Our nation's capital has so far made little progress in the fight against HIV, and part of the problem has to do with testing. Either D.C. residents are more reluctant to get tested than residents of other cities (not likely) or the Administration for HIV Policy and Programs has bungled the process of gathering the numbers thus far despite receiving gobs of federal funding.

The group has announced that before the end of this year they will be launching an aggressive new campaign to test everyone in the city between the ages of 14 and 84 for HIV. They will be distributing 80,000 oral HIV testing kits to area hospitals, local health organizations, and schools, and will also be holding screenings in Freedom Plaza, which began on Tuesday.

If you live in D.C., please go to Freedom Plaza and get a test. The oral tests are easy, painless, take 20 minutes, and the AHPP will keep your results completely confidential.

Testing Away HIV [Washington Post]

A new ad campaign is hitting New York City, and it's not the one where Gay.com takes over phone booths and bus stops. This campaign, "Silence = Meth," is the latest effort to bring attention to deadly crystal meth use in the gay community. Yesterday morning, NY1 explored the new awareness effort (a take on the 1980s' "Silence = Death" campaign) as part of of a series of programming devoted to gay pride. Even more fitting – given meth users' proclivity for anonymous, bareback sex – as we usher in the 25th anniversary of HIV/AIDS. Now, is anyone going to give a shit?

We've long argued to our friends – often while queuing in blood donation lines – that
it makes no sense for the Food and Drug Administration to continue banning the blood of gay men. In the 1980s, the FDA stopped taking donations from any man who had sex with another man since 1977, concluding the risk of transfusing HIV-infected blood was just too high. (Anyone who has had sex with a prostitute or had sex in exchange for drugs is similarly banned.)

But in this era of medical technology, blood in screened not once but twice for HIV. Sure, there is still a small percentage of HIV infections through transfusion (estimated at 1 per 2 million), but the chances of that occurring are far too small to continue banning the gay community from performing a civic responsibility. There's also the little matter of straight men and women carrying "the gay disease" as well, though their numbers may be fewer.

Which is why we're pleased to see today's Los Angeles Times editorial, which backs the American Red Cross' appeal to lift the ban. Blood banks, meanwhile, are also in favor of lifting the ban, so long as there are some more mild restrictions in place.

The blood banks have recommended that gay men who haven't had sex in a year be allowed to donate.

A temporary ban for gay men would still be needed. There's a window during which an individual can be infected with HIV and not test positive. And gay men in the U.S. have a much higher incidence of HIV infections than the rest of the population. So it's necessary to exclude those who have recently had sex, even with condoms. But the new tests can detect the virus within 11 days, on average, after infection. A ban of several weeks or months should be sufficient.

Another issue is that current guidelines fail to adequately take donor behavior into account. Questionnaires don't routinely ask about risky behavior, so even promiscuous heterosexuals can donate. Is blood from a monogamous, HIV-negative gay man more unsafe than blood from a heterosexual man who is sexually active with multiple partners?

Meanwhile, we've continued to donate blood to the American Red Cross, brushing past a certain checkbox on the questionnaire. We get regular HIV tests; we know what is, and isn't, in our blood. Though when we did some traveling in malaria-infested countries, sure, we let them know about that (and we "excused" from donating blood for six months).

So what's the proper course of action? Keep the ban? Lift it entirely? Or go the middleground route, relaxing the ban while still keeping certain restrictions for gay men in place, and/or adding additional background information to the questionnaire?

Let gay men donate blood [LAT]

• The unauthorized Star Trek spin-off Hidden Frontier takes the show's gay undertones one step further. Yep, it's possible. [AfterElton]

• On college campuses, out goes beer and in comes iPod as the "must have" thing. Threesomes with your frat brothers didn't even place! [GenDigital]

• The new HomoMojo lets you queens decide which queer crap you want to read. [HomoMojo]

• Just when the Los Angeles Times devotes quite a few column inches to the disintegrating interest of celebrities dedicated to the AIDS cause comes word that none other than David Beckham has teamed up with Motorola for MOTO(RED), a campaign to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa. [Gizmodo]

Without a doubt, AIDS is still a hot charitable topic in Hollywood. But it used to be the hot charitable topic. Now the A-list aren't just competing for roles in Ron Howard pictures but for charity dollars for their own causes. Cancer. MS. 9/11. Africa. The environment. Hurricane Katrina. Angelina Jolie, Barbra Streisand, Ellen DeGeneres, and Leonardo DiCaprio are becoming just as famous for their outreach as they are for their screen time.

Maybe it's the burnout factor. Or perhaps it's because Hollywood has a short attention span. But as AIDS enters its 25th year, it is no longer The Cause among celebrities. There is also the perception that AIDS now affects only developing nations instead of the U.S., where ever-improving medical cocktails are helping those with HIV live longer.

We can always count on Elton John and Liza Minelli to bring in the bucks for AIDS research and treatment. And keeping CO2 emissions down is a worthy cause. So is finding a cure for prostate cancer, helping Katrina victims find new homes, and making sure the people on the poorest continent in the world have enough food to eat.

But decreasing attention from celebrities seems to coincide with less funding for HIV/AIDS. Gone are the red ribbons from the Academy Awards red carpet, and gone too are budget increases for AIDS shelters. Choosing a charitable cause is quickly becoming a decision on which color ribbon or arm band matches you dress.

Goodbye AIDS. Celebs Move on to New Causes [LAT]

• Oprah insists she and Gayle King aren't gay, damnit. [QueerBeacon]

• How many professional athletes are gay? We may never know, but it's fun to speculate. [Blogcritics]

• The Sopranos' Joseph Gannascoli, who played the gay character Vito, is being sued by diet company Stacker 2 on charges he didn't do enough to promote the drug. Gannascoli's take: They didn't like him being gay on TV. [AP]

• If AIDS never exisited, what would life be like? [SoVo]

Prison guards may want to turn the other cheek when it comes to butt sex happening in the cell next to them, but the system is ignoring something larger and more dangerous than manlove by banning condoms in the prison system: HIV transmission. The official word is often that condoms could be used to smuggle drugs and are therefore not allowed to be given to prisoners. This forces prisoners who are concerned about spreading disease to find makeshift protection like rubber gloves.

And then there is the issue of those inmates serving life sentences who don't care if they contract HIV as it would only shorten their time in the clink.

Some states have protection available by request to married couples in jail and other states have it available for openly gay men, but with so many prisoners, gay and straight, having unprotected sex, there obviously needs to be a more comprehensive distribution of protection. Prison may be about punishment, but not every criminal deserves the death sentence.

Activists Fight for Basic Safe-sex Options for Prisoners [The NewStandard]

• Anderson Cooper actually talks like a twelve-year-old girl. [Dlisted] Plus his new memoir sells well, but not well enough to be on top. [Gawker]

• Switzerland's new "Love Life, Stop AIDS" campaign uses talking "love lips" that are made out of a condom to amuse visitors to their website. They even talk in different foreign accents, which we found very exotic and sexy. [Love Life Stop AIDS via PCJ]

• West Hollywood may be turning straight. [LA Times]

• A Congressional candidate in North Carolina has put out a new radio ad featuring mariachi music that warns against the dangers of America becoming "one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals." That sounds kind of fun to us. [Raw Story]

• A new Frontline documentary called The Age of Aids is premiering tonight on PBS. It's a two-parter, so make sure you have your cookies and Kleenex handy. [NY Times]

• Batwoman makes a triumphant lesbionic return to print. [BBC via Pam's House Blend]

• Britney Spears has posted a "stream of consciousness" poem on her official website that describes her unhappy marriage. It is called "Dickmatized." [Britneyspears.com]

• Brazil releases its first gay dictionary. We're not sure that we even have one of those in the U.S. [Made In Brazil]

• Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not want members of Parliament talking about the upcoming gay wedding between two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, because that is tantamount to sexy talk, and sexy talk is not allowed in government. [365 Gay]

Academy Award winner Matt Damon meets with AIDS survivors at a Zambian AIDS clinic.

Dear Matt Damon,

We would like to offer ourselves to you for marriage.

We love you so much. Never mind the fact that you are cuter than a basket of puppies, or that you're a brilliant writer with an Academy Award sitting on your mantle. Your trip to Africa, as a spokesperson for One, brought much-needed attention to various issues that Americans would rather ignore. While anyone can give lip service to the needs of the area, getting on a plane headed for Zambia and traipsing through the disease-ravaged region takes chutzpah.

An estimated 25.8 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2005, and approximately 3.1 million new infections occurred during that year. Americans generally ignore the issue, as HIV is seen as easily-treatible with medication; but it goes without saying that the people in these African nations have no way of getting their hands on any pills.

“To see so much hope from people who have so little made this an inspiring and life changing journey for me,” said Damon. “The promises America and other rich countries have made to Africa must be more than words. Those promises need to put hopeful children in school; help parents put roofs over the heads of their children; and get life saving AIDS medicines to the patients who need them now.”

Please don't give up on this issue. Your presence in those towns puts a lot of pressure on lawmakers, who decide whether or not to supply these people with the medicine they need. You rock. And you know…your home state of Massachusetts does accept gay marriages. We're all yours. Say the word.

Matt Damon Visits Africa With Data And One.org [DATA]

Flipping through old issues of HX, we found this story on Aid For AIDS, an organization that collects unused HIV medication and sends the pills overseas. Because of strict US laws against sharing medication, you can't legally give your unused pills to someone else in this country–and there are a lot of unused pills, when HIV meds become ineffective and Positive people need to switch to another cocktail. So the drugs are sent to Africa, where most people can't get any medication due to the high cost.

We think Aid For AIDS is one of the coolest organizations out there, and we applaud founder Jesus Aguais for demonstrating how one person with one good idea can improve the lives of so many people. These small organizations are really what creates change, bit by bit. Perhaps if you, or someone you know, has some pills sitting around, you can donate them as well?… For more information on Aguais and his work, go to Aid For Aids' website.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's you - thanks to Aid for AIDS [HX]

You have to register with HX to read the article, so we reprinted it below:

CONTINUED »

Who would have thought that things like the jacket pictured above could raise $700,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation? Well it happened last week in New York, as Sir Elton and hubby David Furnish cleaned all the tacky Italian couture out of their closets for the good of people living with AIDS.

We can't wait to see which New Yorkers show up to parties wearing the get-ups pictured after the jump. Please send us a tip if you see anyone out and about in these costumes.

CONTINUED »

• An AIDS pill already on the market has stopped monkeys from being infected with HIV. Humans tests will be underway soon. [AP]

• Morrissey loves baby seals too much to play a concert in Canada. [Pitchfork]

• Young straight couple kills old gay couple in Louisville. The mystery is the motive. [365 Gay]

• Former Canadian hostage James Loney was rescued from his Iraqi captors last Thursday, having been kept alive for months along with two other members of his Christian Peacemaker team. Loney decided it was better not to tell the religious extremists about his preference for penis, which was a smart move by everyone's estimation. [CBC]

• Taiwan legislators voted to include gays in their domestic violence protection law, citing the rough sex in Brokeback Mountain as evidence that gays are capable of causing each other physical pain. [Taipei Times]

• Don't ever try to predict what the people of New Hampshire will do. They Live Free or Die, for goodness sake, and that's what matters. Which means… Well, they are quite unpredictable, having voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. All we know right now is they most definitely do not want to change their constitution to ban gay marriage, and we're okay with that. [CBS 4 Boston]

• HIV infection rates are rising in Asia-Pacific countries, often because safe sex is less of a concern than the ten years in jail a man might have to serve if caught with a penis inside of him. In the savvier country of Thailand, HIV is also on the rise, but is reportedly the result of increased confidence based on the level of acceptance in that country (i.e., it's okay to be gay, so let's bareback!). We are puzzled by the new data. Is it just a cycle? Does a country first have to be educated and then die in huge numbers before smartening up about safe sex? [MSN]

• Down in Connecticut they already have civil unions that grant the two parties involved every right of marriage, but that's not good enough. Eight couples are suing for the right to "marry" in a "church" and eat "wedding cake" before arranging throwing the "bouquet." No more should these words be reserved for the straights. [365 Gay]

• Next week the International Lesbian and Gay Association will bring attention to gay issues at a conference that coincides with a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The goal is to encourage the U.N. to add "freedom of sexual orientation" to the list of rights defendable by the Commission. Some countries, however, hate their gays and strongly oppose such an addition. Is it okay for us to hate them too? Why, in the words of Brandon from Showdog Moms and Dads, do we always have to be the bigger person? [Reuters]

HIV continues to be an overwhelming problem for the gay community and the rest of the world, but researchers at the Center for Disease Prevention have made a possible stride in preventing infection. The test, involving monkeys, continued the trend of using AIDS drugs for prevention.

Dr. Walid Heneine of the Centers for Disease and Prevention studied rhesus monkeys that were injected with a version of Truvada — Gilead Sciences Inc.'s once-a-day pill that includes its drugs Viread, or tenofovir, and Emtriva, or emtracitibine.

The six monkeys that received the drug combination were all completely protected from infection. By comparison, nine monkeys that took part in a previous experiment all eventually became infected with the SHIV virus.

We have our fingers crossed for this one, but we do wonder if a “morning before” pill would really be all that valuable. Still, any progress is good progress, but we gays need to keep an eye on ethical considerations as well.

Drug combination prevents HIV infection in monkeys [Reuters]