BOXERS OR BRIEFS

Boxers, briefs, thongs or jocks - a gay man knows that there is something for everyone when it comes to underwear.  Whether you're strictly traditional with your whitey tighties, or you're bold and bare with your sexy and barely there bikinis, our undergarments can tell the world a lot about who we are.

Underwear speaks to our level of comfort - how comfortable we are with our own body being on display, and also our level of physical comfort.  Some guys like the support of a tight pair of briefs.  Other guys like the easy comfort of a loose pair of boxers.  Whatever your personal preference, you need only take a trip to a department store or flip through a catalog (International Male, anyone?) to know that there is a wide variety of ways to cover your most intimate parts.

One local designer is taking underwear a step further, and making it a true statement piece.  Bernard Buie has designed the "condom boxer."  This design is an effort to make underwear both sexy and functional.  No more fumbling to find a condom in that dark nightstand drawer - it's right there on you, in your convenient condom pocket!

Getting dressed for a date night?  Think you might get lucky?  Slip into your "condom boxers" and drop a condom (or two) into the convenient pocket on the leg of the boxers.  You'll be set for the night when the mood strikes you and your partner.  Interested to know more?  Check out their FB page here.

The Technology of Sex

Since the dawn of human existence the safest sex has always been to take your own breath away, hands- on (or not), the get off method.  Masturbation, like sex, transcends time.  Current advances in technology have changed the way we communicate, travel, stay healthy, and see the world; these changes were often premeditated and anticipated. However, mainstream media has done an excellent job of concealing the myriad of 21^st century post-masturbatory toys for the tech savvy mind and body. Although some of these toys were originally made for orifices of the female persuasion, there is no reason why any bodily hole should be neglected of pleasure from these “sexy-tech devices”.  I’ve picked out five of the most interesting and unique sex toys available.  Hours of technological labor and research went into the following five devices; all so that they could be the best fit, feel, and fuck when going into or onto you!   Be advised, unless you work for an amazing sex positive, non-profit like AID Atlanta you probably shouldn’t read any further if you are at your 9-5.

The NaughtiBod:

http://www.ohmibod.com/wired-vibrators/index.php

“Feel the vibrations of your favorite music”.  The folks at www.OhmiBod.com specialize in turning your mp3 players & smartphones into orgasmic catalysts. You’ll never listen to music the same way. Go “Ga” “GA!” while listening to Lady Gaga.

The Tenga Egg:

http://www.esmale.com/tenga/tenga-masturbator-egg-variety-pack-893-157-1506.php

Watch and amaze yourself! You’ll never look at eggs the same way. Tenga has hatched a truly unique and advanced product line. The egg masturbator comes in a variety of textures all designed with a unique textured skin meant for enhancing pleasure. No refrigeration necessary, unless you like it cold. Unlike the real thing, once you’ve cracked open the whites and yolk, you can wish, rinse and enjoy the egg a second time!

The FleshJack:

http://www.esmale.com/fleshjack/p0/158.htm

Ever fantasized about sleeping with your favorite gay porn star? Now you can! Well, at least with a lifelike duplicate of their ass or mouth. The FleshJack offers a range of male masturbators made from what they call “Real Feel Superskin”. Almost creepy close to the real orifices already, the sensation can even be made all the more realby inserting the sleeve in warm water before use to bring it to body temperature. Check out the demo below.

Aneros:  

http://www.esmale.com/aneros/p0/170.htm

The folks at Aneros specialize in prostate stimulation! Hours of research went into designing each Anero’s toy material, size, and shape! With the help of Aneros, guys can achieve their very best prostate stimulated orgasm. Find your very own mythical male g-spot with the unique line of products available.

The Googlher: 

http://fffff.at/diyds/googlher/

Welcome to the age of Vaginal or Anal web browsing! 

The Googlher is a device which plugs into your computer and triggers a bullet vibrator any time that Google pings your web browser (basically when Google spies what you’re doing).  The creators very own words were too good to paraphrase. “Mistrust and fear Google’s omnipotent ways no longer as the web giant profoundly soothes, touches, and moves you.”  Sex toys like these can be costly, but not to fear the folks over at F.A.T.  have us covered with instructions on how to make the device! It doesn’t look easy, but take a look at the demo video on the webpage and tell me it’s not worth the work! 

http://vimeo.com/30270233

SAY, YEAH!

Dine at Yeah Burger Virginia-Highland tomorrow (2/7/2012)

 and they donate 10% of everything sold to AID Atlanta!

YEAH?

Yeah Burger --  Virginia-Highland

Please tell them you are from AID Atlanta and how much you appreciate their support!

UNWRAPPED

Recently, the popular porn site SEAN CODY, announced that it would be releasing it's first installment featuring condomless sex.  The video, "Brandon & Pierce Unwrapped," is a first for the popular site.  SEAN CODY is not alone, however, and follows the lead of CORBIN FISHER - another popular video site that has also recently added bareback video clips.

The clips on SEAN CODY does come with a warning of sorts.  Before you view the video, it states: “Unprotected sex is not something we recommend or endorse.”  Huh??  By featuring a bareback video, are you not endorsing unprotected sex?

While bareback sex remains a high risk reality in the gay community, is it irresponsible for websites to feature such films?  Or, by not featuring condomless sex, do we fetishize this behavior and make it even more appealing to gay/bi men?  In the age of HIV/AIDS, what is the responsible stance to take?

You can read the full article here:  http://www.queerty.com/sean-cody-joins-the-bareback-bandwagon-20111228/

HAPPY HOLIGAYS!

It’s that most wonderful time of the year again! GO Atlanta wants to make sure you have everything you need to get your 2011 stockings filled.

Here are some queer friendly suggestions for the Holiday Season!

Get jittery for the Holiday with Gay Coffee!

Gay owned and operated— the Gay Coffee (http://www.gaycoffee.com) story begins in 2004 in a college town in Massachusetts in a tiny cafe built in a former ATM kiosk. Since then founder Melissa Krueger opened one of the very first Free Trade Coffee Shops in MA . Now a master coffee roaster Krueger and her partner launched GayCoffee.com- complete with flavors such as Red Hanky Roast, Weekend Pass, Second Date, Good Morning Mary!, and Stone Butch ( $13 each ).  1% of all profits are donated to the LGBT Task Force.

GO Atlanta appreciates a good cup of joe, as our Coffee Talk members can tell you.  Let us buy you a cup of coffee next year- look for new Coffee Talk dates and times in January on our main webpage.  These sessions are held in local coffee hotspots, and are focused on introducing men to our Gay Outreach.

Get in touch with your primitive side!

Planet Green brought the “Fabulous Life of the Beekman Boys” into the public eye. The show chronicles the life of Josh Kilmer-Purcell and his partner Brent Ridge as they learned how to become farmers and launch their lifestyle brand, Beekman 1802. While the show wasn't picked up by the Discovery Network for a third season, the Beekman name and product line is still alive and flourishing! (http://beekman1802.com/)

Available on their webpage are gifts sure to stand out underneath or beside any tree, bush, or other holiday appropriate plant.  Such as a personalized autographed copy of the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook by Brent and Josh and goat-milk soaps made on the Beekman 1802 farm. The A Year in the Country, Gift Set features a collection of 12 bars of soap, all hand and farm made, that captures the pairs’ favorite fragrances from a year spent at Beekman 1802. With fragrances like that of the December soap described as “Cutting down pine boughs for garland and returning home to warm cookies”- who wouldn’t appreciate this unique gift and smells? The gift set comes in a hand-crafted cedar tray with galvanized metal top and is $70 plus shipping.

Make underWeAR not war!

In coordination with this year’s DADT repeal the sexy elves over at 2(X)IST’s (www.2xist.com) winter wonderland  have released their new Military line for the winter. The underwear is modeled after modern combat uniforms and body armor and accents strong lines to reinforce masculine features. GO Atlanta supports our city’s sergeants and soldiers marching to the front of this holiday shopping lines with this sexy and stylish underwear.

Ask, tell, and remember!

Speaking of repealing DADT, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” a portrait work by Jeff Sheng  (starting at $24.95 at www.dadtbook.com and your local LGBT bookstores! ) is another great holigay find. The project showcases the portraits and stories of service members in the United States armed forces who secretly served under DADT.  These poignant photographs and beautiful, powerful stories are a good way to remember and celebrate this progressive moment in history.  

Without stories and discussions, our voices seldom find recognition. Let the New Year serve as a fresh start to tell your own story and learn more about our history as LGBT people.  GO Atlanta invites you next year to discuss topics such as the latter at our ONE NIGHT STANDS. Real men and real talk about issues that directly affect our lives and wellness of our community at large. Check our website WWW.GETUPANDGOATLANTA.COM for updates as to what we’ll discuss next!

Give a little love…

Philanthropy should always hold a line on your holiday to do list.  Atlanta is full of worthy causes that would benefit from a holiday donation.  Among those causes is Project Open Hand.  Project Open Hand exists to help prevent or better manage chronic disease by offering Comprehensive Nutrition Care to its clients here in Atlanta.  They are actively seeking volunteers to help package meals and drive meal delivery routes. This is the perfect opportunity to give back to the community while making new friends and connections along the way.  Remember this time of year is not just about receiving! For more information log onto http://www.projectopenhand.org

Shop Local:

With the recent noted financial struggles that LGBT owned bookstores like Outwrite Books & Coffee House (http://www.outwritebooks.com) in Midtown and Charis Books & More (http://www.charisbooksandmore.com/) in Little Five Points are facing here in Atlanta, GO Atlanta encourages everyone to spend their dollars in their very own gayborhood!

Tis the season to avoid the old adage- “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” by shopping and dining at the bookstores, clothing, novelty shops, and restaurants, that are locally LGBTIQQ owned.

For us Atlanta and Metro queers a good resource for trying out a new restaurant, looking up seasonal events, or finding a local queer friendly shop here in the city is:  http://www.gay-atlanta.com

At GO Atlanta we show our support through our monthly outreach initiatives. Our Out2Eat events encourage guys to try a new place and come together over a meal.  Our Happy Hours, for the 21 and up crowd, promote local gay bars and foster safer-sex discussion over a cocktail (or two)-first one’s on us!

Be sure to check our main webpage in January to see where we will go next!

Donate:

Next year marks AID Atlanta’s 30h year anniversary!  Since its humble beginnings in 1982, AID Atlanta has offered a broad range of services and has since grown to be the Southeast’s largest, most comprehensive AIDS Service Organization. Our mission here is to reduce new HIV infections and improve the quality of life of our members and the community by breaking barriers and building community. To this end, programs funded by AID Atlanta such as our own GO Atlanta, and the magnificent Evolution Center could not exist without the support of the LGBTIQ community.  We strive to our wits end at times to make our programs relevant to the community we service.

AID Atlanta has existed for 30 years because the agency recognizes that as our community grows and the landscape of Atlanta continues to shift, our message and commitment to reducing new and secondary HIV infections must become louder and more visible— or else we risk being swept underneath the populace’s rug.  “Reducing new HIV infections and improving the quality of life of our members” is not just the mission of our agency, but a commitment every staff, intern, and volunteer takes when working at the agency. By donating to the agency, you’re helping sustain the overall agency’s, GO Atlanta’s, and a myriad of other valuable program’s  continued growth and development towards seeing an end to new infections here in Atlanta, the US, and the world alike.

Click here to make a donation now!

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN

Had he lived, Ryan White would be 40 years old today.  It seems hard to imagine that he's been gone for 22 years.  Yet, it seems even harder to imagine that all of his acccomplishments happened in a brief five years - from the ages of 13 until 18.

Growing up, children often think of how we'll change the world around us.  Some of us dream to be teachers, impacting the world by educating those around us.  Others imagine themselves to be firefighters, military service people, or police officers.  The goal is to improve the world around them by protecting those that we love.  Still, others have loftier goals and they dream of changing the world by being senators, congressmen or even the President of the United States.  The common thread in all of these childhood dreams is that we can change the world.  I doubt, however, that any child dreams that they will be a martyr - dying for their cause.  Ryan White didn't live to see his dreams come true, but he instead had martyrdom forced upon him.

A hemophiliac since birth, Ryan White was one of the first children and one of the first hemophiliacs to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.  Ryan was diagnosed in 1984 - when HIV/AIDS was still very new and little was known about how it was spread.  Ryan's innocence stood in stark contrast to the spectre of AIDS infected homosexuals.  He forced discussions on an issue that people were uncomfortable with - and he caused a nation to deal with the pandemic that was beating down it's door.

Ryan gained notoriety because he wanted to go to school.  His family fought - and won - court battles to allow him to attend school with his friends.  His family fought for his chance to be NORMAL.  Ryan White was critical in educating a nation that HIV/AIDS can happen to anyone.  He showed a world that HIV is not a "gay" disease.  He taught a country that HIV/AIDs can not be spread through casual contact - and that positive people need not live a life any different than anyone else.

At the age of 18, Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, just months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name – the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act. The legislation has been reauthorized four times since – in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009 – and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.  Because of one little boy's courage - and his desire for normalcy - people are better educated about the facts of HIV/AIDS and have more access to drugs that allow them to live longer, healthier, happier lives.

Happy Birthday, Ryan.  In your short life, you changed the world.  I can only imagine what you would have accomplished had you been given the time.

STD's: What's the Real Risk?

Yesterday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released an annual report of statistics and trends for three rampant sexually transmitted diseases in the US. For the first time in ten years overall syphilis rates have decreased in the country.  While this is a wonderful step forward for our nation, the CDC still reports ungodly amounts of STDS in the US.  What should come as no surprise is, just like in previous years, communities of color, gay men, and MSM-identified men are still subject to highest rates of infection among the nation’s most prominent STDS. 

Here is a breakdown of where the nation stands with each STD:

Syphilis:

MSM make up 2/3 of all 2010 syphilis rates. Black MSM who have seen a 135% increase in syphilis from 2006-2010, found some alleviation this year with an 8.5 % drop in infections compared to last year. Hispanic communities saw a 9% increase in in syphilis. Caucasian communities saw a 3.65 % increase in syphilis rates.

Gonorrhea and Chlamydia:

The CDC recorded 1.3 million positive case of Chlamydia in 2010. Black women make up the largest numbers of both Gonorrhea and Chlamydia infections. The Hispanic community saw a 12 percent increase in both STDS.  White communities faced a 7.5 percent increase in Chlamydia infections and a 9.2 percent increase in gonorrhea infections. 

These results highlight dichotomy’s that exist across color lines:

Reuters did a telephone interview with Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. He explained the statistics in way that communicates the spread better.

Syphilis infections are 2.4 per 100,000 for Whites, 5.9 per 100,000 for Hispanics and 20 per 100,000 for African Americans.

Rates of chlamydia in African Americans are about 1,383 per 100,000, compared with 467 per 100,000 among Hispanics, and 166 per 100,000 for Whites.

For gonorrhea, rates for Whites are 26 per 100,000. Among Hispanics, rates are about three times that at 63 per 100,000, and among African Americans, the rates are 512 per 100,000.

Fenton explained the dichotomy’s across color lines as such:

"It's not because someone is black or Hispanic or white that results in the differences that we see in STDs. It's really what these represent in terms of differences in health insurance coverage, employment status, in ability to access preventive services or curative services. These are all factors which are going to have a huge impact on communities”.

What Fenton said hits the bull right in its eye. Barriers to healthcare services exist in Hispanic, black, and queer communities. These findings are very similar to CDC reports released in August on 2009’s new HIV infections—which pinpointed that while gay/bi men make up only 2% of the population, they are an astounding 61% of new infections. Young MSM (ages 13 to 29) were most affected, representing more than 1 in 4 (27%) of all new HIV infections nationally in 2009.

MSM and other community’s that historically have been and continue to be marginalized today, face the heaviest burden for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV alike. But it is not the fact that they are of color, gay, or sleep with men that is causing these disparities; the fact is that access to healthcare, education, and preventive services become limited by societal stigma. The reality is individuals that lie within the intersections of being both queer and of color are at the highest risk for these STDs and new HIV infections.

AID Atlanta is doing its part to alleviate the stigma by providing programs that target specific risk groups. With programs like Evolution, Deeper Love, SISTA SOL, and of course GO Atlanta, we hope to reduce the rates and change the patterns in which these STDS and the HIV virus is spreading. Our new web-based outreach series, A Gay in the Life, allows us to break through some of the barriers associated with accessibility. Programs like the ones found here are hopefully just the beginning of more culturally competent health-care systems and AIDS service organizations.

For a list of all the programs found here at AID Atlanta log on to www.aidatlanta.org

And to watch A Gay in the Life for yourself check out www.getupandgoatlanta.com