LifeLube: the blog

How can we talk about drinking without pointing fingers?

2008-07-18T11:30:00.002-05:00

Limited capacity - RSVP for this free event now.

Sidetrack
Chicago
Wednesday, July 23

Be part of a fabulous Feast of Fools podcast!

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Wicked Farmer Tans -Team Gay City Pedals for Homo Health

2008-07-18T11:10:00.008-05:00

12 gays, 204 miles, 95 degrees, and wicked farmer tans

Team Gay City joined 9,000 other crazy people to complete the Group Health Seattle to Portland Classic last weekend. The ride runs through some of the most beautiful back roads of Washington state, winding through Roy Yelm and Centralia before crossing the Lewis and Clark Bridge into Oregon. One more huge bridge crossing and you’re in Portland, where a crowd of people welcome you in! The team raised $10,000 this year for gay men’s health and wellness programs. More info on Team Gay City here

Click here -- one of the Gay City riders has a great essay on the ride, and more fun pics.

The Gay City boys are hosting the National Gay Men's Health Summit this October. Click here for more info. LifeLube will be there - will you?

NYC Bathhouses: Safe Sex Allowed

2008-07-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

"Being able to do this type of work in venues where people are
actually congregating is invaluable."

New York City's Prevention Planning Group endorsed changes to a state code that regulates sex clubs and bathhouses that would allow sex with condoms in those businesses and said that such businesses are "important sites for HIV/STD/harm reduction interventions."

With 29 members in favor, none opposed, and two abstaining, the 50-member group, which advises the city on HIV prevention initiatives, backed a proposal from the Commercial Sex Venues Coalition that wants to change the 1985 code from its current ban in businesses on oral, anal and vaginal sex, with or without a condom, to prohibitions that are "directed specifically towards unprotected sexual activity," a coalition briefing paper said.

Read the rest in Gay City News.

Q: I just got an oral or genital piercing. How long should I wait before having sex?

2008-07-18T08:00:00.002-05:00

A: A fresh piercing should be treated just like an open wound to the body, so it's best not to expose it to potentially infectious body fluids until it has fully healed (at 8-10 weeks depending on the piercing). Condoms and dental dams should provide you with proper protection from infection when used correctly. Your piercer should be knowledgeable enough to let you know when it's safe to play with a pierced area again.

[thanks to Howard Brown Health Center for this info]

Friday is for Faeries

2008-07-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

So many Fridays, so many Faeries

Billions in HIV Funding and the Ban is Lifted

2008-07-17T08:49:00.005-05:00

Woo woo for the U.S. Senate! Yesterday, they rocked in the fight against HIV.

First, they approved a $50 billion in international funding over the next five years, which will help in areas such as Africa and Asia - via PEPFAR - the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Meanwhile, the Senators also voted to lift the travel ban on HIV-positive travelers.

…A measure added to the Senate bill by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., [reverses] a policy that has made it difficult for HIV-positive foreigners to visit or seek residency in the United States.
“For 20 years the United States has barred HIV-positive travelers from entering the country even for one day,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality. “Today the Senate said loud and clear that AIDS exceptionalism must come to an end.”

The bill will goes back to the House, which approved the aid back in April, but did not have language about the immigration ban. It is hoped they will just take up the Senate version of the bill.

[love to queerty for the great summary]

Viral Art

2008-07-17T08:04:00.005-05:00

Before the gays were routinely portrayed as vectors of disease and purveyors of pathogens, it was the ladies who were the naughty naughty ones... A new exhibit at the National Academy of Sciences in D.C. called "An Iconography of Contagion" highlights some of the posters that were used to scare the crap out of innocent, unsuspecting hetero males.

Read more on the Accidental Blogger - including a gallery link of some of the images on display.

[Thanks to G. Simone for spreading the contagion to LifeLube]

What does "drink responsibly" mean?

2008-07-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Limited capacity - RSVP for this free event now.

Sidetrack
Chicago
Wednesday, July 23

Be part of a fabulous Feast of Fools podcast!

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Alcohol - Use or Abuse?

2008-07-17T06:07:00.005-05:00

[via Windy City Times]

“Can we have a healthy relationship with alcohol? It's not a question of can we... we must. These are things that are part of our world.”

For a community that tends to drink and drug at higher rates, what exactly is the LGBT community's relationship to alcohol, and is it a healthy one?

The connection between alcohol and the LGBT community will be the subject of discussion at an upcoming podcast forum, “Let's Take a Glass Together,” organized by LifeLube, Project CRYSP, the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Substance Use and Abuse, Sidetrack and Feast of Fools. Featured speakers include local bartenders, UIC professor and researcher David McKirnan and Howard Brown Health Center's Lisa Rivitz.

What's the problem?

Several small studies over the years indicate that LGBT people have higher rates of alcohol dependence than their straight counterparts.

A 2001 Urban Men's Health Study, which surveyed MSM ( men who have sex with men ) from four cities, including Chicago, found a prevalence of heavy and problematic alcohol and drug use. A majority of men—85 percent—reported recreational drinking. Roughly 12 percent reported three or more alcohol-related problems and 8 percent reported alcohol abuse, which is slightly higher than the national average for men, according to 2001-2002 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism data.

Findings from a 2000 National Alcohol Survey of all 50 states suggest that alcohol dependence differs by sexual orientation, especially among women.

The Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study, also known as CHLEW, is an ongoing study of lesbian health. Although the study is not completed, preliminary findings show higher rates of drinking among lesbian and other sexual minority women than the national average. Popular settings for heavy drinking include lesbian and gay bars and LGBT events. Lesbians reported more alcohol-related problems and tend to show less age-related decline in their alcohol consumption than their straight counterparts, preliminary findings also indicate

“We, as a community, in general, tend to drink more and abuse drugs more,” said Simone Koehlinger, director of the Chicago Public Health Department's Office of LGBT Health. Koehlinger said that alcohol is “one of the biggest problems” in terms of substance use in the LGBT community.

According to Lisa Rivitz and Kurt Mohning of Howard Brown Health Center's Recovering with Pride program, they see an increasing number of individuals—many of which are older males—coming in for alcohol abuse, though the increases could be a result of new marketing techniques. Many of the clients they see use a number of substances in addition to alcohol.

Read the rest.

Join LifeLube and friends at the "Let's Take a Glass Together" forum next Wednesday.

"We are all Hussein"

2008-07-16T09:38:00.011-05:00

Listen to LifeLuber Jim Pickett chat it up with the Feast of Fools in their latest podcast - #800 for the boys! - pimping out the next FREE LifeLube forum on alcohol - "Let's Take a Glass Together" - "magical negroes", HIV/AIDS in the south, unsafe sex Taiwanese style, prevy cops in Flint, satire and the not so loving embrace of big pharma. And lot's of other stuff. Like Pickett's new middle name... The comments have already begun - and so far so zesty! Hop over there now.

What role should alcohol have in our lives?

2008-07-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

Limited capacity - RSVP for this free event now.

Sidetrack
Chicago
Wednesday, July 23

Be part of a fabulous Feast of Fools podcast!

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" I'm not gay, but I like my butt and anus played with. Can someone tell me why?"

2008-07-16T08:00:00.002-05:00

via Get Real!, Heather Corinna's popular sexuality advice column, now on RH Reality Check

novastar asks:

I'm not gay, but I like my butt and anus played with. Can someone tell me why?

Heather replies:

I sure can, and I'm glad you asked.

Know what? Some gay men do NOT like having any sort of anal sex. Enjoyment of anal sex does not define or determine homosexuality, and lack of enjoyment of anal sex does not define or determine heterosexuality. So, a guy can be gay and yet not be all that interested in or even enjoy anal play. You can also be gay without engaging in anal sex: being gay is about being attracted to the same-sex, not about having a certain kind of sex, so even a gay guy who never has sex with anyone is still gay, just like a hetero person who has never had sex can still know they're heterosexual and be heterosexual. A guy can be straight and enjoy anal sex great big bunches: if you only desire anal play with men, then we're dealing with an orientation issue, but if you desire and enjoy anal play full-stop, it's just not about sexual orientation. Men of all orientations may or may not enjoy sexual anal stimulation, and the same goes for women of all stripes.

The anus is pretty darn sensitive for men and women alike, full of sensory nerve endings. Most of us tend to enjoy sex the most when it focuses on the places where our bodies are most sensitive, and thus, plenty of people enjoy anal sex of various kinds. Our anuses and rectums are also part of our genitals as a whole, so stimulation of the anus can increase stimulation of or sensation in our other parts.

With men particularly, a big reason anal stimulation or sex can be so enjoyable is because of your prostate gland (women don't have one).

The prostate is a very sensory, walnut-sized gland that is inside the body, below your bladder between your rectum and the urethra at the base of your penis. You can look at our cross-section of the male sexual anatomy to see exactly where it is.

Read the rest of this great piece.

Woof Wednesday

2008-07-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

if it's wednesday...

If you have chosen to ditch the condoms...

2008-07-15T13:00:00.002-05:00

LifeLube spotlights BarebackHealth.net as a nice set of resources to help inform you of the risks, with tips on how to minimize the harms. While we do not advocate barebacking, if you have already made the decision to fuck without condoms, we'd like for you to learn all the ways you can keep yourself as healthy as possible.

As the kids used to say, just keepin' it real...

From the site - "There's no question that bareback sex is natural and feels better. But there is still risk involved, regardless of whether you're HIV-Negative or HIV+Positive. And no matter what position you favor, you still ought to keep on "top" of your health. Bareback sex doesn't have to mean unhealthy sex."

Check these out!

"Safer" Unsafe Sex Tips from BarebackHealth.net:
LOOK! Jack's Spermometer ~ A visual risk assessment chart
For the HIV-Negative Male
For the HIV+Positive Male
For those who are unsure of their HIV status
The Reason for Containment
Sero-Sorting instead of condoms
The Concern Over Reinfection
Dipping ~ What is it, and is it good for you?
"Safer Barebacking Considerations" ~ by Michael Scarce
Sex and the Consummate Cocksucker
Viral Load ~ What the term "Viral Load" means and does not mean to the sexual player
Making Your Bareback Party Safer for All
HIV Test News ~ The latest improvements in HIV testing
HIV Testing Schedule ~ Get on a program based on your sex life
The ABC's of STD's ~ HIV isn't the only concern to barebackers. Here's a short guide to STD's
Disclosing tips ~ Helpful advice on how to tell your recent partner(s) that you have an STD
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR TOPS, as well as all barebackers:
The Ways Your Body Betrays: Why tops are more at risk than previously believed

Hey, have you heard about rectal microbicides? Still in the research and development phase, rectal microbicides may be gels, lubricants, enemas, douches or suppositories that could provide protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the absence of condoms. Yes, they could make barebacking a safer proposition! Learn more about the ongoing advocacy and research activities to make safe, effective and acceptable rectal microbicides a reality at the home of the International Rectal Microbicide Advocates.

Syphilis in Chicago

2008-07-15T11:59:00.001-05:00

Click GetTestedChicago for more info on syphilis.
Listen to the "Sex on the Superhighway" podcast about cruising on the internet with LifeLube and the Feast of Fools.
Send an anonymous, confidential e-mail notifying your partners that they have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease.

Syphilis on rise among men with same-sex partners

Study: Sex partners often found online

By Deborah L. Shelton | Chicago Tribune reporter

Posted July 14, 2008

Men who have sex with men are more likely to turn to the Internet to find sex partners than meet them at bars or clubs, according to a new report by the Chicago Department of Public Health.

The trend is significant because health experts believe Internet hookups are helping to fuel a syphilis epidemic among men with same-sex partners.

The report was based on confidential interviews conducted as part of the health department's routine disease-surveillance activities. It was the first time more men said they met sex partners online than in places such as bars, said Dr. William Wong, medical director of the health department's division of sexually transmitted disease, HIV and AIDS.

The Internet is not the cause of the upsurge in infectious syphilis cases among men who have sex with men, but it increases the chances of disease transmission, said Deborah Levine, executive director of the Oakland, Calif.-based Internet Sexuality Information Services, a non-profit group that develops Internet technologies to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

"If you go to a bar in a night, there might be 200 or 300 people there," Levine said. "You can go on multiple Web sites in a night and potentially meet thousands of people. The speed and sheer numbers allow for more possibilities for passing around infections."

In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a national plan to eliminate infectious syphilis from the United States. But even as rates among heterosexuals have dropped dramatically, sinking to a historic low, rates among men who have sex with men have soared.

The shift has set back local and national health campaigns aimed at preventing new cases of the disease.

The number of syphilis cases in Chicago hovered around 300 annually for about a decade. Until 2001, most of the cases were among heterosexual men and women.

Then the trend shifted. Last year 331 syphilis cases were reported in Chicago-71 percent of them among men with same-sex partners.

Nationally, about 36,000 cases were reported in 2006.

Syphilis is easily treated with penicillin in its early stages. Untreated, it can damage internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones and joints.

According to the health department survey, 34 percent of men diagnosed with syphilis last year at city health department STD clinics said they met their sex partners on the Internet, Wong said. That compared with 33 percent of men who said they met their sex partners at bars or clubs.

"Prevention does work, and the reductions over the last 10 years among women and the heterosexual community are an important advance," Wong said. "We are making progress. But syphilis is still around and there's still work to be done."

One concern is the increasing number of people diagnosed with syphilis who also are HIV-infected. Among heterosexuals diagnosed with syphilis at city clinics four years ago, 6 percent were infected with HIV. Last year it was 15 percent.

The majority of men diagnosed with syphilis at Howard Brown Health Center already are HIV-infected or finding out about their HIV infection at the same time of their diagnosis, said Daniel Pohl, the health center's manager of disease-intervention services.

Unprotected oral sex is mistakenly considered safe, but it can be risky in the case of syphilis if there are sores on the genitals or in the mouth, Pohl said.

"They think casual oral sex won't have repercussions," he said. "But with syphilis, it can."

Though the Internet has created new challenges, it also offers opportunities for intervention, Wong said.

The National Coalition of STD Directors published national guidelines on Internet-based interventions to help health departments use the Web in outreach activities. [Read the related LifeLube interview with one of the authors of those guidelines - Stephan Adelson]

The Chicago health department has tried different strategies-from beefing up its Web site with information about syphilis, to posting banner ads on other Web sites and launching a Web site called inSPOT, which is run in partnership with Internet Sexuality Information Services.

The site combines the concept of an electronic greeting card with information about STDs.

Men can send an anonymous, confidential e-mail notifying their partners that they have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease.

Click GetTestedChicago for more info on syphilis.

Listen to the "Sex on the Superhighway" podcast about cruising on the internet with LifeLube and the Feast of Fools.

We Like Them Better Without The Undergarments

2008-07-15T11:00:00.003-05:00

Maker of Sexy Mormon Calendar Excommunicated

Mormons Exposed- 2009 calendars ready for sale September 1, 2008.

"Health in the navel, marrow in the bones. Strength in the loins and in the sinews. Power in the priesthood be upon me and upon my posterity for all generations of time, and throughout all eternity." [We read this on the TMZ comments where we borrowed these pics and thought, well well, whatever it means, it sounds hot...]

A May-December Love for All Seasons

2008-07-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

Devoted LifeLuber John points us to a new movie called “Chris & Don: A Love Story” about the relationship between Christopher Isherwood and his partner Don Bachardy.

"As I’m sure you know, Isherwood wrote the short story that was turned into Cabaret. It’s a fasinating story about an almost inter-generational love affair and being gay in the 1950s and ‘60s," he says.

IMDB, with video clips

NY Times review - "The three-and-a-half-decade relationship of the British writer Christopher Isherwood and the American portrait artist Don Bachardy is one of the ultimate true stories of a proto-gay-marriage succeeding in a forbidding climate."

Fresh Air with Terry Gross – audio interview with Don – his voice is something else!

[thanks for the cultcha John!]

How can we all have a healthier relationship with alcohol?

2008-07-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Limited capacity - RSVP for this free event now.

Sidetrack
Chicago
Wednesday, July 23

Be part of a fabulous Feast of Fools podcast!

click to enlarge

Ask gay men what they want and need

2008-07-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

My Vision for a 2009 Gay Men's Health Agenda

by Michael Scarce
[Writer, researcher, technology consultant, and health activist - San Francisco]

Perhaps most exciting is how the progression of a gay men’s health movement is no longer a question of possibility, but rather exactly how it will take the shape of things to come.

1. Improve the care, housing and genuine health promotion for HIV-positive people.

As more of us become infected and now survive far longer than hospice waiting lists, HIV-positive people deserve a base quality of life that includes housing, adequate health care, and opportunities to fully participate in their communities. To this end, my ideal agenda for 2009 would include an overhaul and re-funding of “Prevention With Positives,” a movement that strives to improve the health of HIV-positive people as a means of reducing their likelihood of engaging in high-risk behaviors. HIV-positive people deserve health and wellness promotion even if it has no effect whatsoever on the incidence of HIV transmission. The message that public health’s primary concern for my wellbeing stems from my potential and capacity to infect others feels insincere and denigrating. Forgive me if I’m less than grateful.

2. Leverage technology to our advantage.

Organizing around gay men’s health can be immeasurably bolstered by better utilization of the Internet and other digital technologies. As a starting point, I propose the construction a global gay health wiki. A wiki is a collection of web pages that can be edited by a large number of people for the purpose of mass collaboration, including the sharing of data, media archiving, project planning, and building a repository of knowledge. My second recommendation in this area is the planning of a Virtual Gay Men’s Health Summit for 2011. Not only would this facilitate a greater breadth and depth of Summit involvement, it could also improve the representation of poor and economically deprived men. With the average cost of attending a Summit hovering around $1,000 including airfare and hotel stay, the $100 cost of a few months’ high speed internet connection could whittle away many of the disparities in participation that stem from class and geography.

3. Begin preparing for the depopulation of dense, urban gay neighborhoods and its inevitable impact on gay men’s health.

Factors such as the increasing popularity of Internet social spaces, gentrification of gay ghettos resulting in unaffordable housing, and the greater social acceptance of LGBT people in smaller and even rural communities are beginning to have noticeable effects on the density and demographics of traditional gay neighborhoods. Men are no longer migrating to coastal cities such as San Francisco, New York and San Diego to seek asylum as queer refugees in the same numbers as previous decades. This phenomenon has radical implications for everything from epidemiology to systems of social support.

4. Draw the line with self-interested and counterproductive HIV prevention.

I propose the establishment of a national watchdog coalition to monitor and respond to overly aggressive, inherently deceitful, and increasingly desperate HIV prevention efforts. This is not an attempt to bash all HIV prevention, but the widespread tactics of racism, misogyny, blame, shame, fear, and stigmatization must stop. Attempts to end the epidemic “by any means necessary,” including invasive surveillance and divisive community interventions, will only serve to further alienate gay, bi and trans men from public health. This runs the risk of accelerating infection rates rather than reigning them in. Local efforts to challenge the overstepping of these bounds have been met with varying degrees of success, and could greatly benefit from the advocacy and capacity building of a larger network of support.

5. Ask gay men what they want and need.

Too many organizations billing themselves as “community-based” are sorely out of touch with their constituents. Gay men’s health issues are different than gay men’s health concerns. The quality of men’s lives can only be improved if we seek a greater understanding of the qualitative ways in which men are affected by their health and the health of those around them within a larger context of how they live and love. The very definitions of health and wellness are subjective concepts, and we have much to learn from the perspective and vantage point of members of our communities.

In summary, my vision for a 2009 Gay Men’s Health Agenda involves a combination of accountability from existing institutions in conjunction with the strengthening and development of our own movement’s infrastructure. Perhaps most exciting is how the progression of a gay men’s health movement is no longer a question of possibility, but rather exactly how it will take the shape of things to come.

[LifeLube has been asking folks around the country to weigh in on what a 2009 Gay Men's Health Agenda might look like. Click here to read some of the ideas that have been circulated. Please feel free to comment here - share your own ideas, or spout off on whether you agree or disagree with Michael - or, you could send in a full post of your own here. We will be happy to publish it!]

Wii Fit w/Hula Hoop and Num Chucks

2008-07-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

wow wii kazow wii - love to feast of fools