Heterosexuality

Heterosexuality https://www.dailykos.com/news/Heterosexuality News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 07:48:09 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 07:48:09 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) The Return of Freedom to Love Without Barriers. Part 2 - The Beginning of the End of HIV. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/14/1459871/-The-Return-of-Freedom-to-Love-Without-Barriers-Part-2-The-Beginning-of-the-End-of-HIV In my previous article <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/13/1456691/-The-Return-of-Freedom-to-Love-Without-Barriers-Part-1-The-Beginning">The Return of Freedom to Love Without Barriers. Part 1</a>, I told of the beginnings of the Free Love Movement, the contraceptive pill, and the Age of Sexual Enlightenment. We discussed the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic and the beginning of the Condom Era, where we learned that sex can kill you, and the term Safe Sex became a household word. In this closing article, I’d like to share what I believe to be the Beginning of the End of the HIV Epidemic. In 2003, the FDA approved a drug called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenofovir/emtricitabine">Truvada </a>for combination use in the treatment of HIV infection. This medication has been around now for almost twelve years. We know a lot about its side effects and contraindications, and we also know that the benefits of the drug for most people outweigh its manageable side effects. In 2012, the FDA approved that same drug, Truvada for use in a protocol called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-exposure_prophylaxis">PrEP, which stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis</a>. This once-a-day medication has been found through <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PrEPFactsFAQ">several clinical trials</a> to be near 100% effective in blocking the transmission of HIV to the individual taking the medication as long as the person maintains strong compliance with the protocol. This is a HUGE discovery. Finally, we have a protocol and medication that protects a person from contracting HIV. The only drawback is convincing healthy HIV-negative people who might be at risk to take the drug in large enough numbers to begin to see a decline in HIV infections. Those of us who have recognized the protection this provides have dubbed ourselves <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/prepwarrior">#PrEPWarrior</a>s. Others have pushed the lesser moniker of <a href="http://www.hivequal.org/hiv-equal-online/truvadawhore-goes-viral">#TruvadaWhore</a> upon us. Strangely I’m okay with that. What’s one more derisive epithet when we’re already used to so many? Promiscuous, Slut, Whore, Faggot, Queer, Sodomite, and Abomination among them -- at least Truvada-Whore shows my desire to become a part of the end of the HIV crisis. <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="DamonJacobsPrEP.jpg" src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/186153/large/DamonJacobsPrEP.jpg?1450053912" title="DamonJacobsPrEP.jpg"> <figcaption>Damon L. Jacobs #PrEPWarrior</figcaption> <div></div> </figure> A large <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/PrEPFacts/">Facebook Group</a> exists, devoted to providing sex positive, fact-based information about PrEP. This group founded by <a href="http://damonljacobs.com/">Damon L. Jacobs</a> has been a platform for him and many others to become staunch advocates of spreading the word about this protocol that I believe has the potential to end HIV in my lifetime. We’re almost back to picking up where we left off during the Sexual Revolution that was put on hold with the advent of HIV. There’s just a few little things muddying the waters that we need to clarify for the naysayers. <h4>CONDOMS ARE STILL REQUIRED TO STOP THE TRANSMISSION OF STI’S</h4> On the surface, this seems like an accurate statement, and I’ve no doubt that consistent condom use would indeed cause a decline in Sexually Transmitted Infections, but just as the “War On Drugs” has failed to curb drug usage, the “Consistent Condom Use” mantra has also failed. Even with the known threat of HIV, we still see non-barrier sex happening. We still see STI’s in numbers that show two things: Condom use isn’t consistent and for most STI’s the chance of becoming infected can occur even WITH responsible condom use. Most STI’s can occur through contact with areas outside of the those protected by barrier condoms, and I know of very few individuals that will consistently use a condom during oral sex. So with that said let’s go over the big ones. <h4>HERPES</h4> There are two versions of the herpes virus. <a href="http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2011/04/latest-genital-herpes">HSV-1, also known as “cold sores”, has an infection rate of around 90% of the population, and HSV-2, or “genital herpes” has an infection rate of around 70% of the population according to some sources.</a> Neither virus is considered life-threatening and once discovered and medicated pose more of a stigma than a realistic chance of transmission when treated correctly. <h4>GONNOHEREA, SYPHILIS, AND THE OTHERS</h4> While no one wants to contract an STI, none in this group are considered life-threatening when discovered and treated in a timely fashion. The PrEP protocol requires full STI testing every three months to ensure the earliest detection and treatment of infection. So let me dare say these words that I know might be held against me as setting a dangerous precedent. I believe that with the full understanding of the nature of these NON-HIV STI’s, two consenting adults, where at least one is on PrEP, with full disclosure could reasonably decide to have CONDOMLESS SEX. <figure class="image-captioned width-lg align-right"><img alt="IMG_7078.JPG" src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/186183/large/IMG_7078.JPG?1450058712" title="IMG_7078.JPG"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> There, I’ve said it. I’ve spoken against that great Taboo that has been drilled into us for over 30 years now. Non-Condom sex while on PrEP is not considered “unprotected” sex. Even the CDC has dropped the use of that term. The use of PrEP is deemed to be “protected” sex at least when it comes to transmission of HIV. No longer are we required to use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serosorting">serosorting </a>among our sex partners. PrEP Warriors are free to share the act of love and sex regardless of the other persons HIV status. PrEP has become a necessary part of my partner and my relationship. We choose to become these warriors, so we can enjoy the deep bond of sexual enjoyment with others, with each other, in three-ways or groups, in any combination that we desire. The freedom to love, as long as we harm none, in any way we choose among consenting adults. Before PrEP, few would chance a sexual act with an HIV-Positive person, and few people with HIV would chance the possible exposure of the virus to an individual they knew was HIV-Negative. <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="HarlemPrep.jpg" src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/186156/large/HarlemPrep.jpg?1450054004" title="HarlemPrep.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> PrEP is the great leveler. We can now return to our universal right to experience sex free from the barriers that were once needed to save our lives from a virus whose hold on us is already set to dwindle as more and more PrEP-Warriors step forward to begin the end of this disease. I also consider another group, if not heroes, at least, pioneers. Those among us that continue to live with HIV that can now be brought back into the fold, into the loving arms of friends and sexual partners, brought out of the shadows that they have been condemned to for so long. And lastly, I’d like to honor all of those souls we’ve lost to this epidemic. Those who have died, lonely, without the chance to live full lives and feel the nurturing love that is possible today, in no small part due to this medication called Truvada, and the Warriors like me who are fighting to end HIV in our lifetime. I’m a proud #PrEPWarrior. I’m a proud #TruvadaWhore. I choose to live my life with the freedom to love without barriers. I choose to become a part of the end of HIV. Will you join me? -Warmly, Woofhound Craig Braquet. rss@dailykos.com (Woofhound) Abomination AIDS barriers condom condomless damonljacobs Epidemic freelove Gay gonnoherea herpes Heterosexuality HIV Homosexuality HSV1 hsv2 LGBTQ prepwarrior Promiscuous protectedsex safersex SafeSex serosorting Sex Sexuality sexualrevolution Slut Sodomite STD sti Stigma syphilis truvadawhore unprotectedsex WaronDrugs whore woofhound _1459871 Mon, 14 Dec 2015 10:42:36 +0000 Lord, I prayed for blue eyes! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/5/23/1387244/-Lord-I-prayed-for-blue-eyes <div class="dkimg-l"><img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/144861/small/Alligator_eye.png?1432419879" alt="eye of alligator" width="250" height="165" /> <div class="dkimg-cap">my eye color--not blue!</div> </div> I've been swimming in the Kos pond for a while now, getting acquainted with the ecosystem.  I haven't found any super turtles yet.  But I did bump into my mentor, SOTS.  SOTS is actually not his full name, it is an acronym for "Socrates of the Swamps".  Sots has an interesting method of teaching--he does it by asking questions.  Now for this educational method to succeed, the student is presumed to have a brain.  Unfortunately, this excludes many turtles, and their devolved subspecies known as Repuglicans. For instance, I asked SOTS why almost all Alligators are agnostics.  After minimal contemplation, he replied by asking me about the religious beliefs of my parents.  This gave me pause because we gators are not strong on long relationships with our progenitors.   The reason that almost all alligators are agnostics is simply:  because their parents were! Unsurprisingly, this result can be generalized to humans.  Why are most Americans nominally Christian--because their parents were. So now we come to the point:  where does Nature end and Nurture begin?  The answer ain't so simple, as my mentor SOTS has explained to me on many occasions.  But I will defer this explanation to another time. rss@dailykos.com (Alligator Ed) alligator BlueEyes Compassion DNA Heterosexuality Homosexuality Prayer Socrates _1387244 Sat, 23 May 2015 23:28:25 +0000 New Pope Known to be Heterosexual https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/3/13/1193862/-New-Pope-Known-to-be-Heterosexual In a series of statements given to reporters, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said the the newly selected Pope Francis is "known to be heterosexual", and "not a pedophile" The Viennese Cardinal was responding to questions about the deliberations made in secrecy leading up to the selection of the new pontiff, who until today has been known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio Of Buenos Aires. "The Holy See is widely known to have never had homosexual relationships and is known to only be willing to have sex with  females" . "Cardinal Bergoglio has never had sex" with any person "as far as anyone knows." the Cardinal stated. "The Pope has never shown any interest in having sex with children", continued the Cardinal, "and we believe that includes female children as well as male children". "The Pope is strongly opposed to abortion." concluded the Austrian Cardinal. rss@dailykos.com (whataboutthosesheep) Catholic Church FakeNews Heterosexuality Homosexuality Humor newpope Pedophile Pedophilia Pope Satire _1193862 Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:51:41 +0000 Top Comments - Relative Culpability https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/24/1164455/-Top-Comments-Relative-Culpability I visited John Aravosis’s fine blog (<a href="http://americablog.com">Americablog</a>) earlier today (linked from one of his tweets) to read a <a href="http://americablog.com/2012/11/amnesty-international-suggests-being-gay-is-a-choice-in-story-about-uganda-kill-the-gays-bill.html">letter he wrote to Amnesty International</a> regarding a statement by Noel Kututwa, according to the letter, Amnesty International’s director for South Africa. Director Kututwa made a statement (quoted in Aravosis’s blog posting) condemning Ugandan ‘policy’ regarding gays, in which he apparently referred to sexual orientation as ‘a question of the right of an individual to choose how they want to live their lives.' <table border="2"> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Top%20Comments"></a><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/newthread/Top%20Comments" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i420/JanF-blog/J-Town/spinning_top.jpg" width="110" align="left" /></a><big>Top Comments</big> recognizes the previous day's Top Mojo and strives to promote each day's outstanding comments through nominations made by Kossacks like you. Please send comments (before 9:30pm ET) by email to topcomments@gmail.com or by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/newthread/Top%20Comments">our KosMail message board</a>. Just click on the Spinning Top to make a submission. 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Join us beneath the fleur de kos... </td> </tr> </table> rss@dailykos.com (BeninSC) AmnestyInternational CarlosCastaneda Choice Community culpability DeathPenalty havingtobelieve Heterosexuality Homosexuality JohnAravosis NoelKututwa politicsofblame Recommended relativeculpability SexualOrientation TopComments Uganda _1164455 Sun, 25 Nov 2012 03:00:11 +0000 Sorry But, I'm Not Coming To Your Wedding https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/5/22/978288/-Sorry-But-I-m-Not-Coming-To-Your-Wedding <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/opinion/22benjamin.html?_r=1&hp">This idea has merit to me</a>: <blockquote>"It’s true. I’m boycotting all heterosexual weddings. How utterly absurd to celebrate an institution that I am banned from in most of the country. It puzzles me, truth be told, that wedding invitations deluge me. Does a vegan frequent summer pig roasts? Do devout evangelicals crash couple-swapping parties? Do undocumented immigrants march in Minuteman rallies? Heterosexual ladies and gentlemen, please. Don’t mail me that wedding invitation. It’s going straight to the bin. " </blockquote> And just in time for the "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" season of tux rentals, and crystal vase purchases. rss@dailykos.com (Detroit Mark) equalmaritalrights Heterosexuality Homosexuality Marriage _978288 Sun, 22 May 2011 17:31:55 +0000 When you're young and gay.... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/4/5/963582/-When-you-re-young-and-gay You never think about getting old. Never. And once again this proves that there really is very little difference between gays and straights. The young people of any sexual orientation all live as if they will be eternally young, eternally desirable, and eternally beautiful. Reality check. rss@dailykos.com (tjlabs) bisexuality California Gay Heterosexuality Hypertension Manhattan Menwhohavesexwithmen Youth _963582 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:36:16 +0000 Baba Wawa: 'I was [Roy Cohn's] claim to heterosexuality' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/6/510331/-Baba-Wawa-I-was-Roy-Cohn-s-claim-to-heterosexuality This diary is cross-posted to <a href="http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/05/baba-wawa-i-was-roy-cohns-claim-to.html">my blog, where I've included a Time magazine cover from the 1950s of Cohn.</a> rss@dailykos.com (MPetrelis) BarbaraWalters beards Corporate Media CorporateMedia Heterosexuality RoyCohn TraditionalMedia _510331 Wed, 07 May 2008 00:05:40 +0000 I'm gay, nice to meet you. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/24/305571/-I-m-gay-nice-to-meet-you Coming out. I recently came out to a bunch of my friends, none were terribly surprised and all have been extremely supportive.  I'm really fortunate to know so many educated, progressive, and caring people.  This has been a much easier, more freeing, and cleansing (really) experience than I ever expected. The next group on my agenda is my family, which is going to be a little bit more complicated but not bad either, my parents and siblings are pretty cool people. But where do I go from there?  How does a gay person get along in society, at work, in the community, etc. without having to let every new person they meet aware of their sexuality.  Not that I want to hide who I am anymore, not at all.  I've just been trained to not wear it on my sleeve like so many people do, that I'm not sure how to communicate who I am to others without an overt, obvious statement. rss@dailykos.com (anthonyLA) Bisexual Gay heterosexual Heterosexuality Homosexual Homosexuality LGBT Sexuality _305571 Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:21:42 +0000 An argument for alternatives to heterosexuality (w/poll) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/5/184790/-An-argument-for-alternatives-to-heterosexuality-w-poll There are, of course, many alternatives to heterosexuality.  The ones that most people think of are homosexuality or bisexuality.  And then there are other forms of sexuality that most people would regard as perversions, such as necrophilia or frotteurism.  But what a lot of people don't think about is asexuality or celibacy, which is practiced by a surprisingly large number of people for a remarkably wide variety of reasons, many of which are not religious.  There are even some people who experience atrophy of the sexual organs because they don't use them at all, and there is actually some truth to the adage "use it or lose it." rss@dailykos.com (enthusiast) Bisexual celibacy Heterosexuality Homosexuality _184790 Mon, 06 Feb 2006 06:28:55 +0000 Not To Worry, Larry David https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/2/175647/-Not-To-Worry-Larry-David Maybe Larry David has a little extra time on his hands, a relationship gone bad, worries about losing his hair, chronic heartburn, who knows.  It's okay with me if Mr. David wants to skip Brokeback Mountain.  It's kinda sad though that Larry David needs to recycle an old Seinfeld episode or two and see his name in print in the New York Times to notify us that he won't be attending That Movie.     I remember a scene in a film called "In And Out" when Joan Cusack screams out, "Do you know how many times I had to sit through "Funny Lady" to Kevin Kline who has discovered that he's gay just before their wedding. Should I regret all the Seinfelds I've watched?  Of course not.  Nothing rubbed off except the talent of Mr. David and the perfect cast.  I repeat the lines to some friends and I never understand when they stare at me blankly and respond with, "Never watched it." "Too hetero."  "Too Jewish."  Call me naive but I only noticed the good work. rss@dailykos.com (tkn10015) BrokebackMountain Heterosexuality Seinfeld _175647 Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:36:31 +0000