Die Another Day: Finding Common Ground in PrEP

Die Another Day: Finding Common Ground in PrEP
“I know my sexuality is not going to be the cause of my death,” says Quentin Ergane, 38, a gay, HIV-negative, African-American caregiver in Seattle. His sense of certainty comes from his confidence in the HIV drug Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent transmission of the virus. After starting on PrEP this year, “I felt free, finally,” he says.

2014-09-29-POZ199.jpgOur cover guy Quentin is far from alone these days. Although PrEP was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012, only recently has there been a steady uptick in buzz about this potential game changer. Case in point: Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization came out with PrEP recommendations in 2014.

Accompanying the new level of attention on PrEP from policy makers is the increasing glare of the media spotlight (including us). POZ contributing writer Tim Murphy upped the ante with his cover story on PrEP for New York magazine in July. He explored how PrEP has reawakened arguments about the sex lives of gay men.

Soon after that article was published, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) launched a media campaign against PrEP as a public health intervention. Advocates in support of PrEP then came out against the AHF campaign. And so it goes. The controversy around PrEP just continues to grow in proportion to its increasing acceptance as part of the HIV prevention toolbox.

Written by POZ editor-at-large Benjamin Ryan, our PrEP cover story dives deep into the controversy. We also explore the effect of PrEP on gay men, but our goal is to broaden the conversation. As the article makes clear, PrEP isn’t a silver bullet. So what is it? We look at all the arguments and then attempt to answer this question: Can personal choice and public health find common ground in PrEP?

As for me, I admit that my opinions about PrEP have evolved. Having now lived with HIV for more than half of my life, I have a strong bias in favor of expanding access to treatment. My viral load is undetectable, and I’m quite aware of my privilege in having attained that status. Too many around the world remain without even the hope of ever having HIV meds.

Unanswered questions about PrEP remain, but I now accept that PrEP isn’t going to affect access to treatment. What matters most to me about PrEP at this moment is that all the data point to an undeniable consensus: At a personal level and with proper adherence, PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV.

As the public policy debates unfold, I urge all involved in the PrEP discussion not to lose sight of that consensus. Had I been given the option when I was HIV-negative, I don’t know for sure that I would have chosen PrEP. My decision would have depended on key factors (as it does now for those who have the choice). That said, I would have wanted the chance to have a choice. That much I do know.

www.huffingtonpost.com/oriol-r-gutierrez-jr/die-another-day-finding-c_b_5901516.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Nick Jonas Flaunts His Six-Pack on 'Flaunt': PHOTO

Nick Jonas Flaunts His Six-Pack on 'Flaunt': PHOTO

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Nick Jonas, who has been training to play a boxer in the upcoming DirecTV series Kingdom, displays the results of his training on the cover of the upcoming issue of Flaunt.

Jonas, who is pushing a new album, recently appeared at a gay NYC nightclub, and soon after told HuffPost Live that he is thrilled at the attention he receives from his gay fans:

“I love it; I’m thrilled by that. I always had a pretty strong gay fan base, having been a theater kid…That’s a community that I love and have embraced, and [they’ve] embraced me. I love them. They’re so supportive.”

Allow Nick (and his abs) to give back, AFTER THE JUMP

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Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2014/09/nick-jonas-flaunts-his-six-pack-on-flaunt-photo.html

Good2Go Is An App For Consenting To Sex

Good2Go Is An App For Consenting To Sex
Want to have safe and consensual sex? There’s an app for that.

Good2Go is a new smartphone application that encourages users to give consent before engaging in any sexual acts. The app targets college-aged adults and its creators from Sandton Technologies hope it will prevent unwanted sexual conduct by facilitating a step-by-step process to ensure both parties are on the same page.

Lee Ann Allman, president of Sandton Technologies, created Good2Go along with seven other mothers and fathers of college-aged children. The idea emerged from conversations with their children and their children’s friends about the overwhelming number of sexual assaults that happen on college campuses all over the country.

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So, once a user decides she or he wants to have to sex with someone, the app works as follows:

  1. Launch and log in to Good2Go and hand the phone to your potential partner.
  2. Good2Go then asks your potential partner if she/he is ready to give consent by asking “Are we Good2Go?”
  3. The three answer options are: 1. “No, thanks”; 2. “Yes, but… we need to talk”; and 3. “I’m Good2Go.”
  4. If the potential partner decides “No, thanks” a screen pops up that says “Remember! No means No! Only Yes means Yes BUT can be changed to NO at anytime!”
  5. If the potential partner decides “No, thanks” a screen pops up that says “Remember! No means No! Only Yes means Yes BUT can be changed to NO at anytime!”
  6. If she/he decides “Yes… but we need to talk,” a small bar at the bottom reads “Let’s talk!”
  7. If the potential partner says they’re Good2Go the app asks if she/he is “Sober,” “Mildly Intoxicated,” “Intoxicated but Good2Go” or “Pretty Wasted.” If the potential partner chooses “Sober,” “Mildly Intoxicated,” “Intoxicated but Good2Go” the user can give consent, however, if she/he is “Pretty Wasted” the app says the partner cannot consent and to give the phone back to its owner.

When asked why the app informs a “Pretty Wasted” user that she/he can’t consent (even though they’re sober enough to be using Good2Go), Allman told The Huffington Post in an email: “If someone answers ‘I’m Pretty Wasted’ the app will not allow an affirmative consent answer even though they probably aren’t at the legal threshold of incapacitation. We have set a higher bar concerning sobriety than the law defines.”

Allman also made it very clear that the purpose of the app is to teach young people “the language of affirmative consent.” “If the app becomes a tool that is adopted across campuses, we believe that it will reduce sexual assaults, unwanted or regretted encounters,” she said.

good2go av screenshot

These days, it seems like there’s an app for everything, so why wouldn’t there be one to facilitate consent? But some are skeptical about whether Good2Go could actually prove effective at combatting sexual assault.

As Slate’s Amanda Hess pointed out the app doesn’t clarify what kind of sex people are consenting to: “Good2Go is obviously a euphemism for sexual activity, but it’s not clear what that means exactly — is it making out, oral sex, vaginal intercourse, or anal sex, and with protection or not?”

When asked about this gap, Allman told HuffPost that, “Affirmative consent should be asked for and given for all sexual acts, no matter what they are. This should be part of the conversation that they will have as part of using the app.”

Molly Mirhashem from The New Republic also criticized the app, writing that “situations where consent is often misunderstood or disregarded — one or both parties being intoxicated, ‘implied’ consent within relationships — will not be addressed with this or any app.”

While Good2Go’s structure could be helpful in making sure that there’s no miscommunication between two parties, it doesn’t necessarily allow for any of the gray area that exists in real life sexual situations and conversations. For example, the app doesn’t address exactly what you and your partner are comfortable (or not comfortable) doing in the bedroom.

HuffPost spoke to the managing attorney of the Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC) Colby Bruno to find out if the 11-year veteran of the field thinks this app could be useful on college campuses. Overall, she seemed hopeful.

“Anything that helps students get to a mutual understanding is important for consent,” Bruno told The Huffington Post in a phone interview. “If it helps just one student or one couple with understanding what they’re about to do then terrific.”

If young people are willing to use it, Good2Go could definitely signal a step in the right direction.

Bruno put it perfectly, stating: “There are clearly flaws [with Good2Go], but if it brings some consciousness to the issue [of consent] then fantastic. Why not?”

To download the app for free go to iTunes or Google Play.

H/T Slate

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/consensual-sex-app-good2go_n_5903036.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Gay Men Try To Explain Tampons, Pads And Diva Cups. Oh My.

Gay Men Try To Explain Tampons, Pads And Diva Cups. Oh My.

Screen Shot 2014-09-30 at 2.53.55 PMWe can’t say we were exactly shocked by the results, but watching a bunch of gay guys attempt to decipher feminine hygiene products is entertaining nonetheless.

Buzzfeed asked a bunch of their male coworkers to give it their best, resulting in such colorful comments as, “Literally no idea,” “you can yank it out when it’s done,” and “I’m assuming the Georgia O’Keeffe painting right there is where you target it.”

Tampons and pads are one thing, but there is nothing more baffling than a diva cup.

To be fair, would straight guys do any better?

Watch below:

h/t HuffPo

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/X4Ere7DcUl8/gay-men-try-to-explain-tampons-pads-and-diva-cups-oh-my-20140930

St. Louis Circuit Judge Hears Challenge To Missouri Same-Sex Marriage Ban

St. Louis Circuit Judge Hears Challenge To Missouri Same-Sex Marriage Ban

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St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison heard arguments Monday on a challenge to Missouri’s gay marriage ban brought by four gay couples who were married in St. Louis by city officials in June.

The couples are Tod Martin and David Gray, Bruce Yampolsky and Terry Garrett, John Durnell and Richard Eaton, and Miranda Duschack and Karen Davis. All but Duschack and Davis attended Monday’s hearings, as The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports. Then Recorder of Deeds Sharon Carpenter performed the ceremonies in Mayor Slay’s office with his consent. Attorney General Chris Koster filed an injunction to stop the marriages. Though he says he supports same-sex marriage, he also commented that he felt bound to uphold Missouri law (the state has a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage passed in 2004).

Koster did not defend the state’s ban in court on Monday. Instead, that duty fell to Assistant Attorney General Jeremiah Morgan. The couples were represented by St. Louis City Counselor Winston Calvert.

The AP reports:

Overturning Missouri’s constitutional ban “would at least open doors for the next generation not to have the trials and tribulations that we had,” Garrett [a plaintiff in the case] said after the hearing. “We should be able to decide who we love.”

But Assistant Attorney General Jeremiah Morgan told [Judge] Burlison that Missouri law limits marriage to between a man and a woman. He argued that 71 percent of Missourians voted for that definition of marriage in a 2004 referendum, and the U.S. Supreme Court has time and again allowed states to define marriage.

“It is the state’s, and the people’s, responsibility to make that decision,” Morgan said.

Calvert noted that an increasing number of states are allowing same-sex marriage, including most of the states surrounding Missouri.

“The laws forbid some people from choosing who they marry,” Calvert said. “It’s only gay and lesbian couples that are treated as second-class citizens by the state.”

The AP also points out that this hearing comes just a week after a federal judge “in Kansas City [heard arguments] on a suit filed by 10 couples over the state’s failure to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.”

The ACLU has a pending lawsuit challenging Missouri’s gay marriage ban as well.

Regardless of the outcome in any of these cases, it is almost certain that each will be appealed.


Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2014/09/st-louis-circuit-judge-hears-challenge-to-missouri-same-sex-marriage-ban.html