gay men’s issues
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When the tester announced that it was time to reveal the test, my stomach turned. Lifting up the plastic cover, he stopped. He didn’t look up with a smile like he had the last time. I suddenly felt suffocated.
Dear Brent,
I used to love online socializing, but I’m concerned now that it has become the new norm in the gay scene.
I worry that we are all so disconnected and have lost the ability to connect on any organic level. I also worry for bars, clubs, and other gay establishments because people aren’t going out as much. Is human contact going to be reduced to one hour of chatting online, 15 minutes of sex, and then back to solitude?
When I stumbled upon a remote STD testing center set up in the bathhouse, I thought it was a match made in heaven: bawdy, sexy heaven. That would be my new guilt-free reason to go to the bathhouse. Any hot and heavy action there would be a reward for my good safety measures.
In this culture, evidently it’s the idea of the career or life that would be risked by this sort of expressive freedom – not the digital record that would put it at risk – that feels like ‘baggage.’
Mr. Poodle explained to an Atlanta gay magazine that he was infected by an ex-boyfriend who hadn’t disclosed his status. Poodle said he pressed charges and the ex is now serving a five-year prison sentence. He said turning his ex in ‘was the right thing to do.’
Try to keep score this week and see how many of these you can identify from yourself and others around you.
I had just been serosorted; that term is for the act of sorting out guys by their HIV status. It had happened to me often online, but never to my face.
Brent, A few weeks ago I was diagnosed HIV-positive. It was a total shock.
The week before, a former coworker called to say that her company had a position open. Since social work can be a bit female-dominated, the organization wanted to hire a male. Nonetheless, I didn’t need to switch jobs.
Feb. 6, 2013 Cover Story – Real local stories from Colorado LGBT couples in love
