Muscle Wars-PICS-Health-News-Sep 26, 2011-
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Boycott Trump-TARGET-FOX NEWS/Murdoch-Salvation Army
Support Keith Olbermann's show "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" - new on "CURRENT TV" (air's nightly @ 8 PM EST (Mon - Fri). About time - as we need progressive un-censored news! Replays at 11 PM Eastern and 2 AM Eastern.
Alert: Target + Minnesota Forward + Tom Emmer = Support for a rather dangerous and radical political philosophy that diminishes LGBT people to pests that should be murdered. And "Target" is cool with this? In San Diego LGBT community peacefully canvassed customers near their stores. In return, TARGET is suing the LGBT community for voicing our right of FREE SPEECH! Update: Target lost in court! David beat Goliath! What should you do? Return everything you bought to TARGET and tell them why! ....Boycott TARGET!!!!!
Boycott Georgia for Execution of Troy Davis @ 11:08 EST, Sep 21, 2011:
- Former US President and Former GA Gov. Jimmy Carter felt that TROY DAVIS should be executed and deserved a re-trial.
- The Former Director of the FBI feels that TROY DAVIS Was Not Guilty!
- Do not drive through Goergia as it is dangerous. Do not fly via Atlanta. Do not travel to GA. TELL YOUR COMPANY NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CONVENTION IN GA! Georgia Executes Innocent People!
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Take Action:Health - Wellness - Exercise - Reflections:HIV/AIDS population aging
Older patients pose new challenges
Sun Sentinel - Andrea K. Walker, The Baltimore Sun - Sep 24, 2011When Malcolm Coley was diagnosed with HIV, he began preparing to die.
The Baltimore man, a former heroin user who suspects he contracted the virus by sharing needles, packed his bags and moved to Washington to live his last days closer to family.
"I figured the end was near," he says.
That was 1988. More than two decades later, Coley, 54, is, in his words, "still hanging around." He traded drugs long ago for a healthful diet, owns his own home, works for a Baltimore nonprofit and volunteers as an AIDS educator, talking to students and adults about living with HIV.
As advances in treatment have turned what was once a virtual death sentence into a livable condition, the HIV/AIDS population is aging.
Nationwide, people older than 50 are the fastest-growing segment of that population. By 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, they will make up more than half of the total number of people who are infected.
In the Baltimore area, the numbers are even more striking: Two-thirds of the region's HIV/AIDS population is between ages 45 and 64, according to a recent survey by the Greater Baltimore HIV Health Services Planning Council. Seven years ago, when the council conducted its last survey, the majority was between the ages of 25 and 44.
"It's become like a chronic disease," said Dorcas Baker, nurse site director for a Johns Hopkins AIDS education and training center. "People are living long and healthier lives with HIV."
While their survival amounts to a public health victory, it's also posing new medical and social challenges.
There are signs that the disease might cause premature aging and depression. Older patients might not have the support network to cope with the disease.
And some seniors who remain sexually active, but have no more need for birth control, are having unprotected sex, risking the further spread of the disease. People older than age 50 accounted for 17 percent of new diagnoses in 2009, according to the CDC.
"We definitely have to prepare ourselves for people living with HIV who are getting older and living longer," said Angela Wakhweya, deputy director of the Maryland Infectious Disease and Environmental Health Administration. "There is a need for us to prepare for the baby boomers who have HIV."
Improved care
As understanding of HIV/AIDS has evolved, treatments have become more effective.
Patients once were required to take several pills a day on a complicated schedule; the treatment caused side effects that included violent nausea.
Those who couldn't or wouldn't keep up with the regime stopped treatment, health officials say, endangering their lives.
Now patients can take as few as one pill a day, they say, and the side effects are comparatively mild.
"It is much easier to take," said Lori Fantry, medical director of the Evelyn Jordan Center, the University of Maryland's main cancer center.
"The side effects are not as bad." Fantry added. "We can treat people without harming the rest of the body."
But as treatment allows people to live longer with the disease, it also opens the door for them to pass it along to others.
Older people might not think they are at risk of HIV/AIDS, and it doesn't always occur to doctors to raise the subject.
But in fact, low estrogen levels might put post-menopausal women at greater risk of contracting the virus, according to Eva Hersh, chief medical officer at Chase Brexton Health Services in Baltimore. The low levels can cause vaginal dryness that can result in tears through which the virus can enter.
After seeing diagnoses in people they never would have suspected, doctors at Chase Brexton began screening all patients for HIV two years ago, even if they didn't have risk factors.
Anna Fowlkes was diagnosed with HIV in 2006 after she had unprotected sex with an old friend from high school she was romantically involved with.
The 64-year-old Baltimore woman says her friend knew that he was HIV-positive but didn't want to tell her for fear that she would break up with him.
She says now that she was too trusting.
"[I] didn't think about HIV, even though I knew better," Fowlkes said.
Fowlkes says the disease makes parts of her life, such as dating, complicated. But she doesn't look at it as a catastrophe.
"You can stay healthy for a long time, as long as you're compliant, if you take your medicine every day," Fowlkes said. "I take my medicine and live my life."
When Gregory Scott received his diagnosis in 1985, doctors told him he had three months to live. He says he dealt with the news by burying himself in his job as a marketing executive.
"My fear was that when you died of AIDS you broke out in festering scabs and became disgusting," the Towson man said. "I didn't want to be disgusting."
At 64, Scott is grateful to be alive. He has seen many people -- including his partner in the 1980s -- die of AIDS.
"I can still enjoy life," Scott said.
But he also says that his body has been worn down by the disease.
When his employer moved to Canada eight years later, Scott stayed in Baltimore with his doctors. His will to live seemed to disappear.
Scott was diagnosed with renal failure, diabetes and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Even today, he feels the disease is destroying his body.
Long-term affects
Health officials are watching how HIV/AIDS affects the body as it ages.
Those who have had the disease for many years seem to have a greater chance of developing inflammation-induced conditions such as kidney, bone, liver or lung disease. Some are also more prone to certain cancers.
There are also signs of premature aging in older patients. They are three to four times more likely to develop osteoporosis, according to medical studies, which increases their risk of fractures.
Mental health also can be affected. The stigma of the disease can prevent older patients from getting tested. They can risk isolating themselves, and might not have adequate support networks.
Public health officials have increased their focus on older HIV/AIDS patients. Age-specific support groups have sprouted up. Baltimore health officials have offered free HIV tests at the city's senior centers.
HIV/AIDS patients are also playing a role in speaking out about the issue.
Coley, the former heroin user, is one of them.
With his own home, his job and a healthful lifestyle, Coley is in many respects living a better life with HIV than before he contracted the virus. He says he hasn't taken drugs in 16 years.
He sees many more years of good living in his future. His grandmother died three years ago at age 98. Her sister is still alive at 106.
"Longevity runs in my family, " Coley said. "I suspect another good 20 or 30 years."
- Boycott advertisers of Glenn Beck's radio show and his guest spots on Fox News. Glenn Beck is anti-gay rights. Update: Boycott Successful: Update 4/7/2011: Beck has been fired by FOX NEWS! Radio stations dropping Beck as well in several locations. Now, tell FOX to stop having Beck as a Guest.
- Update: DADT has been repealed. President Obama has kept his promise!
- Boycott Bill O'Reilly and FOX News and their advertisers. Bill discussed a French commercial by McDonalds that was meant to show that McDonalds is Gay Friendly. Bill said what is next? Is McDonalds going to be Al-Qaida friendly as well? Imagine - Bill O'Reilly compares Gays to Al-Qaida! Boycott Fox's Owner "Rupert Murcoch" and get him thrown in jail for illegal - political donations, corruption, greed, bribery, hacking!
- Boycott Arizona the home of "hater" - U.S. Senator John McCain. Arizona's Hateful anti-Immigration Law - encourages racial profiling and increases hatred towards minorities. A remedy: Demand Republicans to support Immigration Reform (The Dream Act). Further, Senator McCain voted against ending DADT and Blocked Immigration reform!
- Boycott Target, Best Buy, Gold's Gym - for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations. Update: (12/26/2010): Target is continuing to donate to anti-gay groups/causes/politicians. Update 03/08/11 - Lady Gaga Ends Target Partnership, Reportedly Over Target's Poor LGBT Stance. Update 3/25/2010 - Target displays their hypocrisy and Sues California Gay Rights Group for Lobbying Outside Stores. Target is attempting to block the LGBT right of free speech! STOP SHOPPING AT TARGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Update 4/8/2011: Target lost its case to stop the LGBT from canvassing in front of their stores. A huge PR Disaster for TARGET! Perhaps Target should go out of business as they betrayed their investers and customer base. Target contributed massive funds to a politician who would like to exterminate gays. Now, Target can not stop us from Boycotting them, nor picketing, nor talking to customers near their stores; although, Target allows a anti-gay company such as the Salvation Army to stand outside their door and speak with customers and raise money. Isn't this a double standard?
- End DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). Prevents Federal employees and Gays in the Military from gaining equal benefits. Prevents Gay Partners from gaining equal benefits.
- Pass ENDA (Employee Non-Discrimination Act). ENDA would prevent employment discrimination of LGBT workforce.
- Boycott Salvation Army as they will not hire Gays! "DO NOT DONATE TO THEM."
- BOYCOTT "Chick-fil-a" for donating money to anti-gay groups.
- BOYCOTT KOCH INDUSTRIES PRODUCTS- to include their products: Angel Soft toilet paper / Brawny paper towels / Dixie plates, bowls, napkins & cups / Mardi Gras napkins and towels / Quilted Northern toilet paper / Soft 'n Gentle toilet paper / Sparkle napkins / Vanity fair napkins / Zee napkins / Georgia-Pacific paper products & envelopes / All Georgia-Pacific lumber & building products (INVISTA Products) / Lycra / Stainmaster Carpet. The billionaire - Koch brothers are ultra republican - tea bag founders/supporters that do not support causes of the LGBT community.
- Boycott WALMART - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, force criticized Wal-Mart for denying employee benefits to same-s-x partners and for failing to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. By comparison, the group said two other chain stores with a strong presence in New York, Costco and Walgreens, did much better.
- Remember David Kato, Gay activist - Uganda, who was slain because he is gay!
- "Tune Out Trump", Boycott all Trump Hotel, casinos, holdings, The Apprentice and NBC Network! At CPAC, Trump said he is considering a run for president as a Republican. In a interview with the Des Moines Register, Trump added that he opposes all forms of legal recognition for gay couples, not just marriage. "They should not be able to marry," he said. So why does NBC keep the Apprentice when Donald Trump has stated he may run for president? After making racist remarks about Obama and recv'g public backlash, Trump decided not to run for president after NBC renewed his awful TV Show. How can NBC re-new the clown's show after he pulled such hateful shenanigans? Boycott NBC! Boycott advertisers of The Apprentice and Trump's other business's. Don't shop at any bullding with Donald Trump's name to include Trump Hotels, Casinos, Condo's, Offices, Shops! The Donald has expressed extreme Hatred towards gays and blacks with his birther remarks and anti-gay rhetoric. Remember how poorly Trump treated Rosie O'Donnel? Now we know why he did that! It was hate against a lesbian as we now know he is biget. Unforgiveable! Again, Dump NBC because they air/re-newed Donald Trump's "The Apprentice"! Now the Donald Claims the Long Form Birth certificate is a fraud. And NBC keeps this guy?
This group is called "Peckers Pics." The English - slang definition of "pecker" is to pluck at the truth. Therefore, we peck at items such as Gay Men's Health, Male Fitness, Gay (LGBT) Politics & Issues. In this section you may peck at each photo in order to decide the winner of the "war of the fittest!" Whereas, you should select the "Guy" that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit!" Warning: This may stoke you!
Your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.
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2Shawn
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35Bernardo Velasco
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37Todd Morgan
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40Gene Murphy
41Fernando
42Marc Burgum
43Phil Vegas
44Sadik Hadzovic
You Decide!
London Pride; July 2, 2011
Stoked?
Paris Pride; June 25, 2011
Church leadership post for an openly gay Mormon
By Jessica Ravitz, CNN - Sep 24, 2011
Early on in life, Mitch Mayne knew exactly who he was.
He would race home from school to watch reruns of "Star Trek" and swoon over his crush, Captain Kirk. At 8, after his parents converted, he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith he embraced. Even after he drifted away from the LDS Church following his parents' divorce, he came back to Mormonism on his own in his mid-20s.
It is where he feels spiritually at home, irrespective of the fact that, for the past 10 years, he's been openly gay.
"I'm a man that lives in two worlds that a lot of people don't think intersect," Mayne said. "Both sides of myself exist in me. It's part of my DNA, part of my makeup."
Actively Mormon and openly gay: It's the sort of combo that might leave people wondering. After all, the LDS Church teaches that homosexuality, specifically if same-sex attractions are acted upon, is a sin. And the church has actively backed measures to ban same-sex marriages.
Now, Mayne finds himself in the spotlight as he embarks on a journey he says "belongs to all of us." In mid-August he was selected, or called (as Mormons say) by local church officials to serve in an LDS Church leadership position in San Francisco.
Mayne's appointment may have generated attention, but he's not the first gay Mormon to assume a leadership role in the church.
In Seattle, Washington, and Oakland, California, gay men have reportedly served in LDS Church leadership roles, Peggy Fletcher Stack wrote in her piece about Mayne in The Salt Lake Tribune. What makes Mayne unique, Stack said, is that he "may be the first local LDS leader to announce his orientation over the pulpit."
Late last month, from the pulpit, Mayne revealed - to anyone who didn't already know - who he is:"I am a gay Latter-day Saint."
"I don't want pity. To pity me is to make me a victim. I want understanding. To understand me is to love me as an equal."
"I don't want tolerance. If I am tolerated, I am disliked in some way. I want respect as a fellow striving child of God - an equal in his eyes."
"I don't want acceptance. To accept me is to graciously grant me the favor of your company. To accept me is to marginalize me with the assumption that I am less than you. I am your peer. I am neither above you nor below you."Mayne shared these words during a farewell address to the Oakland ward he long attended, amid an announcement that he would be leaving because he had been named the executive secretary to the bishop of the Bay Ward. It is a role in which he'll offer administrative help but also take part in shaping congregational work.
"While that's not a big accomplishment in and of itself," Mayne said, "it is a remarkable accomplishment for the simple fact that maybe for the first time, a man was called to a priesthood leadership position not in spite of the fact that he is gay, but partly because he is gay."
For those unfamiliar with LDS Church vernacular, a ward is essentially a congregation or, to use Catholic terminology, a parish. Various wards fall under the auspices of a stake, the rough equivalent of a diocese. In this case, the Bay Ward is one of three wards that make up the San Francisco Stake.
The LDS Church, which entrusts local leaders to determine local callings, does not pay clergy, nor does it send would-be bishops to seminary. So Mayne, like the bishop who called him to serve, is a volunteer who works for the church on top of his full-time corporate communications job.
Don Fletcher, an ophthalmologist, said that when he was called last month to serve as the bishop and leader of the Bay Ward he wanted to make sure every Latter-day Saint in his ward knew they were welcome, including the vast majority who weren't showing up. Of the 950 members on the books, only 150 were appearing in the pews.
Because the Bay Ward serves a geographic area in San Francisco that includes the famously gay, rainbow-flag-waving Castro neighborhood, it stands to reason that a segment of those not attending church are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Among those who have been absent are members who grew up steeped in Mormonism, faithfully served as missionaries and have families still active in the church. For Fletcher, making members of the LGBT community feel comfortable enough to walk through his congregation's doors is personal.
Fletcher has a gay family member with AIDS and says he has seen firsthand how isolating that can be in the Mormon world.
"I love my church and have a lot of faith, but culturally we haven't done a good job in dealing with people who are gay when they face life challenges," whether that be coming out, depression or struggles with suicide or illness, Fletcher said. "I wanted to address it in the ward I live in."
The response in his ward, and from other Mormons he has heard from, has been nothing but positive, "uniformly, no exception," the bishop said. And, he added with a laugh, in the past month he's broadened his own knowledge -- or, rather, his lingo base - learning about "the 'Moho community,' Mormons who are homosexual. That was a new one to me."
The LDS Church's top leadership, and by extension many Mormons sitting in pews, heavily supported the campaign behind Proposition 8, the 2008 California initiative to ban same-sex marriage, which is currently tied up in the state's high court.
Church doctrine says members should avoid sexual relations until marriage, which only can exist between a man and a woman. But the church's involvement in the Prop 8 battle, and the Mormons who financially fueled the effort, created rifts in wards, spawned protests outside LDS temples and pushed some members, likely already on the churchgoing fence, out the door.
The Oakland First Ward, which Mayne attended for more than a decade, held a series of meetings to help heal those post-Prop 8 wounds. He said he sees his new church position in San Francisco's Bay Ward as an extension of such bridge-building and a positive evolution from where he once was. The appointment will allow him to do extensive outreach in the LGBT and Mormon communities.
"It's been hard to be a gay Mormon," Mayne said. In the course of his life, he said he came out "no less than three times to bishops and stake presidents, and each time I was pushed back into the closet. … This is an opportunity to take my own pain and challenges and make it an opportunity to help. How can I not do that?"
He and Fletcher have already seen dividends from Mayne's calling. On a recent Sunday, Fletcher said he looked out to see seven formerly absent members take their seats in the pews because Mayne is there.
"I talked to a couple that hadn't been to church in 20 years," Fletcher said. "I'm not reinventing doctrine. I'm just trying to put in place what Jesus Christ would have us doing. … Even if you're in a gay relationship and have no interest in living all the commandments, you're still welcome in church, by all means."
The development has stirred up discussion far beyond California. In one week, Mayne said, his personal website, which links to a blog in which he writes openly about who he is, received 30,000 views from 67 countries.
"I'm not a lone wolf on this," he said. "I just happen to be a face of it. … There is a place for everyone at our savior's table."
But not everyone is as confident that Mayne's calling will make a difference.
"I'm conflicted about this," said Eric Ethington of Salt Lake City, the founder of the LGBT blog PRIDEinUtah.
"On the one hand, I view this as a positive step forward for the church, a church that has a history of extreme persecutions against the LGBT community," he said. "But on the other hand, I worry about LGBT people … because the church teaches you that you cannot reach your full potential and have full acceptance in the church unless you marry someone of the opposite sex."
Ethington was raised in the LDS Church and says he was kicked out of the house when he came out at 17. He later closeted himself and married a woman in an LDS temple, only to divorce a couple of years later after realizing he was kidding himself.
"I can't share (Mitch's) optimism, but I share his hope," he said. "Whether the church is ever going to change its policies, that's a question for (LDS Church President) Thomas Monson. But one thing I hope the church will do, and maybe Mitch can help with this, is educate local leadership. Some kids are gay. … And that's OK."
Ethington pointed out, though, that Mayne, who was in a longtime monogamous relationship until a year ago, was only able to get his church calling because he's not currently with someone.
"If he falls in love again and wants to be with that man, he won't be allowed to serve," he said.
Matt Mosman, a high councilor with the San Francisco Stake, said that if Mayne were to find himself in another romantic relationship, there would be an expectation that he would step down.
But the expectation that Mayne will abstain from premarital sex while in a leadership role, Mosman added, is no different from what would be expected of a single man who is not gay.
"The idea that a gay man who is not currently active in a gay relationship could serve actively in a high-ranking calling -- that is a policy in the Mormon church that you could argue has been around since the church's inception," said Mosman, who works in corporate development.
For now, Mayne looks forward to his service and to promoting conversations and understanding. He will not, however, commit to a life of celibacy and hopes, "for all my gay brothers and sisters," that same-sex marriage will someday be an option.
"I'm not saying I have an intent to go out and sin," he said. "Here's where I am; I am able and willing to serve. But I don't have a crystal ball and don't know what the future holds."
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Lady Gaga Sings Tribute to Bullying Victim Jamey Rodemeyer
Gawker - Sep 25, 2011
Jamey Rodemeyer--the 14-year-old high school freshman from Buffalo, N.Y. who recently committed suicide after enduring years of bullying for his sexuality--was buried by his family yesterday, and in his honor Lady Gaga dedicated her iHeartRadio Music Festival performance of "Hair" to him. Rodemeyer was a huge Gaga fan, and even thanked her in his final blog post. His death seems to have had a profound effect on the pop star, who's announced on her Twitter that she wants to meet with President Obama to press for legislation that would make bullying a hate crime.
A criminal investigation into Rodemeyer's death is underway, and police say some students might be charged with harassment, cyberharassment, or hate crimes. "The abuse Rodemeyer and others like him endure--gay teens are as much as four times as likely to kill themselves as heterosexuals--is a reminder of how far we are from a day when sexual orientation is no bigger a deal than someone's hair color," writes columnist Donn Esmonde in today's Buffalo News. "There is little doubt in my mind that the gay-hostile climate gay teens live in is shaped by a society that still delivers a spirit-breaking message: If you are gay, there is something wrong with you."
Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."
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