🏳️‍🌈✝️ Varinostat Treatment Helps Expose the HIV Reservoir

However, the drug does not reduce the size of the reservoir.

July 31, 2017


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Given in 72-hour intervals, the drug varinostat helps reveal HIV that is harbored in unreplicating cells, but on its own, at least, it does not apparently deplete the volume of such reservoir cells.

Made up of unreplicating, or latent, cells infected with HIV, the viral reservoir frustrates attempts to cure the virus because these cells remain under the radar of standard antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, which works only when cells are replicating.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers studied the HDAC inhibitor vorinostat in 16 people on fully suppressive ARV treatment for HIV. The participants received doses of the drug every 48 or 72 hours as the investigators sought to determine the optimal dosing interval.

The study authors found that vorinostat more effectively revealed unreplicating HIV-infected cells when dosed every 72 hours. Despite the fact that vorinostat is used to spur the replication of latently infected cells, its use in these participants did not cause a rise in viral load.

After more than a month of vorinostat treatment, participants experienced few side effects and no serious toxicities. However, the size of the viral reservoir apparently did not taper.

The researchers are now conducting two small studies in which they are pairing vorinostat with one of two other agents—an anti-HIV vaccine or an infusion of antiviral immune cells—in hopes that the combined effects will help shrink the viral reservoir. The investigators are not expecting immediate success but hope to build on the knowledge they gain from such research, with the ultimate goal of eventually clearing HIV from the body.

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

To read the study, click here.

Read more articles from POZ, here.

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Undetectable = Untransmittable Reconfirmed by New Study, Embraced at IAS 2017

A&U Magazine

July 29, 2017

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A newly completed study of 358 serodiscordant gay couples has not found a single case of HIV transmission in 16,889 acts of condomless anal sex. The Opposites Attract study, conducted by the Kirby Institute at UNSW, Sydney, made its report to the 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017) in Paris, France, in July 2017. 

Opposites Attract has shown that HIV-positive men who have achieved an undetectable viral load via effective treatment do not transmit HIV to their partners. It is the largest study to date to analyze HIV transmission risk among homosexual couples with differing HIV status. Researchers recruited and followed-up gay couples at clinics in Australia, Bangkok, Thailand, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The evidence from Opposites Attract adds to the findings of the PARTNER study: HIV-positive people on effective HIV treatment that fully suppresses their virus cannot transmit their infection through sex. In the PARTNER study a total of 1,238 eligible, follow-up couple-years was provided from 548 heterosexual (36,000 condomless sex acts) and 340 MSM (22,000 condomless sex acts) couples. Taken together, the two studies have not found a single case of HIV transmission in nearly 40,000 acts of condomless anal sex between gay men.

Reacting to the studies’ findings, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the U.S. National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said: “Scientists never like to use the word ‘Never’ of a possible risk. But I think in this case we can say that the risk of transmission from an HIV-positive person who takes treatment and has an undetectable viral load may be so low as to be unmeasurable, and that’s equivalent to saying they are uninfectious. It’s an unusual situation when the overwhelming evidence based in science allows us to be confident that what we are saying is fact.”

The findings lend great strength to the “U Equals U” campaign, begun by Bruce Richman, a Harvard-trained lawyer and prime force behind the Prevention Access Campaign [A&U, December 2016]. Bruce has said, “In 2006 when I was diagnosed, I was terrified of infecting someone I loved… But in 2012 when I finally started therapy, my doctor told me that if I suppressed my viral load, I would become non-infectious….”

Getting doctors and policy-makers on-board with U=U “is demolishing HIV stigma and encouraging people to start treatment and bring an end to the epidemic.” The U=U Consensus Statement was signed on to by NAM, by UNAIDS, and by the IAS at the Conference.

“This is life-changing news for couples of differing HIV status. But it is important that the HIV positive partner is under regular medical care and does not miss any of their antiretroviral medication in order to ensure they maintain an undetectable viral load” noted Professor Andrew Grulich of the Kirby Institute and chief investigator on the Opposites Attract study.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded the majority of this study, complemented by a two-year extension made possible by the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), ViiV, and Gilead.

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For more information on the Opposites Attract study, visit: www.oppositesattract.net.au. For more information on IAS 2017 in Paris, log on to: www.ias2017.org. For more information on the Prevention Access Campaign and “U=U,” visit: www.preventionaccess.org.

Read more articles from A&U, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Personal Proof That HIV Is Also an Emotional Disease

Clay Cane, author of “Live Through This” Courtesy of Ken Marcelle

An excerpt from “I Am HIV,” one of the autobiographical essays in Clay Cane’s “Live Through This.”

July 28, 2017


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Editor’s note: Live Through This: Surviving the Intersections of Sexuality, God, and Race is a collection of autobiographical essays by journalist Clay Cane. The following excerpt is taken from the chapter titled “I Am HIV,” which recounts, among other experiences, a 2008 visit with an old friend. You can learn more about the book and author on ClayCane.net and the POZ blog post “Where Madonna, Queen Bey, Sexuality, Love, Race, HIV and God Intersect.”

Clay Cane’s book, published by Cleis Press

James was cracking jokes and laughing harder than usual. He flopped onto a couch, pulled up a small table, and rolled a blunt. “Sit down and don’t judge me for this blunt. I’m sure you’re still a prude,” he half-joked. He lit the blunt and took a puff. “Well,” he began. “I got the HIV.”

He sarcastically added, “Don’t go crying now—I got some Xanax if your ass needs to calm down!” We didn’t know each other anymore. He still saw me as the twenty-year-old in 1998 who was terrified of HIV. My sexuality came with shame that he helped me overcome. Sex did not mean death. In 2008, my twenty-year-old self felt like lifetimes ago.

I ignored his sarcasm. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m great!” He took a longer puff. “I know I’m skinny as all fuck, but I lost weight before I was positive, got this really fucked-up flu.” He puffed again. “I started experimenting in sex parties and drugs. Pill here, snort there. Yeah, the stat is true: If four people are in a room, one of them is sick—that’s me!” Big laughs. “I left you something in my will—but don’t get too excited, it wasn’t no money!” Big laughs. “I’ll be working on this porn, but I won’t be co-starring in it this time!” Big laughs.

These jokes were harsh and unfunny. I was getting angry, but he was using his version of humor as a coping mechanism. That said, I knew this mask wasn’t James. He was one of my best friends. He taught me what it meant to be bold and unapologetic. So I said what was in my heart: “Cut the bullshit. I’m not one of your dates.” He stopped smoking. “You can’t tell me everything you just told me and say you’re okay. Don’t lie to me and expect me to believe it—you taught me better than that.”

For just a moment, he slid the mask off and admitted he had a problem—but he was the problem; not HIV, not drugs, no one else but him. He confessed to letting his ex-boyfriend penetrate him raw, even though he knew his ex—who was now dead—was positive. “Maybe if I loved myself, I wouldn’t be HIV-positive. I was an HIV educator. Listened to all the right people. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t love yourself enough. That’s all I can say.” That’s all he had to say. Without a foundation of compassion for yourself, no amount of prevention or intervention will save or reinvent you.

HIV is not only a physical disease; it’s also an emotional disease. We live with a unique fear, one that does not foster an environment of empowerment for black gay men; traditional tools of prevention, one-size-fits-all PrEP pills, and information about condoms will not lower our rate of HIV/AIDS. Until we learn to navigate blackness, gayness and mental health, we will be the circus show of the cryptic CDC numbers.

Read more articles from POZ, here.

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Some Youth on HIV Meds Likely Highly Infectious for Periods

Istock (Model(s) used for illustrative purposes only)

A look at a group of 13- to 24-year-olds on antiretrovirals found one in six episodically had a significant viral load and an STI.

July 31, 2017


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Adolescents and young adults on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV may episodically develop a significant risk of transmitting the virus. Not only are they less likely to maintain a fully suppressed viral load than older people with HIV, but they are also more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which raise their risk of transmitting HIV to others.

To assess such long-term risk, researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of individuals between 13 and 24 years old receiving ARV treatment at the adolescent HIV clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia between 2002 and 2015. Sarah M. Wood, MD, of Children’s Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, presented findings from the study at the 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris (IAS 2017).

For their analysis, the investigators included all study visits after the participants started ARVs at which a viral load test result was registered. They categorized the participants as being at high risk for transmitting the virus to others if at that time they had a viral load greater than 1,500 and were diagnosed with gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis. Pairing these two factors made for a more conservative model than looking at just viral load, meaning the researchers results likely underestimate young people’s long-term risk of transmitting HIV while on treatment for the virus.

A total of 240 participants were followed for a median 3.2 years, providing data from 2,661 study visits. Eighty-seven percent (209) were African-American, 73 percent (173) were male, 7 percent (17) were transgender females and 49 percent (117) had a history of STI diagnosis prior to entering care at the clinic or were diagnosed with an STI upon entry into care.

Seventy-three percent (176) of the participants had some form of transmission risk during the study, including: 21 percent who only had a viral load above 1,500; 27 percent (64) who were  diagnosed with only an STI; 8 percent (19) who had a viral load above that threshold and received an STI diagnosis but not at the same time; and 17 percent (4) who were at high risk of transmission because they had a viral load above the threshold and had an STI at the same time.

Fifty-nine percent of the participants had public insurance, 18 percent had private insurance, 7 percent received Ryan White CARE Act funding and 16 percent were uninsured.

After adjusting the data for various factors, the researchers found that being diagnosed with an STI upon entering HIV care or having a history of prior STI diagnosis was associated with a 3.09-fold increased risk of later entering a period of high risk of transmitting HIV.

The study authors concluded that their findings emphasized the need for interventions that encourage better adherence to ARVs as well as STI risk reduction among HIV-positive young people.

  

Read more articles from POZ, here. 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Undetectable? Putting Semen to Bed

The argument is over.

By Bruce Richman

 

July 25 2017

 

 

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I know that a person living with HIV who is on treatment and has an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit HIV. So, I was frustrated by a recent study that was causing people to worry.

The study, presented at the American Urological Association Meeting, showed that there can be HIV RNA and DNA in the semen of a person with HIV whose virus is undetectable in the blood. That’s been known for a long time, but the report made it sound like it was revolutionary. And the researcher made it sound like it was something that people living with HIV and their partners need to worry about. 

Don’t worry. It’s true that HIV RNA or DNA may be present in semen especially in the first year that someone is on treatment. But HIV RNA and DNA aren’t infectious.  They’re only genetic material, and not the whole virus. You need the whole virus in order for HIV to infect a living cell. It’s like finding a human leg on the ground and thinking it can walk. You need the whole body, not just a leg to walk. 

Dr. Carl W. Dieffenbach, Director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, explained the sperm situation recently in ImStillJOsh. 

“We have known for decades that HIV genetic material exists in bodily fluids of those living with HIV who are virally suppressed. On its own, HIV genetic material, RNA or DNA, is not infectious. It is not ‘whole virus,’ which is needed for HIV to infect a living cell.”

Another study was published in Clinical Infectious Disease and reported in Infectious Disease Advisor  as “HIV RNA Replication in Semen Occurs During Antiretroviral Therapy” The headlines sound like the study is about HIV replication in semen. The journalist made it sound like new and scary information for people with HIV.

Don’t worry. The headline is misleading. The study is not about viral replication in semen.  It’s an important study that’s looking at the time it takes for people to get to undetectable viral loads using different types of treatment.  It looks at HIV RNA in the testes, which shows evidence of the virus. But, most importantly, HIV RNA is not infectious.

If your HIV is undetectable and you stay on your meds, you don’t need to worry.

So do whatever you’d like with your semen or your partner’s semen. It’s safe, and so is your undetectable partner.

Bruce Richman is the founding executive director of Prevention Access Campaign where he launched the Undetectable = Untransmittable campaign. He focuses on mobilizing other people living with HIV, allies and researchers to change the outdated and stigmatizing narratives about HIV transmission risk. Bruce was diagnosed in 2003 and became undetectable shortly after starting treatment in 2010. When he learned that meant he could not transmit HIV, Bruce committed to sharing the groundbreaking news to combat HIV stigma and improve the social, sexual, and reproductive lives of people with HIV.  Bruce received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

 

Read more articles from PLUS, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Is HIV Drug Resistance Becoming the New Normal?

Newly diagnosed people across the world have HIV strains resistance to modern medicine. It's time to get worried. 

By David Artavia

 

July 26 2017

 

 

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A new report released by the World Health Organization says nearly six out of 11 countries reported that over 10 percent of people who were newly diagnosed with HIV have a strain that’s resistant to modern drugs. Countries over 10 percent were Argentina, Guatemala, Namibia, Nicaragua, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. 

First of all: What is Drug Resistance?

"Drug resistance occurs when a disease develops a defense to the mode of attack that a medication is using to fight it. Imagine if you arm yourself with a gun to protect your home, and then burglars buy bulletproof vests. That’s resistance," as pointed out by Plus senior editor Jacob Anderson-Minshall. 

“All organisms are constantly evolving to deal with the stressors in their environment, but whereas humans may appear unchanged over generations, organisms like viruses can change at a disturbingly rapid pace,” Anderson-Minshall explains. “Each HIV particle is actually short-lived, surviving only a couple of days. Unfortunately, the virus is very prolific during those 48 hours, and—after hijacking your T-cells, uses them to create billions of copies of itself in a given day. Because it’s reproducing so quickly, there’s a high probability of errors being made and then those errors being replicated. In fact, scientists believe in every reproduction cycle HIV makes at least one mistake.” 

Read more about drug resistance HERE. 

According to findings published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a high number of people with HIV are showing resistance to both newer and older drugs. In fact, a 2012 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says that two out of every 10 new cases of HIV involve strains with at least partial resistance to one or more antiretroviral medication. 

Drug resistance has been a rising problem across the world, and is often associated with the common use of antibiotics. It is known that bacteria in our bodies have strengthened to become what we call “superbugs,” and while antibiotics are meant to suppress a regular bacteria, too much of them can create a resistance. 

HIV strains that are resistance to drugs happen when change occurs within the genetic structure of HIV itself. While HIV mutations are common, some mutations strengthen the defense of HIV, giving it an advantage over one’s immune system as well as medications. 
Last May, a small biotech startup company called Aldatu Biosciences, with only five full-time employees, received a $3 million grant from National Institutes of Health to continue development of a test for HIV drug resistance. The company says the test will be able to detect mutations in the HIV genome that are associated with drug resistance.

"We need to ensure that people who start treatment can stay on effective treatment, to prevent the emergence of HIV drug resistance," Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, director of WHO’s HIV Department and Global Hepatitis Program, said in statement. “When levels of HIV drug resistance become high we recommend that countries shift to an alternative first-line therapy for those who are starting treatment.”

 

Read more articles from PLUS, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️ This Is What HIV's Insides Look Like

Researchers were able to peer deep inside the virus and assess its strengths and vulnerabilities, which might one day lead to its demise. 

By David Artavia

 

July 31 2017

 

 

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This image was made using VMD in the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, at the Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

 

Have you ever wondered what the inside of HIV looks like? Well thanks to Juan Perilla of the University of Illinois, we don’t have to wonder any further. 

As reported by Cosmos magazine, it took two years and two supercomputers to stimulate 1.2 milliseconds in the life of an HIV capsid from the atoms up. The genetic material of the virus itself has multiple structures that allow it to hide from one’s immune system. 

The capsid (in blue) is what protects the virus once it enters a T cell. From there it helps in the transport to the T cell's nucleus, finalizing the process of infection. The capsid is beneath the virus's lipid bilayer membrane barrier, which has glycoproteins sprinkled about its surface. 

Thanks to the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Perilla and physics professor Klaus Schulten were able to take the 64-million-atom simulation and analyze it by a second computer, Blue Waters, at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Illinois. 

After inspecting the capsid at a closer range (like the one in the picture) the team found certain properties that enhance the capsid’s adeptness at finding a way to nucleus of targeted T cells. 
They also found weaknesses and vulnerabilities within the virus itself that might one day lead to its demise. 

Check out some of their other findings below, as published in the journal Nature: 

 (a) The HIV-1 capsid is made of a single capsid protein (CA), containing 11 α-helices and a 310 helix. (b) CA arranges into a fullerenic cone, consisting of pentamers (green) and hexamers (tan). The fully solvated HIV-1 capsid model without genome, including neutralizing ions and 150 mM NaCl, contains a total of 64,423,983 atoms5.

 

 

 

 

The electrostatic calculation includes all capsid atoms and all solvent molecules for a total of 64,423,983 atoms. The bar scale indicates the magnitude of the electrostatic potential in Volt, ranging from −1.3 V (red) to 6.0 V (blue). (a) Exterior view of the HIV-1 electrostatic potential. The red line indicates the location of the cross-section shown in b. (b) Cross-section of the electrostatic potential of the HIV-1 capsid. The bulk in the interior and exterior of the capsid assume the same electrostatic potential values, namely −1.3 V. (c) Electrostatics of the N-terminal domain of CA. The cypA binding loop and α-helix 4 (Fig. 1a) show a significant potential difference to the inner core of the capsid in d. 

 

Read more articles from PLUS, here.

🏳️‍🌈✝️ We're Still Here, Graying With HIV -- and We Must Bear Witness

By Khafre Kujichagulia Abif
From TheBody.com

 

July 28, 2017

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The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memories. This is how people care for themselves.

                                                                                                             -- Barry López, Crow and Wease

 

Khafre Kujichagulia Abif (Credit: Rameses Frederick)

 

I have been asked, "Why do you work independently to publish anthologies?" My first response is usually: "I don't have a choice. This work is one of my assignments from the God I serve." In 2010, I lost two friends who were warriors in this fight against HIV/AIDS. They both were long-term survivors who, in my mind, did a great deal more activism than I did. I was in pain after Richard Anderson and Floyd Cooper's transition. I wished I had taken the time to gather their stories into an oral history or some other format. In my attempt to move past the pain and hurt, I asked God, "Why I am still here? What is my living supposed to accomplish? Not long after asking these questions, I began to receive what I believe are assignments and a purpose for my life.

I first spoke openly about my calling -- about the why -- after the publishing of Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens: Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living With HIV/AIDS. I began to speak openly about my belief, which is that the lived experiences of people living with HIV who have endured, struggled, thrived and lived through the epidemic need to be captured in the form of storytelling.

This storytelling is important not just for those in years to come who want to know about HIV/AIDS, but also, more importantly, for those who are living with HIV in the silence, shame, stigma and discrimination that may prevent them from finding their voice, from self-advocating for their own best health outcomes.

I live the U.S. South, and I see, hear and know that there are far too many people struggling to access health care. Many people in the South have not yet pushed past the shame and stigma of living with HIV to seek care and treatment. I know that the lives of some of us living in the rural South may become unbearable on many fronts if our communities find out we are living with HIV. Nine Deep South states lead in new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, HIV prevalence, death rates from HIV, and HIV racial disparities, according to a 2016 report from the Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative.

I believe the lived experiences of people living with HIV/AIDS are important -- important enough for me to dedicate my time, talent and resources to collect, edit and publish for our brothers and sisters who are living their lives behind the veil of silence, shame, stigma and fear. I believe our collective experiences can inform -- and, in some cases, change -- the way of thinking of many who are blind to us and to what we continue to overcome. I believe our stories have power to support one another, and I believe our stories can combat shame and stigma, which continue to serve as drivers of this epidemic.

Since the 2013 release of Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens: Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living With HIV/AIDS, I have been working on my assignments. I am excited to release another anthology, Sistah's Speak, the stories and voices of women who are living with HIV, in September of this year. As the editing of Sistah's Speak was nearly complete, and June 5 (HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day) was approaching, I was given another assignment: We are still here, graying with HIV, and our stories need to be told.

We Bear Witness is the working title for a new collection of short non-fiction stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, personal narratives and critical essays from HIV long-term survivors and persons over age 50 who have lived and borne witness. Submissions are open to people who have been living with HIV since before the modern era of effective HIV drugs, and to persons over age 50 who bear witness to that era. Submissions will be accepted through Nov. 30, 2017. This is a hard deadline, as I would like to have the project complete and published before HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day on June 5, 2018. All submissions should be emailed to Khafre Kujichagulia Abif at WeBearWitnessHIV@gmail.com.

The power of stories is to bring facts to life. Stories hold within them the influence of emotion in decision-making and the ability to evoke a connectedness between the teller and the listener.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

-- Maya Angelou

Khafre Kujichagulia Abif, M.L.S., is an Atlanta-based AIDS and bisexual activist, writer, editor, blogger and artist who has been thriving with HIV for 28 years. Khafre now serves as a community organizer with the Southern AIDS Coalition, whose mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the South through federal advocacy, capacity building, education and grassroots organizing. Khafre has been honored to be selected one of HIV Plus magazine's 75 Most Amazing People Living with HIV in 2016 and POZ Magazine's 2015 POZ 100: Celebrating Long-Term Survivors.

Read more articles from theBody, here.

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Did you know King James 1st of the bible was gay? 🏳️‍🌈✝️

World of Gay

July 29, 2017

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According to a 2000 study by Rictor Norton shows a study by him that the late King James 1st was actually gay according to his findings in which he had secret lovers. So here is part of his essay and study on his findings back in 2000 and the rest of the study will be linked to his weblink....

Long Live Queen James 

King James 1st

While riding through the bustling streets of London from 1603 to 1621, one was liable to hear the shout "Long live Queen James!" King James I of England and VI of Scotland was so open about his homosexual love affairs that an epigram had been circulated which roused much mirth and nodding of the heads: Rex fuit Elizabeth: nunc est regina Jacobus—"Elizabeth was King: now James is Queen." 

Very few official biographers still tenaciously maintain that there is no "real" evidence that James's friendships were merely intimate. The question of whether or not James actually slept with his favourites is dealt with by Lady Antonia Fraser in her biography of King James in an eminently reasonable manner: "In sexual matters, it is generally better to assume the obvious, unless there is some very good reason to think otherwise." And for Lady Antonia Fraser anti-gay prejudice is no good reason to think otherwise. Her biography is a sympathetic reappraisal of James's personality and statesmanship. She quite simply accepts James's homosexuality and never regards it in itself as a detriment to either himself or his country, though she reasonably regrets that his favourites were not always the wisest of counsellors. Her assessment that most of James's life was a "search to recapture the golden youthful quality of his early passion" for Esmé Stuart, the only bright spot in an otherwise bleak childhood deprived of affection, is probably quite accurate, and she is certainly correct that his dominant quality was "an inability to resist love."

James would have laughed his more prudish biographers to scorn, for, like Oscar Wilde addressing the jury, in 1617 James addressed the venerable Privy Council with an official affirmation of his right to love men:

I, James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man like any other. Therefore I act like a man and confess to loving those dear to me more than other men. You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George. What is the background to this astonishingly early defence of homosexual love?

Continue reading here

May the TRUTH SET YOU FREE so that YOU KNOW through CHRIST JESUS you are FREE to BE exactly who GOD created you to be.

Blessings and Peace, 
Rainbow Pastor David

   

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Senators James M. Inhofe and James Lankford BETRAYED OKLAHOMAN'S and VOTED to take away YOUR HEALTHCARE!!!

Sen. James Lankford Sen. Jim Inhofe both REPUBLICANS from OKLAHOMA who VOTED TO STRIP away healthcare for MILLIONS of AMERICANS including the OKLAHOMAN PEOPLE they are supposed TO FIGHT FOR!!!

Time to send a STRONG MESSAGE of DISAPPROVAL for the men who chose BIG PHARMACY & INSURANCE COMPANIES over the HEALTH of the OKLAHOMA PEOPLE they are supposed to REPRESENT!!!

🏳️‍🌈✝️Rainbow Pastor David🏳️‍🌈✝️

7/29/2017

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There is plenty of work to be done—to protect the Affordable Care Act from new versions of Trumpcare and sabotage by the administration, to build the campaign that asserts health care is a human right and creates a Medicare-for-All-style single-payer system, to bring this grassroots energy to so many other fronts. But for today, let's savor this win, which belongs to the grassroots.

And let's send a clear message to the 49 Republican senators who voted to strip health care away from millions of Americans and defund Planned Parenthood, including Senator Senators James M. Inhofe and James Lankford.

Can you share your outrage at Senators James M. Inhofe and James Lankford by posting a message to their Facebook pages or over Twitter? You can say something like "Shame on you for voting to take health care away from your constituents! We won't forget this cruel vote and we will hold you accountable!"

Here are different ways to share that message:

- Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jiminhofe
- Tweet using their handle: @InhofePress
- Give a call: Jim Inhofe (R) - (202) 224-4721

- Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorLankford
- Tweet using their handle: @SenatorLankford
- Give a call: James Lankford (R) - (202) 224-5754

Sen. James M. Inhofe is in bed with the OIL INDUSTRY who give him money to DENY CLIMATE CHANGE: READ ABOUT IT HERE 

Let's NOT forget that he CLAIM'S to be a CHRISTIAN and YET has SPIT IN GOD'S FACE by DISOBEYING GOD'S WORD when it comes to the POOR and SICK !!!

Sen. James Lankford is NOT such a good "CHRISTIAN" either because he too has been bought by the GAS, OIL, ENERGY and PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES... READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE. 

Both these men who are supposed to REPRESENT THE PEOPLE of OKLAHOMA have decided that MONEY and GREED mean more to them than the PEOPLE that HIRED THEM.

Both these men SPREAD LIES about the ACA to benefit what they are trying to SELL THE PEOPLE. Sen. James Lankford recently said in one of his newsletters to NOT BELIEVE the HYPERBOLE well I SAY DON'T BELIEVE the GOP LIES. ALL they care about is PROTECTING themselves and their RICH FRIENDS with HUGE TAX CUTS. They even VOTED to EXEMPT THEMSELVES from the very HEALTHCARE they are trying to PASS. THAT ALONE IS A HUGE RED FLAG!!! STAY FAR AWAY FROM THESE EVIL MEN OKLAHOMA and VOTE TO REMOVE THEM from their positions of power!!!

These two have joined the RANKS of the PEOPLE DESCRIBED in 2 Timothy 3:1-9 whom GOD SAID TO STAY FAR AWAY FROM!!! 

Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.

 

 These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself “truth.” They get exploited every time and never really learn. These men are like those old Egyptian frauds Jannes and Jambres, who challenged Moses. They were rejects from the faith, twisted in their thinking, defying truth itself. But nothing will come of these latest impostors. Everyone will see through them, just as people saw through that Egyptian hoax.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

Let's MAKE SURE WE LET THEM KNOW JUST HOW WE FEEL on RE ELECTION DAY when WE FIRE THEM!!!

TIME TO VOTE ALL BLUE ALL NEW in 2018 and BEYOND!!!

Let's TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!!!

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Have a Blessed and Happy Weekend,

🏳️‍🌈✝️Rainbow Pastor David🏳️‍🌈✝️ 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Trump says transgender people should be barred from military

FILE - In this March 27, 2008 file photo, the Pentagon is seen in this aerial view in Washington. President Donald Trump says he will bar transgender individuals from serving “in any capacity” in the armed forces. Trump said on Twitter Wednesday, July 26, 2017, that after consulting with “Generals and military experts,” that “the U.S. Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

The Associated Press — By CATHERINE LUCEY and ROBERT BURNS - Associated Press 

July 26, 2017

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This is pretty sad coming from the PRESIDENT who AVOIDED the DRAFT FIVE TIMES with DRAFT DEFERMENTS: Four for College and ONE for BAD FEET!!! PROOF that MONEY buys you a lot even back then. MY DAD SERVED in that WAR while this LOSER played COLLEGE BASKETBALL on his BAD FEET!!!

Donald J. Trump, center, as a high school senior in 1964 at the New York Military Academy. Credit New York Military Academy

Read all about it here: Donald Trump’s Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet

DONALD J. TRUMP IS AMERICA'S BIGGEST LOSER!!! He is CONTINUING TO DIVIDE AMERICA and PASS JUDGEMENT on the LGBTQ COMMUNITY that he and the GOP HATE SO MUCH!!! GOD is WATCHING and HE IS NOT IMPRESSED with these EVIL MEN!!! Rainbow Pastor David

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants transgender people barred from serving in the U.S. military "in any capacity," citing "tremendous medical costs and disruption."

Trump's announcement on Twitter would reverse the effort under President Barack Obama to open the armed services to transgender people. He did not say what would happen to transgender troops already in the military.

The president tweeted that he was making his announcement after consulting with "generals and military experts," but he did not name any. He said the military "must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

The White House did not immediately respond to questions.

At the Pentagon, members of the staff of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis appeared to have been caught unaware by Trump's tweets. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, referred questions to the White House.

In a brief written statement, Davis said the Pentagon is working with the White House to "address" what he called "the new guidance" from the president. He said the Pentagon will provide revised guidance to Defense Department officials "in the near future."

Transgender service members have been able to serve openly in the military since last year, when former Defense Secretary Ash Carter ended the ban. Since last Oct. 1, they have been able to receive medical care and start formally changing their gender identifications in the Pentagon's personnel system.

Carter also gave the services until July 1 to develop policies to allow people already identifying as transgender to newly join the military. Mattis announced earlier this month that he was giving military chiefs another six months to conduct a review to determine if allowing transgender individuals to enlist in the armed services would affect the "readiness or lethality" of the force.

Already, there are as many as 250 service members in the process of transitioning to their preferred genders or who have been approved to formally change gender within the Pentagon's personnel system, according to several defense officials.

The Pentagon has refused to release any data on the number of transgender troops currently serving. A Rand Corp. study estimated that there are between 2,500 and 7,000 service members on active duty who self-identify as transgender and an additional 1,500 to 4,000 in the reserves. There are about 1.3 million troops in the military.

Trump's decision drew swift outrage from LGBT groups and supporters.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a double amputee veteran of the Iraq War, said that when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down, she didn't care "if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender or anything else. All that mattered was they didn't leave me behind."

Matt Thorn, executive director of OutServe-SLDN, which represents the LGBT population in the military, said thousands have been serving in the U.S. armed forces without causing any issues.

"It's an absolute absurdity and another overstep," Thorn said. He threatened legal action if Wednesday's decision is not reversed.

Some lawmakers said this was not the right process for such a policy change.

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the tweet was "another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter."

McCain said "any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving. There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train and deploy to leave the military_regardless of their gender identity." He said there should be no policy changes until the current review is completed and assessed by the secretary of defense, military leaders and Congress.

Some conservative organizations and lawmakers hailed the decision.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins applauded Trump for "keeping his promise to return to military priorities — and not continue the social experimentation of the Obama era that has crippled our nation's military."

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said "we don't need to be experimenting with the military. Plus there's no reason to take on that kind of financial burden."

During his election campaign, Trump occasionally presented himself as a potential ally of gays and lesbians, promising to be a "real friend" of their community.

However, LGBT activists have been angered by many of his administration's actions, including the rollback of federal guidance advising school districts to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Many top members of the administration are long-time foes of LGBT-rights policy changes, including Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Vivian Salama contributed to this report.

Article from The Associated Press