HelpFightHIV

starting the week like

A reminder that inequality is real in America.

"Our heights and sizes play a role in how desirability politics affect us. Taller men are expected to be tops and tops must always be masculine, while shorter and feminine men are assumed to be bottoms. Because of this, short tops and tall bottoms are often overlooked or considered undesirable altogether." Black Youth Project

"Imposter Syndrome tells us that we need to be perfect, otherwise we are failing. It tells us that everyone else is better than us, because they seem to be further ahead or that they have their shit together more than we do. It tells us that we deserve less than we’re worth, because we are replaceable."

Gay and bi men in England, Wales and Scotland no longer have to abstain from sex for a year to donate blood. Instead, new regulations taking effect today require only a three-month waiting period.

PrEP has been presented as a ‘gay drug,’ and trans women are [referred to] as gay men. Representation has been a real struggle, said Prasertsith. A lot of trans women I work with will say, ‘I’m not a sex worker so I don’t need PrEP.’ So this is another stigma we’re fighting.

With the holidays in full swing, we are giving thanks for our chosen family.

Only 45 days to shop for coverage starting today!

Join Bridge HIV as they discuss trans-affirming health care, Bay Area research for trans and gender non-conforming communities, and more! There will be dinner, music and raffle prizes all night!

PrEP-by-proxy is not a thing ya'll. If you want to be protected, you must take matters into your own hands...

It's no coincidence that most of the states ranked "worst" are clustered in the deep south, where politicians are working overtime to limit or end access to sexual and reproductive health services.

There are syndemics to being Black in this world. Now amplify those syndemics times a hundred when we mention transgender people of color, specifically Black transgender people.

"She and her colleagues published a study of 1,661 men living throughout the United States that found that 83 percent had penile lengths shorter than standard condoms. The average length was 5.57 inches." Some of y'all need to update your "social networking" apps.

There’s a preponderance of evidence. There’s data coming out of our ears around this. It’s now, applying that data to change. So it’s not simply we know this and it’s sitting over here. Based on that, we are going to inform practice. Dr. Joyce DeGruy

SanFrancisco is on a mission of GettingToZero by 2020. Zero Infections. Zero Deaths. Zero Stigma. The BBC recently did an expose about what the UK can learn from our experiences. Dr. Susan Buchbinder, Director of BridgeHIV & Getting to Zero Steering Committee member talks about SF's HIV past and a vision for the future.

It’s time we understood the notion of Black communities as inherently homophobic and transphobic as yet another anti-Black falsehood, constructed only to aid in the dehumanization of Black people.

Come through Teen Vogue. First they school the children on #AnalSex, now #GenderNeutralPronouns

Our trans siblings need us to understand what being trans is so we understand how to make space for them and their stories under the big "gay" umbrella.

Stigma creates a climate of silence, shame, and death. When I say death I mean death. People suffer alone, until they can’t bear it, and then they break. Stigma perpetuates a cycle of private struggle and risk"

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

"Maybe I’m having so much trouble with this story because it’s not about Usherit’s about us. It’s about sex, intimacy, and the glorious commodity of Black sexuality that is often exploited for consumer consumption and entertainment. It’s about our collective discomfort with embracing the connections between science and emotions, physiology and judgment, statistics and bias. It’s about how the Internet has enabled us to become passive observers to violence enacted on Black bodies, while all the while rejecting the notion of a middle ground."

Artist and HIV activist Kia LaBeija vogues and performs her poem "Drafted."

Do gay men need to do a better job separating friends from lovers/hookups? o_O ?

Tuesday Mantra: "If Sisqo can still make "music," I can survive today."

TBQH, allowing trans* people to serve in the military isn't radical or progressive. Trans* liberation will not come through access to the imperial US war machine. Trans* folx deserve health care, housing, food, jobs, education, safety, and joy and this should not be contingent on their willingness to kill and die in the line of duty.

Black and Brown trans* women are being systematically slaughtered in America and the police state continues to be the undertaker's henchmen. Rest in power, #SageSmith. F*$! cis male fragility and toxic masculinity.

Los Frikis, a Cuban punk movement, deliberately injected themselves with HIV in the 1980's. Part political protest, part response to a helpless situation, and part mass hysteria. The punks used this method as a way to get sent to government-sanctioned sanatoriums where they were given better resources than they had on the streets.

We are digging Little Dragon's song and video STROBE LIGHT . It explores cross-dressing in an environment still largely unaccepting of alternative forms of creative expression--Johannesburg, South Africa.

This, folks, is how internalized racism and homophobia present in people's psyches. Here's to hoping that the Black people--particularly the Black men--around Tyler are teaching him to love his fullest, Blackest self.

Our nonchalant attitude towards addiction is just as detrimental as the drugs themselves.

"Why Anal: It is often described as a feeling of fullness which can be delightful." Come through, Teen Vogue

Penises come in all shapes and sizes, and some (I guess) could do with a helping hand. #TrendyorTragic

Coming outside with your best on and, like, looking really fly is subversion, is resistance, because, in spite of all of this, I’m alive.

Can we finally end that pink-washed "Black people are more homophobic" narrative?

Just in case no one told you today: I'm proud of you. For surviving, for making it through, for continuing, for loving.

"Often, at conferences and other meetings, I’ve heard researchers say that black MSM are hard to reach, which is an idea that I strongly disagree with. Black MSM aren’t hard to reach, we as organizations and agencies that serve them, just have to ensure that we bring them to the table to help us craft the best messages that will resonate and the best venues to place these messages."

While Pride weekend is over, our sense of it is ongoing. Do you boo. Do you.

Fact: 50-75% of women reach the big "O" through clitoral stimulation, with or without the addition of vaginal intercourse. #themoreyouknow

Art by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, from La Borinqueña's first issue. #OrlandoUnitedDay

A year has gone by since the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando occurred. While we mourn the deaths of 49 of our queer brothers and sisters, we celebrate the resiliency of the survivors. #PulseNightClub

The future is BEYOND patriarchal gender binaries.

It's great to see empowerment campaigns that encourage LGBTQ folx to advocate for themselves. However, it begs one really important question: What are we doing to engage providers and health care institutions around creating culturally-responsive and anti-oppressive health care spaces?

The HIV epidemic among Black men who have sex with men is far from "hidden." Socioeconomic inequity, medical racism, homophobia and malign neglect from funders who prioritize mainstream LGBTQ organizations that do not serve, and are often hostile toward, black men have been huge drivers of the epidemic. Cedric Sturdevant is a hero. His work is a testament to the role that Black men have played and will continue to play as we lead ourselves out of the epidemic. #WeAllWeGot

All too often, HIV prevention stories are used to erase POC-led activism and exacerbate stigmatize among marginalized groups. We have to stop centering centering white cis-male bodies in these narratives. #ChangeTheNarrative

SIFs have reduced needle-sharing known to be associated with disease transmission; increased access to primary care; reduced fatal overdose; and did NOT increase injection drug use or crime in surrounding areas. They are also cost-effective. In San Francisco, it is estimated that for each dollar spent on SIFs, a $2.33 savings will be generated, producing a yearly net savings of $3.5 million.

My dear brothers, too many of us have spent too much of our lives trapped in the closet. May we not spend the rest of them trapped in the gym.

My presence here is an anomaly...[m]y presence shows that people that look like me, that are Pakistani, that are Muslim, are here for peace. We are the sex symbol." #counternarrative #represenation matters.

"Like Ariel, I was told I wasn’t a real girl because of my body, and this common struggle to be seen as normal, to just belong, tethered my trans girl self to Ariel’s mermaid girl self. Plus, it didn’t hurt that my childhood heroine was gorgeous the epitome of femininity despite struggling to exist in an untraditional form."

San Francisco police officers pointed their guns 3,130 times in 15 months--about seven times a day. In nearly half of those cases, the person at whom the officer pointed a gun was African American, though they make up less than 6 percent of the city’s population.

Remembering Sylvia Rivera, LGBTQ Icon and Leader of the Stonewall Riots http://bit.ly/1ev6lyi

Just in case you forgot...

I tend to think black men who refuse to date other black men do so because they’ve put their faith in a logic of black inferiority.

Super cool concept China is tapping into with HOME HIV testing. Its EASY. Its ANONYMOUS. All around CONVENIENT. Check out HelpFightHIV.org and learn about the research we are working on regarding HOME HIV testing. Would you do it?

Who is looking out for sissy Brown boys??????????

Many of the current ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human subjects is because of Henrietta Lacks. But who exactly was Henrietta Lacks? And why is she described as the mother of modern medicine?

THIS WEEKEND ::: Our boys at Impulse SF along with Shanti Project will be hosting two free screening's of the VICE documentary, CHEMSEX.

"As a closeted 14-year-old, my view of being a gay man in San Francisco was colored with visions of death and illness."

Next Tuesday the 18th, please join us for a forum on Updates in HIV Prevention Research at CCSF! FREE, Afro-Caribbean dinner from Suya while learning about new and developing methods of HIV prevention! #hivprevention #GivePrEPaShot #sanfranciscocitycollege #CCSF

An Exploration of Stigma towards those living with HIV by Mykki Blanco

The more you know:

Saturday is the big day! FYI Free! Bob The Drag Queen's After School Special will be sponsored by Absolut. We'll have an open bar for a few hours so come early!

FREE EVENT! A discussion, according to Uber, on rights and experiences of transgender / non-conforming customers, employees and leaders in Tech.

Safer sex education via emoji's on Grindr? Cool!