This Week: Hot N' Tasty

Wednesday, September 9th. 7 to 8 PM
Join a phenomenal group of men for great conversation and coffee tomorrow night over at Cafe Mestizo (631 W. North Temple Suite 700)

Tuesday, September 15th. 4 to 8 PM
The Utah AIDS Foundation, in conjunction with National LGBT Center Awareness Day, will be cooking up 3 gallons of chili for the PRIDE Center's first Chili Cook-Off! We've got our poker faces on for this one, so we can't say much about what kind of chili we're making or how delicious it WILL be. We do, however, encourage you to stop by The Pride Center between 4 and 8 PM to try the most scrumptious pot of chili ever cooked up by a community-based organization (hint: the special ingredient is love).

Friday, September 18th. 7 to 9:30 PM
Pre Walk for Life Party! Please join us at Noodles and Company in Sugarhouse as we prepare to walk it out for this year's Walk for Life, a fund raiser to benefit the Utah AIDS Foundation. Still haven't registered to Walk for Life? Visit http://www.firstgiving.com/utahaids today!

Saturday, September 19th. 8:30 AM
WALK FOR LIFE! Join the community in walking to prevent the spread of HIV and provide services for people who are living with HIV. Meet at Liberty Park bright and early for a warm up session and special dance number from the men of The Village. This year's Walk features an optional 22 mile bike tour and the actual walk will end at the 9th and 9th Street Fair. Please call 801.487.2323 with questions.

Barebacking with HIV

Are you HIV+ or dating someone with HIV? You've probably heard of a recent Swiss study that asserted that "people with undectable viral loads are sexually non-infectious." Turns out that isn't the case.

Here's the Reuters article:

People with HIV on effective antiretroviral therapy should not stop using condoms. In fact, HIV infections could quadruple if those responding well to antiretrovirals stopped using condoms, said Australian researchers. Their findings rebut a report earlier this year, made by the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS.

Even if the risk of HIV transmission for a single sexual contact is fairly small, it is not zero, and the risk from exposure becomes substantial over large numbers of sexual contacts, the Australian study found. The researchers' risk assessment was based on mathematical models of 10,000 serodiscordant couples having 100 unprotected sexual contacts per year over a decade.

"The expected number of HIV infections would be 3,524 for male-to-male transmission, corresponding to an increase in incidence of four times compared with incidence under current rates of condom use," said the study.

"When the viral load goes down in the blood due to antiretrovirals, it might not go down in the semen or vaginal and anal fluids," said Australasian Society for HIV Medicine President Jonathan Anderson, who was not involved in the research. "Antiretrovirals can complement consistent condom use, but replacing condom use with medications may end in disaster."

Do we treat HIV like Leprosy?

"Are you clean?"

More and more often I hear the word "clean" being used to describe oneself as STD-free. Ever see "clean only" on a guy's online profile? Much like lepers were considered morally and physically "unclean" 2000 years ago, this adjective perpetuates the social stigma experienced by those who have HIV or another STD. HIV is a disease that doesn't discriminate. It is not God's punishment for sex, and getting infected certainly doesn’t imply any level of moral inferiority.

In the movie Philadelphia, Andrew (played by Tom Hanks) who is stricken with AIDS says, "Look. I'm no different from everyone else who has this disease: I'm not guilty, I'm not innocent. I'm just trying to survive."

You can help destigmatize HIV by using the terms “STD-negative” or “STD-free” rather than “clean” when discussing this serious and sensitive subject. That makes it easier for guys to open up about their HIV status, leads to safer sex practices, and reduces the transmissions of STDs.

Submitted by Matt Gerber, Village and Utah AIDS Foundation Volunteer

Making AIDS Disappear

Last week, over 15 PPAU and UAF staff volunteers met to prepare materials for an on-campus social marketing art project to raise awareness about HIV rates among women in Utah. Volunteers constructed a red wall that spelled AIDS out of baggies of Planned Parenthood's Proper Attire condoms and UAF's free testing cards, so as people walked by and took the condoms, it made "AIDS" disappear.

Another AIDS Casualty

Dr. Ramon Torres was a hero on the front lines against the epidemic for over a decade. It was when the war began to be won that he got lost.

"It was a frigid morning last December, and the disheveled man standing before Judge James Gibbons had made his way to the second floor of 100 Centre Street in a thin nylon windbreaker, ill-fitting designer jeans, and a pair of torn jackboots—something out of an old S&M catalogue—which he had accessorized with a wide leather cuff snapped on his wrist. At first he was trembling, as if from the cold. Then the trembling subsided, and his eyelids fell. Dr. Ramon A. “Gabriel” Torres, a near-legendary doctor in the fight against AIDS, had fallen asleep on his feet."

Read the rest of the article here. It's a tragic story of heroism, the lure of meth to gay men and people with HIV, and the aftermath of the worst years of the epidemic. Kudos to Lifelube for the heads up.