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 - "The “Work-In” - First installment!" From Thursday, December 11, 2008

The “Work-In” - First installment!

It will take dedication. You get out what you put in.

Brought to you by Ed Negron, a former drug user, turned gangbanger, turned drug dealer, turned own best customer, turned addict, turned recovering addict(still there), turned activist, turned business manager, turned student, turned Substance Abuse Counselor, turned better and happier person, turned some who can love and be loved (Love you Patrick), turned blogger.

In the GBLTQI community we focus a lot on our outer appearance. How’s my hair? How do I look in this outfit? Does my make-up look good? I’m I too thin, or too fat? We can spend hours at the gym working out without any hesitation. But when it comes to working on our inner being, our soul, we tend to avoid it like the black plague. Many of us don’t even know where to begin.

My hope is that this post will help you figure out how to begin your “Work-In” program. Yes, just like a workout program at the gym, it’s going to be challenging. It won’t be easy. It will hurt like hell at times and will really suck at other times. It will take dedication. You get out what you put in. Lastly, it’s going to take some time to see/feel some results. Patience is a virtue. As a result of all your hard work you will see life in a much different way. You will feel so much better about yourself and the world around you.

Recreating, reinventing or revising who we are is what will keep us stronger than our sorrows; which can lead to unhealthy addictions. I always hear people say “I just want to go back to the way things were and the person I was before I started using drugs or alcohol.” Well I sure the hell don’t want to. What these people don’t realize is that the ways things were, and the person “I” was, is what got us using in the first place.

For most of us in recovery, we were given a second, third, fourth (and so on…) chance at life. Yet we try to do the same things over and over again expecting a different outcome. That, my friends, is the definition of insanity.

Our first lesson is: Accept Change

(Quick Disclaimer: The suggestions on this blog are just that “SUGGESTIONS.” My words cannot heal your pain and or addictions. Only you can. “Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness." -- Shakti Gawain)

"We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life's morning; for what in the morning was true will in evening become a lie." -- C.G. Jung

Life continually evolves. We’re always moving into new experiences, new possibilities. This constant change unsettles the personality, which finds security in stability. But with life always in flux, that security is an illusion. We experience pain by trying to hold on to things that are not solid.

Life becomes joyful when we can open to the constant flow and ride freely with it. This requires us to let go of the need to control. We need to learn to trust.

"Can it then be that what we call the ‘self’ is fluid and elastic? It evolves, strikes a different balance with every new breath." -- Wayne Muller

"We’re never the same; notice how you’re called to write something entirely different about a topic you responded to weeks or months ago." -- Patrice Vecchione

Personal growth can be a long hard journey. At Higher Awareness you are never left alone. From The Inner Journey (C) Reproductions Permitted: http://www.higherawareness.com

Read more Daily Motivations at http://thework-in.blogspot.com

Legalized Hate in Uganda?

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Kerry Kennedy

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, hours before the Ninth Circuit ruled "Prop 8" unconstitutional in the state of California, raucous cheers rang out in the Ugandan Parliament as legislators reintroduced a controversial bill that would in effect legislate hate against the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.

The proposed bill, known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), would compel families, doctors, and counselors to report on all those suspected of being members of the LGBTI community, and would impose criminal sanctions, possibly even the death penalty, for those who fail to turn in their fellow citizens.

Combined with other proposed legislation before the Parliament, like portions of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Control Bill, the AHB would also hinder Uganda's HIV-prevention efforts, contributing to the alarming rise in HIV infection rates.

This poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of all Ugandans and is a clear violation of international law. It denies LGBTI citizens their rights to health care, education, and work.

It creates an atmosphere of hate, intolerance, and fear. It criminalizes the actions of civil society organizations and individual citizens who work to defend the legal rights of their fellow Ugandans.

And it puts the imprimatur of the law behind discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is a blatant suppression of the rights of all Ugandans and an attempt to curtail the freedoms of speech and assembly of a vibrant civil society in Uganda.

The bill's supporters claim to be acting in the name of protecting Ugandan children -- playing on the common prejudice that equates homosexuality with pedophilia.

In fact, the bill places children squarely in harm's way. The bill calls on Ugandan families to betray trust and turn in their siblings and children.

The bill would have doctors break confidentiality and deny care to Ugandans. In fact, this bill would disrupt Ugandan families, increase the HIV prevalence in the country, and set a frightening precedent for the silencing of rights advocacy of any group deemed undesirable by politicians.

Moreover, the bill's possible passage into law is not the only threat to Ugandans. The reintroduction of the bill imminently threatens the safety of the LGBTI community and the safety of anyone assumed to be LGBTI.

Vigilante violence and hate speech amplified by sensationalist media and homophobic rhetoric by religious leaders is all too real today in Uganda.

Across the country, LGBTI people already face physical attacks and rape, extortion by neighbors, and arbitrary arrest by police.

If we support the human and civil rights of our LGBTI citizens in the United States, we must also vigorously advocate against the passage of this bill and act to stop state-sanctioned homophobia from taking root in any country.

If we support human rights, we cannot ignore legalized brutality against any group of our global community.


Read the rest

Trans Actions Transgender Conference May 19th - CHICAGO

You are invited to the Service Providers Council’s Transgender Conference to be held Thursday, May 19, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the University Center, 525 S. State Street in Chicago. The conference is entitled “Trans Actions”; its theme is “Increasing Access to Care.” The 2011 conference is organized by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago Service Providers’ Council (SPC) Prevention & Care Committees and the ad-hoc host committee.

It will bring together local, state and national leaders to discuss “best practice,” cultural competency, employment issues, research-based programs and HIV/STI prevention for and with transgendered populations.

Featured Speakers are:

* Joanne Herman author of “Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not”
* Jamison Green, PhD, an international leader in transgender, health, policy, law and education from the University of California, San Francisco
* Amanda Simpson a political and transgender trailblazer

Who should attend? The conference will appeal to anyone interested in providing services to and increasing workplace opportunities for the transgendered population. It will be of particular value to professional educators; service providers in the areas of mental health, substance abuse prevention, intervention, treatment, prevention education, treatment and adherence education (i.e., health care providers, prevention and community health workers, nurses, health educators, program directors, social workers, case managers) as well as resource managers, labor and diversity specialists.

 Register today!

The Lancet: Health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations

Many health practitioners are not well informed about how to care for LGBT populations...

The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9773, Page 1211, 9 April 2011

The past 20 years have seen dramatically increased visibility of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) in US society. This diverse and vibrant group are now active and welcome members of many communities across the country and are well recognised and praised for being a major force in the positive global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Substantial achievements to advance their health status, such as the established partnership between LGBT organisations and foundations or corporations to access funding to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, have been achieved. Yet, there is still a great deal to learn. Basic demographic data are lacking for LGBT populations in the USA. Many health practitioners are not well informed about how to care for LGBT populations, or about what constitutes healthy development of LGBT adolescents, and they do not understand enough about the development of sexual orientation, diverse gender identities, LGBT families, or the effect of stigma and discrimination on health.

To develop a more complete picture of the health status of people who are LGBT and to identify research gaps, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding. [Click here for free online version of report.] Using a life-course perspective, the report examines the health status of these populations in three stages: childhood and adolescence, early and middle adulthood, and later adulthood. The IOM finds that, although these populations share the full range of health risks with the rest of society, they are also exposed to a unique yet poorly understood set of additional threats. For instance, compared with their heterosexual peers, members of the LGBT community are at increased risk of suicide, depression, harassment, and victimisation, and they may have higher rates of smoking and alcohol use. It is worth noting that for teenage lesbian and bisexual girls, pregnancy rates may be higher than those of heterosexual girls. Girls may deliberately attempt to get pregnant in an effort to define and strengthen an identity for themselves. In early and middle adulthood, lesbians and bisexual women may also be at higher risk for breast cancer and for obesity, while men who have sex with men, especially those who are HIV-positive, are at increased risk for anal cancer. Meanwhile, in some studies, lesbians were significantly more likely than heterosexual women to receive a diagnosis of heart disease.

In later adulthood, LGBT are less likely to have a partner or children to provide them with health and social care, resulting in their greater dependence on friends, caregivers, and LGBT organisations. There has been clinical concern about rates of diabetes, ovarian disease, and stroke among transgender older people potentially as a result of long-term hormone treatments. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS remains a crucial health issue for gay or bisexual men, transgender women, and LGBT who inject drugs. Additionally, people who are LGBT face barriers to equitable health services in the USA, such as difficulty in obtaining health insurance, fear of discrimination from providers, and a shortage of providers who are well trained in their health needs.

When addressing health issues for people who are LGBT, researchers are confronted with many challenges, one of which is a lack of systematically or accurately collected data. The LGBT community make up a sometimes hidden minority of the population and it is hard to recruit sufficient numbers to studies to yield meaningful results. Moreover, the LGBT acronym does not represent a homogeneous group, and it can be difficult to define and measure sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally, some LGBT individuals are reluctant to disclose details about themselves and take part in research, because research topics may be sensitive and can be perceived as intruding on privacy.

The availability of high-quality evidence is central to improvement of knowledge. The report calls for a research agenda to collect data, examine appropriate methodology, train researchers, and develop policy on research participation, provided that privacy concerns can be satisfactorily addressed. It also emphasises several priority research areas—demography, social influences, health-care inequalities, and intervention research.

The IOM report is groundbreaking. Not only does it review the LGBT community's health needs comprehensively, but it also brings a sea change in establishing educational and research guidance for LGBT health. Actions in response to the report are already underway, such as integration of LGBT health education into medical school curricula. The full participation of the LGBT community in their health and wellbeing is crucial. Above all, scientific and clinical engagement is essential to improve awareness and understanding of LGBT health issues, and to incorporate them into mainstream health care.

[Free online version of report.]

National Coalition for LGBT Health Celebrates First Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act

The National Coalition for LGBT Health is pleased to celebrate March 23, 2011 as the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. One year ago, when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, he enacted the most sweeping change in the American health system in four decades. As part of the fabric of American society, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families are already seeing the benefits of this far-reaching transformation of our health system.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, LGBT people who have never been able to afford health insurance or health care will soon be able to access affordable private coverage or Medicaid in every state. A strong Patient’s Bill of Rights is already protecting access to coverage and care for LGBT people by prohibiting dollar limits on coverage and making sure that LGBT people are no longer vulnerable to losing vital coverage when they become ill. The Affordable Care Act is also key to efforts such as expanding LGBT cultural competency in the health care workforce, making preventive care available to everyone, improving data collection to better identify and address LGBT health disparities, and recognizing the increasing diversity of America’s families.

“Fundamentally, access to health care is social justice at its most basic. LGBT people need not only an end to legal discrimination but also access to the resources we need to lead healthy, happy lives,” said Hutson W. Inniss, Executive Director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health. “The Affordable Care Act offers a historic opportunity to prioritize prevention and wellness and make health care affordable and accessible for everyone, including LGBT people and their families. As queer people, we have a unique tradition of fighting for our right to health and caring for each other and our communities. Like Walt Whitman, Dr. Mary Edward Walker, Arizona hero Daniel Hernandez, and countless others, the LGBT community must help lead the fight to build safer, healthier communities for everyone in this country.”

2011 National LGBTI Health Summit Launches Website

Bloomington Hospital and the Local Steering committee of the National LGBTI Health Summit are proud to announce the launch of the 2011 National LGBTI Health Summit Website. The website address is www.nationallgbtihealthsummit.com.

In addition to that, the 2011 National LGBTI Health Summit has received a grant from the City of Bloomington for subsidized use of the Historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

The 2011 National LGBTI Health Summit will be held in Bloomington, Indiana on July 16-19, 2011 at the Indiana Memorial Union on the campus of Indiana University. We would like to invite all members of the LGBTI Community and their allies to join us in beautiful, Bloomington, Indiana.

Transmen - body, sex, identity and more

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.; see www.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

Mark this down: 2011 National LGBTI Health Summit to be held in Bloomington, Indiana

Bloomington Hospital and the National Steering committee of the National LGBTI Health Summit are proud to announce that Bloomington, Indiana will host the 2011 National LGBTI Health Summit; July 16-19, 2011 at the Indiana Memorial Union on the campus of Indiana University.

Bloomington, incidentally, was recently named one of the 5 gayest cities in America. Yes, Bloomington!

The LGBTI Health Summits are an opportunity for individuals working for the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex people to meet and share ideas.  The LGBTI Health Summits grew out of a resurgence in queer health movements which looked beyond a victim deficit based model of disease, using an asset based approach built on the World Health Organization definition of health as a state of physical, mental and social well-being not just the absence of disease.

This summit is different from traditional health conferences. LGBTI Health Summits (previously in Boulder, Colorado; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, and most recently in Chicago.) have been described as nurturing retreats, exciting and intense think tanks, and an event of great enlightenment. Participants come away with a renewed passion for the cause, energized and inspired to tackle the problems confronting LGBTI health and wellness.

All members of the LGBTI Community and their allies are invited to participate in beautiful, Bloomington, Indiana. July, 2011.

Tracking our History - The 2009 LGBTI Health Summit (Chicago) Recap

via Chris Bartlett (pictured top picture, left side)

Whether you attended the fabulous August, 2009 LGBTI Summit in Chicago or not, you ought to review the summary document prepared by Summit organizers.  The document, available here, presents the key outcomes from the 2009 Chicago meeting of this biennial summit of cutting-edge thinking in LGBTI Health.

Our history is important.  Over more than ten years of offering health summits targeted at lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and trans folks, our Summary Documents have been key maps of where we have been and where we plan to go next.

The document includes:

1. A detailed summary of the Bisexual Health Summit, held in conjunction with the broader summit.

2. A report back from the M-Town discussion of men's needs.

3. Suggestions for how to get involved moving forward.

If you participated in the LGBTI Summit and wish to add information to the summary document,  please contact me at bartlett.cd@gmail.com . It's important that the document represent as much as possible the outcomes of the Summit.

Check out pictures from the Summit here, from the opening party, and from the Bisexual Health Summit.

For those of you who are history geeks like I am,  you might want to check out Michael Scarce's archives of past Summits.

We're here. We're queer. And we want you to ask us about it.

via Queer the Census

It's crazy – the U.S. Census Bureau wants an accurate count of everyone in the country – but there's no question in the survey that asks if you are 
lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

You read that right: LGBT people are basically invisible in the survey that is supposed to reflect the diversity of America's population – and that's a big problem.

The data collected impacts issues critical to every American – like our health care, our economic stability, and even our safety. And when LGBT people aren't counted, then we also don't count when it comes to services, resources ... you name it.

It's past time to Queer the Census! Sign the petition to demand that the census ask the question and count everyone!

AND...

Seal your census envelope with your FREE Queer the Census sticker! Census forms will arrive in the Spring, so get enough for yourself and your family members now!

Gay in 2010: Interview on the Three Things That Matter Most

via Thirsty, by Chris Beakey

Excerpt:

In my experience I’ve seen a lot of gay men who are still suffering from their experiences growing up. We feel wounded, and that woundedness is something we still carry around, and still endure. It leads us to take measures to try and make the hurt stop. This means doing drugs, spending excessive amounts of money on cars, vacations and clothes, and pursuing whatever diversions make us feel better the fastest. Marketers love gays because they don’t watch their pocketbooks as much as most people do . . . we don’t have the financial responsibilities to the same degree . . . but of course with this parenthood trend, that’s changing.

I also think we gays have been repressed for such a long period during our youth that there’s some “catching up” we feel we need to do. That’s why you see such juvenile behavior among men my age . . . I think they feel like they missed out on a lot of social enjoyment and fun and camaraderie by being in the closet earlier on and they’re making up for lost time. Unfortunately this often leads them to engage in risky behaviors. The idea that you’re defying danger and risk can be -- dare I say it out loud -- sexy. . . and that’s one of the most overlooked aspects of this disease. Too often we are subconsciously thinking, “Can I get this thrill without paying the consequences?”

Read the whole item.

How to Close the LGBT Health Disparities Gap

Negative health outcomes for LGBT people are due to the cumulative and intersecting impact of many different factors, particularly their reduced access to employer-provided health insurance, the social stigma that exists against LGBT people, and a lack of cultural competence in the health care system.

via Center for American Progress, by Jeff Krehely

LGBT health disparities overall

In the past decade lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people have made rapid progress in winning and securing equal rights. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. now give same-sex couples at least some of the same rights afforded to heterosexual married couples. Even more states offer nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or both. Polling data show that the general public has increasingly positive views of LGBT people and are becoming more supportive of their civil and political rights. In short, heterosexual Americans are finally recognizing LGBT people as a legitimate social minority that should have equal access to our society’s basic rights, opportunities, and responsibilities.

Despite this progress, however, members of the LGBT population continue to experience worse health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts. Due to factors like low rates of health insurance coverage, high rates of stress due to systematic harassment and discrimination, and a lack of cultural competency in the health care system, LGBT people are at a higher risk for cancer, mental illnesses, and other diseases, and are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs, and engage in other risky behaviors.

People who are both LGBT and members of a racial or ethnic minority will often face the highest level of health disparities. For example, as the National Coalition for LGBT Health notes, a black gay man faces disparities common to the African-American community as well as those suffered by the LGBT community, and a transgender Spanish-speaking woman, regardless of her sexual orientation, must navigate multiple instances of discrimination based on language, ethnicity, and gender. A companion CAP brief, “How to Close the LGBT Health Disparities Gap: Disparities by Race and Ethnicity,” explores these in more detail.

Health surveys cannot continue to treat populations in isolation: Members of the LGBT community who are members of other populations that are recognized as suffering from health disparities must be allowed to identify themselves fully on surveys, including their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Read the rest.

How is Diego Sanchez healthy?

Look, no one is perfect, and no one makes the best decisions always. 

 

In past years, people who web-searched my name bumped into “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?”  Later they were greeted by Dora the Explorer’s, “Go, Diego, go!”  I guess I’m getting closer to health because today, if you web-search my name, you encounter a photo and profile of a handsome, young Latino champion mixed martial artist. 

No, I’m not he.  I’m the adopted, naturalized, older, not-as-cute, Latino transsexual guy who leverages a different kind of fight.  I fight for our community and for our lives.

To me, being or staying healthy entails several things.  My “healthy” checklist includes being safe, honest, respectful, engaged, grateful, humble, hopeful, inspired, conscious in my decision-making and as medically well as possible as often as possible.  Physical fitness is on my list, as is a two-week vacation in Hawaii or Arizona – both are part of my past, and they are on my radar for my future.

I’m reminded of my Uncle Gene who for decades said, “Every day’s a gift,” as he revealed part of a clever grin that let you know there’s more to the sentence than crossed his lips.  After he retired, he’d say, “Every day’s a holiday.”  When I consider the danger and constant risk so many people in my communities face daily -- reminded just a couple of weeks ago on Nov. 20, the International Transgender Day of Remembrance when we tallied our annual loss at more than 160 people, mostly of color, predominantly poor --  I recognize each day that I exist as a gift and a holiday.  It’s my charge to make each day a celebration. 

I’m fortunate that when my parents went to an orphanage, they asked for the infant closest to death, and that infant was I.  

They did the same when they chose my brother four years later.  I’m lucky to be emotionally balanced and mentally fit.  I suppose my next step could be to get on my bike more often or run and lift a little more each day.  I take my life in stride.  As an adopted person, I have to presume that I’m predisposed to get everything on that physicians’ checklist.  I do get annual checkups, hormone panels when needed and yes, because I’m over 50 colonoscopies.  Here’s why:  Is there a family history of heart attacks?  Maybe.  Any relatives ever had a stroke? Possibly.  How about diabetes?  Could be.  I am diligent about being vigilant.  It’s all about moderation and balance, so I have my checklist in tow.  I ponder it.  Look, no one is perfect, and no one makes the best decisions always.  We can give our best effort and not judge ourselves if we fall short sometimes.  It’s harm reduction, as we learn in the HIV/AIDS prevention and education public health arena.

Learn, smile, dust off and move on.  It’s how we grow, and it feels to me like a key reason that we age.

The most important take-away point is that I could never be healthy alone.  I need to be accountable and active in my faith, to my community, friends, family and myself.  I am humbly thankful that I am blessed to be able to live with integrity. I salute Jim Pickett for the variety of handsome men he finds to highlight on this blog.  Still, the real joy is that he features the full essence of good and great men – skin deep and beyond, never stopping with who you see, rather fearlessly profiling who you might get to know.  It’s the same healthy action that Michael Shankle at The MALE Center www.malecenter.org ensures to create such welcoming space where gay, bisexual and trans men can flourish, heal and grow.

Gentlemen and others: a nuestra salud.

-- Diego Sanchez
Boston and Washington, DC

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.

Unmasking subtle heterosexism: Microaggressions and microvalidations in everyday life

via The Sexual Continuum, by Dr. Brian Mustanski

Excerpt:

After reading this article on microaggressions in the APA Monitor I have been spending a lot of time thinking about this topic. I have been particularly curious about how gay and lesbian people may experience these kinds of microaggressions and how we might go about studying their occurrence and effects. I turns out almost no research has been done on LGBT people and microaggressions. So I started paying attention and making a note of various kinds of experiences I have in my daily life and recent travels. Here are a few examples of things I have recently experienced:

A customs agent pointedly agent asking my partner and I if we are "friends." While I thought about correcting him and saying in fact we are partners, I eventually decided it wasn't worth it. I wasn't entirely sure why he said it the way he did and didn't want to raise an issue that may not have existed, but it did feel like it invalidated my relationship and made me frustrated that I wasn't sure how to respond.

Read the entire item.


Glossary:

• A microassault is an explicit verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt the intended victim through name-calling, avoidant behavior, or purposeful discriminatory actions.
• A microinsult is characterized by communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity. Microinsults represent subtle snubs, frequently unknown to the perpetrator, but clearly convey a hidden insulting message to the recipient of color.
• Microinvalidations are characterized by communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a minority person.

Health Care Reform is a GBT Issue - Call Your Senator TODAY

via the Gay Men's Health Agenda

Want to get involved? Send the group and email.
[gaymenshealthagenda@gmail.com]

Take Action – Call Your Senator, and let her/him know that you want full health care reform that includes the needs of gay, bi and trans men.

Below are the toll free numbers for the national congressional switch board:

1-866-220-0044
1-877-851-6437

They will transfer you to your senator, all you need to do is give them the state you live in.

We now stand at a critical juncture in our movement. Never before has the discussion been so primed for action and major victories been so close to our grasp. It is truly a transformative time, where the work we accomplish now will have effects for decades to come. So please stay involved, stay committed and remember it is our health we are fighting for.

Here is a great article on the connection between gay men’s health and health care reform.

Key Issues (great for talking points)

Healthcare reform must be fully GBT-inclusive.

Social stigma and systemic discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression have significant negative impacts on the overall health of gay, bisexual, and transgender (GBT) men. GBT men suffer disproportionately from the adverse health effects of stigma, stress, and violence, further compounded by the barriers that prevent them from accessing vital healthcare services even for routine care: research has consistently shown that being GBT substantially impacts whether or not a person receives care and, when they do receive care, whether that care effectively speaks to all aspects of their lives. In order to begin to address these disparities, any healthcare reform must be fully GBT-inclusive.

Removing Pre-Exisitng Conditions from Coverage is a Priority.

Due to widespread employment discrimination and lack of relationship recognition, GBT men are more likely to be without prior insurance coverage and are thus disproportionately affected by practices that preclude or limit coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Many transgender individuals with a previous diagnosis or history of treatment for transsexualism report being excluded outright from purchasing even basic individual coverage for routine care. In addition, due to experiences of stigma or discrimination, GBT individuals are less likely overall to have accessed ongoing preventive healthcare or early diagnostic services. For both physical and mental conditions that exact a high toll in the GBT population, late diagnosis and treatment lead to a higher prevalence of serious, advanced-stage disease and ultimately to excessive mortality.

We Must Be Counted!

Historically, health data collection efforts have not included GBT populations or gathered information regarding the specific healthcare needs of GBT men. To address this lack of data, all new or updated national forms or data collection tools must be made inclusive of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. In addition, all efforts to track or redress health disparities must include GBT men as a health disparities population, and efforts to identify cost-effective healthcare protocols must include sensitivity to the health needs and outcomes of the LGBT community.

Health Care Reform Must Include Non-Discrimination Provisions.

GBT individuals and their families must be able to access the full range of services they require, delivered by providers who are sensitive to their needs, and any form of healthcare that is regulated or monitored by the federal government must be required to be permanently GBT-inclusive.

A Robust Public Option is a GBT Issue.

Enacting healthcare coverage for everyone in the United States is an important step in eliminating healthcare disparities for the GBT population. The current system of employer-based coverage is a barrier to many, since so few employers extend coverage eligibility to same-sex partners. In addition, the lack of employment protections based on gender identity and expression results in a high rate of unemployment in the transgender community and further reduces access to insurance coverage.

Your voices helped to ensure the passage of the GBT provisions within the House bill and now it’s time to take our fight to the Senate.

Thanks you for your involvement,

The GMHA Leadership Core
Jim Pickett
Cornelius Baker
Chris Bartlett
Stewart Landers
Kaijson Noilmar

Cleveland Chosen to Host 2014 Gay Games IX

[press release from Federation of Gay Games]

Excellent venues, fiscal accountability and widespread community support cited by Federation of Gay Games

Cologne, Germany [29 September 2009] – The city of Cleveland, Ohio, USA, has been chosen by the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) to host the 2014 Gay Games.

The announcement by the FGG comes after a year-long site selection process that culminated in formal presentations by bidding cities to the FGG Membership Assembly meeting this week in Cologne, Germany, site of the 2010 Gay Games. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and Washington, D.C., USA were the other two finalists.

“Cleveland demonstrated to the Federation of Gay Games that they understood the mission of the Gay Games and our principles of „Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best‟™,” said Kurt Dahl (Chicago) and Emy Ritt (Paris), FGG Co-Presidents. “We were highly impressed by the facilities and infrastructure, the widespread community support, their financial plan and the city‟s experience in hosting large scale sports and cultural events.”

Read the whole release (PDF)

Meanwhile, the 2010 Games are set for Cologne, July 31 - August 7. Learn more and register.

And watch below for some Mitcham inspiration.

The 2009 LGBTI Summit: A Recap of the Madness that was

by Pistol Pete

The 2009 LGBTI Health Summit, which ran August 14th – 18th, was a unique, knowledge-saturated conference where more than 350 LGBTI health professionals and community advocates joined to share the latest information and experiences in all subsets of LGBTI health. The Summit held more than 100 workshops and plenaries addressing such disparate subjects as dating, HIV prevention, data collection, aging, domestic violence, health care reform, social media campaigns, smoking issues, queer youth education and activism, among many, many others.

On Friday, we held the Bisexual Health Summit, thought to be the first conference devoted solely to bisexual health issues. The presentations highlighted the fact that bisexuals have worse health outcomes than both of their gay and straight counterparts, and called for higher visibility of and research on the issue of bisexuals and their health. For me, the best part was connecting with other openly bisexual individuals, especially men, who are often so closeted in a society that rejects the legitimacy of dual sexual attraction. Later, participants of the entire summit were treated to an opening blessing by Sister Porna and the Sisters of the Abbey of the Windy City.

The full summit got underway on Saturday morning, and all I can say is it was bustling; there were so many interesting workshops to choose from that I had to pop in and out of most sessions! Best of all, the top notch knowledge and perspectives I was able to hear were invaluable. While all of the hot button topics were covered – PrEP and PEP, health care reform, and LGBTI aging – other vital, yet less ubiquitous topics took center stage. For example, I had no idea how important data collection was to the promotion of LGBTI health, and I think I could have only learned it at a summit like this.

The summit also had a very positive, assets-based approach to problem-solving. Workshops like “What Vaginas Want,” “Exploring Sexual Pleasure,” and “Body Pride” addressed sexual and personal issues by imploring folks to have a positive, healthy view of themselves and their intimate interests, as opposed to the shaming and hidden sexual past so many of us endured.

The Health Summit also took on the controversial issue of barebacking at a live podcast forum entitled Risky Business. Moderated by Fausto Fernos and Marc Felion of the Feast of Fun podcast, the panelists (including writer and gay men’s health activist Tony Valenzuela, Dr. Braden Berkey of the Center on Halsted, and Mufasa Ali, founder of ONYX, a leathermen’s group for men of color) and audience members debated the affects of bareback porn on the risk behavior and health of gay men.

I was fortunate to have the chance to attend the 2009 LGBTI Health Summit. Being able to meet and connect with other colleuages in the field of LGBTI health and share ideas and experiences has helped me to grow both professionally and personally. I can’t wait for 2011 in (fingers crossed) Portland!

A major step forward in LGBTI Health

The LGBTI Summit 2009 in Chicago

A major step forward in the LGBTI Health Movement and a generator of a road map forward

By Chris Bartlett

When I arrived in Chicago for this year's LGBTI Health Summit last week, I was feeling a bit daunted by the numerous challenges that await those of us working in the fertile fields of LGBTI health: The health care access battle currently playing out in Congress and in every state. The invisibility of queer elders. The need for more funding and other support for bi and trans health programming. The recognition that some of our crucial community based organizations might not successfully weather the storm of the current economic crisis. It all felt so heavy.

Some of you know that I dwell in the land of Assets Based Vision (sometimes known as optimism), so I was pondering, on the Orange Line trip to the hotel, ways that I could use the Summit to re-energize myself, focus on exciting priorities, and most importantly, have some fun. So I planned to reconnect with my tribe of queer health folks- many of whom I have known for over ten years, and one (yes, that's you Bill Jesdale) who went to college with me in the distant year called 1985. These folks really have come to feel like an important family for me -- a group of men and women I feel accountable to in my work and play. By the time I got off the Orange Line and trundled over to the Hilton, I was feeling ready to engage.

The tendency at most conferences is for participants to be passive recipients of information, but at the LGBTI Summit we create a space where every participant has the authority (and responsibility) actively to transform their experience-- through creating a last-minute workshop, or through sassily engaging with presenters, or through tweeting critiques from the audience. When people said to me that they wanted more sex-positive workshops, or more engagement with edgy themes, I said-- go ahead-- MAKE IT SO.

And the good news about the LGBTI Summit Chicago is that many people made it so. The Gay Men's Health Agenda gathered further steam as Summiteers participated in plans to move that key policy work forward in Washington, on the state level, and in our local towns. And we also discussed the growth of lesbian, bi and trans health agendas. Engaging plenaries focused attention on movement leadership, the power of data collection (and data caveats-- hence Scout's Law of Fake Queers -- if you misidentify some non-LGBT folks as LGBT, you screw up your data), and our responsibility towards LGBT elders (of course this is my key focus right now, but I can see Elder at the end of my own tunnel). Rebecca Fox, the unstoppable Director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health, was omnipresent at the Summit- exerting her leadership to remind us of this unique moment in history where we can bring LGBT folk to the table of health care access.


So topically, we made it happen- the role of public health (including the ways its institutions can impact our health negatively), the health of health organizers ourselves (a touchy topic) , trans-inclusive health care and insurance, the power of resilience in LGBT families, vigorous anti-tobacco activism, poisonous anti-queer stigma, and numerous other hot topics. Keeping up with the spirit of active engagement, the audiences challenged presenters (including me) to show why our ideas made a difference for our health.

And outside the presentations we made it happen relationally. One key moment of the Summit was an impromptu gathering organized by Trevor Hoppe and Erik Libey-- an opportunity for drinks, pizza and chocolate (so much for queer nutrition) but also a chance to meet one-on-one with the presenter who pissed you off, or the Sister who helped to explain community to you, or the Executive Director of a nationally-known LGBT health center, or the famous thinker who transformed trans research. They were all there-- and the Summit is created to break down traditional hierarchies-- so you could meet them all and engage with them as-- gasp-- human beings. There is something to understanding that behind the ideas and the presentations and the research papers, every person in the room had a similar commitment to queer health as they see it.

I should also mention that the Summit is one place where events that enter the realm of the spiritual (a key realm of health) are given their due-- whether that is the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence celebrating joy and banishing shame on a bar crawl, 12 step meetings in the morning and evening, the spiritual peace brought on by a good shoulder massage, or a Radical Faerie heart circle bringing together pagans, faeries, and the curious for some moments of sharing those dreaded feelings. When the Summits are most successful, both presenters and participants experience their engagement as relaxing and perhaps even health-inducing.

We reached the apex of ideas, engagement, and relationship at the public forum "Risky Business-- Reclaiming Pleasure"- co-sponsored by the LGBTI Summit, LifeLube and Chicago's impressive LGBT Center on Halsted. At one point, I stood up from the front of the auditorium to look out at the audience-- a mix of generations of the international LGBT health movement, as well as media and Chicago queers. Though the topic (barebacking, unprotected sex, community health, promoting pleasure) was bound to be interesting (and was), I was more interested by the experience of community in the room- the sense that the conversation (both from the panelists and the audience) really mattered, and that despite accusations of LGBT apathy, our communities are more engaged than ever with the key questions of how to build upon our community assets, and how to address the challenges that we will continue to face.


So whither the Summits and the movement? In the ten years since the Summit movement started, dozens of new LGBT health organizations have been created; research has gradually expanded to focus upon the breadth of queer health, access to LGBT-friendly health care has expanded, and three generations of LGBT health organizers have grappled with the key questions of what we mean by LGBT health and how to make it happen. There's no doubt that the movement has been a success, and the Summits have been the major public expression of this movement. To me, the measure of our ongoing success will be our ability (through Summits and the work that emerges from them) to produce specific measurable results in our movement and communities. More funding for LGBT health projects. The jettisoning of homophobic and transphobic policy in Washington and in our state capitals. Growing visibility of bi and trans health programs, research, and activists. Strengthening partnership with the HIV/AIDS movements, and with organizers in communities of color. A strengthening of the fabric (lace? felt? spandex?) of our intergenerational organizing.

We need to be aware of our ongoing goals and intentions, and we need to grow the structure to implement our goals. We have succeeded with a campaign of placing a whole generation of queer health activists in the communities and organizations nationally where they can make a difference. Are we willing to take responsibility and accountibility to bring about the huge visions and projects that were discussed last week in Chicago? Are we responsible to MAKE IT SO?

At the forum at the Center on Halsted, Cornelius Baker, a long-time leader in the LGBT Health, HIV/AIDS, people of color, and many other movements, put his arm around my shoulder and asked me if we were ready to take the work to the next level-- to really insist upon greater power, more accomplishments, and further success. Cornelius reminded me that Eric Rofes (pictured right), one of the founders of this movement, would have wanted to see continued results. So let's map out the strategy, and continue to demand the results.

Rofes indeed was always a visionary. I leave you with a number of questions posed by him in his letter to the 2002 LGBTI Summit in Boulder. I think they remain pertinent questions for our future:

1) Who is responsible for setting an LGBTI health agenda and overseeing its success?

2) What should be our health movement's agenda with the administration in Washington?

3) What structures currently exist to move forward the priority items on our collective agenda?

4) Should we commit to future LGBTI health summits and make a powerful collective effort to build a grassroots movement in the United States?

[check out pics from the Summit]