Living with HIV

HIV and aging in the spotlight I’m going to be weaving a tale which includes the aging HIV population, how we view the trials of living with HIV, attempts to “normalize” HIV and end its exceptional status and, finally, funding.  If those subjects  don’t seem at first connected, bear with me. Blame the New York Times for this line of thought.  A recent headline in that august periodical read like this , , ,  “Spared Death, Aging People With H.I.V. Struggle to Live” which,

This article by Michael Carter first appeared on aidsmap.com here.   HIV-positive people taking antiretroviral therapy who have an undetectable viral load and a CD4 cell count above 500 cells/mm3 have a mortality risk comparable to that seen in the general population, investigators report in the online edition of AIDS. Researchers looked at mortality rates among participants enrolled in two large, randomised controlled trials – the SMART and ESPRIT studies. “We identified no evidence f

It's that wonderful time of the year when some young men's fancies turn to finding the company of lovely beauties. The beauties are fashionable. They love attention and you might even say these gyrls have something extra. I'm talking about the men who are better known as "tranny chasers" and the gyrls are transsexuals or female impersonators. And given the fact that I have a stage persona known as Jade Elektra, I often get what I call "tranny mail". Very forward messages from aggressive young

Yesterday I attended the 5th annual SWAN (Sex Workers Action Network) symposium in Waterloo. One of the points of discussion was the “binary” of framing sex work either under the oppression paradigm (in which sex workers are seen as victims) or under a “sex work is work” framework, in which sex work is positioned as any other form of labour. I have been more exposed to the “sex work is work” framework as of late, particularly through my exposure to the Red Umbrella Project    

This article first appeared on TheBody.com here.   The first few months after starting HIV treatment are pivotal in determining whether your first regimen will be successful. Yet if you are brand new to HIV/AIDS treatment, how can you know what success is? It can be hard to tell the difference between a warning sign that your regimen might not be right for you and a normal signal that your body is still adjusting to the medications. No one wants to take medications that make them feel wors

“In these days of no regrets I keep mine to myself And all the things we never said I can say for someone else And nothing lasts forever but we always try And I just can't help but wonder why We let it pass us by”  Beautiful Goodbye by Amanda Marshall, - such an amazing song. The lyrics, the music, it sends shivers down my spine.  My friends don’t understand my love for Amanda Marshall. They always laugh at me when one of her songs comes on my iPhone and I get uber-excited. She

Every month or so, a group of people in my area host “poz socials,” a house party for people living with HIV. I found myself at one recently, because I thought it was important to make an appearance since becoming a literary superstar.  I was settled into the living room sofa and liked the spot very much. Sharing a couch with regular folk has an air of humility about it, while its angle allowed me to be viewed by a large number of the guests milling about. The man next to me leaned in c

What are we really taking about when it comes to barebacking? This was the question PositiveLite.com, in a video interview, posed to social worker and ACT TowelTalk bathhouse counsellor Rahim Thawer, following his presentation on this topic at the 9th annual Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance of Ontario  summit, held in Toronto in May 2013.  Putting barebacking into context is important now that we’ve begun to have more open discussions about the reality that gay guys aren’t always usi

If you're like me, fair-skinned and visiting East Africa, "mzungu" will probably be one of the first Swahili words you learn. Originally meaning “someone who moves around wanting to see everything,” as a result of domination by meddlesome European powers it came to mean "white person." Even if one may have been working here among Africans for many years, one is still mzungu in the eyes of most.  For an HIVer on his first visit to Africa, mzungu makes me feel like a magical being when it

Crystal methamphetamine, or tina, is the most popular “hard” drug in the gay male community. This fact is beyond dispute if you spend any time in any major metropolitan area in the United States. Late into the night or early into the morning, it’s easy to find anyone else to party with, and in bathhouses, regardless of whether they are in Philadelphia, New York, or Chicago, are virtual buffets of fellow guys getting high, enjoying themselves, and having sex that rivals that of the most

It was just over two years ago that I sent off an email to Bob Leahy, the editor here at PositiveLite.com. I had just started blogging for my local AIDS Service Organization after completing a workshop there called Positive Prevention – Train the Trainer. The facilitator of the program was Megan DePutter who also began writing for PositiveLite.com around the same time. She suggested I follow the site, telling me they had some great stories and writers that I could learn from to improve my wr

In August 2009, I was living in Twickenham, Middlesex, just outside of London, in a flat share with friends from University. I was working part time and was in the early stages of a new relationship. Life was great. As a child I was rarely ill. That summer I had started to feel quite weak, faint and seemed to be getting irregular colds which were unusual for me. I felt I would be wasting the doctor’s time and went to my local pharmacy to get some antibiotics. Two weeks later I felt unwell a

There was a time in our online magazine’s first year or two that we didn’t cover barebacking. We thought it was too inflammatory a subject, thought it might encourage people to do it, thought that people would think we were irresponsible. That changed in a big way when we featured Josh Landale, Josh Kruger, Michael Bouldin and a handful of others for whom barebacking is part of their lives.  It is, after all, increasingly a part of the lives of many gay men, and the practice inevitably ra

With the onset of summer, the New York boys seem to be wearing less and less and less. It makes every day activities, like walking without tripping or running into an unsuspecting tourist, a very difficult task.  I am always surprised at how many more eligible guys seem to inhabit New York in the warmer months. It is like they migrate here from the Midwest to partake of the summer smog and humidity. In reality, they are just waking up from a long winters nap to come out and play. And play th

It’s hard to know how to tell this story, because it’s about someone I have never met and yet I feel devastated over their death. The only thing I can liken it to is feeling extremely sad upon hearing of the death of Princess Diana.  In September 2008, I broke up with my husband after 18 years together.  The thought of living on my own for the first time since I got my HIV diagnosis made me wonder what lay ahead. How I would introduce the subject to possible dates was a big question. A