[VIDEO] It's Time

via Advocate

GetUp! in Australia released a commercial on Thursday from the perspective of one half of a gay couple in love. It builds to the big moment that they want legalized — a proposal to get married.

Woof Wednesday at Bondi

 

pics by pickett

Gettin' to know booty

As a booty owner, 
take a few moments to get to know it a bit better...

The ins and outs of the arse
via SX (Sydney), by Dr. Darren Gold

There is far less information or resources available dealing with the rectum and anus as a sex organ than there are for heterosexuals on the penis and vagina. As a clinician who has seen many gay men with anorectal problems over the past few years it has become apparent as a result a little more education into the way things work and how to avoid any lifelong harm may be quite useful. 

Read the rest.



And then read Dr. Gold's "The complexities of the rectum" next

Here's a sample:

"Initial penetration should be gentle and gradual until the anus has had time to receptively relax to the stretching in order not to cause too much damage."

LifeLuber Jim Pickett Downunder

Jim Pickett speaks to the huddled masses

On October 21, AFC Advocacy Director and LifeLuber Jim Pickett gave a plenary presentation at the Australasian HIV/AIDS Conference 2010 in Sydney, Australia. His talk, “Yes, There is a Gay Agenda: The need to re-conceptualize HIV prevention in the epidemic’s third decade” was part of the session titled “Re-Thinking Prevention.” Pickett discussed HIV prevention in the United States context and provided insights into the U.S. Gay Men’s Health Agenda, Chicago’s “How are you healthy?” campaign, the U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy, sexual health, and biomedical prevention. Click here to view his slide set!

Click here to view slide set in power point!

Click here to view slide set in PDF.

The Big Sydney Strip

Source (more photos here)

About 5,200 naked people have embraced each other on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House (yesterday) for a photo shoot by Spencer Tunick.

Tunick, who is known for his nude group photos in public spaces, posed participants for more than an hour in a variety of positions Monday.

"It was difficult to get the straight participants to embrace the gay participants and vice versa," Tunick said. "So I was very happy that that last set up finally got done and everyone came together (in a) united, friendly kiss, a loving kiss in front of this great structure."

Nineteen-year-old student Art Rush said he was thrilled to participate.

"I'll never get a chance to do this again, it's not worth being inhibited," Rush said. "It doesn't feel sexual, it just feels tribal, a gathering of humanity."

Check out video on Reuters.

How is Mark Reid healthy?

In the past 5 years staying healthy and committing to be in control of my health has become paramount for me.  As someone who has worked in the HIV/AIDS area for the past 20 years, currently in the position as Diverse Sexuality Health Promotion Manager at the West Australian AIDS Council,  I have always been aware of the importance to health and staying healthy but it was when I reached a peak weight of 142kgs (sorry here in Australia we use kilos and not pounds) and was told by my Doctor that I was pre-diabetic and had high blood pressure that I had the wake up call that I needed to address my ever increasing waist line and these potentially harsh medical ailments.

For me staying healthy has evolved to encompass physical health, sex, alcohol and drugs and the role they play in my live, relationships, emotional health and spirituality.  Some of these topics will resonate with you and some will not but I believe that  we need to take a constructive combative approach to these as a community and begin to look at ways we can support each other to stay healthy in 2009 and beyond.

Men, women and trans members of our community all face challenges in terms of staying healthy and we each have to take personal responsibility for our health and wellbeing but we can also support each other to achieve these  goals.

It is not always easy to stay healthy and make the correct choices to achieve this. Slip ups do occur and I have learnt to acknowledge that they do and then work on dealing with that and moving to get back onto the road to healthy living.

For the first time I got serious in my quest to finally take control of my life and lose weight by committing to diet and exercise.  For someone who has attempted over the years to do this and has never really succeeded , I was determined this time that I would go the distance and get my weight to a manageable level and see if I could stop the onset of diabetes and get my blood pressure under control.

 In the beginning it was a real test and challenge.  How to unlearn over 30 years of bad eating habits and begin to look at exercise seriously for the first time.  Well I am happy to say that with yoga, some light running (that has now turned into running) and a balanced diet I was able to lose over 54kgs and although there have been ups and downs I have managed to keep most of it off. It is amazing that after so many years of feeling sluggish and lacking energy I have had a new lease on life and the past 4 years have seen me achieve some great milestones.

I was able to return to Latin dancing at the end of 2008 which saw me compete in the Sydney Mardi Gras Same Sex Dance competition and win 3 gold medals and a bronze,  something I thought I would never do.

For a long time I think we have pointed the finger and been very prescriptive in saying what we should and should not do but I think it is time to move past this and recognise the role that choice plays in our lives.  Making the right choices, by being informed and educating ourselves about these issues as well as looking at our options and adjusting them to what we know will work for each of us is paramount.  Having a sense of PRIDE in whom and what we are can help in assisting us to make those healthy choices.

To achieve that things that I have in the past 4 years in regards to staying healthy I have had the support of an amazing partner for the past 27 years, great friends and my family all important ingredients for me to stay healthy.

 I would ask each and every one of you to consider what it is that allows you to stay healthy?

-- Mark Reid
Perth, Australia

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.

mmmm mmmmmmm banana....

Slip It On from ACON Online on Vimeo.

Slip It on is a new ground-breaking safe sex campaign featuring a series of pop art-inspired bananas aiming to make condom use more a-peel-ing for gay men in NSW.

Over two decades into the HIV epidemic, condoms remain the most effective way to prevent HIV as well as a range of other sexually transmissible infections (STIs). HIV rates have been stable in NSW for the last 10 years because most gay men use condoms most of the time. However using condoms for safe sex is an important message for everyone and one that never goes out of style.

The campaign has taken inspiration from 1960s pop art, and the humble banana, to produce an iconic image that encourages the use of condoms.

The banana is healthy, highly visible and widely available, just like condoms should be. Many of us can probably even remember the banana from demonstrations in our high school Sex Ed class!

In an Australian first, various fashion and lifestyle brands will help promote the campaign’s safe sex message by including the Slip It On logo in their own marketing and publicity.

A Little Ben Cohen Anyone?

Towleroad has a great series called Sportrait, which featured talented (and hot) athletes. And who better to feature than Aussie rugby player Ben Cohen?


See the rest here...

Aussie Professional Rugby Jocks Fight Homophobia

Ya gotta love the Aussies.

The high-profile muscled jocks of Australia’s national rugby team, the Qantas Wallabies, have joined forces with the country’s largest LGBT-focused health and HIV/AIDS organization for a campaign to fight discrimination against LGBT people.

Team captain Stirling Mortlock and other players were photographed holding handwritten signs championing inclusiveness in sports as part of the This Is Oz campaign, an online photo blog where users can upload photos of themselves with messages that challenge homophobia and celebrate diversity and social inclusion.

Read the rest at the Advocate.

How is Daniel Reeders healthy?

Actually, it's a bit of a stretch answering that question right now. But I'm limber, so I'm gonna reach.

I'm in my third round, fourth cycle of treatment for a blood disorder that, like a vengeful ex, just keeps coming back. But I live in Australia, where our single payer prescription and mixed public/private health systems mean I can access treatment without going into debt. Although my condition is serious, I'm inspired by role models - my friends and colleagues living with HIV - to insist on my right to live with normality, not according to the social expectations of "sick" people, however "sickness" may be defined.

This year, I'm sexually versatile again, for the first time since I was nineteen. Queer has taught me to love and respect fluidity and difference, and increasingly it bugged me that I was 'stuck' in top gear (so to speak). My 'first time' felt great — possibly because, without asking, the top had removed the condom. In a striking illustration of the difference between knowledge and practice, I knew that bottom guys should check the condom whenever they change position — but we never changed position, so I didn't check until afterwards.

I kept calm and asked a few pointed questions, and the following morning I was able to access Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) without cost, at a gay-friendly clinic, through a doctor who gave me information and reassurance instead of judgment. PEP is a 28-day course of anti-HIV medication that can prevent HIV infection if started within 72 hours of exposure to the virus. The state government paid the AU$589 for my 28 days of Truvada, a single pill combination of FTC/Tenofovir, and my one month post HIV antibody test result recently came back negative.

Finally, I'm going through a breakup, two months shy of three years together. We had gone for relationship counselling before he returned to his home country for work, and I kept seeing the counsellor after he left, so I'm supported in dealing with what's happened. The service is means-tested at 0.01% of my income per session, and the whole centre is extremely gay-friendly.

Of course, the key to my health is my 'framily' — my close friends, gay and straight, who drink with me to my health, happiness and for many other reasons besides. But my health is also the many ways I'm looked after and supported, and because of the activism of my community leaders and elders, all of that happens in ways that leave me with freedom and dignity to live as an openly gay man.

-- Daniel Reeders
Melbourne, Australia


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.

Similar rises in gay men’s HIV diagnoses seen in Western Europe, North America and Australia since 2000

via Aidsmap, by Roger Pebody

A comparative analysis of HIV diagnoses in gay men in eight industrialised countries has found that while they decreased between 1996 and 2000, diagnoses went up by 3% a year from 2000 to 2005, researchers report in the June 2009 issue of the Annals of Epidemiology.

The researchers used national surveillance data compiled by public health bodies in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain (Catalonia only), Australia, the United States (25 states only) and Canada. These countries were chosen as a convenience sample of concentrated epidemics where the surveillance systems were broadly comparable (although not identical) and did not change too much during the period studied.

Read the rest.

VERY COOL - Mitcham Named Aussie Health Ambassador

Thanks to Advocate.com

Gay Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham was named Thursday to be one of his country's ambassadors for men's health.

The Australian diver, who won the 10-meter platform competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, will be an advocate for the country's policy on men's health. Mitcham replaces one of the first men's health ambassadors, Fatherhood Foundation president Warwick Marsh, who was ousted for writing that homosexuality is a "gender disorientation pathology" stemming from sexual abuse and personality disorders, according to The Australian.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon described Mitcham as a "courageous man," citing his struggle with depression and anxiety, after which he claimed Olympic gold. Aboriginal health advocate Mick Adams and Tasmanian doctor Rob Walters were also named ambassadors on Thursday.

They will join David de Kretser, Tim Mathieson, Bill Noonan, Barry Williams, and John Macdonald. The ambassadors will focus on topics such as preventable cancers, sexual health, and illicit drug abuse.

Land of the Rising MMMMMM

via Queerty

Though rarely seen outside of the gay underground, over 30 of Japan's top gay artists will come together later this month for an unprecedented group show at the Tap Gallery in Sydney, Australia. The exhibition, called "Boy's Life," is timed to coincide with Sydney's annual Mardis Gras festival, one of the biggest gay events in the world. For those of us unable to jet to the other side of the world, we present a sampling of the provocative gay artists working today in the land of the rising sun.

Read, and see, the rest.

Weak at the knees...

When we play, we live in the sensation!

By using condoms and lube, testing regularly for STIs, and remembering the more partners we have, the more often we should be test, we reduce our risk so we can give in to the moment.

From Australia's Acon and whytest.org, a great resource for info like:

What is an STI?
How would I know if I have one?
STI fact sheets: Viruses | Parasites | Bacteria | Fungi

God we love the Aussies!

Wood

Gay Australians get into tiny swimsuits & attend surfing 'school.' Thanks Gay.com!


Surf Camp - Session 01 from Surf Camp on Vimeo.

Gay Aussie Couple Say "I Jew"

[via samesame.com.au]

It may not be legal, but an Australian Jewish couple are having their gay marriage without the politics.

Together for 9 years, 47-year-old Scott Whitmont, and 38-year-old Christopher Whitmont-Stein are saying ‘I do’ in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony. Three progressive rabbis have agreed to hold the ceremony despite opposition from orthodox members of the Sydney Jewish community.

Read the rest.

Graphic Sex Sells Prevention - IMAGINE!

FULL-PAGE images of men having sex will be splashed across gay newspapers in Melbourne today as part of a bold advertising campaign designed to stem rising HIV .infections in Victoria.

Four advertisements — which show men having sex, with a dialogue box discussing safe sex issues covering their genitalia — will appear in Bnews and MCV newspapers as part of the Victorian AIDS Council's latest campaign to target gay men who have unprotected sex.

Read the rest in Australia's theage.com

Check out the VAC's hot website.

Hot House donated all the photos for this campaign, btw... We need stuff like this in the US! Think it'll ever happen?