🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Five ways you can make a difference in the youth HIV & AIDS pandemic

Saturday, December 1 is World AIDS Day. AFP, Getty Images via CNN.

By Lauren Lee, CNN

11/28/2018

___________________________________________________________________________________ 

December 1 is World AIDS Day, an annual event dedicated to raising awareness and money to fight AIDS around the world.

Over the last four decades, HIV and AIDS have been at the forefront of advocacy and research. But despite medical advances, AIDS remains one of the most destructive pandemics (link is external) in history, particularly of youth.

According to World Health Organization estimates, more than 30% of new HIV infections occur in people between 15 and 25 years old. Combined with the increasing number of babies infected at birth, some 5 million young people now live with HIV.

CNN Impact Your World spoke with two high-profile AIDS activists about five ways we all can play a role in preventing HIV and AIDS among youth.

1. Know your status
Knowing your HIV status is crucial. Some people think they know their status because they had one HIV test at some point. But HIV can be transmitted at any time through blood, semen, vaginal fluids, or even the breast milk of someone who is infected.

Deondre Moore, an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, was diagnosed with HIV at 19.

"If you know your status, that empowers you," Moore told CNN. "That protects you, that protects the next person, and it helps you to navigate and know what to do next."

Knowing your status shows that you care about yourself and your sexual partners. The CDC (link is external) suggests that anyone who has unsafe sex or shares drug needles should get tested at least once a year.

Online tools like AIDS Vu provide geographically specific information and resources for testing.

2. Stop the stigma
Many people have fears, prejudices and negative attitudes about HIV and AIDS that might not be rooted in facts. What is fact: Stigma leads to discrimination, which can marginalize the HIV-affected community.

As a 24-year-old, Moore looks back on his diagnosis back in 2014. That's when he realized he had to get past his own thoughts and misconceptions about HIV.

"All I actually heard was, 'You're probably going to die soon.' That was the lack of education that I had."

20-year-old Ashley Rose Murphy was born with HIV, exposed by her infected birth mother in the womb.

Murphy is now an ambassador for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Both she and Moore agree there is a generational divide between the people who were alive while the disease was considered a death sentence and those born later.

"These parents are more than aware of what happened in the '80s, and they are scared," Murphy said. "There is a lot of shame and hush-hush remaining from that time.

"On the other hand, my generation, they weren't alive during the '80s, so they don't fully grasp the AIDS epidemic."

Moore added, "To decrease stigma, to kill the notion that HIV looks like it did in the '80s, we have to talk about it."

Both said the misconceptions and stigma around HIV are what drive them to advocate for the AIDS cause publicly.

Moore remembers when he told his mother he wanted to tell his hometown church about his HIV status.

"There was so much stigma around sharing that she was afraid," he recalled. "Afraid of how people would treat me, afraid of how it would be taken from the outside world."

Despite his mother's fears, Moore told his story. What fuels him now is the impact he's made on young people across his home state of Texas.

"I became a domino effect that just kept going," Moore told CNN. "I always am thinking about what can I do so that the babies or the youth don't have to grow up worrying about HIV all their lives."
You can also play an essential role in reducing stigma and discrimination by offering support to people living with HIV and by speaking out against myths and stereotypes.

3. Educate yourself and spread the word
While in high school, Murphy traveled the world speaking about HIV and AIDS. She was once asked by her health teacher to write an essay about her speeches.

"I had discussed that I'm very healthy, I have a great future, I can grow up, have children and a family," recalled Murphy. "When my teacher read this she said 'I didn't know this.' I had to educate the educator."

Education plays a crucial role in fighting HIV and AIDS. Young people who know more about HIV/AIDS are more likely to get tested. School-based HIV/AIDS education is a well-proven intervention strategy. But it's not always available.

"A lot of public schools in the United States don't enforce a comprehensive and inclusive sex education," said Moore.

Both Murphy and Moore suggest speaking to your family physician and tracking down credible resources for information like HIV.gov and advocates like themselves. "I'm hoping my voice breaks stigmas and educates people," said Murphy.

4. Be an Ally
There are some simple things you can do to be an ally to the HIV-affected community.
Murphy said a big part is including it in normal conversation.

"Being able to casually talk about HIV and being as comfortable as you can discussing it little by little can make it a normal part of the conversation," she said.

Become an active listener who can offer support and assurance that the infection is manageable.
Encourage AIDS and HIV patients to stick with their medical protocols. Proper HIV treatment early can make all the difference in the progression of AIDS.

"It's in your own backyard," said Moore. "The more people know these facts, the more they can tell people."

5. Donate to AIDS-related causes
HIV and AIDS-related charities aim to prevent new infections by encouraging safer sexual behavior and distributing prevention methods (like condoms, medications, etc.). Although none of these can cure HIV or AIDS, some charities additionally fund research for a cure. Here are some Impact Your World-approved charities you can support.

More articles from CNN, here

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 6 Things You Should Never Say to Someone with HIV

Written by Josh Robbins

Quotes under the pictures by Rainbow Pastor David

My philosophy is this - 

"I you DON'T WANT TO HEAR the TRUTH,

THEN DON'T ASK THE QUESTION!!!"

Asking the wrong question or saying the wrong thing can make a conversation awkward and uncomfortable, especially if it’s about someone’s personal health. 

Over the past five years of living openly with HIV, I’ve had many conversations about my journey with friends, family, and acquaintances. And through those conversations, I’ve gained insight into what the least helpful things are to say to someone who is HIV-positive.

Before you say one of the following statements or questions to someone who has HIV, please take a moment to consider what impact it might have on the person you’re speaking to. You’re probably better off leaving these words unspoken.

***Yes I am - I SHOWER REGULARLY***

When you ask me if I'm "clean" in reference to my HIV status, you are being dirty. Sure, it’s just a phrase that saves you a couple of seconds saying (or typing) some extra words, but for some of us living with HIV, it’s offensive. It can also negatively affect our confidence, whether that was your intention or not. 

As the Stigma Project puts it, “clean” and "dirty” are for your laundry, not for describing your HIV status. A better way to ask about someone's HIV status is simply to ask when they had their last HIV screening and what the result was. 

 ***YES FOOL I KNOW, Does NOT mean you NEED TO KNOW***

Asking questions about HIV and being curious about the day-to-day of living with a chronic condition are completely understandable. However, how I was exposed to HIV is not really something you have a right to know. There are many potential reasons why someone might have an HIV diagnosis, including exposure through sex, mother-to-child transmission, sharing needles with an infected person, blood transfusions, and more. If those of us living with the virus wanted you to know our personal details and the method of our transmission, we’d initiate the conversation ourselves.

Read more: Busting HIV transmission myths »

***That would be NONE of YOUR BUSINESS***

The best way to demonstrate a lack of social couth is to ask someone living with HIV if they know who exposed them to the virus. Asking such a personal question can elicit painful emotions. Perhaps their exposure is linked to a traumatic event, like sexual assault. Maybe they are embarrassed about it. Or maybe they just don’t know. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if I know who exposed me to HIV, so stop asking me. 

***We get sick like everyone else***

Catching the common cold, flu, or the stomach bug is not fun, and sometimes even allergies can slow us down. During these episodes, we all feel sickly and may even need to take a sick day to get better. But even though I have a chronic condition, I am neither someone you should consider sick, nor am I suffering. People living with HIV who regularly attend appointments with their doctors and who take antiretroviral drugs to control the virus have near normal life expediencies.

Learn more: Long-term outlook for HIV »

 ***Sorry have NOTHING to be sorry for, so please keep your sorry***

Saying "I'm sorry" after hearing about someone's HIV diagnosis might seem supportive, but to many of us, it’s not. Often, it implies that we have done something wrong, and the words are potentially shaming. After someone shares the personal details of their journey with HIV, it’s not helpful to hear the phrase "I'm sorry." Instead, offer gratitude to the person for trusting you with that private health information and ask if you can help in any way.

 ***AGAIN NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS***

It is best not to assume or even question if the current partner of someone living with HIV is also positive. First of all, when someone living with HIV has a sustained, durably suppressed viral load (called an undetectable viral load) for six months, there is no virus in their system, and there hasn't been for several months. That means your chance of acquiring HIV from that person is zero. (You might find this interview with Dr. Carl Dieffenbach from the National Institutes of Health helpful.) Therefore, relationships can exist without risk of transmitting HIV. 

Beyond the science, it’s simply inappropriate to ask about my partner's HIV status. Do not allow your curiosity to make you lose sight of someone’s right to privacy.

What to do instead

When someone shares their story of living with HIV with you, the best way to respond is simply by listening. If you want to offer encouragement and support or to ask a question, think about how what you say might affect them. Consider how the words you use will come across, and ask yourself whether it’s your business to say anything at all.

---

Josh Robbins is a writer, activist, and speaker who is living with HIV. He blogs about his experiences and activism at I’m Still Josh. Connect with him on Twitter @imstilljosh.

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Switching to New Tenofovir Is Tied to Higher LDL Cholesterol

Researchers call for closer cardiovascular monitoring for those switching from the TDF form of the drug to the TAF version.

November 9, 2018 • By Benjamin Ryan 

___________________________________________________________________________________ 

People with HIV who switch from the older form of the antiretroviral (ARV) tenofovir to the newer form are more likely to have out-of-target LDL cholesterol, the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project (NATAP) reports. Consequently, Italian researchers have called for closer cardiovascular monitoring of people switching from the older form to the newer one.
The older form of tenofovir is known as tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF; the newer form is called tenofovir alafenamide, or TAF. Switching from TDF to TAF is associated with improved markers of bone and kidney health. However, researchers have suggested that this benefit may be significant only if both drugs are used with a booster medication, Norvir (ritonavir) or Tybost (cobicistat).

Gilead has swapped TAF into all its combination tablets that include TDF, with the exception of Atripla (efavirenz/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine), which is no longer a recommended first-line treatment because of side effects associated with the Sustiva (efavirenz) component. The updated TAF-inclusive tablets have new brand names and include Descovy (emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide), Odefsey (emtricitabine/rilpivirine/tenofovir alafenamide) and Genvoya (elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide). Two new single-tablet regimens have also recently been approved that have no TDF-inclusive equivalent, including Gilead’s Biktarvy (bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide) and Janssen’s Symtuza (darunavir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide).

TAF is also approved for use as treatment for hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatment under the brand name Vemlidy, just as TDF has long been approved for this purpose under the brand name Viread.

Presenting their findings at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) in Scotland, Italian researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 221 people with HIV who switched from TDF to TAF treatment without changing their anchor ARV. A total of 45.7 percent of them took a Tybost-boosted integrase inhibitor, 43.3 percent took a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), 6 percent took a Tybost-boosted protease inhibitor and 5 percent took an unboosted integrase inhibitor.

Before switching to TAF, the cohort’s median LDL cholesterol was 105 milligrams per deciliter.
After the switch to TAF, total and LDL cholesterol each rose by about 20 percent among the cohort members; HDL cholesterol rose by about 5 percent. Before the tenofovir switch, about 35 percent of the 200 people analyzed had LDL cholesterol that was considered out of target. This proportion increased to 60 percent after the cohort members switched to TAF.
To read the NATAP report, click here.

More from POZ, here

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Voting in the Midterms Is HIV Advocacy - QUIT LETTING THE REPUBLICANS and TRUMP @realDonaldTrump take away our HEALTH INSURANCE

Just think back on how the past 20 months have impacted health care, Medicaid, LGBTQ rights and more.

November 5, 2018 • By AIDS United

___________________________________________________________________________________ 

For anyone who is reading this who has yet to vote in the 2018 midterm elections and isn’t 100% sure that they are going to vote because they’re not quite sure if it’s worth it or if it will make a difference, we want you to think back on everything that has happened over the last 20 months.

We want you to think back on the Trump administration’s potential erasure of the transgender community and their repeated attacks on sexual and reproductive health care. We want you to think back on the traumatic and painful confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the impact that his time on the Supreme Court alongside Justice Neil Gorsuch will have on abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and union rights.

We want you to remember the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that you poured into fighting the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the continued attacks on Medicaid by members of Congress and the Trump administration and to remember the feeling you got when you realized that your fundamental right to health care was, and is, at constant risk of being taken away from you. We want you to remember the horror and fear that hit you when you first heard that our government wanted to ban people from entry into the United States based on their faith or to keep them from becoming citizens because they weren’t rich enough to pay for their own health care.

We want you to consider all of these things because none of them had to happen. And yet, they did happen and will continue to happen until the HIV advocacy community and our millions of allies who believe in the universal right to health care and dignity and freedom from discrimination based on race, sex, gender, religion, disability status, or nation of origin come together and demand that our representatives in Washington are beholden to us and not the other way around. We must advocate for ourselves and one another at the polls and outside of them.

Voting is HIV advocacy. It certainly isn’t the only form of HIV advocacy, but without it, we will never achieve all that is necessary to end the epidemic in this country and across the globe. If you’ve already voted, go out and make sure your friends and family have all voted as well, and then join Positive Women’s Network – USA’s Get Out The Vote community to find new ways to get involved. If you haven’t voted, then make a plan for yourself. Use AIDS United’s Election Resource Center to figure out where your polling place is, when early voting hours are, what candidates and issues you want to support, and how you’re going to get to the polls.

It may not feel like it, but filling in those little boxes on that ballot could be the loudest, most impactful statement you make all year. Join us—be an HIV voter and make sure all our voices are heard in the halls of power in the next Congress and beyond. Vote like your life depends on it, because, for many of us, it does.

More from POZ, here

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Self-Hatred Runs Rampant Through the Pavlovian Nightmare Known as Conversion Therapy

Self-hatred is taught in conversion therapy as a thinly-veiled way of telling gay people that they're sick and damaged. Image via The Advocate.

Steve Hinkle 

 October 5, 2018

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

While homosexuality has been slowly becoming more accepted in society, there are some people who are vehemently opposed to anything LGBT and will spread hatred and fear to attempt to eradicate it. One man, Mitchell Reid, was told that God did not love him because he is gay, his soul is broken, and that he is evil for not being attracted to women. Because of this, he attempted to take his own life twice. In a special report by The Post and Courier, Reid retells the horrors of the conversion therapy that he attended for decades to cure himself of his homosexuality. 

But first for a little background into the garbage known as conversion therapy. This horrid practice came about in the mid 20th century when psychology was becoming more mainstream. Homosexuality was listed as a mental illness in the DSM until 1973. During this time, many horrendous treatments began in attempts to cure homosexuality, such as electroshock therapy or using nausea-inducing medication, à la A Clockwork Orange, to make people associate same-sex attraction with nausea and vomiting.

One of the first ex-gay organizations was Exodus International, an Orlando-based group founded by Michael Bussee in 1976, who claimed that it started out as a prayer circle for gay Christians. Bussee left the group in 1979 when he came out as gay to his family and began a relationship with another founder of Exodus International and wrote in a blog post for NCLR that nobody turned heterosexual after going through conversion therapy. 

Although Bussee denounced the notion of conversion therapy, the practice continued to gain popularity across the US giving rise to organizations such as National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, or NARTH, that popularized the idea that homosexuality can be cured. 

Now that that's out of the way, back to Mitchell Reid. He had attended various ex-gay conversion therapy sessions over three decades, as counselors promised a ground-breaking panacea for his same-sex attraction. After spending countless hours and thousands of dollars trying to cure his homosexuality, he realized that it was not working. Before his numerous therapy sessions, Reid had a negative image of himself because of his same-sex attraction. He says "You feel your soul is distorted and evil and broken because of something you can’t change. What do you do? You do everything you can to change yourself. That’s why I went into all these therapies."

His therapy sessions included him describing his same-sex fantasies, exorcisms to exorcise the demon that he had inside of his soul, and shock therapy to rewire his brain to help him become attracted to women. His counselors offered him some explanation as to why he is attracted to men: He was too close to his mother, his father didn't pay enough attention to him which made him become detached from his masculine side, or that he had repressed traumatic memories. The therapy obviously did not work.

Luckily there are states that have banned conversion therapy due to its harmful effects on people, but there are still some that have not outlawed the antiquated and bigoted practice. Ex-gay therapy can be found in many different forms, including support groups or one-on-one sessions where gay people watch straight porn in order to develop an attraction to the opposite sex. However, attempts to ban this harmful practice have increased, as 2/3 of Americans support homosexuality, according to a Pew Research study. 

With increased support for homosexuality and LGBTQ people, it is my hope that conversion therapy becomes a thing of the past so that nobody has to go through it again. Everyone should love themselves and by eradicating conversion therapy, LGBTQ people will have a much easier time doing so.

More from Instinct, here

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Did Trump Pull the Plug on ONAP & PACHA?

By: Brandon M. Macsata, CEO, ADAP Advocacy Association

10/05/2018

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

The ADAP Advocacy Association has learned from a highly credible source that the Trump Administration will not fill the vacant director position at the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), nor will appointments be made for the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). These important leadership roles have remained unfilled since President Barack Obama left the White House.

Earlier this year the ADAP Advocacy Association called for the appointment of an ONAP director after Amy Lansky, ONAP's last-serving director, stepped down. Subsequently, it has been an issue at the center of our advocacy efforts, including a previous ADAP Blog. It should really come as no surprise that the Trump Administration, which has proven itself to not be friendly to the HIV/AIDS community, would leave ONAP vacant. 

Equally troubling is how the Trump Administration solicited nominations for PACHA, only to file them in the trash. It begs the question: Is there no regard for our community’s input into this nation’s public health response to the ongoing epidemic here in the United States?

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Resting Immune Cells May Harbor HIV for Decades

Such latently infected cells remain under the radar of antiretroviral treatment, which only works on replicating cells.

September 19, 2018 • By Benjamin Ryan 

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

The unreplicating, or latently, infected cells that are a major component of the HIV reservoir may harbor virus for many years, even decades, despite effective antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

Publishing their findings in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in British Columbia have used a novel genetic-analysis process to map the evolution of HIV within individuals. With this map in hand, they were able to then estimate the lifespan of latently infected cells, which skirt the effects of ARVs because such treatment only works on replicating cells.

The existence of such latently infected cells is the reason HIV treatment must be maintained for life. Without ARVs, such cells may spring into action at any time and start churning out new copies of the virus, ultimately raising an individual’s viral load.

The British Columbian researchers have at their disposal a rich trove for their research: stored blood samples drawn from the local HIV population over time. Originally taken for viral load and drug resistance testing, these samples date as far back as 1996.

HIV rapidly evolves, even within a single person’s body. Seeking to chart such evolution, the investigators used a method known as molecular phylogenetics to reconstruct the family tree of strains of the virus within individuals. They used as their reference virus in blood samples taken over time before such people started ARVs, as well as genetically sequenced, latently infected virus drawn from individuals for up to 10 years after they started HIV treatment.

The population of viruses integrated into the latently infected immune cells belonged to many points on the viral family tree, stretching back through the years. In other words, the virus that infected these cells did so at many different points in time, as indicated by their different evolutionary states, which were in a sense frozen in amber when HIV entered a cell, keeping the virus in a latent state. The oldest such virus dated back more than 20 years, meaning that latently infected cells may live even that long.

In one particularly notable case, an individual had what’s known as a viral blip while on successful ARV treatment—a short, relatively low rise in viral load that quickly returned to an undetectable state. The viruses found during the blip were highly genetically diverse, belonging to a 20-year span on the individual’s viral family tree. This finding suggested that virus in the person’s latent reservoir had spontaneously reactivated, and that the reservoir itself was robust in size.

The study authors concluded that their findings provide a rich new way of understanding how HIV persists in the body, one that will be valuable for future cure research.

For a POZ feature article on the current state of HIV cure research, click here.

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

To read the study, click here.

More from POZ, here

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 HIV Is Still A Crime On Some College Campuses

Laws against potential HIV exposure have filtered back down to college campuses, and a new student’s story is at the center.

By David Artavia

 

September 06 2018

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

 

In many states, HIV-specific laws continue to perpetuate stigma while working against modern public health policies. These laws make potential HIV exposure a felony and continue to put innocent people in prison for simply having sex while HIV-positive — even if they’re undetectable, which means they can’t transmit the virus, or if no risky sexual interactions took place.

When these state laws were first enacted, HIV fear-mongering poisoned the media pipeline and it was framed not only as a “gay disease” but also as the death sentence it once was. Such state laws began taking effect in 1986 and increased dramatically after the passage of the 1990 federal Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, which mandated states enact criminal laws to prosecute anyone with HIV for knowingly exposing someone else to it. Many of these laws equate HIV exposure (not necessarily transmission) with murder, demonstrating the depth of fears about the virus and poz people.

Even as antiretroviral medicines entered the market a decade later, these laws remained on the books. Today, HIV treatment can suppress the virus to such low levels in the bloodstream (that’s “undetectable”) that it becomes impossible to transmit HIV to sexual partners. Yet that hasn’t changed the language of HIV criminalization laws in dozens of states.

Now, a new generation is being punished — one that never saw the AIDS crisis up close — young gay and bi men of color especially, who have always known HIV to be a treatable chronic condition. Under this scope, it’s even harder to concede that having sex while poz can be a crime justifying decades behind bars (several poz people have been sentenced to 30 years for allegedly having sex without disclosure).

Ariel Sabillon, a queer-identified son of Honduran immigrants in Florida, has been a staunch advocate for HIV and immigration reform. During the past legislative session in his state, he helped to stall House Bill 9, an anti-immigrant law that banned “sanctuary cities.” He is also part of the Florida HIV Justice Coalition to modernize HIV crime laws.

The first in his family to go to high school and the first to go to college, Sabillon now awaits a decision that could threaten his future. At a large public university in Florida, a male student alleges that Sabillon didn’t disclose his status to him before they had oral sex (because the case is ongoing, Sabillon can’t name the school or his accuser).

Sabillon, who is poz, was already undetectable and clearly educated on sexual health before hooking up with the student last January. He even tried to educate the accuser before things escalated.

A few weeks after they met up, “he randomly texted me,” Sabillon says. “He’s like, ‘Yo, do you have HIV?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. Honestly, yeah. I’m undetectable, so you’re fine.’ He freaked out and I was like, ‘Why are you freaking out? The science is there.’ He’s like, ‘The science is wrong. There’s still a chance, even if you’re undetectable, even if it was oral sex.’”

Sabillon tried to explain there’s virtually no risk of contracting HIV through oral sex (unlike other STIs like syphilis or chlamydia), but the student turned aggressive and threatened to report Sabillon to the dean of the school. He was also going to get tested for HIV.

“He’s like, ‘If I test positive, I am going to report this to the authorities.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, but that won’t be necessary, because you’re not positive. You’re fine.’ [But] it scared me,” Sabillon admits, suddenly worried about the damage his accuser could do. “I was like, ‘Oh, shit. I could have really fucked up everything. I could just lose everything right now.’”

Under current laws, HIV is easily interpreted as a deadly weapon wielded by poz people who have sex with, spit on, or otherwise share bodily fluids with someone who believes they are HIV-negative — again, even in situations where these exchanges have virtually no chance of transmitting the virus. Twenty-four states in the country have laws that require poz people to disclose their status to sexual partners, while 14 states require disclosure to needle-sharing partners. Twenty-five in total criminalize behaviors that pose very low risk for HIV-negative partners (like oral sex), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some states are leading the charge to update laws that criminalize HIV. Earlier this year, North Carolina amended its legal language so that if an HIV-positive person is virally suppressed for at least six months, they no longer need to disclose their status, nor can they be charged for having condomless sex with an HIV-negative partner. (While this language clearly does not protect those newly diagnosed — treated under six months — legislators say that it’s at least an improvement and continue to advocate more changes.)

Last fall, California governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation reducing the penalty for “exposing” a sexual partner to HIV. It’s no longer a felony, and is instead now legally viewed the same way as other serious communicable diseases.

A couple months after Sabillon and the accuser’s exchange, Sabillon recieved a letter from the university stating he’d been accused of “allegations regarding transmission of HIV.” That’s when Sabillon says he “just fell apart. I didn’t know what was going to happen, really. [Then] a week or two later, they called me for an investigation.”

Sabillon and the accuser had to present their cases in front of the dean. The first time he went in, Sabillon was by himself and was told to present his Grindr profile to school authorities, all of whom he says lacked any education about MSM sexual health. For example, one questioner asked Sabillon what a “top” and “bottom” was.

The accuser continued “saying that I was a menace to the community, that I was putting the community at harm, and, ideally, he didn’t want me to get an easy punishment, like write an essay. He wanted me to really get punished for what I did,” Sabillon shares. “It was a lot of bullshit that he just threw in there trying to take me down.”

The second time Sabillon appeared in front of school authorities, he brought a doctor in with him who presented facts about HIV transmission to prove there was no risk. “[The accuser’s] defense was like, ‘Well, the science doesn’t say that there’s 100 percent no risk.’ And my defense was pretty much like, ‘Doctors literally cannot say that. Science cannot say with 100 percent certainty [about] most anything. This is not how science works.’”

School officials are now compiling a final report, which will ultimately determine Sabillon’s fate and future at the school. Regardless, he could risk being faced with an endangerment charge on his school record. (For now, the accuser has not attempted to file criminal charges.) While Sabillon remains optimistic that school officials will make the right decision, he hopes to use this experience to help educate the state’s lawmakers, but also society at large about the dangers of stigma.

“You shouldn’t be afraid of abating our laws, our social norms, the way we live our lives. We shouldn’t be so afraid of change, and I think that’s what’s happening in the world today, where the world is changing so rapidly, and us as humans, we don’t like change,” he says.

The added difficulty of being one of few persons of color on campus in a predominantly white institution is not missed on Sabillon, who also fears getting family members deported. His dream of graduating and succeeding to pull his family out of poverty also now feels at risk.

“If [the accuser] even decides to go to press charges, I think that [he] will be eliminating someone from the community — or will be locking them away and ruining their life — someone that could have been very beneficial, someone that could have been a tremendous asset for the community,” he adds. “That’s not making the community safer, that’s hurting the community.”

Sabillon says this isn’t just about HIV-specific laws. “I want people to think about other things [as well]: When you lock people up for minor drug charges. When you lock people up for being undocumented, even though they’ve been here for years and years and they’ve done nothing wrong. That doesn’t keep the community safe, that doesn’t keep anybody safer.”

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ 🔻 FDA Approves Merck’s Delstrigo and Pifeltro to Treat HIV

Delstrigo (doravirine/lamivudine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) 

includes Pifeltro (doravirine) in a three-drug single-tablet regimen.

  By Benjamin Ryan 

 August 30, 2018

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Merck’s Pifeltro (doravirine), a new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), as well as Delstrigo (doravirine/lamivudine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), which includes Pifeltro in a three-drug, single-tablet antiretroviral (ARV) regimen. Both tablets are indicated for the treatment of HIV among those beginning an ARV regimen for the first time. Pifeltro should be taken in combination with other HIV medications.

The approval of both tablets is based upon the randomized, multicenter, double-blind, active-controlled Phase III trials DRIVE-AHEAD and DRIVE-FORWARD.

DRIVE-AHEAD included 728 people not previously treated for HIV who were randomized to receive either Delstrigo or Atripla (efavirenz/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine). After 48 weeks of treatment, viral suppression rates were comparable between the two study groups, indicating that Delstrigo was noninferior to, or as effective as, Atripla.

Those receiving Delstrigo had superior results compared with those receiving Atripla with regard to LDL cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, although the trial did not demonstrate a clinical benefit of this difference. Those taking Delstrigo also had lower rates of neuropsychiatric adverse health events, including dizziness, sleep problems and an altered ability to think clearly and concentrate.

Those receiving Delstrigo had a lower rate of stopping treatment, at 3 percent, compared with those on Atripla, at 6 percent.

Adverse health events reported by at least 5 percent of those receiving Delstrigo included dizziness (7 percent), nausea (5 percent) and abnormal dreams (5 percent).

The DRIVE-FORWARD trial included 766 people with HIV who had not yet been treated with ARVs. They were randomized to receive Pifeltro or Norvir (ritonavir)-boosted Prezista (darunavir) plus Truvada (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine) or Epzicom (abacavir/lamivudine). Just as with the DRIVE-AHEAD study, viral suppression rates were comparable after 48 weeks between the two study groups, indicating the Pifeltro-based regimen’s noninferiority to the boosted-Prezista regimen.

Similar to the outcomes in DRIVE-AHEAD, both LDL cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol outcomes were favorable among those who received Pifeltro compared with those on Prezista; DRIVE-FORWARD did not demonstrate a clinical benefit of these differences either.

Two percent of those who received Pifeltro stopped treatment, as did 3 percent of those who received Prezista. Adverse health events reported by at least 5 percent of those receiving Pifeltro included nausea (7 percent), headache (6 percent), fatigue (6 percent), diarrhea (5 percent) and abdominal pain (5 percent).

To read a press release about the FDA approval, click here.

More from POZ, here

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 IS BEING GAY A SIN?

Rainbow Pastor David

08/30/2018 

__________________________________________________________________________________ 

Lay people {church goers} are taught by which ever Pastor they chose to listen too. Here in lies the problem. The majority of Pastors have gone through some type of Biblical training {Seminary or College}. These are the places that teach us how to interpret and how to NOT interpret the “HOLY BOOK”.  As Followers of Christ Jesus it is our responsibility to immolate His Character in our daily lives.  Jesus never condemned anyone. Mankind has made their own rules using bits and pieces of a wonder instruction manual. Just like the Scribes and Pharisee’s MOST of the EVANGELICAL CHURCH passes judgment on people from the FALSE TEACHINGS they were taught. They are still today twisting the Words of God to benefit their lavish lifestyles that God frowns upon.

If this illustration represents how your "RELIGION" treats GAY PEOPLE then it is time you become a TRUE FOLLOWER of JESUS CHRIST and FLEE that FALSE RELIGION.

God’s Word tells that it will be harder for a “RICH” man to enter heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle {a hole in the wall in Jerusalem}. Mark 10:25

Now that that part is out of the way let me get back to the question at hand. The question so many people have on their mind is whether or not being Gay is a Sin.

Short answer – NO…

God created ALL mankind in His likeness. Spiritually we are ALL like God and God wants us to live life through HIM.

 Jesus said, “Everyone who lives and believes in Me [as Savior] will never die” John 11:26

In Romans 3 we find an amazing gift through FAITH in CHRIST JESUS. We learn that EVERYONE continually sins but it is through the LOVE and GRACE of JESUS CHRIST that we are redeemed.

This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all those [Jew or Gentile] who believes [and trusts in Him and acknowledges Him as God’s Son]. There is no distinction, since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood [to be received] through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus’ crucifixion]. It was to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus [and rely confidently on Him as Savior]. Romans 3:22-26

The Old Testament—particularly Deuteronomy and the "Deuteronomistic History" (Joshua through 2 Kings)—does condemn "homosexual cult prostitutes" (the so-called qedeshim, "consecrated ones")

 

 

In 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Paul teaches against the temple prostitutes.

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul teaches about the consequences of turning your back on God to worship false gods/goddess’ and creating idols to worship. This scripture is always used against God’s Rainbow Children when it is NOT even about homosexuality. This passage of scripture is all about those who chose NOT to follow God.

ALL {including LGBTQI+} who separate themselves from idol worship and unbelievers will become the TRUE PEOPLE OF GOD.

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said: “I will dwell among them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “So come out from among unbelievers and be separate,” says the Lord, “And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will graciously receive you and welcome you [with favor], And I will be a Father to you, And you will be My sons and daughters,” Says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:16-18

Those Evangelicals who continue to take scripture out of context to condemn others are the same people who are twisting scripture from the pulpits throughout the land to justify their “Name it and claim it” PROSPERITY GOSPEL. This is why it is so important for each of us to STUDY the WORD of GOD for ourselves allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us ALL things God wants from us.

 

LGBT People can be a CHRISTIAN too if they chose to accept CHRIST JESUS

If you really want to learn more about Shrine Prostitutes check out this link.

Pastor Rick Brentlinger, Founder of Gay Christian 101 has compiled years of research concerning the LEGITIMACY of God’s Rainbow Children {LGBTQI+}. I would encourage anyone who doubts that God loves and cares for HIS LGBTQI+ children to check out Pastor Rick’s website, Gay Christian 101.

I know from personal experience how hard it is for Evangelical’s and Religious Cults around the world to accept the FACT that GOD created ALL mankind including LGBTQI+ in His image and likeness. Therefore, God wants ALL of His creation to worship Him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH {John 4:23-24}.

During my journey learning God’s Word and begging God to make me what this world sees as “NORMAL”,  I learned that NOT only did God create me like I am, He created me to be a Good Shepherd to those who are just like me.  If you would like to learn more about how God opened up my eyes to the TRUTH you can read my blog post entitled, Love and Understanding, here.

I pray you will have a better understanding of God’s Rainbow Children learning the TRUTH that God CREATED them just like He created you in HIS PERFECT IMAGE.

ALL {including LGBTQI+} who accept JESUS into their lives become heirs of God’s Promise to Abraham.

For you [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and] are all children of God [set apart for His purpose with full rights and privileges] through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed] have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values]. There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. And if you belong to Christ [if you are in Him], then you are Abraham’s descendants, and [spiritual] heirs according to [God’s] promise. Galatians 3:26-29

I leave you with this scripture to help you understand how gracious God is to those who chose to follow Christ Jesus.

But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name— John 1:12

 

Blessings my friends,

Rainbow Pastor David