The Body: Complete HIV/AIDS Resource

Another day, another opportunity for our elected officials to completely expose themselves for being entirely out of touch with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in this country.

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I know now where I got it, THIS. I no longer need a man-map trying to retrace my who's and where's of the years past. One email answered it all today. I sent an email to one of my ex-boyfriends' exes via Facebook a few weeks ago. I've known they were not together for a few months now. I noticed she was single again, and I sent her an email. We're not friends, but we KNOW each other. We have for years. I just dropped her a line saying I had no idea what happened with THEM, but I hoped she had a good new year and found a guy who treated her better than our ex. She wrote me back.

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"I came to say my goodbye." The words struck like a sledgehammer right to the gut. Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Old friends and newcomers were taken aback in an almost audible gasp. Those were the words of Mike ___________ as he checked in with our group of men that attend "LIFE Experience".

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Planned Parenthood is once again under attack but this time from someone that was once a strong ally. The Susan G. Komen Foundation announced that they would cease all financial support of Planned Parenthood because the organization is under congressional investigation. Critics say that the Komen is succumbing to political pressure because Planned Parenthood has been scrutinized lately for providing abortions. The Komen Foundation vehemently denies this by saying in a released statement "We are dismayed and extremely disappointed that actions we have taken to strengthen our granting process have been widely mischaracterized." Their decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood not only hampers breast cancer prevention but it also cuts into HIV and STD screenings and prevention as well.

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The advent of HIV in our lives coincided with the beginning of a western obsession with alternative self-help and self-medication. Not that HIV was responsible for that but people with HIV were desperate to find ways of improving and extending their lives; many alternative therapies were adopted and in many cases maintained to this day. However, the biggest boom was in the use of supplements to our diets to improve general health and hopefully boost our immune systems. The rest of the population was on board because the idea of taking a few pills beat dieting and exercise hands down, and the western world at that time just wanted to look like Lee Majors and Jane Fonda. For some reason, it didn't click with the general couch-potato population that supplements were exactly that and no substitute for healthy eating and exercise.

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This Sunday February 5th at 9pm EST Robert will be speaking with Olympic Gold Medalist Greg Louganis. Openly gay and HIV-positive Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis wants to show off his moves on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" next season. Louganis fans have created a Facebook campaign asking ABC to extend an invitation to Louganis, and the campaign is getting some attention with over 1,800 people supporting it. Show your support.

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What if you could witness a face-to-face confrontation between a man living with HIV and the sex partner accusing him of not revealing his status? Wouldn't you like to be a fly on that wall? The fireworks could be mighty, as emotions raged between the furious accuser and the positive person trying to defend his actions. What might that meeting look like, exactly?

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Have you heard the news? Many of you have by now. The slate of plenary speakers has been announced for the 2012 International AIDS Conference. The plenary speakers will begin each day of the conference, which is set for July 21st through July 27th 2012 here in DC. The line up of speakers includes a range of leaders from global organizations. They are all well-known and respected experts in the fields of science, politics, and advocacy. But there's a blank space in the list of speakers on HIV/AIDS that leads keen observers question: where are the female speakers who are openly living with HIV?

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the HHS Office of the National Coordinator are hosting the first "Care Innovations Summit" in Washington, DC today to "showcase innovative work in care delivery and payment." The Summit will bring together leading innovators from inside and outside the healthcare industry to encourage and promote knowledge-sharing, "matchmaking," and engagement to drive transformation of our healthcare system.

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I know ... I know, I've been missing in action, but really it seems like I've been missing a part of me. Like my spirit just walked right out of my body and left a 160-pound shell. Yes, I said a 160-pound shell, but that's another topic altogether. Let me be honest here, this herpes is giving me the freaking blues. For Real! I'm so sick of being on IV medication I can't think straight. No forget that, I can't even think.

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On Sunday January 15th at 9pm EST, Greg Halpen shared his story on POZIAM RADIO. Greg is a self-mastery coach and healer. It was a late summer day in August of 1997 when Greg Halpen went to his follow up HIV test appointment. It was result time. He had met someone new, and thought he would FINALLY get tested. But he wasn't ready for what was in store for him. The news? He tested positive for HIV. That day felt like the last day of the rest of his life.

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I know I should have written this before. But I was dealing with my mixed emotions about Bonnie's death and wanted to let them settle first. When I found out she had died, my heart sank. But it did not sink like it had in the past when most of my friends died of AIDS after a long battle for which I was present. This time it was different. Here is a woman that I thought I knew well and that I was kind of pissed at for the last year or so. She had not returned my calls or emails wanting to chat like we used to when she used to be with TheBody.com. But it never crossed my mind that she was struggling with a health issue.

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In May 2008, a homeless, HIV+ man was sentenced to 35 years in prison for assaulting a police officer with a "deadly weapon," his saliva! Willie Campbell, who was clearly intoxicated at the time, has been HIV+ since 1994 and has a history of aggressive behavior with public servants, will have to serve at least 17.5 years to be eligible for parole. The police officers were not infected. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), although there have been a few rare cases of transmission through severe bites, "contact with saliva, tears or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of H.I.V."

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I can't believe how many years I have been doing this. I got tested once for HIV, and now I still get my blood tested every three months to see what the virus is doing in my body. For the past 23 years, I have been doing this! Twenty three years ago, I remember getting "tested" every other month. During one stint, I was getting my blood tested every month. That was a bummer.

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Well, there you see it ... the scale! Most women have some ongoing love/hate relationship with their scales. Add HIV or AIDS to the equation, and you get a whole 'nutha dynamic. I have been talking and writing off an on about my struggle with my weight. And I must say again, that it is not really MY struggle, but other people's struggle with where THEY think I should be as far as weight goes.

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When I was thinking about moving here about 10 years ago, to attend seminary, my first concern was: where am I going to receive medical care. I reached out to someone here, who referred me to Philadelphia Fight ... and I met Lizzy, and we have hung tough for almost 9 years!

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Hi Everybody! I am excited to become one of "thebody.com" bloggers on this site. I come here often and have been checking out a lot of your blogs, and you folks are pretty amazing! I have been around the "proverbial block of cyber-land" for many years now. I remember when "Prodigy" was the one of the first online services, the other was CompuServe. I have belonged to many online groups AND a majority of online personals sites, and one of the first things they always ask is for you to provide a short intro about who you are. It has always been a headache.

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Butch McKay is currently Executive Director of Okaloosa AIDS Support and Informational Services, Inc. (OASIS), a position he has held since 1996. He founded the Positive Living Conference Series in 1997. Butch has been involved in the AIDS arena for 24 years, starting his career as a volunteer with Birmingham AIDS Outreach and UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) AIDS Clinic and Research Center.

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Maryland's oldest and longest serving Senator Norman Stone (Democrat from Baltimore County) proposed the bill (Senate Bill 60) to raise the transmission of HIV from a Misdemeanor to a Felony charge. The bill currently has no co-sponsor in the Senate.

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On Sunday December 18th at 9pm EST, Robert and Jack spoke with Bishop Joyce Turner Keller on the POZ I AM Radio Show. Bishop Joyce has lofted the term "southern hospitality" to an entirely new level. She is not only the founder and CEO of Aspirations, a non-profit faith-based community service organization, but someone who is living with HIV/AIDS herself, and has dedicated herself to educating, supporting and inspiring others living with HIV/AIDS throughout the nation.

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