She is brushing a crimson polish onto her nails with breathtaking speed, all the while trying on pairs of high heels to match her fingers, the color of blood, and yet she still has the presence of mind to patiently answer my questions. "We ain't Nero fiddling while...
My Pretend Life without HIV
My mother-in-law is visiting us this week. She's still active at 84, engaged in life, and accepts me completely as her son's longtime partner and a member of the family. So it's a shame she doesn't know the first thing about me. That first thing is the fact that I am...
October’s HIV Cruise Retreat is coming!
Ahoy! Or as I say in the promo below, "Yahoy!" (I was still learning my sea-faring lingo.) This October I'll serve as one of the hosts for the HIV Cruise Retreat, and this is a friendly reminder that organizers need to hear from you if you'd like to go. There's a...
What it feels like for a Mom
"A boy's best friend is his mother." -- Norman Bates, "Psycho" I was standing at the ticket counter of the movie theater and couldn't believe my ears. They were telling me that "Theater of Blood," with the great Vincent Price, was rated "R" and they were not letting...
How the Denver Principles changed AIDS (and health care) forever.
You must know this, because it matters. Because it has already changed your life and you probably don't realize it. It was 1983. Just a year prior, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome became the fearful nameplate for the murderer of gay friends and lovers. The virus...
The Shirt Heard ‘Round the World
So, living with HIV is still quite a shocker, it appears. Whether true or rumored, whether "HIV Positive" is voluntarily displayed as an act of activism or the status is maliciously spread on the internet, the label still packs quite a punch. And I have to wonder why....
My Very Last Night in a Gay Bathhouse
THE LAST TIME I went to the gay baths, some years ago, I stepped in poop. Actually, more like a pile of poop, because it crept up between my toes for a horrific second before I realized what my bare feet had stumbled across. I made the grim discovery while standing in...
Mr. Atlanta Eagle talks leather, crystal meth and HIV.
Chandler Bearden's smile is creeping through the phone during our call. I've just suggested that his winning the impressively sexy title of Mr. Atlanta Eagle 2010 might be a boon to his sex life, but he's laughing it off. "Just because I won a title doesn't mean I'll...
Has my AIDS crisis ended?
A few weeks ago I spent the day at the Florida AIDS Walk, and it was striking how different it was from the Walks I attended years ago. Smiling faces, racial and ethnic diversity, baby strollers, and most of all a feeling of happiness and celebration. That's progress,...
Five Fun Facts about Flatulence!
Lately, I've been filled with more gas than Rush Limbaugh on an Oxycotin high. It usually happens in bed at night, where my long-suffering boyfriend has a very limited retreat. "What food pyramid item was that?" he'll ask like a horrified Top Chef judge, his fingers...
