Finding Tru Love?

A spike in relationships that bridge the viral divide may be an unintended side effect of the use of Truvada for HIV prevention. Alex Garner, the founding editor of Positive Frontiers, notes that all these new approaches to safer sex have affected how negative and positive men relate to each other because they reduce a key emotional obstacle to love: fear.

Garner says the key to reducing stigma and increasing wellness is for both positive and negative men to talk openly about their health issues with each other. By having this dialogue, they may also rekindle that spark of commonality, in ways that can improve not just physical and but also mental health. Read More

Meeting the needs of neglected key populations in Pakistan

Men who have sex with men and transgender people make up an alarming proportion of new HIV infections in Asia. In Pakistan, these key populations have traditionally been neglected in national HIV responses. Documenting the efforts of ongoing HIV and human rights work in Pakistan are two new films: 'Neglected No Longer: The Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender Community in Pakistan' and 'In from the Margins: Overcoming Barriers to Accessing HIV Services in Pakistan'. Read more and watch the films

Buggery Law Affects HIV/AIDS Fight

A concept paper prepared for the Ministry of Health said Jamaica's buggery law "negatively impacts policy implementation" in the fight against HIV/AIDS as it "makes it difficult for reporting and treatment and prevention programmes for the MSM (men who have sex with men) population".

Jamaica's buggery law, which is contained in the Offences Against the Person Act, prohibits anal sex between men, in public or in private. It is punishable by 10 years in prison with hard labour. Read More

Lesbians in Kenya: The forgotten victims of AIDS

Brenda was gang-raped to ‘cure’ her of being lesbian, leaving her with HIV which she passed on to her female partner. In Kenya, health workers are often particularly insensitive and ill-equipped to serve lesbians, lacking the knowledge on how to prevent HIV transmission between two women.

‘We are told that women cannot infect each other and sometimes they even ask us about our male sexual partners,’ Brenda adds. ‘Unfortunately our society defines us and our roles from the day we are born and we are raised to actively live up to those roles or face being ostracized.’ 

It is impossible to know how many ‘corrective rape’ cases there are each year, but the phenomenon is reported by lesbians all over Africa. Read More 

The New Face of HIV Is Gay & Young

In a small community hall in London’s Soho, a group of young gay men gather. They are 16 to 25 years old. They come from all walks of life but they have two key things in common: They are vulnerable and they are living with HIV. Some of these young men are sex workers, homeless, and drug users. Many have been victims of sexual harassment. Others have traded sex for basic necessities to survive.

“Being homeless has made me have sex with people that can provide me with a place to sleep and this means I have little choice about the kind of sex I have,” said 16-year-old Russell.  He is, in many ways, the new face of the HIV epidemic—not just in Britain, but also across the world.  Read More

US Capital, Washington D.C. bans gay conversion therapy of minors

The D.C. Council on Tuesday voted to take a final step this year for gay rights, banning conversion therapy that seeks to turn gay teenagers into heterosexuals.

The unanimous council vote puts the District in the rare company of only California and New Jersey to ban the practice. It also raises the possibility that after legal challenges to bans in those states recently failed that similar efforts may proceed elsewhere. Read More

STUDY: Gay Sex Helps Humans Bond and Survive

A new study indicates that same-sex attraction may have evolved to benefit society. Diana Fleischman, MD, and a research team at the University of Portsmouth in England have published preliminary research in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, which provides evidence that the purpose of sex extends beyond procreation — it also forms bonds between people that are beneficial to survival. Thus, sex between people of the same gender may have played a crucial role in forming alliances and friendships that have benefited humanity throughout its history. Read More

Op-Ed: Bridging the AIDS Generation Gap

Once I kept track of how many died: one a week for eleven weeks in a row. Then I stopped counting. Some people lost dozens, even hundreds of friends. Fast forward a couple of decades. In general, an HIV diagnosis today is very different than an AIDS diagnosis thirty years ago. It's popular to say it's manageable. Getting infected now is viewed by many as "no big deal".

A younger generation wonders why we continue to look at AIDS so differently than they do. The gay papers aren't filled with dozens of obituaries; instead, full-page ads for the newest drugs. Living well with HIV is not only a goal, it's an assumption.We have to realize that younger people - especially young gay men - don't see the urgency because the lack of urgency is a great accomplishment. We should be thrilled that people aren't dying within weeks or months of a diagnosis.  Read More 

Only 3 in 10 Americans with HIV have virus in check

Just 30% of Americans with HIV had the virus under control in 2011, and approximately two-thirds of those whose virus was out of control had been diagnosed but were no longer in care, according to a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The new study underscores the importance of making sure people with HIV receive ongoing care, treatment, and other information and tools that help prevent transmission to others, as well as the need to reach more people with HIV testing.  Read More

Harvard University Is Offering A Workshop On Anal Sex

Tonight Harvard University will offer a course on anal sex for the very first time as part of its annual Sex Week program.

At Harvard, Sex Week consists of “a week of programming that is interdisciplinary, thought-provoking, scholastic, innovative and applicable to student experiences in order to promote a holistic understanding of sex and sexuality.”

The classes are hosted by a student-run group at the school, Sexual Health Education & Advocacy or SHEATH. Read more

Over 50% of gay population in Taiwan have suffered partner abuse

As many as over 50 percent of gay and lesbian Taiwanese have suffered abuse at the hand of their intimate partners, and nearly 10 percent of victims have never sought outside help, a new survey conducted by The Modern Women's Foundation has suggested.

The Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association said that many LGBT people in Taiwan do not seek assistance in abusive situations because they are afraid of being "outed" or have no trust in formal institutions. Read More