Homeless Shelter For LGBT Youth To Open In San Antonio: VIDEO

John Wright

www.towleroad.com/2014/12/homeless-shelter-for-lgbt-youth-to-open-in-san-antonio.html

Artist Spotlight: Erwin Olaf

Olaf’s work combines rigorous discipline with an eye for the spontaneous moment.

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Christopher Harrity

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2014/12/13/artist-spotlight-erwin-olaf

419-pound winner of Mr Gay UK London disqualified on a technicality…

For wearing his organizer-provided underwear on his head instead of his groin during the underwear segment

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sylviat

www.gaystarnews.com/article/419-pound-winner-mr-gay-uk-london-disqualified-technicality131214

Spike in Tiny Number of Gay Men on PrEP Abandoning Condoms Hardly Represents 'All' Gay Men
A Dec. 8 blog post in the San Francisco Business Times has sparked another furor over gay men using the HIV drug Truvada to prevent infection with the deadly virus. “San Francisco men shed condoms in favor of Gilead’s HIV prevention pill,” alleges the title of SFBT reporter Ron Leuty’s opinion piece.

Leuty reported on a survey of men in a Kaiser Permanente AIDS-prevention program. More than 500 are taking Truvada once a day as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Leuty called the 45-percent increase among men in the study not using condoms “eye-popping” — which it is. Clearly these men aren’t heeding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to use condoms in addition to taking the drug.

But it’s a serious stretch to project the behavior of about 90 men on PrEP in this one study to “all” gay men in San Francisco, let alone anywhere else. Consider this: All 500 men in the study represent only about 0.007861 of San Francisco’s roughly 60,000 or so gay and bisexual men.

Unfortunately, there will always be men who push the limits of risk to engage in high-risk sex that is, for them, something of value. Others of us may see it as self-harm, but these guys usually describe it in terms of intimacy and pleasure. Either way, we should be glad these men are making even a partial effort to protect themselves by taking PrEP.

We can argue all we want about whether PrEP provides cover for dangerous behavior. But we aren’t addressing the most important questions: Why do some gay men value high-risk sex more highly than they apparently value their own health? Why do some guys seem unable to value themselves apart from their willingness to engage in “anything goes” sex?

At risk of getting stuck trying to understand what even mental-health experts would likely classify as aberrant behavior, I would suggest we step back to get a more accurate picture of how the vast majority of gay men conduct their sex lives. Reframe the statistics that can be blown out of proportion to make it look like “all” gay men have stopped using condoms, or even like “all” gay men engage in anal intercourse, which they don’t.

Ron Stall, Director of the LGBT Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, has identified four interconnected “epidemics” of psychosocial health conditions that disproportionately afflict gay and bisexual men, each one making the other worse: childhood sexual abuse, partner violence, depression, and drug use. Together, their insidious effects are referred to as syndemics. Men who are most strongly affected by any one of these tend to be at high risk for HIV and substance abuse. Those from lower-income or culturally marginalized ethnic groups are especially vulnerable to syndemic effects.

In one study, Stall and his colleagues found that 11 percent of 812 men who reported one problem — depression, for instance — had engaged in high-risk sex. Of 129 men who reported three or four problems, 23 percent said they had had high-risk sex.

The numbers are high relative to the so-called general population. But surely no one can be surprised to see self-destructive behavior in people treated as if they don’t deserve better.

On the other hand, the numbers tell us something quite astonishing when we look at them from a different angle: that 89 percent of the men reporting one problem did not engage in high-risk sex. Likewise, more than three quarters of the men with three or four problems did not engage in high-risk sex.

These numbers make it clear: The overwhelming majority of gay men are resilient and take care of, protect, and value ourselves. How can this be? In the face of overwhelming pressures and struggles that can give gay men all the reasons we might need to harm or medicate ourselves, how is it that most of us don’t?

The short answer: We accept ourselves. Research suggests that our journey toward being resilient gay men who accept and value ourselves begins by accepting our sexual orientation — overcoming our own self-stigma, what we’ve internalized from the bullies of our lives. Ron Stall told me in an interview for The Atlantic, “Guys who do the best job of resolving internalized homophobia [or self-stigma] are the least likely to have current victimization, substance abuse, and compulsive [high-risk] sex.”

Put a little differently, he said, “Getting a population of people to not hate themselves is good for their health. This is not rocket science.” Building up, and upon, gay men’s resilience is a challenge for each of us — and for our families, lawmakers, ministers, teachers, and anyone else who wishes us to be well and fully contributing members of society.

The place to start is in revising the way we think. We need to consider carefully how numbers can hurt us when they are taken out of context. Their “eye-popping” shock value dwindles when they’re put into perspective against the bigger number of “all” gay men.

We can hope that gay men who value condomless sex more than they do their own lives will eventually find intimacy and pleasure in sex built upon mutual respect and protection. Until then, PrEP for them is an important step in protecting themselves.

In the meantime, the vast majority of gay men — who don’t abuse drugs or engage in high-risk sex — clearly value their health enough not to endanger themselves or their partners.

Yes it’s shocking to realize that one in four gay men in San Francisco is HIV-positive.

But it’s at least as surprising that 75 percent of gay men in San Francisco are not HIV-positive. What can we learn from them about how they have avoided HIV when the virus is so prevalent in the community? What can their experience show us that might even help the guys taking an expensive, powerful, and toxic drug so they can engage in high-risk sex?

Among the lessons, one stands out: Just as the way we frame our personal story can make us feel like a victim of our circumstances or a victor over them, so too the way we present statistics can mean the difference between hope and despair. Increases in condomless sex among a tiny sliver of men already at extreme risk for HIV may be “eye-popping.” But so is the far greater number of gay men who choose to view safer sex as the key to real intimacy and pleasure between men who care about themselves and one another.

www.huffingtonpost.com/johnmanuel-andriote/spike-in-tiny-number-of-g_b_6313044.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

French tabloid outs far-right leader Florian Philippot as gay

Magazine editor defends the controversial move, which has sparked outrage across the political spectrum, saying it’s in the public’s interest

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sylviat

www.gaystarnews.com/article/french-tabloid-outs-far-right-leader-florian-philippot-gay131214

Photo of 'twins' used in Virginia billboard by 'ex-gay' group are of same man – and he's gay

Model Kyle Roux: ‘I was obviously quite shocked’

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gregh

www.gaystarnews.com/article/photo-twins-used-virginia-billboard-ex-gay-group-are-same-man-and-hes-gay131214

Home Lending

Everything you need to know before buying a new home.

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Advocate.com Editors

www.advocate.com/business/advocate-money-minute/2014/12/12/home-lending

7 Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Penis
‘Tis the season for showing how much you care about the dude down there. Instead of showing him off on the hookup apps, why not spend a little quality time making his life better? Here are seven great ideas that will make Mr. Happy even happier:

1. Make him stronger.

Other than dating Nick Jonas, there is only one scientifically accepted way of firming up erections and experiencing more powerful orgasms: Kegel exercises. The problem is that the squeeze-hold-release movements are boring, and you have to do hundreds at a time. But now there’s a more fun and effective way to strengthen pelvic floor muscles: a device called the “Private Gym.” It’s like weight training for your penis. You strap on the FDA-registered resistance ring onto your erection and do Kegels with progressively heavier magnetic weights. The result? Stronger pubo-rectal muscles that provide intense contractions during orgasm, not only giving you more pleasure but gaining distance when you, ahem, stick the landing. They even provide you with an interactive DVD program and training manual of different exercises you can do to keep it interesting. Now hit the floor and give me 20 pushups with that anaconda!

2. Get him the ultimate dick pic.

Did you know that your penis is twice as long as you think it is? That’s because almost half the length of the penis is tucked up inside the pelvis. Want to see proof? Click here to see MRIs of erect penises. Note the curved, boomerang shape — and the arched eyebrows of your friends when they see your MRI framed over the fireplace. “What the hell is that?” they’ll ask. And you’ll respond with 100-percent accuracy when you say, “Proof that I’m hung like a bear.”

3. Be sensitive about his gargantuan size.

If you don’t know how, then read Dr. Richard Jacobs’ hilarious book How to Live With a Huge Penis. This book had me at “heller” when it claimed endowed men suffer from “oversized male genitalia,” or “OMG.” With chapters like “Unzipping: Coming Out to Your Friends and Family,” you’ll find yourself saying exactly that: O-M-G. Of course, the real reason to own the book isn’t what’s in it but what people will say when they see it. Strategically place a few copies on the coffee table and you won’t be able to resist saying, “That’s the fifth guy I’ve dated who bought me that book!”

4. Give him the illusion of gargantuan size.

Ever notice that everybody’s penis looks bigger than yours? That’s because you’re looking straight at theirs but down at yours. Angles make a difference. If you want to get a better indication of the size, don’t look down; look in the mirror. And while you’re there, grab a pair of blunt-end nail scissors and start hacking away at your underbrush. Manscaping around the base of your penis instantly adds an “optical inch” to your length. This is truly the only penis-enlargement trick that can make your manhood look the size of the Florida panhandle.

5. Give him a dickish doppelganger.

The ultimate exercise in narcissism isn’t selfies; it’s pleasuring yourself with a vibrator made out of an exact replica of your penis. The “Christmas Willy Kit” puts megalomania on notice by making an exact replica dildo of your penis and turning it into a multi-speed vibrating adult sex toy. In light or dark flesh colors, you can order it with a personalized message. (“To my awesome boyfriend. Now you can have me even when you go away on business.”) You’ll also have a gem of a reply the next time somebody tells you to “go fuck yourself”: “Again? I’m a little sore from last night!”

6. Make him tell the truth.

Men always lie about size. Why do you think we came up with maps that associate an inch with a mile? Here’s how urologists do the measuring: Get undressed in room temperature. (“Shrinkage” will occur if it’s cold.) Use a cloth ruler. (They’re better at measuring curvatures.) Lie on your back and start where the base of your penis meets your stomach. (Do not start from the back of your scrotum. Nobody includes the basement when they quote the height of a skyscraper!) Round up to the nearest centimeter, not the nearest foot. While you’re down there, you may as well get some play time in. But read sex educator Paul Nelson’s advice for getting more out of self-pleasuring. His advice? Stop doing it as if you were a 13-year-old.

7. Make him look younger.

Getting older means getting grayer. If you’re the one who hit the switch when God said, “Let there be light,” you might want to consider coloring the hair down there. But don’t use the stuff you’d use to color the hair on your head; they often contain ammonia and other irritants that could do serious damage to the sensitive skin around the genitalia. Use Betty Color instead. It’s the only mass-market coloring especially designed for pubic hair. One good coat will take 10 years off your penis.

Michael Alvear is the author of the gay sex bestseller How to Bottom Like a Porn Star.

www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-alvear/7-christmas-gift-ideas-for-your-penis_b_6303594.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

A Pastor and a Horse in a Wedding Dress Walk Into a Courthouse…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/a-pastor-and-a-horse-in-a-wedding-dress-walk-into-courthouse?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Bryan Fischer: Teach Sodom & Gomorrah in California Schools

‘Gay history starts with Sodom and Gomorrah,’ Fischer said in a rant against a law requiring California schools to teach about the historic contributions of LGBT people.

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Stevie St. John

www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2014/12/12/bryan-fischer-teach-sodom-gomorrah-california-schools