Special Gay Movie Night!

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Straight Men Evolve

Details has noticed an interesting trend. After decades of being told to shut off their (albeit platonic) attraction to men, it seems more and more straight men are comfortable saying "I love you, bro!" You can read the full article here.

Its nice to see our culture evolving to the point where both straight and gay men can be open about their "man crushes" and have "bromances" with other guys. Do you have a man crush? Rank him here on mancrush.com.

Circumcision and STD's

Does circumcision reduce your chances of getting a sexually transmitted infection (STI)? Several years ago a study came out that said yes, circumcision reduces your risk of infection. Now, according to a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, not necessarily.

Researchers undertook the current study in New Zealand to determine the impact of circumcision in early childhood on the acquisition of STIs by age 32. Information about STI acquisition was obtained at ages 21, 26 and 32. STI incidence rates were calculated, taking into account timing of sexual initiation, and comparisons were made between circumcised and uncircumcised men.

Up to age 32, the incidence rates for all STIs were not statistically significant: 23.4 and 24.4 per 1,000 person-years for the uncircumcised and circumcised men, respectively. "These findings are consistent with recent population-based cross-sectional studies in developed countries, which found that early childhood circumcision does not markedly reduce the risk of the common STIs in the general population in such countries," the authors concluded.

What is your opinion? Do you wish everyone was circumcised or do you love your foreskin?

Abstinence...The Condom!

Joel's First Time!

Yay! My first blog for Queer Village! Thanks to Jeremiah for inviting me to post. I think for my blog posts, I’ll pose a question with some thoughts of my own in hopes of sparking some conversation in the comments. So please leave comments and participate!

Do you think your friends would be comfortable going to you for support if they tested positive for HIV, or would they hide it from you?

I posed this question to myself shortly after I discovered a very close friend had tested positive, but that he had learned of his diagnosis several months before and he only revealed it to me after some prodding about why he was acting so unusual.

While I understood how he would want time to deal with this news on his own, in the back of my mind I wondered if maybe he had held back because of fear of how I would react. I know this person was there during the darkest times of my life, and I felt bad that he didn’t feel he could turn to me during this challenging period.

It made me realize that I wanted to express to all of my close friends, especially my friends who like me are also sexually active gay men, that I loved them no matter what and that news of a positive status would never impact my feelings about them, and that I would be there to be as much of a support for them as they desired.

I am pained at the thought that a close friend would have to have this issue at all. While we have learned that HIV is not a death sentence anymore, it is still a very problematic situation and it is sadly filled with incredible social stigmas. I have lived most of my life in a world with HIV, and while I feel it would be nice to live in a world where we spent most of our time fighting the spread and focusing on prevention, I feel we also have to be braced to handle reality in a loving manner.

So, when the time is right, I try to verbalize explicitly to my friends something along the lines of “I love you, and if ever you were to come across a difficult situation like testing positive, or having any other situation occur that you need support with, I am there for you however you need.” No one should have to fear their closest friends during their most challenging times.
So, what do you think? Do you think a conversation like this is needed with your friends? Have you had such a conversation? How did it go? Looking forward to your comments!

LOVE YOUR BODY!

Love Your Body House Party
Monday, April 7th @ 7pm
Home of Marc Gunderson, Kenn Turner, Michael Snider @ 587 11th Ave.
FREE

Join the Village for a potluck dinner and an empowering dissection of gay male body image. Marc Gunderson is a gay psychotherapist and eating disorder specialist who has also has experience coordinating substance abuse assessment and treatment.

Love your body! Bring something to eat or drink, come with questions, and don't be shy! RSVP Jeremiah today!(801)487-2323.

Happy St. Paddy's!

Routine Testing-It Ain't Happening!

This just in from the New York Times:

STD screening is a critical part of health care for sexually active gay men, but few present annually for testing as CDC recommends. In addition, when gay men do present, many doctors fail to screen them for STD's.

Not only are we not getting tested but we are aren't getting all the right tests:

A study by CDC's Dr. Kristen Mahle found that among asymptomatic gay men, many were not tested at all anatomical sites of exposure, so that more than one-third
of rectal gonorrhea infections and more than a quarter of throat infections were missed. Gonorrhea tests should include specimens from all possible sites, including the throat, rectum, and genitals.

Anyone care to share why they do or don't get tested and where they recommend getting tested?

March Community Events

Spring Fling
Sunday, March 23rd @ 1pm
Utah Pride Center (361 N 300 W)
FREE
The People With AIDS Coalition of Utah presents an afternoon of fun, party favors, and refreshments. RSVP (801)484-2205.

Meditation & Movement Night
Thursday, March 27th @ 7:30pm
FREE
If you have been wanting to try out meditation and learn how to move your body and discover the rhythm in it, you will benefit greatly from this class. Duff Dazley has extensive experience with teaching movement and meditation workshops over the past 17 years.
Contact Jerry to sign up.

Gay Salsa Class
Friday, April 4 (Four Week Course) @ 7pm
DF Latin Dance Studio (346 S 500 E Suite 200)
$36 for full course, $12 Drop ins
Learn to lead or follow, bring a partner or come solo - this is your chance to for all you fabulous queers to get your groove on! No previous experience necessary.
Register online or call Maria at 801-557-3648.

Southern Utah Walk and Dance-a-thon!

Click on the image to "embiggen!"E-mail Chris for more information and to fill out a registration form.

Gays are Worse than Terrorists?

Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern has let the cat out of the bag. The gays are bent on destroying America and they are even more dangerous than the terrorists! Join us at coffee talk for an in-depth discussion of "Gay Agenda."

Click here for more info on Sally Kern's anti-gay rant.

Utah Sees Drop in HIV Infections

Good news on the HIV Prevention front here in Utah. According to the latest stats from the Utah Department of Health, our state has seen a 12% drop in new HIV infections in the last year and the number of people with HIV whose illness progressed to AIDS has dropped 22%.

So who is getting infected in Utah? Men who have sex with men (62%), Injecting drug users (16%), Men who have sex with men and inject drugs (10%), and heterosexuals (6%). The numbers speak pretty plainly that if you are having unprotected sex with other men or injecting drugs, your risk of getting HIV is exponentially higher. Click here to check out UDOH's other statistics.

Johnnie's Completely Random Post

What does Gay look like?

Wanna know what gay looks like?

Check out the latest issue of Genre, Out, or even the Advocate and pay attention to the images presented. You'll probably notice low body fat, muscular men (usually white) with no blemishes (or pores for that matter), all very good looking, and and almost always altered in some way with a computer. They've been photoshopped to have a sharper jawline, smoother skin, longer neck, bigger bulge, etc.

There's a lot of sociological thought and research out there indicating that these images shape our idea of beauty for OURSELVES and OTHERS. In other words, the bar of what is attractive and desirable is being set by media using body types that literally do not exist - except in celluloid and print.

This is significant because we're told we need to be something that is physically impossible to be. Yet many of us -across the nation - are still trying. We put a lot of energy into trying to mimic the media's standard of beauty. Basically, advertising is shaping our identities. No wonder a growing number of gay young men are anorexic and bulimic. If you'd like to read more about the media's impact on gay body image detailed check out this article (registration required to view entire article).

(Josh Newbury and Daniel Gomez lead lively discussions every Wednesday at Coffee Talk. Want to be a part of the conversation? Join us Wednesdays at 6pm @ SL Roasting Co.)

Rockin Rollin to Wendover

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