Us

It feels SO GOOD to be ONE.

Woof Wednesday Special - Starring a Bearish Nepali Man Shakin' It

"Something's Not Quite Right With IRMA"

Junior High Student Shot for Being Swish

[via Los Angeles Times - so much for advances in gay rights and more societal acceptance - it is still open season on gay people, or those who just act "that way"]

A student at an Oxnard junior high school shot another classmate Tuesday in front of two dozen other students who were settling into their first-period English class, police said.

The 15-year-old victim was rushed to St. John's Regional Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical condition. By day's end, his condition was described as improving.

Read the rest.

Woof Wednesday