LGBT News, Culture, Opinion and Conversations

As gay and bisexual men, it can be overwhelming -- and in some cases, downright exhausting -- to
keep HIV at the front of our minds and on the tip of our tongues. But talking about it, with a friend, a
doctor or a potential partner, can ease our anxieties and potentially change our thinking and our
actions for the better.
Nol Gordon
Foundation Project Manager, Human Rights Campaign
How do you win a war when the people who are supposed to be fighting it have become complacent?
While an HIV diagnosis may no longer be a death sentence, there are still 50,000 new HIV infections
in the United States every year -- and it will stay this way unless we actively stop it.
Kelsey Louie
Chief Executive Officer Gay Men's Health Crisis GMHC AIDS HIV
If HHS makes these designations, community health centers and other safety net providers will get
access to desperately needed federal funding to reach out to LGBT people and provide them with
culturally competent and affirming preventive care.
Forgive me if I'm not popping the champagne. In reality, this is nothing more than a publicity ploy to
quiet critics some of whom, by all accounts, are buying it hook, line and sinker.
A new survey from Pew shows that support for marriage
equality has dropped five percentage points since the start of the year, but there's no need for gay
and lesbian couples to panic -- at least not yet.
Between both our sons' adoptions, I can't count the number of times we uttered, "Well, that's just
not fair." Such as when a birth mom chooses the heterosexual couple that just finished their
application after your two-year wait.
For this Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, let's remind ourselves of all we have lost in the thirty-
three years of the epidemic. But let's also remember all we've gained, how we've grown as
individuals and a community, and why we have so much to live for.
John-Manuel Andriote
Journalist and author, 'Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America'; 'Hot Stuff: A Brief
History of Disco/Dance Music'; and 'Wilhelmina Goes Wandering'
Athletes have the power to inspire. When we have role models -- men who are basketball, soccer and
ice hockey players, women who are triathletes, beach volleyball players and runners -- we can
become more comfortable, confident and safe in how we identify and who we feel free to become.
Kristen Elechko
Athlete, Associate at Imagine Philanthropy, women's leadership addict, feminist, political junkie
For those of us who came or were coming of age during the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, our
experiences were shaped by this epidemic that was devastating our country and taking countless
lives.
This issue is about discrimination. This issue about saving lives (1.8 million lives, apparently!). This
issue is about doing the right thing. And yet, we can't seem to figure out how to arrive at that place
where we discard this hateful, deadly ban.
Why do politicians like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Gov. Bobby
Jindal still think it's OK to speak to groups that vilify the LGBT community with outrageous
propaganda and demonizing falsehoods? If racism is anathema to the GOP, why isn't overt anti-LGBT
bigotry equally repellent?
I'd like to present a thought experiment with two different questions posed by two different judges
during oral arguments on the legal right of gay couples to marry. Their inquiries relate to whether it
is constitutionally permissible to deny gay couples the right to marry because of purported concerns
relating to the welfare of children.
Roberta Kaplan
Partner, Litigation, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Co-Chair of the Board of Directors at
GMHC.
Last year, my fianc's sister, Julie, gave birth to a beautiful red-headed girl named Mira Celeste,
and it was then I found myself taking on the role of uncle. And with that new role came a slew of
fears I wasn't ready for.
Paul Florez
Co-founder, The Ink and Code; M.F.A. student, The New School
I recently saw a production of Stalking the Bogeyman at New World Stages in NYC. The play tells
the true story of David Holthouse: the rape he endured in 1978 as a 7-year old, and his plan, as an
adult, to murder his rapist.
This Thursday, September 25th commenced The Gathering 2014, the biggest funding confab of the
Protestant religious right.
Our community remains so susceptible to depression and suicide because, although we've made
great progress towards equality, we still remain vulnerable to discrimination, harassment and
rejection because of who we are and who we love.
We can hope that GX3: Everyone Games will steer the gaming industry from the cisgendered, white,
heterosexual man that represents it today. We can also hope that GX3 will continue to demand space
for gaymers without apology.
Blake O'Bryan Montgomery
Writer, teacher, and graphic designer. Interested in media, especially queer media. On the job hunt
in NYC.
At the end of a summer of wars, in the midst of a decade of wars, at the beginning of what may be
another century of wars, Sinister Wisdom publishes its ninety-fourth issue on the theme of Lesbians
and Exile.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gay-voices/