Black Men Stand Together to Reduce HIV Rates

Are you a black gay man living anywhere near Atlanta, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington DC? Did you know that whilst black men only make up 6% of the population, they account for 25% of new cases of HIV each year? Would you like to play a part in something that will act to reduce that rate?

The HPTN 061 Research Project is aiming to do just that, by looking at whether all or any of the three following strategies help to bring those numbers down:

• Working with a peer health counselor – someone who is specially trained to help men access health care services and treatment.
• Offering testing, counseling and referrals for treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
• Encouraging men who join the research project to refer their Black male sexual partners to participate in the project.

And they need you to help them do just that.

If you are interested in taking part then you need to meet the following criteria :

1. Be a black man who has sex with other men
2. Are 18 years or old
3. Live in one of the six cities where research is being conducted

What doesn’t matter though is if you are HIV positive, HIV negative or just unaware of your status.

By taking part in this study you will be helping make sure that the future sees HIV numbers in black men fall and not rise, and you don’t need to worry about it leaving you out of pocket as you will be reimbursed for both your time and transportation.

You can find out more and apply to take part at the Black Men Stand Together website.

Sandra Bernhard's Diva Moment

Thanks to KP for sending this wonderful rant our way.

One Fey's Tale - A Blissville Weekend in Asheful - How to Have a Fabulously Fey 60th Birthday

When the time comes, forget about calendar restraints.
Who says it has to be a birth-day?
by middle
the latest of his "one fey's tales"

Why not a birth-weekend?

Set your intentions.  Imagine a space in time where you and your friends don’t just celebrate but live celebration to mark the occasion.

The occasion was the 60th birthday of a faerie friend, and the experience was an amazing gift.  For a number of years I’ve been struggling with yet unable to find the right balance between responsibilities and fun in my life (not that they’re always disparate).  I’ve wanted to visit Asheville for some time, and I’ve been in desperate need of something – anything – to get me out of a rut.  Two different friends unwittingly confirmed this by responding to news of my trip with, “what AIDS conference was in Asheville?”

In December, this manifested in a short bout of frustration, anxiety, and depression that led to what I hope was a minor breakthrough.  Thankfully it passed in time for me to enjoy the holidays; by then I’d finally decided to plan and aggressively pursue some changes in 2010 and beyond.  The birthday invitation helped me to identify a concrete way to cement this intention.

Afterwards, as I drove alongside the French Broad River through the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains, the idea for what follows came into my head.  How could I unpack what was for me a glorious weekend and construct a more balanced vision of living fully?  The big 6-0 isn’t really that far in my future, and I refuse to approach it with dread.  So, I created this fantasy version of how one faerie elder and his tribe came to enjoy this weekend-long celebration of life.  Think of it as a sketch of a recipe we might use to find our own similar paths.


How to Have a Fabulously Fey 60th Birthday 

First, live an amazingly free, radically queer, open life, spreading joy, (yes - that “joy” too!) happiness, wisdom, and music.  Love your queer self, revel in learning, embrace and engage counter-culture, practice varied rituals of your own choosing and creation, be an activist, create and share music, and contribute to others’ and your own healing.  Travel, exploring and adventuring in your region, your country, and the world.  Experience the loudest and largest metropolis, the quietest rural hideaway, and everything in between.  Make a gluttonously diverse multitude of friends, have lots of lovers, love and be loved.  Be both student and teacher, mentor and apprentice, without prejudice or bias about who plays which role.

read more

Feel the Love... Sister Glo channels Bayard Rustin

Every Friday

Loving your enemy is manifest in putting your arms not around the man but around the social situation, to take power from those who misuse it -- at which point they can become human too.

~Bayard Rustin
 

Sister Glo shares her glittery gems of love with LifeLube each Friday.

Friday is for Faeries

every friday lifelube shows some radical faerie love.
faerie backstory.

LifeLube Blog Survey - How are we doing?

Short and sweet.

Who's That Queer [Klaus Nomi]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Klaus Nomi was a German countertenor noted for remarkable vocal performances and an unusual, elfin stage persona. Nomi is remembered for bizarrely theatrical live performances, heavy make-up, unusual costumes, and a highly stylised signature hairdo which flaunted a receding hairline. His songs were equally unusual, ranging from synthesiser-laden interpretations of classic opera to covers of 1960s pop standards like Chubby Checker's The Twist and Lou Christie's Lightning Strikes.
Read the rest at Gay for Today.

The Barebacker’s Delusion

via Melbourne Community Voice, by Daniel G. Taylor

‘Jacob’ says he probably took thousands of loads of cum, starting when he was 14 years old – from partners who were HIV-negative, HIV-positive, or unknown status – before he became HIV-positive 15 years later.

“There were some periods of weeks or months where I was getting fucked every day, two or three times a day,” Jacob says. “By the time I was in my twenties, I started topping as well and that was nearly always bareback. After that much activity, and a lot of it unsafe, you start to think, ‘Am I immune?’ or ‘What the hell’s going on?’”

Surf bareback blogs and you’ll see other gay men who have had repeated exposure to HIV and stayed negative. Some come to believe they are immune. Is anyone immune to HIV?

Read the rest.

And come back and share what you think.

It's Election Time - Learn Where Illinois Candidates Stand on HIV and Public Health

The Illinois primary elections are coming up on February 2 - less than a week away.  While the airwaves are flooded with campaign ads, the candidates have said little until now about their views on critical public health issues, including HIV/AIDS.

Today, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), the Illinois Association of Public Health Administrators and Illinois Public Health Association released a compilation of the views of 77 candidates on HIV and public health issues. All three groups are non-partisan organizations and do not endorse candidates for public office.

Surveys were sent to over 400 candidates running for federal senate and house seats, as well as state-level offices. Five statewide candidates—including two running for governor—submitted written statements on public health and HIV. Their statements are included in the full report.

Check out the questionnaire to see where candidates stand on HIV/AIDS programs and public health. Most importantly, get out and vote on Tuesday, February 2.

View a sample ballot and learn where to vote.

2010 National Gay Men's Health Summit - Florida Bound

Save the date.

The 2010 Summit will take place at the Sheraton Ft. Lauderdale Airport and Cruise Port Hotel from August 25 - 30, 2010. Hotel rates will be $89.00 per night. Details on workshop submissions, scholarships, and registration are forthcoming.

The local host organization is the Southeast Regional Gay Men's Health Summit. Gay.com has named Ft. Lauderdale "America's Favorite Gay Resort Town." For more information on Ft. Lauderdale's 150+ gay establishments, including restaurants, bars, accommodations, and other resources, visit Gay Ft. Lauderdale.

Woof Wednesday

 woof with us every wednesday

For Transgender People, Name Is a Message

Via New York Times:

Katherine used to be Miguel. Olin had a girl’s name. And in October, Robert Ira Schnur, 70, became Roberta Iris Schnur, a Manhattan retiree with magenta lipstick and, she noted the other day, chipped silver nail polish.

“I wasn’t like other men,” she said.

Theirs are among hundreds of names a Manhattan court has changed over the last few years for transgender New Yorkers. That tally, specialists in the relatively new field of transgender law say, may make the borough’s workaday Civil Court one of the country’s biggest official name swappers — male names for female, vice versa and ambiguous.

Changing a name might seem like a minor matter for those who are changing their gender identities and, for some, facing challenges like finding knowledgeable doctors, trying hormones and experimenting with painful hair-removal procedures. But many who have gone through the switch say a name change sends an important message to the world, a message solidified and made official with a court’s approval.

Read the rest...

Does “internalized homophobia” still matter?

via The Sexual Continuum, by Brian Mustanski

One of the most widely studied topics in the decades of research on LGBT health has been the concept of "internalized homophobia." Although definitions of IH differ somewhat depending on the theorist, the concept generally refers to the internalization of society's homophobic attitudes within a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) person. Over the years, researchers have found internalized homophobia to correlate with a variety of psychological, behavioral, and medical outcomes like depression, substance use, and sexual behaviors that put one at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Research on internalized homophobia and sexual risk taking began in the late 1980s in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis centered in the gay community. The goal was to understand how anti-gay stigma and victimization affect the health and behaviors of sexual minorities. Ultimately the hope was to use this understanding to help prevent HIV transmission. Since that time many studies have been published on this topic, but the results have been inconsistent.


Read the rest.

Center on Halsted is standing by - HIV/AIDS hotline

How is Kylon Hooks healthy?

In order to stay healthy, I check in with my inner circle of friends, and focus on improving my martial art, which helps to tie together my physical, emotional and spiritual fitness.

-- Kylon Hooks
Chicago

How are you healthy?
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.

"I Lost My Impulse For Self-Preservation"

This powerful testimonial comes via Atlantic Online, a reader writes to The Daily Dish


Excerpt:

Eventually, I partied with nothing but meth. I lost my job on Wall Street and used my severance package to live a life of meth and sex. Meth gave me the artificial delusion that I was deeply and passionately connected to my sexual partners - a feeling I found nearly impossible to feel when I was sober. And even if I got rejected while on meth, I didn't feel it. I could move on to my next partner and any rejection was a distant memory. Meth freed me from those nagging feelings of self-doubt and self-hatred I had suffered since I was a child. It was far more powerful and seemingly effective than years of therapy and anti-depressants.

Read the whole item.

Monday Morning Perk-Up

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Listen: Young, Black and Gay

Listen to Chicago's Young, Black and Gay blogger Lenox Magee chat it up on Chicago Now Radio, discussing race in politics and the gay community, checking out the Pope's shoes, visibility, and giving voice to black gay men in the blogosphere.

Plenty of giggling along the way. Listen.

Free Rapid HIV Testing - Center on Halsted

Click to enlarge. Click for info.

"I am the new generation of masturbator."

special thanks to The Bilerico Project for putting this on the LifeLube radar

I am the new generation of masturbator. I've seen it all. Before I make coffee, I've seen more butt holes than a proctologist does in a week... I have masturbated myself out of serious problems in my life. The phone doesn't pick up because I'm masturbating. And I have excused myself at the oddest times so as to not make mistakes. If Tiger Woods only knew when to jerk off. It has a true market value, like gold bullion. [It's] because I want to take a brain bath. It's like a hot whirlpool for my brain, in a brain space that is 100 percent agreeable with itself.

-- John Mayer in the newest issue of Rolling Stone

Feel the Love... Sister Glo channels Bertrand Russell

Every Friday

The good life is inspired by love 

and guided by knowledge.

~Bertrand Russell
 

Sister Glo shares her glittery gems of love with LifeLube each Friday.

Friday is for Faeries

your weekly very fairy foto album