More Awkward Boners
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
The End is Near - Obama and the HIV Travel Ban
UPDATE - The ban has been lifted!!!
President Obama announced today that his administration is lifting travel restrictions into the country for those with HIV/AIDS.
"If we want to be a global leader on HIV/AIDS, we have to act like it," he declared, before signing a bill extending the HIV/AIDS treatment act named for Ryan White, who was diagnosed with AIDS at 13 and died in 1984. The bill provides medical care, medication, and support services to about 500,000, mostly poor, people.
The travel ban, imposed 22 years ago, will be lifted in January, according to a final regulation that will be published Monday, Obama said.
Read the rest.
via Advocate, by Kerry Eleveld
President Barack Obama is expected Friday to announce an end to the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban during a signing ceremony for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act scheduled for 11:50 a.m., according to a source at an agency that works closely with the Administration.
"My understanding was that this would be announced the same day as the Ryan White Act was signed into law," said the source, who spoke to The Advocate on the condition of anonymity. "The White House wanted to be out in front on this."
Read the rest.
Read the official rule.
President Obama announced today that his administration is lifting travel restrictions into the country for those with HIV/AIDS.
"If we want to be a global leader on HIV/AIDS, we have to act like it," he declared, before signing a bill extending the HIV/AIDS treatment act named for Ryan White, who was diagnosed with AIDS at 13 and died in 1984. The bill provides medical care, medication, and support services to about 500,000, mostly poor, people.
The travel ban, imposed 22 years ago, will be lifted in January, according to a final regulation that will be published Monday, Obama said.
Read the rest.
via Advocate, by Kerry EleveldPresident Barack Obama is expected Friday to announce an end to the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban during a signing ceremony for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act scheduled for 11:50 a.m., according to a source at an agency that works closely with the Administration.
"My understanding was that this would be announced the same day as the Ryan White Act was signed into law," said the source, who spoke to The Advocate on the condition of anonymity. "The White House wanted to be out in front on this."
Read the rest.
Read the official rule.
Feel the Love... Sister Glo channels Robert G. Ingersoll
Love is the only bow on life's dark cloud. It is the Morning and the Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the mother of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody, for Music is the voice of Love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of the wondrous flower -- the heart -- and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven
and we are gods.
and we are gods.
Sister Glo shares her glittery gems of love with LifeLube each Friday.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Survey on gay men, spirituality and living with HIV
[LifeLube approved!]
YOU CAN HELP!
PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR RESEARCH ON GAY MEN
We are asking for 25 to 30 minutes of your time to take an anonymous online survey. This survey will explore how spirituality may impact existing associations between attitudes toward homosexuality and anti-HIV medication taking in gay men living with HIV/AIDS. Even if you don’t consider yourself spiritual (and/or religious), your opinions are valuable to us and we ask that you take the time to complete the survey.
YOU CAN HELP!
PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR RESEARCH ON GAY MEN
We are asking for 25 to 30 minutes of your time to take an anonymous online survey. This survey will explore how spirituality may impact existing associations between attitudes toward homosexuality and anti-HIV medication taking in gay men living with HIV/AIDS. Even if you don’t consider yourself spiritual (and/or religious), your opinions are valuable to us and we ask that you take the time to complete the survey.
Confusion surrounds HPV vaccine for men
Among HIV-negative gay men, the rate of anal cancer is "as high as cervical cancer in women before the introduction of Pap smears. And if you are HIV-positive, it's about double that," Chin-Hong said.via Bay Area Reporter, by Bob Roehr
Should men routinely receive the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV) that protects against cervical and anal cancers and warts? Those hoping for a clear answer will have to settle for something less, at least for now. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved Gardasil for use in women in 2006 to protect against four types of HPV that cause the vast majority of cancers and warts. It waited for completion of a trial in gay men to give the nod for that indication on October 16 of this year.
But a week later, on October 23, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee said Gardasil should not be added to the recommended list of vaccines for all pre-teens. That is important because the vaccine is most effective if it is given before one becomes sexually active.
Read the rest.
Related: Despite Approval, Evident Roadblocks to HPV Vaccine for Males Continue
Who's That Queer
Brought to you by Pistol PeteAudre Lorde was born in New York City to Caribbean immigrants Frederick Byron Lorde and Linda Gertrude Belmar Lorde, who settled in Harlem. Nearsighted to the point of being legally blind, and the youngest of three daughters, Lorde grew up hearing her mother's stories about the West Indies. She learned to talk while she learned to read, at the age of four, and her mother taught her to write at around the same time. She wrote her first poem when she was in eighth grade.
After graduating from Hunter College High School, Lorde attended Hunter College from 1954 to 1959 and graduated with a bachelors degree.
In 1954, she spent a pivotal year as a student at the National University of Mexico, a period she described as a time of affirmation and renewal: she confirmed her identity on personal and artistic levels as a lesbian and poet. On her return to New York, Lorde went to college, worked as a librarian, continued writing and became an active participant in the gay culture of Greenwich Village. Lorde furthered her education at Columbia University, earning a master's degree in library science in 1961.
Lorde's poetry was published very regularly during the 1960s — in Langston Hughes's 1962 New Negro Poets, USA; in several foreign anthologies; and in black literary magazines. During this time, she was politically active in civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements. Her first volume of poetry, The First Cities (1968), was published by the Poet's Press and edited by Diane di Prima, a former classmate and friend from Hunter College High School. Dudley Randall, a poet and critic, asserted in his review of the book that Lorde "does not wave a black flag, but her blackness is there, implicit, in the bone."
Her second volume, Cables to Rage (1970), which was mainly written during her tenure at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, addresses themes of love, betrayal, childbirth and the complexities of raising children. It is particularly noteworthy for the poem "Martha", in which Lorde poetically confirms her homosexuality: "[W]e shall love each other here if ever at all."
Later books continued her political aims in lesbian and gay rights, and feminism. In 1980, together with Barbara Smith and Cherrie Moraga, she co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher for women of coloor. Lorde was State Poet of New York from 1991 to 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Damski X 4 Book Release Party
Come celebrate the publication of four new books by the late Jon-Henri Damski on Sunday, November 1 at 4 pm. Gerber/Hart Library 1127 West Granville Avenue Chicago, (773) 381-8030
Damski X 4 will mark the release of Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago's LGBTQ Community, 1977–1997, Fresh Frozen: First Chicago Poems, My Blue Monk: Poems from Blood and Sugar, and Eat My Words: More Chicago Poems from the 70s. All of the books are published by The Firetrap Press Collective and will be available for purchase at the event.
Damski X 4 will feature readings from Damski's works and the presentation of the annual Jon-Henri Award. The award was established by Lori Cannon and Richard Cooke to recognize and honor an individual who leads his or her life with an ethic and spirit that Damski would have respected and enjoyed.
Jon-Henri Damski was an essayist, newspaper columnist, poet, teacher, and community activist in Chicago's LGBTQ community from the mid-1970s until the late 1990s. At the time of his death in 1997 following a long battle with melanoma, he was the longest-running columnist in the American LGBTQ press.
He was also instrumental in the 1988 passage of the Chicago Ordinance on Human Rights. In 1991, Damski was part of the first class of inductees into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
How is Alan Van Landschoot healthy?
Meeting good friends, connecting with people from all over the world through Couchsurfing.org and sharing cool experiences is how I stay fit. It’s emotionally fulfilling, because it’s a way of giving to others and a way I learn as well. I think being open to new experiences is the healthiest thing for me.
However, I do others activities as well, such as mountain biking, swimming and walks along the lake. So connecting with new people, friends and my life -long partner makes me healthy, wealthy and (somewhat) wiser.
-- Alan Van Landschoot
Chicago
Join in the conversation.
Tell us HERE. Send a pic to the same place.
And we'll blog it, right here.
Read past posts.
Learn more about the campaign.
Peter, my boyfriend and I have Chlamydia...
[Peter Pointers is here 4 YOU, as a service to LifeLube readers - whatever question you may have regarding sexual health, physical health, mental/emotional and spiritual health - ask him. He will find the answers you are looking 4. from a team of experts Below is a recent Q&A you may be interested to read.]
Question: My boyfriend and I are both infected with Chlamydia. I'm picking up my perscription to treat it this morning, he, however, can not get his meds until next Friday. If I kiss him, while I'm undergoing treatment, and he's not treated for it, can I extract it again?Answer:
Thanks for your question! I'm happy to hear that you were tested and are seeking out treatment for your infection. Way to take charge of your health!
You ask a very good question, and one that is important to be mindful of after treatment. Of course, you don't want to get reinfected right after taking your meds. In regards to kissing, you will NOT be able to contract Chlamydia through kissing your boyfriend on the mouth or other body parts (this does NOT include his penis and anus). What you should be careful of is performing oral sex on him (both genital and anal) and having sexual intercourse. If you do choose to have sex or to perform oral sex, using a condom will greatly reduce the chance of becoming reinfected.
Now, there is another option for getting meds for your partner(s). In some states, it is legal to get what is called Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT), which is a fancy way of saying that a doctor can give you an extra dose of medication or a prescription for your partner so that they can get treated faster. Therefore, you will be less likely to get reinfected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the national organization for health in the U.S.) has a webpage with lots of information on EPT here There is even a map of states where it is legally available (it'll be legal here in Illinois on January 1, 2010). However, just because it's legal in your state doesn't mean that every doctor is willing or able to do it. If you decide to pursue EPT and need help finding somewhere to get it, let me know - I'll help you out.
Lastly, remember what your doctor tells you about treatment and resuming sexual activity. After taking the drugs, you may have to wait some time before you can have sex again.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! Good luck!
Be Well, PeterPeter Pointers on LifeLube, E-mail Peter
Friend Peter on Facebook
The paradox of aging with HIV
Project Inform forum focuses on HIV and aging via Bay Area Reporter, by Liz Highleyman
Aging has become a key focus for people with HIV and their health care providers, but much remains to be learned about the medical and psychosocial aspects of the aging process in this population, which was the topic of a recent forum sponsored by Project Inform.
"We're facing a paradox," said Matt Sharp, Project Inform's new director of treatment and prevention advocacy. Having lived with HIV for more than 20 years, Sharp, 53, described himself as one of the lucky survivors.
"Many of us are thriving and we're dealing less with AIDS-specific issues, but now we're dealing with issues that come with age," he noted.
Read the rest.
The rise of the gay dad
via the Guardian.co.uk, by Rebecca Seal
Read a number of personal stories of gay men who have adopted children, or are in the process - really fabulous.
It took nearly three and a half years for us to adopt. The day we first met our boys was a shell shock. I remember naively asking about what happens if it doesn't go well and they're not the right ones – do we choose again? And the adoption staff said: "No, no, no – we've found the boys, you've all agreed that this might be a good match, it's happening, there's no going back. These are the ones." We went to the foster home with real trepidation – and because it was a foster home I had this vision of it being a run-down old house and lots of kids and a maternal lady in a pinafore. It was actually an immaculate house. We went up to this glass door and although we'd seen pictures of the boys we had no idea what they were really like, and there they were jumping up at the door, like puppies. They were two stunning little boys, just fantastic. It's a really artificial set-up of course, manufactured by the social workers, who say you'll have a cup of tea and you'll get to talk to them, but you mustn't pick them up, give them space, don't get too close. But it was a great three-quarters of an hour. And afterwards in the car, I said to my partner: "Let's not make too big a thing of this" and he looked at me and said: "You're joking? This is huge." We just knew as soon as we went in that it was going to work.
Read the rest.
Monday, October 26, 2009
I'm 78, I don't have time for another task force or survey
by Leon Liberman, for LifeLube
Invited by Jim Pickett, Director, Advocacy of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, I attended the recent LGBTI 2009 National Health Summit. Pushing 78, I was mainly interested in workshops concerned with aging and as a ten-year AIDS Legal Council of Chicago volunteer, such as the Take Charge of Your Health: Legal Tools for Obtaining Healthcare & Eliminating Discrimination.
I came away from the Summit with more questions than answers.
I’m aware of the difference between good intentions and actions and well-meaning efforts and personal agendas.
I was surprised to learn of so many task forces, studies, surveys, polls, focus groups, seminars and needs assessments. I couldn’t help but wonder how much is spent on them and paid to those who conduct them.
Obviously, I don’t subscribe to blind faith, but continuously question, doubt, and demand proof.
What does someone my age require? Primarily an immediate single source for what is available to me from municipal, county, state, federal agencies and privately funded facilities and help in determining eligibility and application. Like many my age, I am computer illiterate so accessing availability and eligibility is difficult. It is already a full-time job dealing with Social Security, Medicare, Public Aid, Medicaid and the Veteran Administration.
I recently read the late anthropologist Barbara Meyerhoff’s book “Number Our Days” and can’t remember relating so thoroughly to and profiting so much from than any summit would have made possible.
Read more »
"When middle-aged or young people look at the situation of the elderly, inevitably they compare it with their own. Then aging seems only a pathetic series of losses- money, freedom, relationships, roles, strength, beauty, potency and possibilities." - Barbara Meyerhoff
Invited by Jim Pickett, Director, Advocacy of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, I attended the recent LGBTI 2009 National Health Summit. Pushing 78, I was mainly interested in workshops concerned with aging and as a ten-year AIDS Legal Council of Chicago volunteer, such as the Take Charge of Your Health: Legal Tools for Obtaining Healthcare & Eliminating Discrimination. I came away from the Summit with more questions than answers.
I’m aware of the difference between good intentions and actions and well-meaning efforts and personal agendas.
I was surprised to learn of so many task forces, studies, surveys, polls, focus groups, seminars and needs assessments. I couldn’t help but wonder how much is spent on them and paid to those who conduct them.
Obviously, I don’t subscribe to blind faith, but continuously question, doubt, and demand proof.
What does someone my age require? Primarily an immediate single source for what is available to me from municipal, county, state, federal agencies and privately funded facilities and help in determining eligibility and application. Like many my age, I am computer illiterate so accessing availability and eligibility is difficult. It is already a full-time job dealing with Social Security, Medicare, Public Aid, Medicaid and the Veteran Administration.
I recently read the late anthropologist Barbara Meyerhoff’s book “Number Our Days” and can’t remember relating so thoroughly to and profiting so much from than any summit would have made possible.
Read more »
Barney Frank - Skip the March, Advocate Instead!
Reddit.com recently interviewed Barney Frank about the importance of down and dirty advocacy. Wanna see gay rights move forward, how about health care reform? Then call, write, and pester your legislators.
High HIV rates mean one thing - we are failing black gay men
Gay and bisexual men account for more new HIV infections in the U.S. - 53 percent - than any other population group. Moreover, this is the only risk group in the nation in which the annual number of new HIV infections is increasing, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
"For Black gay men and lesbian people, we need our community to protect us against the bias of racism. Where do I go when I'm called a nigger? I go to my church. I go to my mama and my papa - that's where I go.
"But where do I go when I'm called a faggot? I don't have anywhere else to go. And particularly if the people who are calling me a faggot are my mamma, my papa and my church."
Healing Homophobia From The Inside Out
via Huffington Post, by Jason Mannino
Read the rest."The gay person is looked at primarily as a "gatekeeper." The Earth is looked at, from my tribal perspective, as a very, very delicate machine or consciousness, with high vibrational points, which certain people must be guardians of in order for the tribe to keep its continuity with the gods and with the spirits... Any person who is at this link between this world and the other world experiences a state of vibrational consciousness which is far higher, and far different, from the one that a normal person would experience. This is what makes a gay person gay. This kind of function is...one that people are said to decide on prior to being born. You decide that you will be a gatekeeper before you are born...To then limit gay people to simple sexual orientation is really the worst harm that can be done to a person.... And, personally, because of the fact that my knowledge of indigenous medicine, ritual, comes from gatekeepers, it's hard for me to take this position that gay people are the negative breed of a society. No!
- Malidoma Patrice Some, PhD, Author, Elder, Diviner and gay ally
Saturday, October 24, 2009
"The Final Solution"? Gay Ugandans Could Face Death Penalty Under New Law
"Oh, the gayuganda blog is one of the things which are illegal, as per that bill. I am furiously promoting homosexuality on this blog, complaining about a law like this. So, 5 years in prison, and my (non existent) bank balance will be set back by 100M Uganda shillings…! And the people who dare to give us condoms and lubricant for sex… Or, if you dare to have an HIV prevention programme for homosexuals in Uganda... or even try to teach safer sex. Well, the penalties are stiff. Very stiff. Jail, and jail and other things."via RH Reality Check, by Amie Newman
In Uganda, the blogger known as the GayUgandan is calling it "the final solution."
Though homosexual acts are already illegal in that country, a new bill would penalize homosexuality with tougher penalties - along the lines of life imprisonment and the death penalty. Yes, you read that right. The "Anti-Homosexuality" Bill imposes stricter definitions for "homosexual behavior", extending the definition according to the blog Box Turtle Bulletin, from sexual activity to "merely touch[ing] another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality", and harsher sentences for what the Ugandan Parliament is calling "aggravated homosexuality." It sounds more like aggravated, fearful heterosexuals with hate in their heart. But "aggravated homosexuality"? What is that?According to the BBC, "aggravated homosexuality" would warrant the death penalty for "repeat offenders" and includes such "crimes" as having sex when you're HIV positive, having sex with a partner who has a disability, or when your partner is under 17 years old.
Read the rest.
Nepal opens the door to gays
via Change.org, by Michael A. JonesWhat's the best way to recover after a Maoist insurgency leaves your economy in shambles? For Nepal, one way is to completely open the country up as a tourist destination for LGBT people throughout the world. The goal is to bring a million foreign tourists to the region over the next two years, and the hope is to have many of those tourists be sexual minorities -- members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population.
Read the rest.
[A LifeLube minion visited Nepal last year - LOVED it. Click link for more pics like these.]
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hate Crimes Bill with Gender Identity Passes Senate, Obama to Sign!
Read the rest at the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Social Networks for the Dead
Last Tuesday, October 13th, 2009, I presented at Ignite Philly on my Gay History wiki , which documents the lives of gay men who died of AIDS in Philadelphia since 1981. The presentation was entitled "A social network for the dead and living". Watch the video to find out more.
The idea behind Ignite is cool: You get five minutes to make a presentation. You have twenty powerpoint slides to tell your story, and those slides change automatically every 15 seconds (20 slides x 15 seconds each= five minutes). It's great practice for public speaking, spontaneity, and story telling. There are Ignites in most big cities in the US, and I recommend that LGBT folks start presenting our visions and stories. There are many change agents who attend Ignite, so you can get people behind your idea in a big way.
So I presented and the audience reaction was awesome. People were howling, hooting, and even crying. It's obvious that even though the AIDS epidemic has impacted our LGBT communities in a particularly deep way, everyone feels the impact deeply when the experience is documented powerfully.
The exciting thing about my presentation is that out of speaking at Ignite, I met a web designer, a web content expert, and a social networking geek who will help me to bring the site to its next level. So look out... the Gay History Wikispace is movin on up!
[Ignite Chicago]
Feel the Love... Sister Glo channels Buddha
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Sister Glo shares her glittery gems of love with LifeLube each Friday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
