🏳️‍🌈✝️ Trump Should Care About LGBT People Being Bumped Off Census

He may not give a fig about our rights, but he does understand money, according to Justin Nelson and Chance Mitchell of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

By Justin Nelson and Chance Mitchell

 

March 31 2017

 

 

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The cancellation of the proposed inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity alongside gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and home-ownership status in the 2020 U.S. Census is an attempt to further erase and diminish the contributions of America’s thriving LGBT communities.

We will not be made invisible — in fact, it is antithetical to the pro-business leaning of this new administration that LGBT status not be included in the Census. LGBT demographic data by way of the 2020 Census is vital in demonstrating  that LGBT Americans truly do live and work everywhere, permeate all communities and contribute tremendously to the American economy.

As Nikki Barua, a National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Certified LGBT Business Enterprise owner, once said, “Visibility creates awareness. Awareness leads to acceptance. And widespread acceptance ends discrimination. You can’t change hearts, minds, and attitudes if you are invisible.” 

 Because of decades of historic underrepresentation and misconceptions about the LGBT community’s economic impact, NGLCC commissioned the groundbreaking "America’s LGBT Economy" report. LGBT-owned businesses in the U.S. add at least $1.7 trillion to the American economy and have created tens of thousands of good-paying jobs from coast to coast.
  
America's LGBT business owners are driving our economy upward and deserve every opportunity to continue to create jobs and innovate our industries. As this report proves, there is strength in numbers. So too must we be able to finally allow our community to be counted and represented in America’s national demographic and economic data as greater visibility leads to great connectivity and productivity. Imagine the potential for economic growth when resources, capital, and education can be best aligned to meet the need of our growing, diverse communities.

Every single day the estimated 1.4 million LGBT business owners whose interests NGLCC champions create jobs, innovate industries, and contribute extensively to the economic health and vitality of America. It is for the good of our country and the entire global LGBT community and economy that we never allow prejudice to diminish the tremendous contributions LGBT citizens make.

This active decision to omit our communities from the Census comes at a precarious time, as the Trump administration recently went back on its promise to be “respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights” and is now letting companies become federal contractors without proving they're in compliance with LGBT workplace protections. Business has long understood that protecting LGBT Americans is good for business, essential for creating a vibrant, competitive workforce, and a fundamental principle of a strong and resilient economy.

The president’s decision, both in regard to the Census and contractor documentation, is the wrong choice, both economically and morally, and goes against a best practices of the vast majority of America’s largest companies. Markets prove time and again that LGBT inclusion is good for business, employees, our supply chains, and our economy, and that there are negative economic consequences to discrimination.  

Simply put: If LGBT Americans are adding so greatly to our economy, how can we possibly justify our government using those very tax dollars to jeopardize their safety and livelihood by both attempting to ignore their existence in the Census and undermine their protections in the workforce? Our community is watching, and we will use our economic strength to ensure the equality under the law that is entitled to all of us. Among the tools we have to fight discrimination and defend American ideals is economics. We should be doubling down on investing in LGBT-owned businesses and those corporations that support them, and boycotting those that support discrimination and repression.

This administration and Congress will require all of us to recommit ourselves to the most essential core value of the NGLCC — that our economy only succeeds when the American Dream is available to all LGBT and allied Americans. The great work to protect the well-being of America’s economy and expand the monumental gains achieved in recent years for the LGBT community continues. To do that, we must be counted. We will not be erased. 

JUSTIN NELSON and CHANCE MITCHELL are cofounders of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. NGLCC is the business voice of the LGBT community, the largest global advocacy organization specifically dedicated to expanding economic opportunities and advancements for LGBT people, and the exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses. 

Read more articles from the Advocate, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️ People Living With HIV Brace for Further Cutbacks to Medicaid

As HIV Rates Decline, Possible Budget Cuts Emerge as New Threat

 

By Megan McLemore
From Human Rights Watch

 

March 31, 2017

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Tuesday was the 25th anniversary of AIDSWatch, the annual convening of people living with HIV and their allies in Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to protect access to health care and services. This year's event was the biggest yet, with more than 600 people from 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. There was good news to celebrate, but there much remains to be done. "This is the best of times and the worst of times for HIV," said Amfar's Greg Millett.

For the first time since the epidemic began, the trend looks promising: the number of new HIV cases fell 18 percent from 2008 to2014. Last week, the American Health Care Act was pulled, a law that would likely have reduced access to health care for the 242,000 people living with HIV on Medicaid. Medicaid covers more than 40 percent of people living with HIV, including Roberta, a 47-year-old bus driver from Campti, Louisiana who has lived with HIV for more than a decade.

Protecting her health has not been easy for Roberta. A single mom, she had no health insurance until the state expanded Medicaid last July. "I couldn't always afford my medications. Sometimes I had to buy my pills from people I knew who had extra, a few pills at a time." Now with Medicaid coverage, she has gotten glasses, been to the dentist, discovered a thyroid condition through blood tests, and most importantly, not missed a dose of her antiretroviral prescriptions.

But legislative threats to health care are not over with the demise of the AHCA. President Trump has said he will "let Obamacare explode," but many fear his administration will all but ensure that happens. Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, supported billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid in the AHCA, and health advocates are bracing for similar proposals during the budget process now underway. As Ansley Rhyne, legislative aide to Senator Marco Rubio, told AIDSWatch participants on Tuesday, "It is likely that Medicaid will be rolled back."

Millions of Americans like Roberta depend on Medicaid to get the care they need. For them, the fight may only just be getting underway.

Megan McLemore is a senior researcher in health and human rights for Human Rights Watch.

Read more articles from theBody, here.

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ HIV-Positive Gay and Bi Men in Major Cities Are Increasingly on Treatment

Quick linkage to care following diagnosis is also improving, but troubling racial disparities exist, with Blacks less likely to be on meds.

March 31, 2017


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Men who have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV in major urban areas are increasingly promptly linked to medical care and on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for the virus. However, troubling racial disparities persist, with HIV-positive Black MSM less likely to be on ARVs than whites.

Publishing their findings in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers analyzed data from the 2008, 2011 and 2014 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) studies, examining HIV-positive MSM’s responses to survey questions.

The NHBS survey is conducted every three years among MSM in 20 major urban areas. It is not a nationally representative sample, however, and so its findings are not generalizable across the United States or even for all MSM in the participating cities. But by comparing changes between survey years, researchers can identify certain trends nevertheless.

To conduct their analysis of the rates of linkage to medical care, the researchers looked at data on a respective 236, 291 and 358 HIV-positive men in the 2008, 2011 and 2014 surveys. Each group of men was restricted to those diagnosed with the virus between three months and three years prior to being surveyed.

Defining linkage to care as an HIV-related medical appointment within three months of diagnosis, the researchers found that the proportion linked to care increased from 79 percent in 2008 to 87 percent in 2014. This translated to a 5 percent increase in the linkage rate every three years. Most subgroups had a similar rate of increase.

The researchers found that the proportion of those who were linked to care within one month of diagnosis increased from 75 percent in 2008 to 78 percent in 2014, or a 4 percent rise in the rate per three year-period.

Across time, men were more likely to be linked to care if they had more education, a higher income and health insurance. There were no regional differences in the linkage rates.

To determine the proportion of MSM with HIV who were on ARVs, researchers looked at a respective 1,142; 1,336; and 1,714 men in the three years of the NHBS survey. The proportion on ARVs increased from 69 percent in 2008 to 88 percent in 2014, an increase of 15 percent per three-year period. Treatment rates increased across subgroups. 

Throughout the surveys, a higher proportion of whites, older individuals, those with more education, those with a higher income and those with health insurance were on ARVs. In 2014, the ARV use rate was 9 percentage points higher among white MSM compared with Black MSM. 

This difference persisted even when the researchers adjusted the data for other factors that tend to predict poorer access to health care, including less education, lower income and a lack of health insurance.

In 2011 and 2014, the South had the lowest rate of ARV use compared with other regions. When the data was adjusted by race and ethnicity, this difference disappeared. The researchers concluded that the higher rates of HIV-positive African-American MSM in the South compared with other regions drove the difference in ARV use rates.

To read the study, click here.

To read an accompanying commentary about the study, click here. 

Read more articles from POZ, here.  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ We Count: Why Data Matters More Than Ever For LGBTQ People

Emily Waters

 Contributor Senior Manager of National Research and Policy,

 New York City Anti-Violence Project

03/30/2017

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This week it was announced that the 2020 Census will not include questions about sexual orientation and gender identity. Later John H. Thompson, the director of the U.S. Census Bureau, released a statement saying that after review “there was no federal data need to change the planned census.” This couldn’t be more inaccurate. Collecting this information would have been monumental for the LGBTQ anti-violence movement and not collecting it sends a clear message that the needs and experiences of LGBTQ communities should remain invisible.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) understands this first hand as we have been collecting data on how hate violence and intimate partner violence impacts LGBTQ and HIV affected communities for the last 20 years. The coalition started to collect and publish this data because at that time there was nearly no data on the violence that LGBTQ people experienced and the violence that LGBTQ people experienced was rendered invisible.

By collecting and publishing this data, NCAVP was able to show that thousands of LGBTQ people experience violence every year. We found that LGBTQ people are not only experiencing violence at the hands of strangers, but also in schools, workplaces, housing, and by intimate partners. And that LGBTQ people who have been forced to the margins, such as people of color, undocumented communities, and communities with disabilities, experience unique forms of violence, and that we must center and lift up these communities in our work.

We are often asked how collecting data, or lack thereof, on LGBTQ communities impacts the ways that LGBTQ people experience violence, and the short answer is that it impacts everything. 

Data collection and the information gleaned is how resources get allocated on the federal and state level. Without better data collection, it’s difficult to advocate for the needs of the LGBTQ community. This means less resources for LGBTQ programs that work on housing, employment discrimination, educational programs, and providing services to LGBTQ survivors of violence.

Having information on the ways that LGBTQ people are impacted by violence, poverty, homelessness, and discrimination helps lawmakers to understand the imperative need for legislative protections for their most vulnerable constituents.

As of now, the only piece of federal legislation that includes explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people is the 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. That’s it. 

This historic inclusion was in large part a result of data that demonstrated how LGBTQ people are disproportionately impacted by both sexual and domestic violence and that LGBTQ survivors often experience discrimination when trying to access services. All other federal level protections exist in the form of regulations, guidance, and executive orders, and these are currently being targeted by the Trump Administration. Moreover, in the last few years we have seen hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills in states across the country, most often geared at taking away the rights of transgender communities.

This state sanctioned discrimination against transgender people is occurring while a deadly crisis of anti-transgender violence is gaining momentum. In 2016, we saw this highest number of homicides of transgender people ever reported by the coalition. And this year, we have already lost eight transgender women of color.

Having more data and information on the need for protections for LGBTQ communities can help advocates and lawmakers keep the few protections we have in place and push for further legislative actions. Having more data and information means more resources for LGBTQ communities and organizations. More resources and protections can save lives.

Now more than ever, we need to be lifting up and sharing the experiences of LGBTQ people, including the ways that LGBTQ communities experience violence. This is why 11 organizations came together to create Communities Against Hate, which collects stories on the ways that marginalized communities experience violence and connects survivors to legal and other supportive services.

If the Trump administration won’t be bothered to collect information on the experiences LGBTQ communities and try to silence us in the process, we’ll just keep having to do it ourselves. We will ensure that our lives and experiences count.

Read more articles from the Huffington Post, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Top 5 anal douching safety tips

 by San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Anal douching safety tips for gay men who bottom

by Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC

 

March 30, 2017

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Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC

Anal douching isn’t something we talk about much in our community and we aren’t given many opportunities to learn about it. My high school coach taught sex ed. He said “Keep it in your pants, boys. Keep it in your pants.” Surprisingly, he never covered anal douching. 


Yet, we are all supposed to somehow know all about it. And, we succumb to societal pressure to pass white glove tests at all times of the day. #bottomstruggles.


At Magnet, we are asked a lot about how to douche safely. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t douche at all. But to be real, no one wants to leave a crime scene on their partner. There isn’t much research on regular anal douching before sex but we do know some things. Below, I’ll give you the low-down on what we know about what’s safe to do—and what you should avoid doing if you douche.

Use the right water.  

Tap water is fine if you aren’t using it every day. If you douche too often with tap water, you can cause an electrolyte imbalance that using normal saline would prevent. Avoid it if you can but it’s not always easy to do so.  And absolutely do not use olive oil, bleach, alcohol, or anything else that you find under your kitchen sink. These will cause significant harm to your butt.

I know you aren’t running a cooking show at home to make your own normal saline. And sometimes your big top daddy is coming over too soon to run to the store to get a Fleet’s. So what about tap water?

Using the right type of liquid to clean out  your butt is important. Your body maintains a delicate balance of electrolytes to function normally. If you use the wrong liquid, you can cause imbalances that harm your body. 

One of the safer liquids to put up your butt is called “normal saline.” This is a water mixture that has the right amount of a sodium electrolyte to match what is in your body. You can get this stuff in a saline Fleet enema or you can also make normal saline at home by combining a half teaspoon of salt with a cup of water.

And while you are pouring the water, be sure to check the temperature. I can’t over-emphasize this one. The mucosal lining of your intestines and colon is much more sensitive to temperature than the skin on the outside of your body. You may be able to tolerate a hot shower, but you’ll burn your insides if you use that same temperature in an enema. Test the water temperature first with your hand and turn down the temperature until it feels lukewarm. Then turn the temperature down just a bit more. That’s what can go up your butt.

Get the right equipment.

OK, you got the right water and the right temperature. Now how are you getting it up your butt?
You’ve got a few different options if you’re looking for the right douching equipment. Here are the options I know about—and my recommendations for each.

Fleet enemas: These are your best bets for safe douching. Fleet enemas come in multiple versions so be sure to get the one that just has normal saline in it. They also have pre-lubricated nozzle tips which is less likely to cause tearing or other damage.  The volume is also smaller so you are less likely to overdo it.

Shower shot: Nothing says that you are prepared to bottom more than installing a hose on your shower to rinse out your butt. These require you to be extra careful with your douching. It is very easy to have the water pressure on too high or have the water too hot. If you choose this option, be very careful. It is also very easy to have the water too hot, which can burn your insides. The nozzle doesn’t even need to go in your butt. You’ll find that just having it at the opening that you’ll get an effective rinse.

Anal douche bulb: If you walk into your favorite porn store, you’ll see a box with some muscled porn star holding a big douche bulb. These have a reusable rubber bulb that you can fill up with your home made normal saline. They are convenient but many of them have a hard plastic nozzle. Use lubricant on the nozzle for safer insertion.

Baby mucous sucker: This may sound strange but some guys use a baby mucous sucker to douche. You can find them in your pharmacy’s baby section. They are similar to the anal douche bulb but they actually are a bit better because the tip of the nozzle is softer and more flexible than that of an anal douche bulb. You’ll use it the same way you do the anal douche bulb.

Get your butt ready.
 
Don’t be a rude top and just shove the nozzle of an enema bulb or nozzle of a shower shot up your butt without getting your butt ready first. It’s kind of like bottoming during anal sex—it might hurt if you’re not properly loosened up.

There are two rings of muscles in your butt. The external muscles you can control and relax on your own, but the internal sphincter only loosens up if it senses pressure. So take a finger, lube it up, and loosen up your butt before you try to push anything up there.

Lube it before you stick it.

While you have that lube out for your finger, be sure to lube up the nozzle of whatever you are putting up your butt. The anal douche and shower shot are generally hard nozzles that can easily cause tearing if you are not careful. Take a moment to put plenty of lube on the nozzle and insert it slowly so you don’t tear. And remember that unlike your ex, the shower shot can do a good job without going in.

Pushing a stiff nozzle into your rectum without lube can cause ripping and tearing. Not only will that be painful, it can increase your risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. If you irritate the lining of your mucosal membranes in your colon, white blood cells (the kind of immune cells that HIV preferentially infects) congregate in the area to help repair your body. So if you are exposed to HIV there (i.e., your partner is living with HIV and cums in your ass) you’ll be more likely to be infected with HIV.

You are not that kind of catcher. Don’t spray too much in.
You don’t need the water to go very far up inside your intestines. The amount of water than an enema bulb can hold is sufficient.

If you’re using a shower shot, go easy. Start with the lowest water setting at first until you can judge the right level that doesn’t resemble you sitting on an active fire hose.

Stick it in and do it.

You’ll want to be close to your toilet or in your shower when you do this. Putting yourself in the right position can make it easier to insert the nozzle. Stand in front of the toilet and put your dominate leg up on the toilet. After loosening up your butt with a lube finger like a good top, slowly insert the lubed douche nozzle. Squeeze the bulb to slowly squirt in the liquid. Pull out the nozzle. If you can’t hold the liquid, sit down on the toilet immediately but if you can hold it, jump up and down a few times before sitting on the toilet. If you are in the shower, do the same thing by holding onto something sturdy and put your leg up on the edge of the tub but don’t do the jumping around part as you’ll probably fall.

Don’t douche too much.

You don’t want to overdo it. Even if you douche with the right water, the right temperature, and the right equipment, you can damage the lining in your butt that can put you at higher risk for getting an infection from your partner. There is no magic number of times that makes douching unsafe. But if you can, limit yourself to once a day and only 2-3 days per week.

Give yourself time before sex.
 
Most of the water will come out of your butt right way but don’t expect that you’ll be able to have sex right after douching. Allow some time for all the water you squirted inside yourself to come back out (and stay close to a toilet while you wait). You might need an hour or so to make sure it’s all come out before you’re ready for sex. Use this time to clean up your place, take your PrEP or your HIV meds, or get your lube and condoms if they are part of your sexual health plan.

Don’t use laxatives. Other bulking agents are OK.
Unless you need laxatives to treat constipation, don’t use laxatives as a way to prepare for anal sex. Laxatives irritate the lining of your intestines, and they’ll give you abdominal cramping which can end up ruining sex. Also, they might just end up forcing more poop out that wouldn’t have come out otherwise.

Other bulking agents like fiber supplements are OK to take. They might help you normalize your stool if you’re constipated or help you get all of your poop out at once. If you have loose stools or diarrhea, fiber supplements can help.

Be reasonable – remember, poop happens!
I think it’s time that we all realize and acknowledge that if you’re having anal sex, poop is going to make an appearance sometimes. You don’t go to the chocolate factory without getting sample. I’ve heard countless stories of people who bottom, and have a little bit of poop show up—only to have the top basically say, “sex is over, get out.” The bottoms are made to feel dirty or are shamed. And this just isn’t right. It’s like farting during sex. It happens!

My advice is “Don’t keep it in your pants boys” and douche in moderation if it helps you feel more prepared for anal sex.

Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC is a PrEP provider and nursing director at Magnet for San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Read more articles from BETA, here.

 

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ 30 Years Later, a Look at the First AIDS Drug

The FDA approved AZT in a record 20 months, a move that remains controversial today.

March 31, 2017


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HIV was first reported in 1981, but it wasn’t until six years later—in March 1987—that a drug to fight the virus was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On the 30^th anniversary of this milestone, Time magazine takes a look at the story behind the controversial med azidothymidine, commonly known as AZT.

Also known as Retrovir or zidovudine, the compound AZT was not originally created with HIV in mind but was developed in the 1960s to battle cancer. Decades later, scientists at pharmaceutical giant Burroughs Wellcome made a version of AZT to fight HIV.

To fast-track the med, the drugmaker conducted a trial with 300 people who had AIDS. After 16 weeks, it was halted because those taking AZT were doing so much better than those not on the med. The results were considered a breakthrough, and the FDA approved the drug on March 19, 1987, in a record 20 months, according to Time.

The approval was granted despite many questions remaining unanswered—for example, how long did the benefits last?—and despite other issues surrounding the trial itself. In fact, Time notes, the trail remains controversial today.

Then came a bigger controversy: the price tag. At about $8,000 a year ($17,000 in today’s dollars), AZT was unattainable to many.

Today, we have more than 41 drugs to treat HIV, many in combo form and with much fewer side effects.

A similar HIV milestone occurred in 1996. For more about that, read “Antiretrovirals: A Success Story—Celebrating 20 Years of Effective Treatment” and “Milestones in the Era of Effective Treatment.”

And for current articles, check out the POZ Treatment News page, which is updated daily.

Read more articles from POZ, here.

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️It Takes a Village to Empower and Own Your Status

San Francisco’s Positive Force offers hope, healing, and happiness for men living with HIV.

By Desiree Guerrero

 

March 31 2017

 

 

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Strut, a program of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, is a revolutionary sexual health resource center for men, including those living with HIV. It opened its doors in 2016, with the mission of promoting the health and wellness of gay, bi, and trans men; strengthening community, and reducing the impact of HIV on San Francisco.

Strut brings together multiple programs — case management, substance use counseling, mental health counseling, and HIV and sexually transmitted infections screenings — into one convenient location. Integrating those services allows the SFAF to maximize funds and serve to up to 50 percent more people than it used to. Oh yeah, and all services are one hundred percent free.

One of the most innovative resources available to poz men at Strut is Positive Force, a holistic wellness program focusing as much on mental and emotional well-being as on physical health. The program includes one-on-one wellness sessions, social events and excursions, health workshops with HIV experts, and two-day weekend retreats called PLUS (Positive Living for Us Seminars). Those weekends are, for some clients, life-altering.

“It’s just amazing to see the emotional change in people from Saturday morning to Sunday evening when they leave” says Positive Force program manager T.J. Lee-Miyaki. “It might be the first time they’re in the room with other people who are HIV-positive. They realize that they’re not alone, that other people are going through similar feelings or emotions, and have similar thoughts to them, or are struggling with things like how to tell their parents. It’s powerful to see these people come in and, by the end of the weekend, they’re like, ‘You know what? I can actually get my head wrapped around this. I can see there’s a future.’”

Lee-Miyaki, who has been living with HIV for 17 years, says sharing his story helps clients cope with the overwhelming anxiety they experience when first diagnosed.

“That usually helps break down a little bit of a wall and a fear, because then they think, Oh, well this person has done this,” he says. Little things appear to make big differences in some of these men’s lives, as well. Lee-Miyaki started giving iTunes gift cards to clients and encouraging them to create a “happy, shiny playlist” that can lift them up when they are having bad days. It’s been a very popular addition to the program.

One of Positive Force’s main goals is to offer support and coping mechanisms for men who have just learned their HIV status, Lee-Miyaki says. He recalls one 19-year-old who came into Strut right after diagnosis, “He thought his life was over, you know, that he’d never find anybody to love him.” 

Initially, the teenager fell into a depression, which led to dropping grades at college, and other personal issues. Lee-Miyaki has worked with the young man for over two and a half years, now, mostly in the program’s one-on-one sessions.

“And now he’s an A-student, he’s got a boyfriend, he sees a future for himself,” Lee-Miyaki says.
 One life saved, many more to go.

 

Read more articles from PLUS, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️Can a Positive Outlook Lower Your Viral Load?

As does the brain, so goes our viral load? 

By David Artavia

 

March 31 2017 

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Sometimes it takes running to the end of your bedroom, opening the window, and smelling the fresh sunny air to remind ourselves that there is life outside our apartment. The idea that love, joy, and peace are literally at our doorsteps ought to make us feel safe, but unfortunately much of the world would rather close the curtains. 

But as it turns out, a positive outlook does more than invite goodness to your life. Studies have shown that it actually improves health and extend life — even lower one’s viral load. 

In a 2014 study at the University of California led by Judith T. Meskowitz, a professor of medical social sciences, a set of eight skills was given to 159 people who were newly diagnosed with HIV. 
After helping to implement them in their daily lives over the course of 15 months, researchers saw these people carried a lower viral load, were more likely to take their medication correctly, and were less likely to need antidepressants to help them cope with their new illness. 

These skills were to recognize a positive event each day, savor that event and log it in a journal or tell someone about it, start a daily gratitude journal, list a personal strength and note how you used it, set an attainable goal and note your progress, report a relatively minor stress and list ways to reappraise the event positively, recognize and practice small acts of kindness daily, practice mindfulness, focusing on the here and now rather than the past or future.

While these “skills” might sound like something from Oprah, what Moskowitz found is that people living with HIV other chronic illnesses, like Type-2 diabetes, lived longer due to more positive emotions circuiting through their brains. And as scientists have discovered, our bodies can sometimes be a direct response from what’s happening to us emotionally. 

One participant of Moskowitz’s study was 56-year old Gregg De Meza, an architect from San Francisco who was diagnosed with HIV four years prior. “When I entered the study, I felt like my entire world was completely unraveling,” he said to NY Times. “The training reminded me to rely on my social network, and I decided to be honest with my friends. I realized that to show your real strength is to show your weakness. No pun intended, it made me more positive, more compassionate, and I’m now healthier than I’ve ever been.”

Mental health is an overlooked issue when it comes to HIV. 

Nearly 22 percent of people living with HIV will also be diagnosed with major depression later on, and as a result, the depression keeps them from taking their meds so that they can suppress the virus. 

It also works the other way too. People who suffer from mental illness are at higher risk to contract HIV, yet they’re only slightly more likely to get tested than the general population. In fact, in 2011 seven percent of Medicaid patients in California who were taking meds to treat bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, or other mental health issues had been tested for HIV — compared to five percent of the rest of the state. 

And when it comes to HIV and depression, the ones who suffer most are the young black population. Nearly half of all U.S. adolescents between 13 and 19 are sexually active, yet black adolescents (who only represent 14 percent of that population) account for 63 percent of new HIV diagnoses. 

It’s estimated that 2 million of all adolescents, most of whom are sexually active, experience a major depressive episode, according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies. 

“Blacks, adolescents, and people with mental illnesses are all disproportionately affected by HIV/STIs,” the study’s lead author Bridgette M. Brawner, PhD, APRN, Assistant Professor, said in a statement. “We know that the unique psychopathology of mental illness, including impulsivity and engaging in unprotected sex to alleviate depressed mood, may heighten one ’s HIV/STI risk. 

Our study indicates we need to better understand unique HIV/STI prevention needs among black adolescents with mental illnesses and that improving coping mechanisms to help regulate emotion should be addressed in HIV/STI prevention research.”

The research is here, but despite studies proving that a better focus on mental health drastically improved HIV treatment programs, there is still little being done to take care of our emotional wellbeing, which might end up being one of Mother Nature's best kept medicines.

But it's not to late.

Read more artilces from PLUS, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️Revolutionary Medication for Multidrug Resistance

IBA offers new hope to those with the most difficult cases of HIV.

By Jacob Anderson-Minshall

 

March 30 2017

 

 

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Developed by Theratechnologies Inc, ibalizumab, is the first long-acting biologic injectable to treat multidrug resistant HIV. 

“It’s actually really exciting,” says Yale School of Medicine’s Dr. Brinda Emu, one of the study’s authors. She says ibalizumab, a monoclonal antibody, binds to CD4 receptors, preventing HIV from attaching. Other monoclonal antibodies have targeted CCR5, but targeting CD4 is “a completely new mechanism of action; and because of this, it has no cross resistance with any other antiretrovirals out there.” This is great news for those with HIV resistance, as building resistance to one drug can make all other drugs in that class ineffective.  

 

Emu says that “all of the other approved molecules out there are small molecules, so they are metabolized quite quickly.” But IBA is larger and has a longer half-life, making it well suited for biweekly administration.

When paired with optimized antiretro-viral therapy, IBA offers new hope to those with the most difficult cases of HIV, who previously had “limited or no remaining options to treat their infection,” Dr. Jacob Lalezari, of Quest Clinical Research told Plus. 

Phase III trial participants had been HIV-positive on average 20 years and, Emu says, “Over 50 percent had exhausted three classes of drugs, 35 percent had exhausted four classes of drugs, and 15 percent of participants had actually exhausted all antiretrovirals — meaning they were resistant to everything that’s been approved.”

After a single week, IBA was already proving effective in decreasing viral loads. Researchers later “optimized” participants’ antiretroviral regimens, and those no longer susceptible to any of the HIV drugs on the market were also given a booster of fostemsavir (another new attachment inhibitor). 

As part of combination therapy IBA proved effective for the majority of study participants, who experienced both reductions in viral loads and increases in the number of T cells. Even better, 43 percent of study participants were able to lower their viral loads to undetectable levels, a remarkable feat given how difficult their HIV had become to treat.

Read more article from PLUS, here.
 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Trump’s Budget Slashes $1.23B From NIH, Including AIDS Research

The proposal also takes away $300 million from the global initiative PEPFAR.

March 30, 2017

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The Trump administration’s budget proposal for this year includes a $1.23 billion cut in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Most of it will come from research grants, with $50 million specifically deducted from a program that supports biomedical research, Bloomberg reports.

The proposed budget for this fiscal year, which ends in October, also calls for taking away $300 million from The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the initiative to fight the epidemic in Africa and globally. According to the budget proposal, money could be saved by putting fewer new patients on HIV meds and by cutting funding to “low-performing countries.”

POZ readers may recall the March 16 newsfeed item “Surprise: Trump’s Proposed Budget Preserves AIDS Funding!” This referred to the budget claiming it was a high priority to preserve the Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs, which provide health care to people living with the virus in the United States.

However, at that time, the White House also said it would “maintain current commitments” to PEPFAR. Last year, the program received $2.3 billion, making it the largest federal source of HIV-related funding after Medicare and Medicaid.

It’s important to remember that these are proposed cuts from the Trump administration. Ultimately, Congress approves the budget. When asked whether these cuts would actually take place, Bloomberg reports, Senator Roy Blunt (R–Mo.) said, “No. No.”

To learn more about the U.S. global AIDS program, click #PEPFAR for a roundup of POZ articles including “A World of Difference,” which questions taxpayer funding of faith-based groups to fight HIV/AIDS.

Read more articles from POZ, here.

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Awareness That HIV Meds Prevent Infection Likely Lowers Condom Use in Gays

Among Atlanta gay and bi men, those who believe HIV treatment prevents infection are more likely to have condomless sex.

March 29, 2017

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As men who have sex with men (MSM) have increasingly become aware that successfully treating HIV prevents the spread of infection, this knowledge may have contributed to falling condom use rates among them.

Publishing their findings in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers reviewed data from surveys conducted among 1,831 MSM at the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival in 1995, 2005, 2006 and 2015. The surveys asked the respondents about substance use, sexual behavior, including condom use, beliefs about HIV treatment and beliefs about sexual risks in relation to a sexual partner’s HIV treatment status.

Among respondents who were HIV negative or had an unknown HIV status, the proportion reporting any condomless anal sex during the previous six months increased from 43 percent in 1997 to 51 percent in 2005, 49 percent in 2006 and 61 percent in 2015. The corresponding figures for the HIV-positive respondents were 25 percent, 50 percent, 61 percent and 67 percent.

Among the HIV-negative or unknown-HIV-status respondents, the proportions reporting condomless sex with two or more partners during the previous six months were 9 percent in 1997, 19 percent in 2005, 18 percent in 2006 and 33 percent in 2015. The corresponding figures among the HIV-positive respondents were 9 percent, 33 percent, 39 percent and 52 percent.

Among the HIV-negative or unknown-HIV-status respondents, the average reported proportion of sexual acts involving condoms during the previous six months were a respective 56.7 percent in 1997, 56.2 percent in 2005, 52.8 percent in 2006 and 38.7 percent in 2015. The corresponding figures for the HIV-positive respondents were 82.1 percent, 50.2 percent, 42 percent and 47.6 percent.

Over time, there was a decline in the overall perceived risk of transmitting the virus through condomless anal sex with an HIV-positive man with an undetectable viral load. In later years of the survey, respondents who had condomless sex were more likely to endorse beliefs that HIV treatment protects against transmission of the virus. Those who engaged in condomless anal sex reported significantly lower perceived risks of contracting HIV when a partner has an undetectable viral load.

HIV-positive men who reported condomless anal sex reported the lowest perceived risks associated with having an undetectable viral load, while HIV-positive men who did not report condomless anal sex had the highest perceived risks of transmission of the virus in this context.

“Thus,” the study authors wrote, “as treatment-related beliefs continue to shift in gay communities, we may expect further increases in condomless anal sex.”

“Treatment-related behavioral beliefs in this study paralleled a resurgence in condomless anal sex among men who have sex with men measured over nearly two decades,” Seth Kalichman, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut and the study’s lead author, said in a press release. “The current study adds to the mounting evidence that substantial changes have occurred in community-held beliefs that condomless anal sex is safer in the era of HIV treatment as prevention.”

To read a press release about the study, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.

Read more articles from POZ, here.  

🏳️‍🌈✝️Bill to Repeal HIV Discrimination Reintroduced in Congress

“HIV criminalization laws are based on bias, not science.”

March 28, 2017

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This week, Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R–Fla.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) reintroduced the REPEAL (Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal) HIV Discrimination Act. Known as H.R. 1739, the bill has 28 initial cosponsors.

The bill would help update laws, policies and regulations so that they do not place a “unique or additional burden on individuals solely as a result of their HIV status, and [it] offers a step-by-step plan to work with states to modernize laws,” according to a press release by Ros-Lehtinen.

As the HIV Justice Network has reported before, this bill has been introduced several times since its debut in 2011, usually gathering cosigners before dying in committee.

For a bill to become law, it must first be introduced by a legislator, after which it is referred to a committee and subcommittee for debate and marking up before it is considered and voted on by other lawmakers. Once a bill passes both the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is sent to the president to sign into law.

You can follow the progress of H.R. 1739 here.

“The fear and stigma surrounding HIV have led to a number of criminal statutes and penalties that do not improve public health,” said Ros-Lehtinen in the press release. “Since the establishment of laws which unfairly penalize individuals living with HIV, we have made great medical advances that prove that antiretroviral therapy can reduce HIV transmission risk.”

“HIV criminalization laws are based on bias, not science,” added Lee. “Instead of making our communities healthier, these laws breed fear, discrimination, distrust, and hatred. Our laws should not perpetuate prejudice against anyone, particularly against those living with diseases like HIV. By passing this legislation, Congress would send a signal that discrimination and stigma have no place in our laws.”

Today, 33 states and two U.S. territories have criminal statutes based on outdated information regarding HIV/AIDS, according to the press release.

In response to the bill’s reintroduction, Ken Rapkin, executive director of The Campbell Foundation, a Florida-based nonprofit organization that funds HIV and AIDS research, said: 

“Laws should be updated to avoid further stigmatizing of [people living with HIV] based on proven science. The current laws in most states discourage people at risk from getting tested for HIV. Those who transmit HIV with malicious intent to harm someone else can be prosecuted under existing assault statutes."

For related information in POZ, read “HIV: Prosecution or Prevention? HIV Is Not a Crime,” which is a chapter from the book The War on Sex. You can also click on #Criminalization.

Also this week, Ros-Lehtinen was honored with an Elizabeth Taylor Legislative Leadership Award at AIDSWatch 2017.

Read more articles from POZ, here.

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️BREAKING: Trump Administration Omits LGBTQ People from 2020 Census

Various federal agencies urged the Census Bureau to include sexual orientation and gender in their data.

By Glenn Garner

 

03/28/2017

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Expectations that the 2020 census might start including LGBTQ subjects were raised and then quickly dashed on Tuesday after the U.S. Census admitted that it had "inadvertently" included "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," in a long-awaited report outlining new categories for the survey. In response, GLAAD's CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, branded the move as a "systematic effort on behalf of the Trump administrationn to erase LGBT people."

Last year, various federal agencies urged the Census Bureau to include sexual orientation and gender in their data as it was crucial to their role in enforcing the law. The survey, which has been conducted every ten years since 1790, includes a wide range of questions designed to gather data on everything from languages spoken to household plumbing facilities. The current census, however, only allows for a snapshot of same-sex households, but Democrats in Congress had pushed for more specific questions around sexual orientation and gender identity to improve results. The logic was simple: With more focused questions law makers would be better equipped to ensure appropriate legislation to improve the lives of LGBTQ citizens. 

Although the Supreme Court, in 2013,  struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, paving the way for the census to change the way it tracks same-sex households, the White House has sent yet another powerful signal that it considers LGBTQ concerns as frivolous. 

Meghan Maury, Criminal and Economic Justice Project Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force released a statement:

"Today, the Trump Administration has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity, by choosing to exclude us from the 2020 Census and American Community Survey. LGBTQ people are not counted on the Census—no data is collected on sexual orientation or gender identity. Information from these surveys helps the government to enforce federal laws like the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act and to determine how to allocate resources like housing supports and food stamps. If the government doesn’t know how many LGBTQ people live in a community, how can it do its job to ensure we’re getting fair and adequate access to the rights, protections and services we need? We call on President Trump and his Administration to begin collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data on the American Community Survey as soon as possible and urge Congress to conduct oversight hearings to reveal why the Administration made the last-minute decision not to collect data on LGBTQ people.”

Read more articles from OUT, here.