The BEST of Lifelube - "Transmen - body, sex, identity and more" From Tuesday, September 28, 2010

What are Transmen's HIV Prevention Needs?
via Youths 2gether Network (Nigeria)

Excerpt:

Accurate information about the diversity of transmen’s bodies is not widely available. Transmen have different types of bodies, depending on their use of testosterone and gender confirmation surgeries (which may include chest reconstruction, hysterectomy, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, 1 etc.; seewww.ftmguide. org for further information) . Transmen use a broad range of terms and language to identify their sex/gender, describe their body parts, and disclose their trans status to others. For instance, some transmen are not comfortable with the terms ‘vagina’ and ‘vaginal sex’ and may prefer ‘front hole’ and ‘front sex’ or ‘front hole sex’, although this is not true for all transmen. This diversity creates unique needs and barriers for negotiating and adhering to safer sex practices that are not addressed by current HIV prevention programs.

Read more.

Great resource - check it:
Primed: The Back Pocket Guide for Transmen and the Men Who Dig Them

The BEST of Lifelube - "LifeLube is birthed!" From Monday, August 13, 2007

So, what is it about anal sex?

[From our friends atMen Seeking Men - New Zealand]



Why is anal sex risky for HIV infection?

Anal sex is extremely risky for HIV infection because of the way the inside of your arse works. Cum that goes in is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the lining of the arse. That part of your body isdesigned to absorb moisture rapidly – which is why medicines aresometimes administered anally.
The moist lining of inside your arse also acts as a major reservoir for HIV. This affects the transmission of the virus in both directions - for the guy doing the penetrating as well as the guy being penetrated.
Australian research has shown that up to one in five men who got HIV through unprotected anal sex was only ever a Top.
If you have anal sex without a condom HIV can enter the end of your dick during sex and cause infection (just like sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhoea). If you’re uncut, delicate areas on the inside of your foreskin can also trap the HIV virus and allow it to enter your body.
It is sometimes suggested that anal sex always causes injury, resulting in cum mixing with blood. Wrong. Careful penetration is unlikely to harm you.

What about oral sex?

Sucking dick isn’t a high-risk activity for HIV because the lining of the mouth is strong, and saliva also contains protective properties.
Pre-cum – the clear fluid that oozes out when you’re very horny – can contain HIV but only in quantities so small they’re not considered to be a significant risk of HIV transmission for oral sex.
Getting cum in your mouth increases the risk. Neither spitting it out nor swallowing seems to make it less or more risky, it’s the length of time it's in your mouth that’s important (the shorter the better).
Looking after your mouth will reduce the risk for oral sex. The likelihood of oral HIV transmission increases if you have cuts, ulcers or abrasions in your mouth, a sore throat, tonsillitis or gum disease. This is because they create entry points into your blood stream. Flossing or vigorous brushing before sex can also break the skin on your gums.

[VIDEO] Out Airman Will Raise Funds for HIV

via Advocate, by Michelle Garcia

A gay airman who came out to his family and the world the day "don't ask, don't tell" was officially repealed, announced that he will raise funds for HIV programs by joining the AIDS/LifeCycle this June.

Randy Phillips, a member of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Germany, will ride 545 miles with thousands of other participants from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a personal goal of raising $10,000.

He's now asking for pledges from the big YouTube following that he's accumulated since coming out last year.

"There's so much stuff I could do with [this platform]. I could show you dumb kitten videos, I could try to sell you corny shirts that nobody wears, or I could try to do something good in the world," he said in a YouTube video.

Phillips said he was compelled to join the ride after speaking with filmmaker Ryan Yezak, who created the short clip "The Gay Rights Movement," which also went viral on YouTube earlier this month.

Phillips added, "I haven't been on a bicycle since high school — an actual pedal bicycle. I've never rode 545 miles, but I signed up to do the AIDS/LifeCycle."

Funds raised by AIDS/LifeCycle go directly to HIV services offered by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.






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HIV Advocate Pushes Mandated Condom Use in Porn

via Advocate, by Andrew Harmon

An HIV/AIDS advocate who for years has pushed required condom use in the adult film industry as a condition for film permits is now taking his fight to the next level.

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council in a 9-1 vote gave final approval to an ordinance requiring porn actors to wear condoms.

Industry representatives had opposed the ordinance as governmental regulation gone overboard.

But Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, called the new rule “a great day for the performers and safer sex in our society" and now plans to collect signatures for an equivalent Los Angeles County measure.

Via the Los Angeles Times:

"This is a case study in the power of persistence," Weinstein said in an interview. He noted that the concept of allowing drug users to exchange needles, once seen as untouchable, finally gained acceptance as a way to protect people from HIV.

 Weinstein has pushed state legislators and the County Board of Supervisors to back mandatory condom use, but has received little support.

No state lawmakers have been willing to sponsor legislation, Weinstein said, and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said in 2010 that the state, not the county Department of Public Health, should be dealing with the matter. (Read the report here.)

Weinstein said that self-regulation within the porn industry is ineffective. "It's in their DNA to not have anybody tell them anything about how they do business," he said.


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Funding for Bisexual Community Lacking

via Huffpost Gay Voices, by Amy Andre

Here's some math for the new year:

Fact 1: According to research from the Williams Institute and Hunter College, among others, half of all those in the United States who identify as either gay, lesbian, or bisexual, identify as bisexual. That means, we bi folks make up 50 percent of the LGB (lesbian, gay, bi) population.

Fact 2: Research cited in the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's report, "Bisexual Health: An Introduction and Model Practices for HIV/AIDS Prevention Programming," shows that, compared to lesbians and gays, bisexual people tend to have poorer health, both physically and mentally, with higher rates of everything from smoking and alcoholism to depression and suicide attempts.

So, if you add Facts 1 and 2 together, it's clear that a large portion of our community is in dire need of support.

After all, greater challenges equal greater need. Shouldn't that also equal greater funding?

Unfortunately, here's Fact 3: We bisexual people don't get any. According to the latest report from Funders for LGBTQ Issues, the total amount given from foundations for bi-specific grants in 2009 and 2010 (the last two years of available data) was $0.

The report states:

The 2010 report contains some positive indicators as well as some that continue to challenge our sector... Grants dollars increased by 12 percent to the lesbian community and by 24 percent to gay men. Though the number of transgender-focused grants increased, the amount of total dollars to transgender issues decreased by 5 percent, and support to bisexual-focused issues remained at zero for the second year in a row.

Zero. As in, not one single dollar. For two years.

Something is not adding up. I'm not trying to play "oppression Olympics" here. Every subset of our larger LGBT community needs and deserves funding, to cover costs for everything from direct services to developing the next generation of our movement's leaders.

So I'm not saying that bisexuals deserve more than our fair share. What I am saying is that we deserve more than no share at all.

Funders for LGBTQ Issues is a national nonprofit organization based in New York.

Of the many important things that they do is produce an annual report looking at who gets what.

They just released their report regarding foundation giving in 2010; the report has information on the grant-giving of over 300 foundations and other organizations.

Collectively, these grants totaled nearly $100 million in 2010 alone, for LGBT causes.

The foundations gave out $97,189,139, to be exact.

And out of that $97,189,139, some went to lesbian causes, some to gay, some to transgender, and some to LGBT in general.

But, again, not one penny -- of $97,189,139 -- went to bisexuals, the largest subset of the LGB population.


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"He Won't Wear a Condom"

via Advocate, by Steven Petrow

Question: Every so often I meet a guy who tells me he just won’t use a condom because (take your pick): (1) He can’t stay hard; (2) He’s too big; (3) He’s allergic to latex; (4) He’s HIV-negative; or 5) It’s a mood killer. How do you suggest I handle these situations — especially when I’m really turned on?

Answer:  Let me start today by noting that it’s World AIDS Day, which is observed December 1 each year and — as the official site in the U.K. proclaims — “is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.”

That being said, there’s no better way to observe this day than to pledge to protect yourself and your prospective partners from HIV.

And if there’s any tool we have to prevent the continued spread of the virus, it’s the much-maligned, low-tech (but lifesaving) condom. 

I know you’ve heard this before (I certainly hope that you have) but latex and plastic rubbers, when used properly (and yes, that’s key) with a water-based lubricant, provide a high degree of protection to each partner.

But sometimes information alone doesn’t do the trick. If only. Instead of going to the experts (as Mr. Manners often does) I decided to ask a friend of mine who recently became infected why his knowledge of safer sex didn’t safeguard him:

“You can be armed with all of the information in the world, but it's much harder to put it into practice when you combine casual sex, alcohol, and drugs — and put places like Fire Island into the mix,” he told me.

“My suspicion is that somewhere along the line I wasn't sober enough to do what I needed to do to protect myself, and there were enough of those nights that the statistical odds became stacked against me.”

So, how do I suggest you respond to these periodic ploys (and that’s what they are) to have unprotected sex?  It would be facile for me to suggest that you just say no.

Still, you can’t make sound judgments if you’re stoned, high, drunk, tweaked, or toasted — and there’s no question that drug and alcohol use are closely linked with new HIV infections.


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When Condoms Aint Enuf...

via TheBody, by Allen Kwabena Frimpong and Michael Terry Everett

"I also want to mention that we are increasingly becoming better at incorporating conversations about 'harm reduction' into the realms of substance use (needle exchanges, safe injection sites, pill testing, etc.), but we often fail to adequately translate this model when speaking of communicating risk reduction in sex (strategic positioning, sero-sorting, viral load suppression, etc.). My question back to the group then is, how do we more effectively communicate to young people the abstract concept of 'harm reduction' for sex within the context of a sex phobic society?"

This was a question posed by Jamie Forrest of Vancouver, Canada in the North America, Western Europe, and Caribbean CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum on Facebook. CrowdOutAIDS is UNAIDS new collaborative online youth-led project.

He posed this question to the group after people were discussing what they considered to be the main reasons for HIV infection among young people.

Reading the responses on Facebook gave us one of those jolted reactions.

The dominant message about sexual health in relation to HIV prevention has been focusing on condom usage. Jamie's question was one that I saw as challenging; given the propaganda that the HIV/AIDS field has been pushing around what it means to have safer sex.

My colleague at the Harm Reduction Coalition, Michael T. Everett, was also raising this same question especially among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) of color given that their rates of infection have been steadily increasing while rates of infection among injection drug users has been on the decline.

The question for us became what (besides the exchange of needles) was accounting for the decrease in transmission of HIV among injection drug users, and how could we use what works in harm reduction messaging and education when it comes to drug use (if anything) for other high-risk populations greatly affected by the epidemic through sexual transmission.

We considered this in light of the following:

1. We cannot exchange condoms like we do syringes.
2. We know people are not using condoms all the time, and the possibilities of HIV and other STI's has not scared enough people into doing so, and so ...
3. If people have been harboring condom use as the dominant end all be all harm reduction response- well then something is terribly wrong with this picture.

The place to begin the conversation around the idea of prevention of at-risk behaviors like having unprotected sex is a great place to start.

We need to engage an intentional conversation concerning the reality that the message of safe-sex, by way of condom usage, may not resonate with people because it is limited and does not allow one to ponder the spectrum of other possible harm reduction practices.

The point is: we want people to still live a healthy life without causing further harm to themselves and others. The spectrum of harm reduction practices includes everything from prevention to helping those who are most affected by the collateral consequences of their at-risk behavior.

The spectrum does not begin or end with condom usage only.


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Empowering Young, Black, Gay Men for HIV Prevention

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Charles Stevens

The most recent statistics indicate that an entire generation is being impacted by HIV on an epic scale.

HIV cases among young, black, gay and bisexual men increased to an estimated 48 percent between 2006 and 2009, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ultimately, it is impossible to discuss HIV/AIDS in the black community without addressing the importance of tolerance.

It is up to us -- relatives, co-workers and friends -- to engage our black, gay brothers in a conversation that is constructive and rooted in concern, one that turns to them for insight instead of turning them away.

There have been significant political and medical advances made in HIV/AIDS prevention.

The National AIDS Strategy, a key achievement of Barack Obama's presidency, is a prime example. By focusing with laser precision on at-risk groups and prioritizing addressing disparities in HIV, there will be historic gains.

On the scientific front, advances in biomedical HIV-prevention tools, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, have given us signs of hope even as we take a collective gasp at the work ahead of us.

However, HIV has never been merely a public health issue but a social one, as well. It is an issue that impacts us not only abstractly but also in a very real and tangible way.

The black community as a whole has made substantial progress, more than is credited, in terms of embracing our diversity. Many unsung heroes and heroines have taken great strides in challenging anti-gay attitudes.

Straight allies have also spoken out unapologetically in support of their gay brethren. However, there is still work to do, and HIV/AIDS makes building bridges across orientations even more critical.

The black community has just as much of an incentive to be a part of the solution: the "win" is the lives of our people, the lives of young, black, gay men. These men are valued; their lives are priceless. They are assets to our communities.

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"Remembering My Friends"

via Edge, by Michael Petrelis

December 1, World AIDS Day, is just around the corner and as the day approaches I’ve been thinking of marking the occasion by remembering and honoring absent friends who’ve died from HIV-related illnesses and complications.

For World AIDS Day last year, on my personal blog, I wrote about a true unsung hero of the epidemic, Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, who was my first AIDS doctor and whom I cannot credit enough for helping keep me, and so many others, alive and relatively well.

Before the term AIDS was created, and even prior to GRID, gay-related immune deficiency, Sonnabend was on the frontlines of gay male health in New York City.

Among his accomplishments was developing effective prophylaxis regimes to avert opportunistic illnesses, creating safe sex guidelines and assisting people with AIDS to empower themselves.

Retired from seeing patients, he lives in London now.

This year it’s time for me to recall five deceased friends and colleagues, and a bit of their lives and achievements


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Progress through Resiliency

via Positively Aware, by Amy Herrick, Mary Hawk, Mackey Friedman, Chingche Chiu, James Egan, Mark Friedman, and Ron Stall

While improvements in approaches to HIV prevention have been made over the 30 years since the start of the AIDS epidemic, HIV among MSM is far from eradicated.

Despite more than two decades of prevention efforts focused toward MSM, the rates of HIV infection in this population continue to rise.

What is the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the U.S.?

A 2008 report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that MSM accounted for 46% of all new HIV infections and HIV infection rates among young MSM increased at a rate of about 12% each year between 2001 and 2006.

This report further noted that MSM were the only risk group who experienced an increase i n infection rates during this time.

In fact, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, even if the rate of HIV infection among MSM remains at the current level, by the time a group of young MSM (18 years old) reach the age of 40, 41% of them will be HIV-positive.

We cannot make any progress in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. unless we find ways to lower rates of HIV transmission among MSM.

How do other health disparities among MSM relate to risk for HIV/AIDS?

A growing set of recent scientific papers had shown that health problems among MSM are interconnected and function as a group to increase HIV risk in this population.

Because they are sexual minorities, gay, bisexual, and other MSM experience massive minority stress and social marginalization (for example, widespread bullying, gay-bashing, and other forms of violent harassment).

Studies suggest that these negative experiences increase a person’s risk for multiple health issues, including depression, anxiety, drug use, and sexual risk behaviors.

This process happens over time as people are exposed to discrimination and social marginalization.

These experiences cause stress to the individual, resulting in lowered self-esteem, increased emotional distress, and a sense of social isolation, all of which cause a person to be more vulnerable to serious emotional and physical health problems.

According to the CDC, a syndemic is, “Two or more afflictions, interacting synergistically, contributing to excess burden of disease in a population.”

In other words, negative health conditions are thought to interact to form a syndemic: synergistic epidemics that, together, can lower a person’s overall health and make him or her more susceptible to disease.

For example, health problems such as drug use, depression, and domestic violence have been found to interact so that their impact on the overall health of the person is greater than what we might expect from looking at each affliction separately.

While many studies involving MSM have shown interconnections between health problems, such as drug use and high-risk sex, two recent studies have focused on syndemic conditions in samples of adult MSM and young MSM.

These two studies showed that as the number of psychosocial conditions (such as depression, anxiety, and experience of abuse) a person has increases, so will his likelihood of having unprotected anal sex, as well as his likelihood of becoming infected with HIV.

It has been suggested that this set of co-occurring psychosocial health problems operating together as a syndemic may actually be driving the HIV epidemic among MSM, while also working to raise the levels of other health problems among MSM.


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U.S. Conference on AIDS

via Windy City Times, by Kate Sosin

The U.S. Conference on AIDS, held this year in Chicago for the first time, opened with a welcoming plenary breakfast that featured major names in HIV/AIDS prevention.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the Department of Health and Human Services headlined the morning.
 
But the moment that left many talking later in the day was a protest that interrupted the introduction of Sebelius. As Sebelius was announced with much fanfare, a large group of protesters with posters marched out and stole the microphone.
 
The group, protesting on behalf of Asian Pacific Islanders, demanded that their voices be heard in HIV prevention. They came bearing signs that read "Our Lives Matter."
 
"We cannot to wait," said Sharon Day of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force. "We, the first Americans, can no longer be the last in line for funding."
 
In what appeared to be a last-minute switch, National AIDS Policy Director Jeff Crowley took the stage in place of Sebelius. Crowley had been scheduled to speak later in the program.
 
Crowley challenged HIV service providers to adapt to healthcare changes and medical advancements to end AIDS. He called for focus and unity from AIDS organizations as pre-exposure prophylaxis (taking HIV meds to prevent becoming infected with HIV) is now a tool on the horizon.
 
"That is great news but right now it's a research study," said Crowley, who pressed providers to think realistically about how new science can be used to end HIV/AIDS. "I would ask all of you in this time of fundamental change to really seize the moment."
 
Protesters appeared a second time as Sebelius attempted to take the stage. She acknowledged the group before they sat down.
 
According to staffers for the National Minority AIDS Council, the organization that hosts the annual conference, organizers had anticipated the protest, although the last-minute swap of presenters appeared to be unscripted.
 
Sebelius spoke of the Obama administration's commitment to ending AIDS. She said the president had requested $50 million in additional funds for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which currently suffers from lack of funds, leaving thousands on a waiting list for HIV/AIDS treatment.
 
Despite the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which will provide health insurance to Americans by 2014, Sebelius said that the administration remains committed to Ryan White funding (that money has funded HIV/AIDS treatment for patients without insurance who cannot afford to pay).
 
The secretary added that her department is working to reallocate funding to communities considered high-risk currently.
 
Sebelius echoed the sentiments of many at the conference, who argue that the current moment is critical for mobilizing to end AIDS. Experts say that given new advances in science, an end to the virus is on the horizon, but those advancements have also led to apathy as the those who contract HIV and get treatment can live healthier and longer lives than ever before.
 
Further, significant funding increases are needed if those treatments are to be implemented.
 
"We have some very important questions to ask ourselves today," Sebelius said. "What will we do with this opportunity … will we watch HIV/AIDS further recede from the national spotlight?"
 
In a special press conference after her appearance, Sebelius reaffirmed her commitment to Ryan White funding, stating that those funds will now fill "cracks in the system, not gaping holes." She also commented on the morning's protest.
 
"They were saying 'our lives matter,' and my response is, you bet they do," she said.
Thousands attended the breakfast, the first of four days of conference events.
 
David Ernesto Munar, president of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, welcomed the conference on behalf of the host committee.
 
Munar encouraged conference attendees to adopt a Chicago attitude while in town.
 
"Chicagoans are a roll up your sleeves kind of people," Munar said. "I hope the hardy spirit of Chicago rubs off on you," because, he said, there is much work to be done to end AIDS.


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Kickin' the Meth Habit!

via sfgate, by Erin Allday

Methamphetamine addicts who took an antidepressant medication every day were far less dependent on the drug after three months than those who took a placebo, according to a study released Monday by the San Francisco Public Health Department.

Addiction treatment experts said the findings were encouraging, especially given how notoriously difficult it can be to help methamphetamine addicts kick their dependence.

But they added that the results will need to be confirmed in larger studies.

Researchers have for years been trying to find a drug to help alleviate dependency on methamphetamine, much as methadone can be used to help people quit heroin, but multiple studies of many different drugs have failed.

Addiction experts said they're cautiously optimistic that the antidepressant mirtazapine, sold under the brand name Remeron, will prove useful.

"This is exciting to see because with methamphetamine, virtually everything we've tried hasn't worked. There have been quite a few bombs pharmacologically," said Keith Humphreys, a Stanford psychiatry professor and a researcher at the Veterans Administration in Palo Alto who specializes in addiction. "At the same time, those earlier experiences have taught me to be cautious now."

Addiction on the rise

More than 1 million people in the United States use methamphetamine every year, and the nation has seen a resurgence in addiction to the drug in recent years, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

In San Francisco, among people who seek treatment for drug dependence, about 11 percent are abusing methamphetamine, according to the health department.

The study, results of which were published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, was run by Dr. Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention at the Public Health Department.

His interest in treating methamphetamine addiction stems from the close connection between abuse of the drug and exposure to HIV infection.

Effects of methamphetamine include lowered inhibitions and increased feelings of invulnerability, which in turn can lead to risky sex behaviors like having unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners.

Regular use of methamphetamines among men who have sex with men can double the risk of HIV infection, Colfax said.


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Risky Business: Bareback Sex

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Most UK Gay Men accept PrEP!

via aidsmap, by Roger Pebody

While few gay men in England are currently aware of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), most men who are introduced to the idea support PrEP being made available.

Half would consider taking it themselves, but most would prefer to take it on a daily basis, rather than before and after each time they have sex. These findings come from a snapshot survey of gay men in England, published by Sigma Research this week.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) involves HIV-negative people taking anti-HIV drugs in order to reduce their risk of infection. Results of the iPrEX study into the safety and effectiveness of PrEP in gay and other men who have sex with men showed that, overall, it reduced infections by 43%. Much higher levels of efficacy were seen in men with good adherence to PrEP.

Recent studies with American gay men have shown that while only a minority of men is aware of PrEP, a majority would consider using it.

Most men say PrEP would not affect their own use of condoms, particularly if it is only partially effective.

To investigate the views of gay men in England, researchers put a series of questions to members of the Sigma Panel in June 2011.

The panel is made up of approximately 1500 gay men, bisexual men and other men that have sex with men (MSM) who respond to monthly cross-sectional online surveys about HIV and sexual health.

The surveys have a short turnaround for analysis and reporting to health workers.

Only men who do not have diagnosed HIV were asked about PrEP; 1259 responded.

Prior awareness of PrEP was low. Only 17% of respondents said that they had already heard of the idea of taking a pill before sex in order to prevent HIV infection.

Having informed respondents about what PrEP is and how it might be prescribed, the researchers asked whether men would consider using PrEP, should they be offered it at a sexual health clinic.

Just over half (52%) said they would consider it, while 30% weren’t sure and 17% wouldn’t consider taking PrEP.

There were no differences in the proportion who would consider its use by age, education or sexual identity. Men who had casual partners were slightly more likely to consider its use.

Men who had a regular sexual partner who was HIV-positive were no more likely to consider PrEP than others.

Men who would consider using PrEP were asked why. Generally they wished to avoid HIV infection and believed that PrEP could help reduce this risk.

Many of these men saw PrEP as providing “additional protection”; this could help bring peace of mind.

Some men who use condoms all the time expressed an interest in taking PrEP.

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Hey Peter, Is it true Howard Brown let's you get HIV tested with your Boo?

Peter Pointers is Chicago's most trusted source for gay, sexy, healthy info with an all-access pass to nationally known health and wellness experts. Go ahead, ask Peter for Pointers. Visit his page on the LifeLube site and read answers to commonly asked questions too.



Q: I heard that Howard Brown Health Center has a program that encourages male couples and sexual partners to get tested together for HIV.  Is that true?
 
A: Yes, you are correct! Getting an HIV test can be difficult, if not downright scary—and having a conversation with your partner(s) about HIV results can bring up a lot of other issues. Thanks to a new service developed by researchers from Emory University and funded by the MAC AIDS Fund, Howard Brown Health Center, and two clinics in Atlanta, can provide an opportunity to lessen those challenges among sexual partners.

I spoke with Sam Hoehnle, Project Coordinator of “Testing Together” at Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago.  Mr. Hoehnle said that “Testing Together” provides an opportunity for gay and bisexual men in relationships to get tested and receive their results together (at the same time, in the same room), with a trained counselor present to discuss the results. Testing with your partner and receiving your results together is a great opportunity to start (or continue) a healthy conversation about HIV in your relationship, and allows you to talk openly about building a plan to address HIV (and other STI) risks. The service is designed to focus on the future, not on what each person has done in the past.

Different types of couples can also benefit from this intervention. In the United States most infections occur between men and their primary sex partner. You or your partner may be infected with HIV and not even know it. Testing Together gives an opportunity for you and your partner to discuss how HIV may impact your relationship.

If you are positive you can still use the service. If you meet the screening criteria, Testing Together can provide an opportunity for you to share your status with your partner, in a controlled setting, with a trained counselor who will help start a discussion with you and your partner to discuss the realities of HIV in your relationship.

Some people may be concerned about how this service will affect their relationship, especially if they have different results.  While, there is no way to know what direction your relationship will take after finding out each other’s HIV test results, in Africa, where the service was started, most couples with different results stayed together. Every relationship is different. Knowing your partner’s status will start a conversation with honesty and trust.

The process of testing is relatively easy. You and your partner will be screened separately to see if you are eligible for testing. If you are eligible and agree to be tested together, then you will meet with a counselor to start a discussion about the testing process and how HIV impacts you in your specific relationship. The counselor will then provide the results for the test with you and your partner, at the same time and in the same room. Once you both know your status, the counselor will work with you both to determine the best way to minimize the risk of HIV in your relationship.

Only four clinics in the U.S. are offering this service for male couples. The two locations in Chicago are Howard Brown Health Center and the Broadway Youth Center (for people under 25 years of age).

Howard Brown offers the service during regular Walk-in Clinic hours and the Broadway Youth Center on Tuesday and Thursday from 5pm-8pm.

In Atlanta, services are offered at our partner sites AID Atlanta and Ric Crawford Clinic (formerly AID Gwinnett).

For more information about Testing Together you can go to www.testingtogether.org or check the program out on Facebook. You can also follow us on Twitter @TestingTogether.

TOMORROW - Howard Brown is hosting a community forum at their Sheridan location (4025 North Sheridan Road, Chicago) on Thursday, November 3rd - TOMORROW - from 6:30p - 8:00p. 

 

This forum is an opportunity for the community to learn more about the service. A representative from Emory University and Howard Brown Health Center will be there to present on couples HIV counseling and testing. The forum will also feature a question and answer portion. And light refreshments!

 

Hope to see you there!

 

Be well,
Peter Pointers
peterpointers@lifelube.org
www.lifelube.org/experts.php

Don't Delay HIV Prevention for Gay and Bi Men

by David Ernesto Munar, via HuffPo

Lives will be saved when the Food and Drug Administration puts its stamp of approval on a groundbreaking preventative approach called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, recently found to reduce HIV infections.

With PrEP, people who are not infected with HIV take a daily pill, usually used to treat the disease, to help prevent infection -- as part of a broad HIV
prevention approach that includes condoms and safer-sex counseling.

But the longer the FDA waits before beginning its review of the HIV medication Truvada for prevention, the more lives will be unnecessarily lost. This is particularly true for those at greatest risk: gay and bisexual men.

We urge the FDA to immediately begin its review for approval of Truvada for PrEP for gay and bisexual men.

Read the rest.

New study dispels stereotypes about the kind of sex we have

"Of all sexual behaviors that men reported occurring during their last sexual event, those involving the anus were the least common," Rosenberger said. "There is certainly a misguided belief that 'gay sex equals anal sex,' which is simply untrue much of the time." 

via the Indiana University News Room

A new study by researchers at Indiana University and George Mason University found the sexual repertoire of gay men surprisingly diverse, suggesting that a broader, less disease-focused perspective might be warranted by public health and medical practitioners in addressing the sexual health of gay and bisexual men.

The study, published online ahead of print in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, tapped the largest sample of its kind in the United States to examine the sexual behaviors of gay and bisexual men. In collaboration with the OLB Research Institute at Online Buddies, Inc., researchers were able to include feedback from nearly 25,000 men. While gay study participants reported 1,308 unique combinations of behaviors, the most commonly reported behavior was kissing a partner on the mouth.

From a public health standpoint, say the researchers, this study provides professionals with data on the behavior of men having sex with men (MSM) that was missing from the sexual health discussion.

"Due to the disproportionate impact of HIV among MSM, the majority of research on gay and bisexual men's sexual behavior is situated within the context of disease. This emphasis has resulted in a body of literature about gay and bisexual men that is risk-focused, with limited understanding of the diversity and complexity of these men's sexual lives," said co-author Michael Reece, director of IU's Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

"In order to provide clinicians and public health professionals with the necessary tools to promote sexuality in a positive and healthy manner, a more nuanced understanding of an individual sexual experience was needed." 


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HIV/AIDS Organizations Tell FDA and Gilead Sciences: Don’t Delay HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men and Transgender Women

[Press Release - October 18, 2011]

Thirteen prominent U.S. HIV/AIDS organizations have issued an open letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Gilead Sciences calling for prompt regulatory review of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention in gay and bisexual men and transgender women (men who have sex with men, or MSM). The letter urges FDA and Gilead to start the review process that could allow safe and appropriate approved PrEP use as a public health intervention, and not to delay review because of distinct questions about the safety and efficacy of PrEP in heterosexual populations.

[The letter is available online here. LifeLube's mother - AIDS Foundation of Chicago - is a signatory.]

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a new HIV prevention method in which an uninfected person takes a daily HIV medication to reduce HIV infection risk. Data from an international study released in November, 2010 called iPrEx found that men and transgender women who have sex with men who received a daily single-tablet dose of the HIV drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine along with condoms and safe sex counseling had an average of 42% fewer HIV infections than those who received condoms and counseling alone.

Advocates assert that the need for new HIV prevention strategies for MSM is urgent. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that MSM account for more than half of all new HIV infections in the United States. CDC logged an estimated 34% increase in HIV infections in young gay men between 2006 and 2009, and a 48% HIV increase among young black/African American gay men over the same period.

“We desperately need new strategies and tools to reduce the rapidly increasing rates of HIV infection in black gay and bisexual men,” said Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute. “We’ve had evidence of PrEP’s effectiveness in MSM for almost a year now. It’s time to use every tool at our disposal to reduce the 50,000 new HIV infections that occur each year in this country. Prompt FDA review will help ensure that appropriate guidelines for PrEP use are established that can reduce HIV infections and safeguard public health.”

Data on PrEP in heterosexuals raise important but unique questions that may require further study. Two major trials in Africa found that PrEP reduces HIV infection risk in heterosexual men and women substantially. But two other studies present conflicting information about how PrEP works in heterosexuals. Critical and necessary efforts to understand how PrEP interacts with hormonal contraception, or how PrEP may impact pregnancy, however, should not delay access to a potentially lifesaving form of HIV prevention for MSM.

Before the results of the heterosexual PrEP studies were announced, the FDA and Gilead Sciences, the maker of the drugs, were reported to be ready to move quickly to consider approval of PrEP for those MSM who could benefit from the approach. Recent signs indicate, however, that FDA review of PrEP for this population may not start until the agency acquires more data on PrEP among heterosexuals—despite the urgent need for new HIV prevention strategies for MSM, and the fact that PrEP data in MSM were announced nearly one year ago.

“The FDA and Gilead Sciences should move quickly to ensure a thorough review of PrEP for MSM now, while they both work simultaneously and swiftly to thoroughly address questions and concerns about PrEP among heterosexual populations,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC “Prompt FDA review of PrEP in MSM is the right thing to do for public health. In the midst of a growing HIV epidemic, HIV prevention delayed is HIV prevention denied.”

Testing Together

via thegavoice, by Ryan Lee

The sexual transmission of HIV is often believed to be associated with promiscuity, but gay and bisexual men are far more likely to contract the disease while in a relationship than from a casual sex partner.

“If you look at new HIV infections among men who have sex with men, about two-thirds of new HIV infections come from main sex partners,” said Patrick Sullivan, an associate professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Sullivan and Emory researchers have adapted a strategy that has been used since the late 1980s for heterosexual couples in Africa, where HIV transmission often takes place within marriage, to help gay male couples in the United States learn their HIV status alongside their partners.

After a year of research conducted at AID Atlanta, “Testing Together” was officially launched in September, and “gives people a forum and a supportive place in which to have conversations that may be more difficult to raise individually,” Sullivan said.

“We made some important changes in the intervention [that has been used to test couples in Africa] to make it appropriate for male couples in the US,” Sullivan said. “For example, one of things that is addressed in the intervention is the issue of agreements.

“We know that most male couples in the United States have some kind of explicit agreement about whether or not they can have sex with partners outside their relationship.” he said.

 “We feel like ‘Testing Together’ is an important opportunity for guys to have a safe place to talk about that agreement and clarify it.”

According to data collected for the initiative, about 90 percent of gay male couples have had discussions about whether it is acceptable to have sexual partners outside of the relationship, with more than half of the couples identifying as strictly monogamous.

Of those monogamous couples, one quarter of partners acknowledged having sex outside of the relationship within the past year, and only one quarter of those men informed their primary partner about the lapse in monogamy.

“So the reality is that although most male couples in our research report that they have agreements toward monogamy, people are human and sometimes people step out of those agreements,” Sullivan said.

 “One of the things we do in this intervention is we give couples the chance to talk openly about what they want to do if that slip-up happens, and this isn’t a conversation that’s always comfortable to raise with your partner.”

The “Testing Together” intervention — which is financed by the MAC AIDS Fund and currently available at AID Atlanta, the Ric Crawford Clinic (formerly AID Gwinnett) and a gay health clinic in Chicago — emphasizes a “future forward” approach that helps it avoid being a high-anxiety “confessional” for partners, said Lamont Scales, prevention programs manager at AID Atlanta.


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VIDEO: Check Him Out!