July and August were almost frantically productive for me, and I've followed it by the longest period of, well, nothing, since I began producing this blog. Sorry. Sometimes an HIV guy just needs to lay around and catch up on Top Chef and Real Housewives (God bless...
7 Ways to Save Money on Meds
With all the doctor appointments and wellness activities we engage in, living with HIV/AIDS can be a full-time job. And the truth is, it doesn't pay very well. We've all been feeling the pinch of tough economic times. So I hope you'll find some savings in this new...
Outliving My Father
The descriptions of his decline, in whispered calls from back home, had a dreadfully familiar feel to them. Weight loss at a frightful pace. Losing interest in the world. Suddenly looking very old indeed. Most gay men of a certain age have heard those words, have seen...
The Entire 2011 ADAP Conference in Nine Minutes!
The 2011 ADAP Advocacy Association (aaa+) conference held July 5-7 in Washington, DC, was bursting with spirit. Dozens of advocates from across the country met for three days of workshops and speakers, and in this video blog, you'll see the entire conference boiled...
Should AIDS Activists and Pharma Just Get Along?
I'm having an identity crisis. Am I an AIDS activist, ready to question authority and demand high standards of service for those living with HIV/AIDS? Or am I a "resource" for the pharmaceutical industry, so that they might craft more effective community programs that...
The Dirty Little Secret of Gay Men and Meth
How addiction to crystal methamphetamine is threatening the gay community's long struggle to turn a corner on the AIDS epidemic. I really shouldn't be trusted. That's the problem with drug addicts like me. We've protected our addiction through a myriad of lies and...
Hiding from the “AIDS at 30” media storm.
I shuttered myself from most of the hoopla surrounding the "AIDS at 30" milestone (we seem to have agreed on June 5, 1981, when an item in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reported deaths among gay men). The trauma of those early years is tough for me to...
Calling HIV Negative Gay Men: This is Your Time
This is directed to HIV negative gay men. Listen carefully. This is your time. I've lived with HIV more than half my life, and people often praise me far more than I deserve, simply for surviving. They use words like brave and courageous. You know what takes courage?...
Walmart, the G word, and internet activism.
Forgive your enemies. It messes with their heads. -- Unknown Walmart is selling the new It Gets Better book. Just don't call it gay. Okay, this is really a story of how a selfish act turned into a firestorm of activism. It has drama, self-righteousness and the hottest...
Touring an HIV+ gay sex club. Plus: the porn stars that got away.
The idea that HIV positive people still want sex is as old as The Denver Principles, the 1983 manifesto drawn up by gay men with AIDS that demanded "as full and satisfying a sexual and emotional life as anyone else." The document also stated that people with HIV/AIDS...
