From 2008-2010, Snow Bunni (real name: Justin) was a porn performer with the company Flavaworks, which specializes in racially offensive “ethnic” porn and appeared in movies like Thug Boy Volume 8 and Swaggers 2: Dickin’ Down Deep.
Now, he is living in his hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas and managing a local restaurant.
Late last year after porn blog The Luckey Star did a “where are they now?” post on Justin, he reached out to them and asked to share a video with the sobering news he’d just received: that not only was he HIV-positive, but had full-blown AIDS.
The video is a shocking and sobering look into an image of HIV/AIDS that we don’t see very much anymore as well as a peek behind the curtain into some of the darker aspects of the porn industry and the lives that some of the performers live.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
It took a lot of guts for Justin to do this, and we commend him for sharing his story.
dazzer
A brave young man. Kudos to him. This should be required viewing for all bareback enthusiasts.
gaymaniac
I am a proud condom nazi…I wish him all the best and may he get better with time. As for the rest of the guys who go bareback…please, do as you wish, but don’t expect understanding-you don’t need it as you are grown up and you should deal with the consequences, when they accur. There is NO CURE…you CAN MANAGE your infection,but you will stay infected to your last day and while you might be lucky-blessed with good health and genes, the majority of us will get in some real trouble after 45.It is simple-it is designed by mother nature like this. Well…try to manage your infection when you have to take drugs for diabetes,high blood presure,prostate cancer and all the other nasty stuff that awaits everyone.
Stop for a minute and use your bloody brain…and if you don’t-well, I guess Darwin call is it natural selection!
Cam
That poor guy, he started in porn at 18. And if he is full blown now I’m assuming that must mean he has had it for a while.
No decision you make when you are 18 should be that harmful to the rest of your life. I hope he rallies and gets out of that hospital.
Kangol
I really feel for this young man. I have tried so many times to convey to younger people (and even peers who seem to have forgotten) that AIDS has not been cured, it has not gone away, and people are still getting very sick and dying from it. But it’s like talking to a wall.
Yes, you can live with HIV. Yes, AIDS is not a death sentence in 2014. Yes, negotiating risk is key. Above all, getting tested and being knowledge is crucial. But raw sex, especially if you do not know your serostatus or your partner’s, is not without serious risks, and youth and beauty are no protection. And even if you are HIV-negative, if you have raw sex you can still catch a range of other STIs/STDs.
I wish him the best, and I hope young people especially, but older folks as well, pay attention. Maybe his beautiful spirit (and face) will make an impact. We need something.
colin4
this is just awful
just wanna wish him the best for his journey ahead
and people should get themselves checkd evry once a wyl for AIDS and othr contagious diseases like this and I hope this gets the message out to people
Stache99
Sorry to hear this but I’m curious how it progressed so fast. They say it usually takes around 10 years if no intervention. I’ve seen this before as in young guys going fast into Aids but they were also abusing hard drugs too.
barkomatic
It’s sad to see a young person this sick. I hope he is able to get better soon and conquer this disease.
We need to continue to offer compassion to those who are sick with AIDS. Sex and attraction is by its nature often a spontaneous beast, and people sometimes make risky decisions. I don’t understand why some people get off on judging others and trying to make them feel like shit when they are fighting for their lives–I really don’t.
Stache99
@gaymaniac: What a as*hole response. You’re still around so it’s proof that Darwin is just hit and miss apparently. It’s natural for the young to feel their invincible. I sure thought I was. Every person can count on doing lots of stupid stuff when their young and hopefully they can have lots of laughs about it in the future.
Austrian
And to think that just yesterday on this site people were calling other people phobic just for warning about the dangers of HIV because you could “live normally with just one little pill” that only costs four grand a month, or something
tardis
@Stache99: He probably got infected with a highly advanced strain, or he probably got infected long ago, unaware of his status and lived his life free of treatment that prompted the virus to rapidly evolve.
Black Pegasus
Why do people react with shock when a porn actor discloses he has HIV/AIDS? They do on camera what many gay men do in their private lives. If the numbers from the CDC are to be believed, then no one should be shocked by another sexually active gay man becoming infected. All of this false outrage and self righteous banter about condomless sex is so predictable and tired.
Please step off your soapboxes. They’re not as clean as you’ve have the world believe.
Billy Budd
I think it is madness to bareback. Ive never done it.
Apparatus
So sad, reminds me of Angel in RENT.
DerekR
@Billy Budd: Well good for f@cking you…..
Grayson
It’s very hard for me to find sympathy for him. I’ve been HIV+ longer than this fool has been alive. I mean, seriously. WTF? Is he SHOCKED that he’s ill? Really?? 20+ years ago when I was 20, I knew what the risks were. I chose to bareback. I became poz. It’s pretty fucking simple. Did I deserve it? Well, probably, yeah. And so does this guy. I don’t think he deserves to die. And the good news is he doesn’t have to. Not anymore. But take some fucking ownership of your life, buddy. You fucked up. Deal with it. I did. And so have millions of others.
Derek Williams
Here are the key words, rather like the mother’s answer to her unexpectedly pregnant daughter, who says “but mother, we only had sex once!!”
“Once is all it takes darling.”
vive
@Grayson, apparently being HIV+ has not taught you any empathy either. What a waste.
SteveDenver
The sad reality is PORN ACTORS ARE DISPOSABLE.
If porn producers gave a damn about the people they work with, something as simple as a condom wouldn’t be such a big deal.
Car makers are required to install brakes, air bags and seat belts, and people still buy cars. Exposing workers to known health hazards and possible life-threatening disease is nothing but greed and stupidity.
SteveDenver
@Grayson: That’s all you take away from this? You’re a selfish idiot.
Grayson
No it’s taught me a lot. A fool is a fool. Had he not heard that this was a GREAT possibility in RAW sex industry? HAVE YOU NOT HEARD IT? I assure you vive, nothing is wasted. And SteveDenver, yes it’s what I take away. Maybe if someone had talked to him like that BEFORE he became infected, he wouldn’t be in a hospital bed. Doing fucking PSA announcements. So, you might want to reserve your ‘idiot’ comments. Fuck face. Why don’t you tell me what YOU took away from it. Enthrall is with your brilliance. Please.
Matt
Everyone at this point should know that you’re not supposed to be having anal sex, condom or not.
stanhope
What a compelling video. My heart truly goes out to this fellow. One wonders what in his past led him down the path where he wound up. I say not at all in judgment but in curiosity. This young man is very courageous to speak out and share his story. I just hope that he gets good health care and gets past this. It was comforting to hear him say that he has the support of family and friends. Blessings his way!
Geeker
What’s really sad is that it didn’t have to happen. I hope he gets better and is able to lead a normal life.
stanhope
@Matt: Fred Sanford said it best: you are a fish eyed fool….and likely a sexless one at that.
Grayson
@vive: And you’re right. It hasn’t taught me any empathy. In fact, it took my ability to empathize away. I want this boy to get better, but I do not want to hear any whining. When I was diagnosed, I was given 5 years to live. On the outside. I got lucky. He’s got a slew of drugs to choose from. And a world that is accepting of the illness. And yet, I see that ‘poor, poor me’ coming thru on camera. Suck.It.Up. Be a role model for fuck’s sake. A STRONG ONE.
Daniel-Reader
Of course, he’s in Arkansas – yet another state that doesn’t protect the human rights of young LGBT people so they can have the confidence and knowledge to better negotiate life’s challenges. Kudos to politicians who protect human rights. And damn the politicians who do not. You’d be amazed how many straight people don’t even realize they can get infected, much less LGBT people. America needs a way better education system on health and wellness.
samwise343
@Billy Budd: Hopefully, you find someone worthy enough to try it. See what you’re missing out on.
samwise343
@Matt: Thanks for the advice, Mom!
Tommysole
He had to have been poz for a long time before it turned to AIDS. I was HIV positive in 1989 then it turned to AIDS a little over 8 years ago. Going bareback is something guys will ALWAYS go. I only date and screw with other pos guys and we never use condoms.
He made a decision to not use them, now he is suffering the consequences.
p-candotorg
@ Grayson.. I would have expected more respect and kindness from another + sufferer. Each person is different. Sucking it up is sure NOT the way to go. For him to go public is probably way more stronger than how you took it all in. And maybe this is his first and last video no one knows and yes he showed sadness and fright.
We are human and no one had to look death in the eye and and say F.O. as like your comments seem to imply in one way or another. Good 4 you that you made it this far.
So now lets wish this guy will be another turn around and success story. I don’t know and never knew him never say his movies but I have lost several dear friends to HIV and non of them had the courage to share their burden online like this boy does! So this going around may teach a very strong lesson to those deniers and play unsafe etc.
Grayson
@Tommysole: Thank you Tommysole. I came up in the time of Act Up and groups like that. People were tougher then, I think. And took ownership of their choices. This is not a disease for the squeamish or soft-hearted.
gauty
@Grayson: For what it’s worth I agree with you and those sanctimonious twats whining about how you are “selfish” for being practical and upfront can go stuff themselves. @Vive and SteveDenver; seriously, shut up. The reason why SO MANY young gay guys still lead risky sexual lifestyles is because of two very basic reasons; 1) our culture still insists on coddling the young and beautifying the really ugly truths so it doesn’t make us seem *too* degenerate to the general public, and 2) If by now you still haven’t been able to educate yourself via the internet and social media on the risks of bareback sex and you still feel “young and invincible”, that’s not a valid excuse anymore and you are a fucking imbecile, and that is the unfortunate truth of many mainstream/scene gays I’m sorry to say. If you willingly bareback with someone that is not your longtime partner (and even with an SO I don’t think I ever would), I have no words to express how much of a rot-brained sloshing sack of shitwater you are and you 100% deserve what you get. Especially since most of the sleazebags that do seem so have a fetish to coerce younger guys into forgoing protection, and those particular heaving pus-clots on the sphincter of humanity deserve to go straight to the deepest circle of hell.
Grayson
@p-candotorg: Please don’t presume to tell me ANYTHING about how I took it in. You have no idea what you’re talking about. So you’ve lost “a few friends”? Well: Welcome.To.The.Club.
You get a gold star.
Stache99
@SteveDenver: Has there been a connection made to the porn? He could’ve acquired it on his own free time too.
gauty
Okay, taking a step back and cooling off I do realize that was harsh, and stemmed from frustration at certain aspects of our culture, so I will add that it’s unfair to put everyone in the same box. I do think this kid is brave and I don’t wish him anything bad. I have to concede that certain demographics, especially those where homosexuality is still taboo, make it very hard for people to educate themselves, especially if one can’t live with who they are. The porn industry is also a nasty business that coerces their actors to go bareback since the danger of it makes the fantasy so much more acceptable and people masturbate to what they can’t act out in real life. So my apologies for the virulence, although I do still stand by what I said in the last two sentences.
Matt
@stanhope: Not sexless at all. Just don’t do the fudgepacking routine. It doesn’t make you any more or any less gay. Hey, if the gay community stopped fudgepacking years ago we wouldn’t have any new cases of HIV.
Matt
@Stache99: It doesn’t matter how he got it. He was involved in fudgepacking.
Stache99
@gauty: “most of the sleazebags that do seem so have a fetish to coerce younger guys into forgoing protection”
We don’t know how he became infected so you don’t need to make these crazy predictions on some underground sex trade or something. Like he said all it took was one mistake. Simple as that.
Julian1970
Grayson you are so right! Living with HIV for over 20 years now it’s not that I don’t have compassion for people living or newly diagnosed with HIV, it’s just DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU WEREN’T GOING TO GET IT! I don’t feel sorry for him. What I think is now, he needs to get on HIV meds and get healthy both physically and mentally and he can live a normal life span. NOBODY should feel sorry for him or pity him. Time to put our big boy pants on grow up and take care of yourself.
Stache99
@Matt: You’ve already stated your opinion that it’s nasty over and over for a long time now. I can see that you carry a mountain of shame but you do realize that allot of straight people enjoy it too.
Grayson
@gauty: Of course, I agree with you. This is just a subject I have very strong feelings about. I don’t wish this guy anything suffering. At all. I just won’t fawn all over him because he’s gotten sick. Sorry, folks. It’s obviously an unpopular view, but that shit happens.
CCTR
@Matt: why shouldn’t people have anal sex?
“In addition to HIV, other organisms can be transmitted through ORAL SEX with an infected partner, leading to herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, genital warts (human papillomavirus, or HPV), intestinal parasites (amebiasis), or hepatitis A or B infection” -CDC-
some of these STDs can and have led to cancer, liver disease and death in the US…I wonder if all the people who are fear obsessed and homophobic about anal intercourse use condoms when they give blowjobs
gauty
@Stache99: Yeah, that’s why I wrote the second comment because I realized I was focussing my rage on a very particular type of gentlemen, while the article was about this young kid and indeed, there is little we know so it would be callous to judge and condemn him for it.
CCTR
@gauty: “stemmed from frustration at certain aspects of our culture”
your euphemism for self loathing gay man?
Matt
@Stache99: I have no shame at all.
CCTR
@Grayson: Your comments suggest that you are coming from a place of severe pain and internal turmoil and anger, peace and compassionate may suit you better
Apparatus
Everyone shaking their judgmental finger at POZ individuals better stop it.
Even if HIV were cured tomorrow, we’re standing on the precipice of a new era of antibiotic-resistant STIs and probably new uncomfortable, gross, chronic or deadly horrors that are yet to come.
There’s only one thing we do know, and that’s that people will keep having sex. Anal sex isn’t 100% risky and other sexual acts aren’t 100% risk free.
Can we please stop all the judgement people? You know who I respect: The medical professionals trying to save this man’s life. They probably didn’t grill him about his life choices, their only concern is helping another human being.
One day we’re all going to be on the other side of this divide looking at our impending death and wondering how and why we got there. You can smoke, eat, sit, or screw yourself to death. Do you want a finger wagging in your face slicing and dicing your life apart piece by piece or a helping hand?
Julian1970
@CCTR: Why because he thinks this young man should take responsibility, grow up, get on treatment, and stop asking the World to feel so for him?
Stache99
@Matt: Your right it’s not just that. I’d also add smug and judgmental.
Matt
@Stache99: Straight people do it because they see it in porn, and some for birth control. A woman does have a vagina which is made for sex and actually lubricates on its own. Think about this for a second, 1 out of 5 gay men are HIV poz. 1 out of 5 straight people are not HIV poz. Now do the math on how many straight people in this world would have HIV if 20% of them were HIV poz.
Matt
@Stache99: It’s not smug and judgmental. You people will defend fudgepacking with such a vengeance that it really doesn’t matter who gets HIV. As long as they take their meds.
Stache99
@Matt: All depends where you’re at. In Africa it’s straight problem.
Btw. I’m hiv positive and I didn’t acquire it from “fudgepacking”. Your comment makes no sense.
samwise343
@CCTR: Matt thinks since no one’s interested in his ass, no one should get any butt love.
Matt
@Stache99: Africa is a different situation and doesn’t in any way represent the world’s AIDS crisis. As for you, if you didn’t get it fudgepacking then you got it from IV drug use, you were born with it, or a blood transfusion. There aren’t that many ways to get HIV.
This is Africa and not the rest of the world.
http://www.salon.com/1999/12/10/drysex/
Julian1970
Matt you are so ignorant. Why would anyone respond to his comments??
Matt
@CCTR: After 30 years of HIV/AIDS we know exactly how people get it. It is by no means rocket science. If it was spread orally probably 90% of gays would have it rather than 20%.
Matt
@samwise343: It’s a funny thing. The guys who aren’t into fudgepacking aren’t the ones testing poz. You guys are so naive it’s pitiful. And butt love isn’t love. It’s filth.
Stache99
@Matt: Wrong on all counts. One cut plus oral sex with someone infected is all it took.
I know that some of you just love to demonize and put people in nice neat categories but it’s not always that simple. If being an as*h*** makes you feel better though then by all means carry on.
gauty
@CCTR: LOL What has my distaste for barebacking got to do with my self-image? If anything it suggests that I value myself enough not to want to associate with that sordid crap. Your suggestion of internalized homophobia is also not really clever, it’s one of those buzzwords that people with nothing constructive to say throw around as an ad hominem nowadays 🙂
Grayson
@CCTR: My inner turmoil and anger has long since passed. Now I’m just jaded. And I don’t suffer fools easily.
ptseti
The sad thing about this video is that those young men that see this will continue to act out their careless lives assuming that this will never happen to them. And sadly those who are living carelessly and not see this video will risk other people as well as themselves. It is sad he is now a victim but he has no one to blame except himself. This sadly will continue to happen despite awareness communicated to the community. I hope this youngster will be given a second chance and be able to live a fairly good life. God bless him.
CCTR
@Julian1970: huh?
CCTR
@Matt: I was trying to highlight that there are other STDs that can lead to serious health problems and even be fatal, my question was whether or not people feel as strongly about abstaining from unprotected oral sex with the same fear and stigma based precautions that they apply to male on male anal sex. I wasn’t implying that men are getting HIV from oral sex.
Jody
PrEP if you don’t have HIV and antiviral treatments to render the virus in you undetectable if you do.
Outside of not having sex — and really doesn’t work — those are the two most effective ways of stopping the virus from spreading.
CCTR
@gauty: It’s just that consensual anal intercourse between men is a natural sexual expression and desire for those that engage in it. To use such awful words to describe people that enjoy it as you did suggests some deep hatred which usually reflects something more internal. Often “fudgepacking” is a term used for any type of anal intercourse, condom or not so maybe I misunderstood your post…if I did my apologies.
CCTR
@Grayson: got it, i wish you well
Grayson
@Julian1970: Amen to that! Thank you Julian.
sympanyc
Yes, Flavaworks does stereotype young black men, but what Queerty forgot to mention (that some people leaving comments picked up on) is that they mostly produce bareback movies. Actors who do bareback get paid more than those who do safe sex — but not enough that they can avoid also prostituting themselves performing, again, mostly bareback to charge more.
I am not going to give a lesson on porn, but companies like Flavaworks prey on young men of color who desperately need money. this is what is racially offensive about companies like Flavaworks. It is also offensive of studios like RawStrokes, but also companies like Treasure Island Media, RawFuckClub, SX Video, Lucas Entertainment and so many others. Most of the latter prey on young men of any color desperately needing money. This isn’t about race, it’s about preying on young men in desperate situations and making them do things they shouldn’t.
God bless Justin. I hope he gets better with time to live his life and, if he wishes, to tell his story. No one is listening. I would love if he could tell his story.
sangsue
He’s doing this because he wants to teach other young men to not do the same. He’s using his horrible experience to prevent it from happening again. That’s as unselfish as it gets, folks.
seaguy
Here comes the blaming of the porn industry and bareback porn producers from thge condom nazi’s holding this guy up as their new poster boy. But leaving out the numerous other aspects of his situation. Which is sad but you cannot blame porn.
Manchester
@Grayson: I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think tough love is needed now and the time for pussyfooting around the subject has long passed. I’d like to get to know you.
guest4ever
“For whatsoever a man soweth… that shall he also reap.”
There have been so many warnings concerning the dangers of sexual sin… but how many have listened?
Manchester
I am also concerned about people using the excuse of being on PrEP as carte blanche to bareback their brains out. It’s supposed to be used IN ADDITION to condoms and I fear that eventually, the virus is going to completely mutate into something meds can’t control.
Derek Williams
@guest4ever: But if I use a condom, nothing bad happens. A monogamously married same sex couple who start out their married life HIV free will end their married life free of HIV, just as a heterosexual couple will. So it’s nothing to do with “sin”, and everything to do with safe sexual practice.
Babies can catch HIV from their HIV positive mother; wives from their HIV positive husbands; hemophiliacs from injections. So, Mr Holier-Than-Thou Man, what was their “sin”?
Stache99
@guest4ever: ..and those kids playing that loud music and dancing and lusting all over each other too. That music is evil and the work of the devil. Pray with me Guest4ever!
Grayson
@Manchester: Thank you. And I agree completely with you. If you’d like ike, Drop me an email at [email protected] .
Jimmy
I just want to wrap my arms around him and hold this boy. He’ll be okay. There’s no doubt in my mind.
However it’s idiot like this “Matt” person who make such insane and uneducated comments. “Fudge packing”? What an offing idiot! People like “Matt” are far more sick. Hopefully soon, there will be a vaccine for idiots like him.
Until then, we’ll continue to tolerate people like him and in the meantime we’ll celebrate those people who reach out with care and love like Justin.
sympanyc
@seaguy, there are many porn companies that film safe sex. I am not blaming the porn industry, but I am blaming bareback porn producers who take advantage of desperate little boys to make money. People in those situations don’t make informed decisions. Condom Nazis? LOL, You’re a bit of a conspiracy theorist, aren’t you? Get real.
buckcherry
@Grayson… standing ovation to Grayson…. why he may not say things with sugar coating.. he’s telling the truth. I see this video an I not sadden by this guy situation.. 1st he’s getting medical attention now.. and a shit load of meds .. HE WILL BE ALRIGHT..he will come out of the AIDS disposition to being HIV positive. Only if he takes care of himself and takes his meds like he’s suppose too. Grayson came through a period of time where the meds were being ginnypig & lots of people died. This young man has the advantages of new & improve HIV/AIDS treatments. But what I think this video lacks is HONESTY.. This man needs to take responsibility for his actions.. suck it up.. don’t send out this STUPID PSA.. SAYING WHOA IS ME… YALL LOOK THIS COULD BE YOU?? wtf?? is he talking about?? He has been HIV pos for a LONG time.. an he never got tested never took care of himself & his viral load went off the charts to develop into full blown AIDS.. This was not a slip up 1 week then the next couple of weeks he’s down sick in the hospital. I am so sick of all the myths about HIV its’ pathetic. Then ALL YOU SOAP BOX PEOPLE on here pointing the finger when 99% of you have had unprotected sex at one time or another..Did you also know that you are at higher risk of catching HIV by being in a so-called monogamous relationship??? YES MONOGAMY in the abstract that all sounds good but all it takes is for 1 partner to step outside do something risky.. then bring home the virus to their partner because they have a condomless relationship under the premise that both are negative and monogomous.. So all you people pointing the finger …tread lightly because when you point the finger there are 3 more pointing right back at you …
tjr101
Wishing this young man all the best, he can survive this and live a full life. Personally, I’m a bit terrified of bareback sex, yes the thought of doing it with someone is alluring but I can’t say I’ll ever trust someone enough to not use a condom.
sympanyc
@ buckcherry. The kid made mistakes, he says so himself. He is asking others not to do those mistakes. He is asking others to be safe, to get tested, to be careful… Not sure what’s so difficult to understand.
erik-in-mich
I don’t think there’s going to be an eradication of HIV until we start having brutally frank and honest conversations about safe sex. this is also exasperated by the social climate and respectability of being homosexual in society. When I was growing up being gay was something that was bad, therefore you met other people at seedy bars for alcohol, companionship and sexual release. The relationships that you formed weren’t public or respectable or permanent. And the honest conversation about safe sex involves the fact that it is not as pleasurable as bareback sex. Latex condoms have been around since the 1920s and I haven’t seen a viable alternative to them yet. And many men that I have met (even within the HIV prevention circles) don’t use condoms. So barring that I would imagine that early testing and early treatment would be key. I’m surprised that this guy wasn’t getting tested regularly especially with his career choices. It’s been approximately eight years since I found out I was positive and I am perfectly healthy, I count myself as extremely lucky but not unique in that regard. I also don’t like the feeling of righteousness that I get from some of these comments about people that took the moral and sexual highroad and are looking down on others from it. I generally don’t see that reaction with other STDs. There is also a lot of social stigma that surrounds HIV and people who have it, which I suppose it be another conversation.
JimboinLA
Anyone who watches bareback porn needs to picture those performers in this situation. Hope it kills the thrill. This poor kid reminds me of my friends who died in the eighties and nineties. Only difference was they had no warning and this poor kid did. So sad. Hope he makes if for a few more years.
tasteekeith
POWERFUL STORY, HOPEFULLY THIS WILL HELP OTHER BLACK GAY MEN YOUNG AND OLD AND BE A WAKE UP CALL TOO ALL!!!!!!!
tasteekeith
JUSTIN AKA SNOWBALL IS DOING MUCH BETTER NOW, YOU CAN REACH HIM ON FACEBOOK AT JUSTIN D. WASHINGTON- TOO CONTACT HIM AND SEND HIM ENCOURAGEMENT
newecreator
@gaymaniac: LOL #condomnazi
dbmyers
@Matt: Just take your bible thumping trollness elsewhere. You have no power here.
dbmyers
@Apparatus: Well stated! Thank you for your reason and compassion.
dbmyers
@Julian1970: He’s clearly a troll. Don’t feed the trolls folks . . . it makes them feel important.
dbmyers
@Stache99: Why don’t you two bible bashing trolls (Guest4ever and Stache99)go to a right-wing bible thumper site or maybe Fox news and quit polluting our discussion?
Tackle
I watched the video, and I wish him well and I believe he will get better. But the problem I had with his message, or lack of one, is that he did not mention how he most likely aquired HIV/AIDS (bb), and warn people about the risk of bareback sex. His message is mostly visual, which in itself can be effective but would have been more-so with a strong verbal message with it. But he’ll learn and get better at it. But I do give him credit for doing something…
nicoinnz
I thought the point of this boy’s timely message was an address to the wide-eyed young and adventurous. The appalling bitter and righteous snarky overtones in this blog may be of your own free will but it also says so much more of why you respond in this way. Peace
Tackle
@Grayson: I think I kinda get where you’re coming from. And I don’t get that you are angry, bitter or hateful. I’m sure that if this kid aquired HIV/AIDS from being being raped, or blood transfusion, or something that was beyound his control, your approach and message would be compleately different. But he had the knowledge and knew the risk. And made a choice to toss it out the window. And I like your tough-love, no BS, no pitty-patty/feel sorry for me party, for people who know/Knew better. Your tough love message is needed because people’s response will differ. Not everyone will respond to a soft message.
gauty
@CCTR: Ew, I loathe that word, “fudgepacking” sounds so vile. Listen, I *wish* it were possible to have anal sex without a condom, I don’t find it gross or demeaning at all (if that was what you were suggesting), it’s just that in the present day it is just *not* an option anymore. You can stamp a label of “consenting adults” on it, it’s still terribly irresponsible.
SCHONE-SEELEN.NET
I was contemplating on whether or not I would cover this story on my blog, but to be quite honest I don’t feel as though this video is powerful enough. The studies have shown that there has been a 20% increase of men participating in bareback sex since 2005. Atlanta, which has the highest population in the nation of men of color, also has the highest concentration of HIV infection.
Everyone wants to blame Cocodorm (trust me I’m not the biggest fan of theirs), but truth be told, this boy may have been doing other things off film that caused him to contract HIV. A lot of these performers are also escorts. Not to mention who knows who else he may have been sleeping with for recreation. Another question that I have is–was he getting tested for HIV on the regular? Not for his career, but just in general. For him to be at this point, he’s had to have had the virus for quite some time, and if he were getting tested on a regular basis, they would have caught this before he got to his current state.
Is is story sad, yes, but the reality is that majority of gay black men will learn nothing from this. I applaud his bravery, but this is just a first step. Hopefully he continues to educate and make an impact within his community as well as the LGBT community as a whole.
Faggot
It seems like a lot of stones are being cast by those who should have the most sympathy for the situation.
What is needed most for EVERYONE is compassion, especially for those who have become satiated by overindulgence, the dissipated, and the jaded.
sympanyc
@nicoinnz: LOL yes a few really bitter folks on here. Wish I was a shrink, I could make a fortune…
sympanyc
@Tackle: But people don’t respond to the tough love message. They call it “Condom Nazis” and dismiss it. Should it be OK for them to get a chronic disease that will significantly impact their quality of life because of ignorance and denial?
Cam
Again, I get that people keep yelling that this kid was stupid and he should have known better….
True, but 18 year olds should also know not to drink too much, stay out late, try to do tricks on a skateboard, study for that test, remember to fill up the car etc…
What is sad is that he did something stupid as an 18 year old, unlike MANY other stupid things that 18 year olds do, that one is effecting the rest of his life. It’s a shame because nothing a kid does at 18 should have that terrible an effect for years after. It’s just a real shame.
Stache99
@JimboinLA:”So sad. Hope he makes if for a few more years.” Your faux concern is touching.
Stache99
@dbmyers: You’re not to good on figuring out snark are ya:)
vive
@erik-in-mich, yes, there will always be people who don’t use condoms because condoms frankly suck for many if not most people, for physical and psychological reasons. The scolds can be as moralistic as they want but that won’t change the fact that many guys don’t use condoms, and the terrible idea that they somehow DESERVE HIV for that reason is rooted in nothing else but an adaptation of the puritanical idea that sex is shameful.
But fortunately there is PrEP now for those who don’t or can’t use condoms for whatever reason. It is about as effective as condoms as long as you take it responsibly every day, according to my doctor (who is an HIV researcher).
FlavaWorks
Justin aka Snow Bunni last worked with FlavaWorks and CocoDorm nearly five years ago in 2009 and was HIV Negative. He NEVER did any bareback porn with our FlavaWorks or CocoDorm.
We are very supportive in his battle.
Apparatus
@FlavaWorks:
Thank you for clearing that up.
sympanyc
@FlavaWorks: Your reply is appreciated, but it does not absolve you of the deeper issue. The fact is that you do produce bareback films, quite simply because it’s more lucrative at a time when adult entertainment is an increasingly difficult business due to piracy. You showcase young African-Americans. You make young impressionable men in difficult financial situations feel like stars.
But, rather than address their challenges, you stereotype them and put them at risk. Can you make a profit showcasing them while doing the right thing to keep them safe? Justin is not the only victim of bareback sex. It’s a recurring problem in adult entertainment.
money718
@sympanyc: As if these “young impressionable men” are not having bareback sex already. Give me a break.
I do not why you people think the 1st time these boys have bareback sex is on porn, it’s the furthest thing from the truth.
sympanyc
@money718: Yeah, except that these movies influence even more impressionable young men to have bareback sex. HIV infection among gay men — especially men of color — is rising in places such as DC, Atlanta and others, Give me a brake.
PozSince1985
#1: Testing, Testing, Testing
If you are sexually active, Get Tested Every Three Months!
It’s super IMPORTANT that you get tested regularly if you
– Bareback
– Set your Safe Sex Status to Usually, Sometimes, Never,
Rather Not Say, Anything Goes, etc
– You’re human – you try to play safe but you have slip-ups
– Reality: Guys are only using condoms about half the time
– If you only choose men who say “Clean U B 2,” “D & D Free”
“Neg Only” “Healthy” etc.
– Over 85% of new cases of HIV were caught from a
sex partner who thought he was NEG
– 20% or more of you have NEVER been tested
– About 60% of guys Under 25 have NEVER been tested
– 25% of Poz guys DO NOT know they are Poz
– 60% of Poz guys Under 25 DO NOT know they are Poz
– If you caught HIV a few weeks before your last test, you
could have been Poz, but still tested NEG
– Google “HIV Window Period” to learn how that can happen
– Yes, even you guys in relationships need to get tested at
least once a year
– Take your buddies with you. Or at least encourage them to
get tested soon.
– You can never test too often.
– If one of your friends tests Poz, he could sure use your
support and friendship at that moment.
– Make testing normal
#2: If you test Poz get on treatment as soon as possible
– You are at your MOST infectious in the first few WEEKS after
you catch HIV – Your viral load can be over 10 million copies
– Later your viral load drops to 60,000 to 120,000 copies
That seems a lot lower, but you are still very infectious
– Once you start on antiretroviral therapy your viral load
will drop rapidly to Undetectable
– Undetectable means below the threshold the test can measure
Undetectable = less than 40 viral copies per ML of blood
– Google “Partner Study” & Learn how Safe Undetectable Guys are
– Treatment as Prevention (TasP) means get tested & if Poz
start treatment – Under Treatment=Less likely to spread HIV
– People under treatment almost never progress to AIDS
#3: If you are at a point in your life where you are taking more
Risks & having more & more Slip-ups consider taking PrEP
– PrEP means taking a daily antiretroviral pill
to PREVENT you from becoming Poz
– Google “PrEP” to learn more
#4: If you are happy using condoms Keep Up the Good Work
– If you have a slip-up & don’t know his status
(It happens. We’re human. A little too much Party, or
In the heat of the moment you forgot about rubbers)
or if a condom broke, go to a Hospital Emergency Dept and
talk about PEP
– PEP means taking a daily antiretroviral pill for one month
after your possible exposure to HIV
– PEP can keep you Neg
– You MUST start PEP within 72 hours of your exposure to HIV
– The sooner you start PEP the better
– Maybe talk to your doctor NOW so you know where you need to
go, in your city, if you need PEP in the future
– If your friends can’t follow your good condom habits
don’t wag your finger in their face
– Encourage them to get tested & consider starting PrEP -see #3
– Please Don’t forget to get yourself tested regularly
#5: Have an open, honest discussion about HIV
– Put your Neg status and date tested in your profile. It makes
your point but does not treat Poz guys with disrespect.
It will also remind you to test again.
– Ideally Poz guys should list their status too, but because
of Stigma, and privacy he may choose to discuss it later.
– Language like “Clean” “D & D Free” “Healthy” “Neg Only”
cause people to NOT get tested (Guys think it’s better to
NOT know than be labelled “Dirty” “Diseased” or “Unhealthy”)
– Don’t assume your play partner is the same HIV status as you
He might be the opposite and thinking you’re the same as him.
– You BOTH share EQUAL responsibility to ask about HIV status
– If your only question is “What was the result of your last
HIV test,” you don’t have enough info.
– How long ago was that test?
– How often does he get tested?
– Has he barebacked since that result?
– Did he bareback in the three months before that last test?
– At least 25% of Poz guys DO NOT know they are Poz
– If a guy tells you he is Poz, the first words out of your
mouth or keyboard should be “Thank you for telling me.
I know that was a very difficult conversation for you
to start.” Then think carefully about what you’ll say next.
– Be polite with your response
– Remember that he just shared his most personal private
piece of medical information. Don’t gossip about it
– There are only two reasons a guy will tell you he is POZ.
He is showing his respect for you, and hoping to earn your
respect in return. Don’t prove you were worthy of neither.
– Ask questions if you need to.
– Remember how you react may affect what he does the next
time he’s asked. Based on how you’re about to treat him
would you want to be that next guy?
– You don’t have to sleep with him. That’s your choice
and your comfort level. But you DO have to be polite.
– If your reaction “I wouldn’t want to take the risk,”
think about this. You take the same risk every time you
play. The only person whose status you can be
100% certain of is the guy who tells you he is POZ!
– A Poz Undetectable guy is WAY lower risk than
Mr “Clean U B 2” who got it a few weeks ago & has a
viral load of around 10 million viral copies per Ml of blood.
– Mr. “D & D Free” who isn’t quite as D Free as he thought,
caught HIV 3 months ago and probably has a viral load
between 60,000 and 120,000 per millilitre.
– Think about those number compared to Undetectable = < 40
– Google "Partner Study" & learn the low risk of Undetectable
#6: Fight Stigma
– "Clean" out the degrading words in your profiles.
– When your friends start to gossip about someone's status
stop them. Ask if they want you to tell if they turn Poz.
– Start open honest conversations about HIV
– Make testing a normal part of your routine
– Like & Share graphics from The Stigma Project on your
social media networks
– Search YouTube for a video called DDF. Funny, but typical
of what happens when a guy discloses that he is Poz.
Are you the Red Robot?
Test, Treat, TasP, PrEP, PEP, and Talk that's how we'll end the Stigma and wipe out HIV. Oh yea, and condoms will help a bit too.
This story is about a 24 year old guy who progressed to AIDS. He was at risk, and didn't take PrEP. He didn't know his status, just like 60% of guys under 25 who are Poz. If he'd gotten tested he would have known sooner. If he'd gone on treatment with antiretrovirals he would not have progressed to AIDS. It's possible that he unknowingly passed HIV on to others. Treatment would have prevented that too. PrEP wasn't available when he was in porn, but it is now.
Test, Treat, TasP, PrEP, PEP, and Talk without Stigma. If they're right for you, use condoms too.
CCTR
@gauty: Not only did I make the wrong assumption about your comment but I actually confused it with some other comment posted by someone else. Thanks for clarifying your point. I appreciate your response. My apologies!
Scruz
How does one go from HIV+ to full blown AIDS without completely disregarding one’s own health for an extended period of time? This guy waited way too long.
Get tested. If the test shows you’re HIV+ get to a doctor to discuss treatment.
If you already know you’re HIV+, don’t procrastinate. It’s not like putting off your taxes till the last minute. Get treated. If you have no insurance, call your local health department.
If you’re not feeling as well as you normally do or start seeing symptoms, see a doctor before your symptoms multiply.
sympanyc
@PozSince1985: Lova ya 🙂 Thank you.
gauty
@CCTR: No probs 🙂
vive
@Scruz, since the start of the epidemic, a significant percentage of people have always progressed very quickly to AIDS. Some people are just genetically fast progressors, just like some are genetically slow progressors, and some are genetically immune.
So let’s not blame the people who get sick quicker as if the speed were their fault.
DonP
My heart goes out to this young man. I commend him for what he is doing, because it takes a strong person to open up about their status and especially him because he is so young. Yes it is important to get tested once a year. Unfortunate for this young man, that he has full blown AIDS. When you are sexually active you must get tested especially in the gay life.
Matt
@Stache99: how many gay guys do you know who contracted HIV from oral? How many from anal? There’s your answer. And don’t say all gays do anal because we don’t.
Matt
@dbmyers: Bible thumping?
jar
@Julian1970: Indeed. Ignore the troll.
Matt
http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/MSM_global_1667_24845.shtml
November 26, 2013
The Gay HIV Epidemic Is Increasing in All Nations
The upward trajectory of HIV infection trends among gay men worldwide points to a dire future for that demographic, even as overall HIV incidence rates in the general population have been steadily dropping, aidsmap reports. Kevin Fenton, MD, PhD, the national director of health and wellbeing at Public Health England, presented a report on the epidemic among gay men to the British HIV Association fall conference.
Effective means to curb transmissions notwithstanding, the prevalence of the virus among men who have sex with men (MSM) is rising in almost all nations, with incidence levels unwaveringly stable. (Prevalence refers to the total number of people infected with the virus and incidence refers to the number of new HIV infections each year.) According to Fenton, controlling the epidemic in MSM will require optimizing testing programs for this population, although this effort will pose a significant challenge.
jonjct
wow! this young guy is a victim. he had a chance to dig his way out of poverty, to maybe have a shot at his dream, and he was encouraged to bareback. there probably were drugs involved, and obviously lots of sex. what horny guy could turn this down. meanwhile, i blame him for not taking care of himself. yes i know drugs sex and money are intoxicating, but still. he is so beautiful. i wish him the best.
one last thought, the CDC and other authorities have been telling us since the early to mid 80’s that there are a million ppl infected in the US. now 35 years later they claim that there are a million people infected in the US. Logic tells me that is bs.
Scruz
@vive: Your response is certainly valid. I’ve been poz since ’90. I ignored symptoms hoping they’d go away. They don’t. I procrastinated (denied?) for years down to 10 t-cells but was never hospitalized and miraculously bounced back.
Round 2: I lost my insurance. The doctor said I could go a year without being on meds. I felt fine and didn’t go back on meds for a year and a half until I got a nasty case of MRSA. I went to health department for treatment and had 35 t-cells. Fortunately I’m now back to 1000 t-cells and undetectable. My cheeks didn’t make it. They’re now loaded with Sculptra.
So yes, I AM blaming because I made the same mistake this man made and I know the consequences of disregarding my health. He seems to be worse than I ever was so I can only assume he ignored his health even more than I ignored mine. Maybe not? He might be normal and I might have a super human constitution? (Let’s hope so!)
My post was intended to be a warning first and foremost. I just didn’t initially back up my warning with my experiences like I probably should have.
Throbert McGee
Matt, keep up the good fight.
Jody writes: “Outside of not having sex — and really doesn’t work — those are the two most effective ways of stopping the virus from spreading.”
No, lamebrain. When it comes to HIV (and, generally speaking, hepatitis), it’s not about “sex,” it’s about anal sex, including rimming.
The CDC’s general rule of thumb is that you’re about 50 times less likely to get HIV from condomless oral sex (up to and including “the white swallow”!) than from anal barebacking.
I’m a long-time fan and participant in “J/O Clubs”, and years ago when I was living in NYC, I was a semi-regular attendee of group watersports parties. I have appeared in exactly one “semi-professional” porn video, for which I was paid about $400 by Mr. Joe Gage. I am, in short, not a bit “sex-phobic,” so don’t even try it.
And, also, I am HIV- despite having swallowed semen and urine from strangers and sucked more condomless penises than I can count, and I credit this to the fact that I’m educated enough in biology to understand the particular risks of anal sex, which I avoid.
(And incidentally, I’m not religious, and it doesn’t matter in this context whether or not Matt is a “Bible-thumper” — his arguments can stand or fall on their own merit.)
Throbert McGee
I get so tired of the endless excuse making…
Stache99
@Throbert McGee: No one here has made any excuses for the kid that I can see. What exactly is your soapbox point?
Faggot
‘Flavaworks, which [specializes in racially offensive] “ethnic”.’
@Flavaworks Ummm where did that edit come from?
Geeker
Stories like this are why bareback sites like that ghoul show Treasure Island Media piss me off so much,they sell the idea that barebacking is “brave and liberating” when it’s well known that most if not all of their models are already infected and that many are rumored to be “gift givers” in private and on video. How what they do is legal is a mystery.
Tackle
@sympanyc: Yuo’re kinda right. Some don’t, others do. One size does not fit all. People have vast differences as to how the act/re-act, respond, accept or reject a message. And because of that, I can see where a tough love message would be beneficial, as well as a soft love approach`, and something inbetween. And I can definately see a tough love approach benefitting the newly infected who through their “own” actions got them there, and who are feeling sorry for themselves and blaming others for their predicament. And you mentioned Condom Nazis:well this has nothing to do with using or not using a condom. This has everything to do with after the fact of testing Poz. And no it should NOT be ok for someone to get a chronic disease that will impact the rest of their life. However ignorance and denial is often our own fault.
Cam
@Apparatus:
1. WE don’t know that what you are saying about his AIDS test results is true.
2. Is it legal for you to disclose any medical information publicly on a website?
sympanyc
@Tackle: At the point when someone tests positive, I think they need support. What good does finger-pointing do after it’s too late?
Where we need to do better is on prevention education. Many are in denial yet we now have therapies that may be able to prevent infection. If someone does become positive, antiretrovirals prevent AIDS attacking so quickly. But for all that to work, people need to get tested instead of hoping for and assuming the best until some get really ill.
Tackle
@SCHONE-SEELEN.NET: l’m not sure how old you are, or if you have ever studied or done research on polls, stats and surveys, or know some history about the CDC and their practice?? When you are in power, you can make these polls,stats, surveys say anything you want then to say. I say this because you mentioned that Atlanta has the highest population in the nation of men of color, and the / highest concentration of HIV infection. I doubt that seriously. What is done here is the CDC going into an overwhelming Black are/population, and oversampling a certain demographic. Then applying this false number, across the board/ states. California probably has the highest population of gay White men. But the CDC will never oversample this demographic: example: test 500 White males, 120 Black males, 80 Hispanics, 20 Asians, and about 5 others, and come to the conclusion that the majority of those with HIV are White males. That’s the truth. We’re dealing with a sexually transmitted condition. And sexually, Black men are not doing anything that White men are not doing. If anything, less of the extreme kink. And you say the majority of Black men will learn nothing from this, of course not since the majority of Black men or the majority of gay men will not see this video.
sympanyc
@Tackle: Public health departments in DC and Atlanta corroborate the rise in HIV infection among young men of color who have sex with other men while, in New York for example, the rate of infection is decreasing. Given where you’re going with conspiracy, what purpose would it serve for authorities (your assumption being mostly all white) to ring the alarm bell about the rise in infection among men of color? I’m not following your logic.
Tackle
@sympanyc: I agree with everything you said. Everything! However,,, I am referring to those and only those who become bitter, angry and want to blame the whole world for their” actions” that got them there.
Bauhaus
I look at Justin, and I think he could be me, or you. And then I think, there, but for the grace of god, go I.
sympanyc
@Bauhaus: I think Justin is out of the hospital now and doing better. He has a job and has plans at some point to tell his story to help others find out about prevention and keeping healthy.
tjport1980
Wishing you all the best my friend, stay strong !
Throbert McGee
@Stache99: “No one here has made any excuses for the kid that I can see. What exactly is your soapbox point?”
I think my “soapbox points” were made clearly enough — go back and reread if you’re not sure.
As to “making excuses for the kid” — yes, here I wasn’t at all clear, sorry. It wasn’t excuses for this guy that bother me; it’s excuses about why barebacking occurs. Too many people blame “low self-esteem” or “drugs” or “not enough money spent on education”; too few are willing to look at:
(1) The ways in which our own gay culture — by and for gay men — glamorizes bareback sex as “the ultimate in intimacy” and so forth. And no, I’m NOT talking only about the overt barebacking by TIM and other trashy studios; I’m also talking about mainstream porn that edits out the scenes of condoms going on and off, and condom-safe lube being applied (not all studios, to their credit, engage in this “magically appearing rubbers” bad practice). And I’m talking about non-video porn (written stories and comics, for example), which explicitly rhapsodize about geysers of hot jizz going into someone’s butt, on the theory that the characters aren’t real people. The characters aren’t real, but the readers are.
And I’m talking about self-described sex educators and HIV counselors who say things like:
(2) “Guys, we all that sex is hotter and feels better without a condom, but you just can’t do it… unless you’re totally sure of your partner’s status, blah-de-blah…” Great, that’s precisely the message that young gay men need to hear: Barebacking is the HOTTEST!!!!!
And then there are others, like a commenter above, who say:
(3) “PrEP if you don’t have HIV and antiviral treatments to render the virus in you undetectable if you do. Outside of not having sex — and that really doesn’t work — those are the two most effective ways of stopping the virus from spreading.”
I am acquainted with the commenter Jody and know that he used to work (maybe still does) as a volunteer safe-sex educator, which makes it ALL THE MORE BAFFLING that he has totally abandoned any pretense of talking about condoms — mentioning only PrEP and HAART as strategies for stopping the spread!! — and also treats “having sex” and “having bareback anal sex” as if they were the same thing.
Sheesh, whatever happened to slogans like “explore other modes of safer-sex, like mutual masturbation and erotic massage”? (And, by the way, note that right-wing jackasses like Limbaugh or Santorum would be denounced in the harshest possible terms if they implied that “gay sex” = “bareback anal.” But if a gay safe-sex educator does it, then it’s okay, I guess.) Talk about making a Shande fur die Heterosexim!
Throbert McGee
Confidential to Matt: I understand your point, I think, but I’d argue that repeatedly using slang like “fudgepacking” is not very considerate to guys who use English as a second language.
Yeah, this is an English-speaking forum, but I’m sure there are some ESL speakers here — if they’re not familiar with “fudgepacker,” they’re likely to go Googling or searching on urbandictionary, where they find out that it’s often a generic insult for all gay men — even though you mean it in a more specific way in reference to anal sex alone, and not as a homophobic slur for gay men in general.
So it gets confusing, and your basic message is one that all gay guys need to understand, regardless of their native language.
Sorry to be pedantic about this — I’m a long-time student of Russian, I spend a lot of time reading Russian forums, and I know from experience that excessive slang can make it practically impossible for me to figure out what’s going on in the conversation!
Just something to think about.
Tackle
@sympanyc: Pls type in
( Black America allows the CDC to stack Herpes numbers)
And you will get a better idea ( documented investigation) of what I’m saying. The same methodology used with Black women and herpes, is done with Black men and HIV/AIDS. And yes the PHD of DC and Atlanta can corroborate ,since the demographics where they get and accept their information is highly to be areas of color. And about the decreasing factor inNY, keep in mind numbers were never as high as was believed. And I never said or assumed they were all White. People bend to power. Many will go along to get ahead. And what will serve them for ringing the alarm bell? Good question, and wish I knew. But America as great of a country as it is,seems at times, well certain pockets at least, seems to have a vested interest in portraying Blacks in the worst possible light…
sympanyc
@Tackle: I agree that prejudice still exists, but it would be a shame not to address real prevention issues because of perceptions – one way or the other.
But, speaking of portraying Blacks in a certain way, you should know that the owner of FlavaWorks, who employed Justin, who produces bareback films, and who was prevented from running his company in his native Chicago by public health officials because he hired African-American and Latino actors who would contract STDs, is a white guy. That’s all I’ll say because he tends to sue everything with a pulse (it’s all about the money). Yes, prejudice still exists…
Blackceo
“Racially offensive” films? What is racially offensive about their films and what makes you think you have the right to say that?
sympanyc
@Blackceo: That’s probably a personal comment that Queerty should maybe not have made without explaining.
I’ll give you mine: white-owned FlavaWorks profits from “Thug” movies (can you say stereotype?) putting African-American and Latino actors at risk of getting STDs, including HIV and Hepatitis. In fact, 3 of 5 bareback sites that mostly profit from men of color using men of color in risky sex are owned by whites. I certainly won’t defend the other 2 owners who are African-American, but this type of opportunism was coined in Brother-to-Brother (a book of essays by Black gay men on which the movie was inspired) as “the sexualization of racism”.
Blackceo
@sympanyc:
Ok gotcha. Thanks for that explanation. And yes they should have explained that a bit more.
Tackle
@sympanyc: True about including the preventive issues ,but my main point of concern is the falsification of numbers as related to Black men. And besides, everyone talks about the safety measures one should take.But no one talks about the inflated numbers. And that’s very interesting info regarding the owner of Flavor Works not being allowed to film in Chicago by public health officials because he put performers at risk. That’s such a small scale that the CDC does not mind. They are not necessarily trying to have a group contract AIDS, but rather change and distort the number of those that actually have it. And just to make one thing clear, this is not about fighting White people. This fight is about institutional racism.
Gersen40
WAIT! Something is NOT adding up here. He started doing gay porn in 2008, and you mean to say 6 years after the fact he NOW has Full blown AIDS?….I smell a rat.
The rat that I smell – what had gone wrong is the fact that said person had been HIV positive wayyyyyyy before he started doing gay porn. I say this only because; HIV and AIDS are both now considered (as of 2012) to be treatable diseases. Untreated HIV can take 10 years to develop into AIDS, whereas AIDS can be prevented by the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)
God forgive me for saying this, but I come around and say that ultimately we are all responsible for what we allow into our bodies, be it food, drink or indeed HIV infected semen of the most virulent of a disease or poisonous form, . In his videos this idiot drank it, soiled his skin with it and played with it. Now he wants’ to cry foul because he EARNED the right to have full blown AIDS He must now reap his pitiful rewards and literally rot slowly from the inside out.
what I also find interesting- is SO many in our community don’t think TWICE about all the ‘regular’ brothers who get infected- but yet this cute, young sex worker does- and he gets SOOOOOO much attention and sympathy and pledges of support and how people ‘ want to reach out to him’….Yet- where are all these people as 100’s of NON-PORN working brothers- who maybe AREN’T as ‘cute’ or young or well known- get stepped over and ignored and shunned. Kind of pisses me off actually.
PrinceAdam101
Justin, I think it was very brave of you to post that. No one should ever judge you (because we all fall short of perfection). Just trust in God and ask him for continued health and happiness and God will see you through this storm, fella. You have the Creator on your side, never forget that.
sympanyc
@Gersen40: Every time I read these judgmental, self-righteous comments, I have to go back and watch the video again to see if I missed something. Justin takes responsibility for contracting HIV, not getting tested and getting to this point in his illness, and asks other “young, up and coming homosexuals who think it’s all about having fun” not to make his mistakes and to be cautious. And people may be reacting to his message not just because he is cute, but because, as PrinceAdam101 stated above, it takes a lot of courage for a kid his age to come out in public about his status and condition – more courage than most of us have hiding behind computer screens! So what did you miss?
Because Justin is more well-known in the business, his story is much more compelling to reach youth at risk (like he was) than self-righteous and judgmental preaching. That obviously hasn’t worked very well. It’s sort of a “shake-my-head” kinda turn-off without any concrete, pragmatic purpose.
Throbert McGee
@sympanyc: “I certainly won’t defend the other 2 owners who are African-American, but this type of opportunism was coined in Brother-to-Brother (a book of essays by Black gay men on which the movie was inspired) as “the sexualization of racism”.”
I would add that, more generally, white-owned porn studios that pay white men to do high-risk sex like anal barebacking are engaged in “the sexualization of homophobia.”
If you look at the AIDS Quilt — remember that? — it’s certainly true that some of the panels represent heterosexual transmission; some represent hemophiliacs who got it from blood transfusions in the earliest years of the epidemic; some represent gay men who became infected by oral sex or because of a broken condom during anal sex. But I would guesstimate that something like 95% of those quilt panels represent gay men — DEAD gay men — who became infected with HIV by anal barebacking.
So, to me, eroticizing the very activity that was responsible for 95% of that horrible gay death toll, or rationalizing that “HIV risk is just a built-in, normal part of being gay,” IS ABOUT AS HOMOPHOBIC AS YOU CAN GET.
If you want to point fingers at “self-loathing gays with internalized homophobia,” point first at the ones who promote and create and subsidize bareback videos. The jokers at GOProud and other gay Republican groups do very little actual harm by comparison.
Throbert McGee
Also, I’m 42. I was 19 the very first time I engaged in sexual intimacy (which was mutual masturbation/frot) with another dude (he was a grad student in his mid 20s). I was about 10 when the first reports of “GRID” would’ve started hitting the news headlines, though I don’t quite remember that.
But I do remember Surgeon General Koop’s mailing about condoms and safer-sex — with the emphasis that anal sex should be considered a particularly high risk, because it IS — which went to every household in America back in 1985.
All this “Oh, I was confused, I didn’t know about HIV risks, why didn’t any TELL me?” stuff is self-excusing BS. And I’d sooner accuse Justin of self-excusing BS than accuse him of being stupider than a hamster.
And if he’s at all a “victim”, he’s not a victim of racism, or a victim of poverty, or even a victim of HIV/AIDS (seems to me he ran running towards HIV with open arms). If anything, he’s a “victim” of terrible advice given to him by other gay men.
sympanyc
@Throbert McGee: Adult entertainment producers are in business to make a profit. Porn is nowhere as lucrative as it once was due to piracy. Some producers have a conscience and others, in reaction to decreasing profits, don’t. For example, I was disappointed to learn that Michael Lucas is among those for whom profit is more important than a healthy connection to the community that pays his bills. In that respect, I agree with you about the “sexualization of homophobia”.
As for your 2nd post, many guys are not taking responsibility for their actions. They are in denial. Should they be? No. Does that absolve them of responsibility? No. Should we stop caring about prevention and pass judgment on them rather than understand how to get through to them? I don’t think so. I will say, again, that the video of Justin above shows a young man who acknowledges that he is a victim of his own carelessness. He doesn’t blame others. I also think that he is better able to reach that segment of men at risk than insecure, judgmental finger-pointers. That posting by Gersen40 was hateful and vile.
PozSince1985
@Gersen40: While HIV CAN take ten years before there is enough damage that opportunistic infections appear, how quickly it DOES progresses depends on an individual’s immune system, general health, and lifestyle.
I think it is very reasonable theory that he caught it shortly after leaving Flava, and advanced to AIDS over five years. Who knows how he’s lived over the intervening years. Though does seem obvious that an HIV test every three months, was not part of his routine.
I could speculate on all sorts of things that would lead HIV to progress faster, but I’m not suggesting Justin did any of these. A hard living heavy party life. They used to think getting exposed to HIV multiple times speeds its advance. Abuse of street drugs like meth and a host of others. And finally, IV drug abusers, especially if they share their works can progress to AIDS in a very short period of time.
At least in the US, porn companies tend to test their performers. Some states require it. I’ll take Flava’s word that their last record on file show Justin as having tested Neg.
There is only one person who has the full story about what happened. He hasn’t told it, so everything else is just speculation.
Why hasn’t he told us everything. Because he doesn’t need to, and he’s not ready or willing to do it. Remember an HIV diagnosis, especially in the way it happened to him, is a life changing event. Coming to terms with it is a grieving process, that has stages — denial, isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I see at least denial and anger so far.
SCHONE-SEELEN.NET
@Tackle: I am a 27 year old, college graduate who understands statistics and where you are coming from.
Whether to believe or discredit the CDC’s findings is debatable, but the particular study I was referring to did state that black gay men were not participating in risky sexual practices any more than their white counterparts.
The truth of the matter is that in talking to gay men of color, having taught classes on HIV prevention and awareness, I’ve learned that many of us are so uninformed. So whether or not the CDC is correct in their findings, is unimportant. The real issue is education, and even that isn’t really enough because a lot of people have the “it won’t happen to me” attitude.
My issue with this particular story is that everyone wants to blame his career and FlavaWorks, but as you’ve stated none of us know the truth. He could have caught it after he left the dorm. Who knows what other activity he was participating in outside of the porn industry. With the shameful amount of pay that FlavaWorks pay their models, even the ones who perform bareback, I wouldn’t be surprised if Snow Bunni escorted on the side. An act that would have put his health at a greater risk.
sympanyc
@SCHONE-SEELEN.NET: BTW, love your site (and yes, I did read some articles, LOL).
PozSince1985
“The New Safe Sex Mantra”
Hashtag #TTTPPTS&c
The old “Condoms, Condoms, Condoms” message hasn’t changed much since I was diagnosed in 1985. Heck even many of the posters are looking stale, faded and long in the tooth.
Back then our safe sex kit had just one tool in it. Condoms. There were some small bits of other advice about J/O, frotage, and fewer partners. We weren’t even sure about the risk of oral sex yet.
The Condoms message mostly falls on deaf ears now. Ignored by many. Deflected to the gutter with screams of “Condom Nazi” by others. Adding Nazi to anything makes it instantly repulsive, right?
That C word is now overshadowed by the B word. That catchy cowboy moniker, with the rebel connotation. Bareback is everywhere — featured videos, banner adverts, top search results, profiles, online nicknames, your friend & f**kbuds, and yup even hashtags. It’s showing up in popular culture too. Even if you wanted to look away it still catches your eye. And it’s catching a lot more eyes these days, and younger ones too.
But our tool kit isn’t nearly as spartan as it was in the 80?s. Time has moved on, and we have new technologies. Yes there’s still a slot for condoms. They were a “one size fits all” approach. In truth, they never really did fit all, if you catch my drift. Condoms still have their place. They work as well as they ever did. And they can do some things the new tools can’t. Just like vinyl sounds more smooth than digital for some ears, there’s no reason to stop using them if they’re right for you.
There are even new more sensitive models, thinner than ever. Innovative designs coming to market – Like an accordion fold, or pull tabs to speed the unroll. The $100,000 Gate Foundation “Next Generation of Condom” challenge is generating new ideas for that 400 year old prophylactic.
But rubbers have company now. New tools for the modern world. High tech and admittedly higher priced. Like all new technologies, they have some drawbacks too. But they fit into busy lifestyles. They give back some freedoms that got snatched away when HIV shattered our disco balls, and broke our Popper bottles.
We need a new mantra: Test, Treat, TasP, PrEP, PEP, and Talk that’s how we’ll End the Stigma and wipe out HIV. Yes condoms will help a bit too.
God – I think I just showed my age. I’d bet a whole whack of people are Googling “Mantra.” I’ll save you the trouble.
man·tra /?mantr?,?män-/ noun: (Originally in Hinduism and Buddhism) A word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.
I’d better modernize it: Hashtag #TTTPPTES&c
Test, Treat, TasP, PrEP, PEP, Talk, End Stigma & If they’re right for you, use condoms too.
sympanyc
@PozSince1985: Thanks for this. Some questions I have about antiretroviral treatment as prevention (TASP), my understanding is that, as with all antiretrovirals, they need to be taken exactly as prescribed or the risk of infection increases greatly. My other question, in the case of PrEP: In the long term, antiretrovirals cause harm to the body and organs as they are extremely powerful drugs. Many older HIV-positive people eventually get sick of complications as a result of the effects of antiretrovirals. In that respect, when possible, condoms are a much better long-term prevention alternative than PrEP, no?
PozSince1985
@sympanyc: When I first thought about PrEP, I had the same knee jerk reaction as all the standard negatives that come up about it. I hadn’t read them, they immediately flooded my mind as soon as I read the concept. “Why would they do that to their body? Will they take their pills every day? Will they quit when they get the short term problems while starting the drugs? What about long term effects? Is there a risk of drug resistant strains of HIV? Will they take risks they wouldn’t otherwise have done? etc”
After it all settled down, I came to realize that its just another tool in the kit. For somebody who’s at a point in their life when they are taking risks, it’s protection that’s there all the time. It’s far better for someone to to take PrEP for a few “Wild and Crazy” years, than to require antiretrovirals for the rest of their lives.
Truvada is generally well tolerated, with few side effects. For a guy to get PrEP, he needs to get HIV tests, and a battery of other blood work that specifically looks for early warning signs of organ damage. If there was any problems, the doctor would not renew the prescription. The guy on PrEP has to get the tests, and see the doc every three months. He’s actually being monitored more frequently than a Poz guy. And at each of those appointments they discuss his risk behaviours, and a safe sex discussion happens. The appointments make him reassess what he’s doing. And look at what else is happening — it’s forcing him to follow the recommended best practice on regular HIV testing.
Studies of guys on PrEP show that they are taking about the same number of risks while on PrEP, as they were before they started PrEP. For some of them, they’re taking fewer, because they’re forced to think about it.
Is PrEP perfect — No. Neither is a condom, or your car, or public transit, or anything else in our lives. It’s not for everybody, but it is a good choice for some. There are new drugs in the pipeline that could make PrEP even more interesting. It’s years away, but tests are looking good on slow release, once every three month injectable antiretrovirals.
Look, condoms are good at what they do. But in the real world, guys are only using them about 50% of the time. So PrEP is there as a backup for those incidents where “I was too drunk, I was too high, The scene was too hot, It make me go soft. I didn’t have one with me” and all the other excuses. While 100% compliance with condoms is a good goal, it is UNREALISTIC to expect everyone to reach it.
As one of the older Poz guys who has been taking drugs since AZT became available in 1989, I can say yes, some of us are suffering long term effects. The early drugs were MASSIVE doses, and pretty toxic. Much of what we’re experiencing is from damage done long ago by those first drugs. Either HIV, or the drugs, or the combination of both seems to have some early aging effects. We made the Faustian deal with the devil to take the drugs, stay alive, and see what long term effects happened in the future. But at least there would be a future.
But guys on PrEP are hopefully only going to be taking IT for a few years. Either they’ll get their act together, or they’ll find Mr. Right, and settle down into a nice monogamous relationship.
Regarding TasP: I always find it interesting watching Neg guys twist and fret about Poz guys taking their meds. It was fascinating watching the convoluted logic exposed by some in the comments about the initial report from the Partner study. It seemed to come down to this — All Pozzies are untrustworthy. They will lie about their status. They are lying about being on the drugs. If they are on the ARVs, they are lying about drug compliance. They are lying about their viral load. And even if everything they said was true, their viral load just might not be undetectable at this very instant in time (ie They’re lying but they don’t know it.)
Let me ask you this, if you were Poz, and your long term health depended on you taking your meds, would you do it? In the US, there are programs that will get people who need ARVs on them, regardless of their financial or insurance status. Yes, somewhere out there are a few Poz guys who are having problems keeping with the program, but they are rare, and usually have other serious problems in their lives. And yes, there are a few who never reach undetectable, but almost all of them still fall below the magic VL of 1,500.
The ARVs do not follow the Cinderella effect and go POOF out of your system in 24 hrs. There is enough play in the system that a guy can take them a bit earlier, or later as our real lives dictate. The dosages and rate of metabolization have enough redundancy built in that an occasional missed dose does no harm. We’re human – it happens. The doctors say 95% compliance is the goal. If a guy wasn’t taking them regularly, it would show up in his blood tests. There would be a lecture, stern warning, and possibly a change in drugs. He’d redouble his efforts and stick with the schedule.
To be blunt, a Poz guy would have to miss a LOT of doses to “greatly increase the risk of infection.” He’d need to have completely fallen off the bandwagon.
Lets take a look at data from research. The only ethical way to look at the risk of transmission is long term follow-up of serodivergent couples (One Poz & One Neg). In one study, no one with a viral load less that 1,500 transmitted HIV to their negative partner, but Pozzies with a VL over 30,000 did. In the developed world, depending on which test is used, undetectable is 50, 40, or 25. I think you can see there is a long way between the average Pozzie on treatment “greatly increased risk.” In the partner study, all Pozzies included in the analysis had an undetectable viral load. 94% of the gay Pozzies correctly self reported that they were undetectable. The other 6% were undetectable but didn’t think they were. During follow-up 2% of the gay Pozzies missed more than four consecutive days of meds. The 4+ days did not have an impact on viral transmission. The gay guys were better at identifying their VL and on their med compliance than the straight Pozzies.
Many Neg guys worry that a cold, or flu, or vaccination will make a Pozzie’s viral load go up. Yes, some guys experience a blip – a viral load that strays a little above undetectable with the standard western world tests. I did some research and found that the majority of blips range from a few points above undetectable, to around 180. Personally I’ve never had one. I was initially confused by the Partner study’s definition of Undetectable as a viral load below 200. That’s about half way between the old 400 used in the third world, and the tests we see here. While this is speculation on my part, I suspect that Partner’s use of 200, allowed it to encompass everybody’s blips.
The Partner study has an important take away for those of you who wring their hands worrying “Did that Pozzie miss a dose” or “What if he’s coming down with a cold or got a flu vaccination last week & is having a blip.” The couples in the Partner study barebacked an average of one or more times a week. In the two years of follow-up there must have been colds and flues, and vaccinations. There were even STIs in some of the couples that played raw outside the relationship. Despite all those cold, flues, blips and STIs, in the first two years of the study, NONE of the HIV Negative partners contracted HIV from their Poz partner. With an estimated 16,400 gay guy bareback f**ks (and 28,000 straight ones), ZERO Negative partners caught HIV from their Positive spouse. In a cumulative total of 894 Years of couple following up, there was not a single transmission from the Poz mate.
They need 450 more European gay serodivergent couples, and will continue following them until 2017. They will probably Never be able to say absolutely zero chance of transmission, but it is sure looking like it is very very low.
There is a certain irony in the fact us undetectable Poz guys, who the neggies are most afraid of, are probably going to turn out to be the ones least likely to infect them! Our status is 100% known verses, all the “think they’re neg” guys. Many of them don’t test regularly, if ever.
sympanyc
@PozSince1985: Thanks again for all the information. Overall the new tools are definitely encouraging. Another question, I read that most health insurance plans cover PrEP? What of the uninsured? Is it covered under ADAP? What type of impact will the ACA have?
I am assuming you teach prevention? You are passionate about it, and it’s nice to see 🙂
PozSince1985
@sympanyc: I have to admit the US medical system is totally foreign to me. (I didn’t mean it as a pun, but it turned out that way. I’m Canadian.)
Gilead has a “Truvada for PrEP Medication Assistance Program” that assists eligible HIV-negative adults in the United States who do not have insurance. Their site does not have much info, just a phone number to call and discuss eligibility.
My American friends tell me that US insurance plans are required to cover PrEP, as an FDA approved drug for that use. Some put a few extra hurdles in the way (extra forms, pre-approvals, limit quantities to one month at a time, specific pharmacies, that sort of thing). Co-pays seem to vary quite a bit, but Gilead does have a co-pay assistance program.
PrEP would not be cover by AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. By definition ADAP provides HIV TREATMENT drugs to low income patients in the U.S.
I know contributors in another forum where PrEP is a hotly discussed, say that their PrEP has been covered 100% under ACA (aka Obamacare).
Up here, Health Canada has not yet approved Truvada for PrEP. In fact Gilead has not yet applied for that approval. It can be prescribed with PrEP as an “off label” use. Since it not approved, insurance coverage is still a big question. I do know of someone whose plan covers it. Gilead assistance programs don’t apply up here, so we’re doubly left out in the cold. (Triply in the cold if you add in the weather.) There are two ongoing studies; one in Toronto, the other Montreal. Perhaps approval will follow once they are complete.
In the UK, PrEP is not approved yet, and there is a study underway.
I’ve done peer counselling for the newly diagnosed since the early 90’s. In reality, I’m just an ordinary Pozzie. A very well read one, but in the end, just a Pozzie.
Last spring I got just one too many “Are you clean” emails on a hook-up site. (Hey ‘Neg’ guys, do you think that language encourages someone to disclose their status?) I exploded with a ramping up manifesto ending in “I have as much right to a hot sex life as anybody else!” That was kind of a turning point for me, as I actually suddenly believed it was true. Twenty-eight years of being ground under the heel of stigma has built up a little pressure and rage. I’m trying to funnel it in productive directions. You’d be surprised how many people will read a bluntly worded hook-up profile that explains the facts of life to Mr. “Clean U B 2” and those “D & D Free” guys. None of them understand the window period, an undetectable viral load, or who is actually spreading HIV. (Hint – It’s you Clean and D Free – because you’re not getting tested) That profile has made the Neg guys stop, think, and ask questions. And I’m happy to answer them.
It’s painful to look at dozens of emails from 20-something year old guys that start with “I was diagnosed two years ago . . .”
The scariest thing I’ve read is a mathematical model from the CDC. Based on the explosion in barebacking, and growth in new HIV diagnoses, it predicts that for gay guys 22 and younger today, one half of them will be Poz by the time they are 50. “Condoms, condoms, condoms,” isn’t going to prevent that. We need new messages.
All the sniping here, full of blame, finger pointing and bickering does nothing to prevent this tragedy from from happening to some other young guy. I wrote the the six talking points as a way we can move forward. Too bad the formatting went to crap. We need to get guys into clinics, or mobile vans and tested. While guys are in clinics, we have an opportunity to discuss risk reduction. We need to widely deploy 4th or 5th generation rapid HIV tests, so guys results in minutes, instead of worrying about it for a week. We must normalize testing. Test & Treat = TasP It should be our most important message.
I’ve had HIV longer than most commenters here have been sexually active. For others, I was Poz before you were a sperm in your daddy’s nuts. I know some smart ass is going to say “You must have gotten it barebacking!” I caught HIV when BB was just called F**king. Back when condoms were used to prevent pregnancy, and gay men didn’t get pregnant. It was two years before the words Safe and Sex were ever used in the same sentence, and a year before “How to Have Sex in an Epidemic” was published.
I’ve managed to navigate the last 28 years with only two condomless encounters. Both with other Poz guys. I’m no BB advocate. But I am a realist. Guys are doing it Raw, and waving little foil packets in their face isn’t going to change that. Preaching “stop having anal sex” is a joke. Fear, and blame, and shame don’t work.
Test, Treat, TasP, PrEP, PEP, Talk, and Ending Stigma are the way forward. And yes, condoms will help. We need to use all the tools at our disposal.
sympanyc
@PozSince1985: Haha! I was born and raised in Montreal, but have lived in NYC for the last 10 years. I did volunteer work for youth at risk (of dropping out of school) in Harlem, and learned about the dynamic of gay youth of color (I am white): how some, dejected, end up on the street in the West Village, then escorting (“Paris is Burning” is still alive), along with the risks and denial. There are community organizations, like the Ali Forney Center to help and educate homeless youth, but their resources are limited.
Obviously, the dilemma goes beyond just this segment, but it helps put in perspective the lack of information and choices many are faced with. I get angry when people become self-righteous about this issue. I do think that public education needs to adapt, and that is why I think someone like Justin – in some ways a celebrity but also a peer – may be able to reach out them more effectively…
I also like Schone-Seelen.net’s blog. He mixes porn with articles of interest to African-American gay men, including information about HIV and prevention. I think it’s an interesting model overall.
JDean
the shit stains of the gay bareback movement who promote it as something cool deserve to be maimed or lined up and shot
Throbert McGee
@PozSince1985: Thanks, dude, for your informative posts. I’ve never had to deal personally with HIV management, so your balanced commentary about the benefits and costs of modern antiretrovirals is very helpful to me.
My main disagreement with you, perhaps, is the order in which the mantras ought to be presented.
I still insist that “It’s Hot to Frot!” and “Play by J/O Club Rules!” and “Intimacy Doesn’t Always Have to Mean Fucking” are incredibly important (but woefully underused) mantras that gay guys — especially young, naïve, unattached ones — need to hear FIRST AND FOREMOST. (If, God forbid, there is ever an “AIDS 2” involving a completely different but equally deadly STD, one thing will never change: the mucous membranes of the rectum will always tend to provide an easier route of entry for a pathogen than skin does. Mutual masturbation/frotwill always be the cheapest, least-risk form of “safer sex between guys”, and this must be said over and over and over in “safer sex” education, and not treated as an “oh, by the way” afterthought.)
The SECOND line of defense, and the second mantra, should be “Condoms, Condoms, Condoms, Wrap it Up, Wear Your Raincoat,” etc.
“Test, Treat, TasP, PrEP, PEP” is absolutely vital, but I believe it should be the THIRD line of defense, and the third mantra. (Because the drugs are incredibly expensive to invent, and because they remain relatively expensive to manufacture even when they go generic, and because they can have bad long-term side effects in some people — all these are logical reasons for NOT thinking of “TasP, PrEP, PEP” as the primary strategies for containing HIV.)
Of course, “Talk, and Ending Stigma” are always appropriate!
Faggot
Interesting that we have this article almost at the same time we have Michael Lucas giving a heads up to barebacking in his new porn videos.
As Michael Lucas states, “But porn is a fantasy, and no one fantasizes about condoms. And ultimately, this isn’t about my personal opinion. Like every business, we have to listen to our customers.”
http://www.queerty.com/michael-lucas-explains-his-controversial-decision-to-make-condom-free-adult-films-20140331/#comment-817634
thezak
Compare The Strategy of BEFORE sex get tested TOGETHER for A VARIETY OF STDs then make an INFORMED decision, compare with regular testing but infected inbetween regular testing and inbetween infect another person. google “tested together”
PozSince1985
@thezak: Yes I do suggest people Google Tested Together, and look at the fear mongering drivel you posted in your Blog on January 3,2012 titled “Has anyone ever tried to kill someone by infecting them with HIV?”
It just drives me nuts how people respond to Pozzies. For some reason the first thought that enters the mind for a large portion of Neggies is “You’re mad as hell at the world for getting HIV, and you’re trying to get even by infecting as many people as possible.” I always wonder about those guys. Is that what they’d do if they got it? They thought of it first. Remind me again, which one of us is supposed to be the sociopath?
Are you one of those people Zak?
Time to update your blob Zac, it’s been over a year since your last entry, but you’ve had plenty of time spam this same message several times in this thread, and several others I’ve read.
Tested Together dot org is about straight couples starting a relationship. For gay couples there is a pilot program in Chicago and Atlanta. What about the rest of the gay world?
With high rates of seroconversion among gay male couples, primary partners are an often unrecognized and under-studied source of new HIV infections. Many young gay couples stop using condoms as soon as they officially decide they’ve begun a relationship.
If you’re starting a new relationship, and want to stop using condoms:
A. Get tested at the same time – Together if the local system permits
B. Keep using rubbers for three months
C. Test again.
D. Have a serious discussion negotiating safety for both of you. Agree that if either of you slips up and plays outside your relationship you will use a condom. If a rubber isn’t used, you will both talk honestly and openly about it. Be realistic – it might happen. Promise not to freak out if it does. Recognize that you will feel hurt. Remember that by discussing it openly you are showing each other love, respect, and protecting each other. Acknowledge to yourself that you just might be the one that slips up. Be firm and confident in your agreement. Maybe even write it out and sign it.
E. If the second set of tests are Negative for HIV and other STIs, then decide if you still want to stop using condoms.
F. If/when a slip-up happens, keep calm and remember your agreement. Discuss the incident openly and honestly. Get couples counselling if you need it.
G. Immediately start using condoms again.
H. Test – condoms for thee months – Test again.
I. Go back to letter D, and re-negotiate you mutual safety agreement.
J. Repeat as needed for hopefully a very long, loving and happy relationship.
Just “Testing Together” at the beginning of the relationship isn’t enough.
thezak
> Yes I do suggest people Google Tested Together, and look at the fear mongering drivel you posted in your Blog on January 3,2012 titled “Has anyone ever tried to kill someone by infecting them with HIV?”
http://goo.gl/RHRzTy
https://www.google.com/search?q=court+case+hiv+as+a+weapon+tried+to+kill
> It just drives me nuts how people respond to Pozzies. For some reason the first thought that enters the mind for a large portion of Neggies is “You’re mad as hell at the world for getting HIV, and you’re trying to get even by infecting as many people as possible.” I always wonder about those guys. Is that what they’d do if they got it? They thought of it first. Remind me again, which one of us is supposed to be the sociopath?
You can take credit for thinking first that I’m
mad as hell, although I’m not HIV positive,
and want to infect other people.
Why would that be your first thought about me?
Are you possibly a sociopath?
> Are you one of those people?
I don’t think so. But you get credit for being
the first to think that of me.
> Time to update your blob, it’s been over a year since your last entry, but you’ve had plenty of time spam this same message several times in this thread, and several others I’ve read.
Eclectic reading will help you see that there
are a lot of ways to think about this subject.
> Tested Together dot org is about straight couples starting a relationship. For gay couples there is a pilot program in Chicago and Atlanta. What about the rest of the gay world?
I’ve been working on the “get tested together”
issue for over thirty years. It takes a long time
for this way of doing things to change. But it
is finally happening.
> With high rates of seroconversion among gay male couples, primary partners are an often unrecognized and under-studied source of new HIV infections. Many young gay couples stop using condoms as soon as they officially decide they’ve begun a relationship.
Its almost as though they think being in love
can cure AIDS. Ah, young people and their
silly ideas about love!
> If you’re starting a new relationship, and want to stop using condoms:
> A. Get tested at the same time – Together if the local system permits
You don’t need to repeat my ideas here – although
repetition is a good way to learn something.
> B. Keep using rubbers for three months
Ditto.
> C. Test again.
Ditto.
> D. Have a serious discussion negotiating safety for both of you. Agree that if either of you slips up and plays outside your relationship you will use a condom. If a rubber isn’t used, you will both talk honestly and openly about it. Be realistic – it might happen. Promise not to freak out if it does. Recognize that you will feel hurt. Remember that by discussing it openly you are showing each other love, respect, and protecting each other. Acknowledge to yourself that you just might be the one that slips up. Be firm and confident in your agreement. Maybe even write it out and sign it.
This is looking like a complicated series of steps
that only an absolutely rational at all times person
could manage. Complexity and irrationality is how
the world will end up with a new HIV+ case.
> E. If the second set of tests are Negative for HIV and other STIs, then decide if you still want to stop using condoms.
In a perfect world with perfect people…
> F. If/when a slip-up happens, keep calm and remember your agreement. Discuss the incident openly and honestly. Get couples counselling if you need it.
Couples counseling doesn’t cure AIDS. Probably
better to consider a drug regimen.
> G. Immediately start using condoms again.
Maybe you should make a wall chart, covered
with plastic, that everyone can put on a wall
in their bedroom and/or bathroom. I smell a
brand new business!
> H. Test – condoms for thee months – Test again.
And they are gonna need a countdown clock,
or maybe an app for their phone, synched, so
they both know where they are in this regimen.
> I. Go back to letter D, and re-negotiate you mutual safety agreement.
I’m thinking a youtube video. Here’s a chance
for Hollywood to step up.
> J. Repeat as needed for hopefully a very long, loving and happy relationship.
That repeat thing means an increase in the
probability that someone is going to be a new
HIV+ case. Hope is just another irrational plan.
And this:
http://goo.gl/iyIHIW
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+long+do+marriages+and+couple+last+gay+and+straight
> Just “Testing Together” at the beginning of the relationship isn’t enough.
Finally, something we both agree with.
PozSince1985
@thezak: The problem with just getting Tested Together as a sole strategy at the beginning of the relationship is that it DOES NOT take into account the window period.
For example two guys start a new relationship, and both get tested. Since one of them caught HIV a few weeks ago, and hasn’t produced enough antibodies he still tests neg. He has an extremely high viral load, and is at his most infectious.
If they immediately stop using condoms, because they both are “Neg” at that fist test, the partner who truly is Neg has an EXTREMELY high chance of becoming Poz.
They need to continue using condoms for that potential three month window period, and test a second time. If that “new love” relationship can’t handle three months of condoms, was it really a relationship, or was it just serial monogamy?
If that second set of tests is negative, then, and only then can they stop using condoms.
I think a negotiate safety agreement is an important part of any new relationship. And no I don’t think it’s a overly complex thing. It’s a realistic discussion about the type of relationship they want. Possible choices are: monogamous, only play in 3-ways, or an open relationship, but they all need ground rules to keep the two primary partners safe. Even though they may be blinded by love at the beginning of the relationship, I think it is important to Realistically discuss how they will handle the situation if a slip-up occurs. Without an honest discussion about the possibility of a laps in judgment, if/when it happens the problem will just get hidden. That is exactly when the majority of new infections happen inside relationship. It DOES need to be discussed.
Perhaps I should have tossed in a point that if there is a slip-up, immediately start PEP. I covered that in other posts, but it is worth repeating here.
Isn’t it just common sense that IF one of the partners breaks the couple’s negotiated safety agreement, the whole process of condoms, testing and negotiated safety needs to be repeated? I think it is.
Yes, I think that people who purposely go out and spread HIV belong in a mental institution, or jail. The people who do that are rare, and sick individuals.
But YOU have chosen to perpetuate the fear that all Poz guys are sociopaths. In my experience, in most discussions about HIV on Queeriy, other message boards, and on hook-up sites, many Neggies portray all Poz guys as liers, hell bent to infecting others. “Pozzies lie about their status. They lie about being on meds. They lie about seeing their doctor regularly. They lie about their viral load.” What fear based, Stigma inducing crap. And that Stigma prevents people from getting tested.
In REALITY Poz guys were Responsible enough to get tested. They were responsible enough to start taking antretrovirals. Their future health depends on regularly taking their meds, and getting medical follow-up to ensure the ARVs are working. In their own self interest, and for the protection of their play partners, they follow their doctor’s orders. Almost all have an undetectable viral load. With an undetectable viral load it is Extremely unlikely that he can pass on the virus. That’s the basics of TasP. Doctors have been saying for a couple of years that an undetectable viral load provides as good protection as a condom, if not better. That has been backed up by the preliminary report from the European “Partner” study.
“No-one with an undetectable viral load, gay or heterosexual, transmits HIV in first two years of PARTNER study.
http://www.aidsmap.com/page/2832748/
No, I’m not suggesting barebacking with a Pozzie. What I am saying is that playing safely with a Pozzie is belt and suspenders level of protection. It’s the safety of condoms times two.
HIV is being spread by people who DO NOT know they are POZ.
Newly infected “Clean U B 2” guys who aren’t quite a clean as they though, have a viral load in the 10 million range. “D & D Free” men who’ve had it for months, have a viral load between 30,000 and 120,000. But they don’t get tested regularly. Some NEVER get tested. They are responsible for almost all the new infections. Studies say well over 83% of new infections are caused by those guys in the acute and chronic phases of infection. Compare those numbers to the undetectable Pozzie in developed world with a
viral load of less than 40.
Everyone needs to get tested regularly, not just guys starting a relationship! EVERYONE, including guys already IN long term existing partnerships. If sexually active get checked every three months. If in a stable relationship, once or twice a year is sufficient. If Poz, get on treatment. That is the basics of Treatment as Prevention — TasP. It is the single most important strategy to end the global pandemic.
thezak
> The problem with just getting Tested Together as a sole strategy at the beginning of the relationship is that it DOES NOT take into account the window period.
You need to give up the idea that pre-sex testing is
the only thing people should do. Or that doing it once
is the only thing to do.
> For example two guys start a new relationship, and both get tested. Since one of them caught HIV a few weeks ago, and hasn’t produced enough antibodies he still tests neg. He has an extremely high viral load, and is at his most infectious.
> If they immediately stop using condoms, because they both are “Neg” at that fist test, the partner who truly is Neg has an EXTREMELY high chance of becoming Poz.
You need to give up the idea that they should
stop using condoms just because they have
tested negative.
> They need to continue using condoms for that potential three month window period, and test a second time. If that “new love” relationship can’t handle three months of condoms, was it really a relationship, or was it just serial monogamy?
> If that second set of tests is negative, then, and only then can they stop using condoms.
> I think a negotiate safety agreement is an important part of any new relationship. And no I don’t think it’s a overly complex thing. It’s a realistic discussion about the type of relationship they want. Possible choices are: monogamous, only play in 3-ways, or an open relationship, but they all need ground rules to keep the two primary partners safe. Even though they may be blinded by love at the beginning of the relationship, I think it is important to Realistically discuss how they will handle the situation if a slip-up occurs. Without an honest discussion about the possibility of a laps in judgment, if/when it happens the problem will just get hidden. That is exactly when the majority of new infections happen inside relationship. It DOES need to be discussed.
> Perhaps I should have tossed in a point that if there is a slip-up, immediately start PEP. I covered that in other posts, but it is worth repeating here.
> Isn’t it just common sense that IF one of the partners breaks the couple’s negotiated safety agreement, the whole process of condoms, testing and negotiated safety needs to be repeated? I think it is.
> Yes, I think that people who purposely go out and spread HIV belong in a mental institution, or jail. The people who do that are rare, and sick individuals.
> But YOU have chosen to perpetuate the fear that all Poz guys are sociopaths.
You will have to point out exactly where someone has
said all Poz guys are sociopaths.
In my experience, in most discussions about HIV on Queeriy, other message boards, and on hook-up sites, many Neggies portray all Poz guys as liers, hell bent to infecting others. “Pozzies lie about their status. They lie about being on meds. They lie about seeing their doctor regularly. They lie about their viral load.” What fear based, Stigma inducing crap. And that Stigma prevents people from getting tested.
Anyone who refuses to get tested should probably
be avoided as a sexual partner.
> In REALITY Poz guys were Responsible enough to get tested. They were responsible enough to start taking antretrovirals. Their future health depends on regularly taking their meds, and getting medical follow-up to ensure the ARVs are working. In their own self interest, and for the protection of their play partners, they follow their doctor’s orders. Almost all have an undetectable viral load. With an undetectable viral load it is Extremely unlikely that he can pass on the virus. That’s the basics of TasP. Doctors have been saying for a couple of years that an undetectable viral load provides as good protection as a condom, if not better. That has been backed up by the preliminary report from the European “Partner” study.
“No-one with an undetectable viral load, gay or heterosexual, transmits HIV in first two years of PARTNER study.
http://www.aidsmap.com/page/2832748/
> No, I’m not suggesting barebacking with a Pozzie. What I am saying is that playing safely with a Pozzie is belt and suspenders level of protection. It’s the safety of condoms times two.
> HIV is being spread by people who DO NOT know they are POZ.
It is realistic to say that some who know they are
positive are also spreading HIV.
> Newly infected “Clean U B 2? guys who aren’t quite a clean as they though, have a viral load in the 10 million range. “D & D Free” men who’ve had it for months, have a viral load between 30,000 and 120,000. But they don’t get tested regularly. Some NEVER get tested. They are responsible for almost all the new infections. Studies say well over 83% of new infections are caused by those guys in the acute and chronic phases of infection. Compare those numbers to the undetectable Pozzie in developed world with a viral load of less than 40.
> Everyone needs to get tested regularly, not just guys starting a relationship! EVERYONE, including guys already IN long term existing partnerships. If sexually active get checked every three months. If in a stable relationship, once or twice a year is sufficient. If Poz, get on treatment. That is the basics of Treatment as Prevention — TasP. It is the single most important strategy to end the global pandemic.
Agreed. Thank you for joining those who have been
advocating testing for 30+ years.
PozSince1985
@thezak: If you were referring people to testingtogether.org we would be pretty much on the same page. They have developed an excellent program specifically for gay couples. It works because a couple has an emotional investment in each other, prior to the testing. One of the items testingtogether includes as part of the counselling/testing session, is a discussion similar to the negotiated safety agreement I described.
It is pretty clear that you haven’t read other pieces I posted in this thread. I very strongly advocate testing. I suggested that all sexually active gay men should get tested four times a year. I also stressed that guys in a relationship should get tested at least once a year. In addition, I also presented additional tools help stem the tide of new infections.
I quoted the title of a post from your own blog. The subject of which you seem it feel was important enough to retort with a google search for that same phrase. You even repeated the idea further down in your comments.
The point I tried to make is that the subject of that post, and your responses are hyperbole that increase stigma, and cast suspicion on all Poz people. News stories like the ones you linked to, creates an image in many Neg men’s minds. Even when all discussions are around only having safe sex, after revealing status, those Neg men respond with some variant of “You’re trying to infect me.”
Those stories create the kind of fear that caused some states and countries to enact extremely vague laws that have put Poz people in jail for spitting, mutual masturbation, or sex with a condom. People choose NOT to get tested because of those laws. They feel that it is better NOT TO KNOW their HIV status in the that kind of legal climate. The Global Commission on HIV and the Law recommends “Repeal punitive laws” and “Enact no laws that explicitly criminalise HIV transmission, exposure or non-disclosure of HIV status” as they are counterproductive in the global fight against HIV. Before anyone starts spewing on that topic, other laws already in the criminal code are perfectly adequate for situations where a twisted individual is acting with malice and intent.
You advocate testing together before any sexual hook-up. Of course even if your suggestion was followed, either guy could be in the window period. But that’s always a possibility, regardless of what testing strategy is used. It’s rare that a first time play date set up for tomorrow night actually shows up for the fun stuff. Good luck getting him to meet you at an STI clinic during business hours.
I suppose with the OraQuick test available in the USA, that strategy is now a realistic possibility in your country. Bought in groups of 3 they’re about $25 per test, making it $50 per evening of fun. I very much doubt many will adopt that approach for for a phone app or online hook-up.
For a ASAP connection, there is no preexisting relationship, or reason to supply emotional support if the test results don’t turn out as expected. I would truly fear for the mental, and physical heath of the guy who discovered his Poz status in that situation. The other guy would probably kick him to the curb, or run out the door if the newly discovered Pozzie was the host. And based on my personal experience when I have revealed my status, there would be some pretty nasty assertions made about his moral character. There is the possibility of the Neg guy turning violent. While the kits include a 1-800 number to call for post test counselling, would the man who ejected the Poz guy even give him that info? The mindset would be totally different than having chosen to test privately in his own home. Earlier this week I spent an hour on the phone with a guy who had attempted suicide as a result of a Poz test. Taking his own life would be the outcome for some who chose in home testing to meet your specifications.
To be blunt, the idea you are promoting is just as unrealistic Throbert’s proposal that all gay men should just stop having anal sex. Expecting everyone to play safe 100% of the time is a fantasy too. None of it fits into the REAL world of express hook-ups, sex on premises venues, PnP, condom use only 50% of the time, apathy, and a paralyzing level of stigma that prevents people from getting tested in the first place.
This story of a young gay man who didn’t get tested for several years, didn’t find out he was Poz, and didn’t get on treatment isn’t unique. It’s repeated tens of thousands of times that don’t reported in the press. The only reason this one got any traction was because of his porn background. Gay and other MSM are the only demographic where HIV infections are continuing to rise. The CDC predicts that one half of gay men 22 and younger today will be Poz by the time they are 50.
We need to employ all of the tools available. Test, Treat, TasP, PEP, PrEP, Talk, End Stigma, and yes even condoms. Universal access for all who need antiretrovirals, structural changes to keep Pozzies in the treatment cascade, and affordable PrEP must become reality. Future technologies, like Rectal Microbicide lubes, and three month injectable PrEP are needed too. We need to re-energize the LGBT community and press, before new infections rise past the worst levels of the early 90’s.
I find it interesting that thezak claims to have advocated testing for 30+ years. Especially since the first test was granted a patent on April 1, 1985. It was given FDA approval later that year. And as you can tell from my nickname, I learned my status shortly after the test came into use. For the math challenged, the first test is just past its 29th birthday. It started being used to diagnose Pozzies roughly 28 1/2 years ago.