The AIDS Frenzy(Or Relative Lack Thereof)

The other evening, my girlfriend and I sat watching the 6'o clock news which is pretty customary for us during the week. The news was highlighting Washington D.C.'s hosting of the 19th Annual International AIDS Conference. The conference bills itself as the 'premier' gathering for those working in, studying and living with  AIDS coming together in search of ways to end the pandemic. It provides a structured dialogue for those with scientific knowledge of new and groundbreaking studies aimed at creating a more unified global response to the disease. This is all well and good, but there was something stated, or perhaps understated by one of the anchors that chilled my girlfriend and I to the bone. The statement was the fact that *60% of gay black males will have contracted the HIV virus by the age of 40.

What?

Now, I didn't know whether or not that statement was fact so I did some digging myself. Here's what I did find:

• Each year, nearly 3% of gay black men become infected with HIV, a 50% higher rate than among their white counterparts.
• The new-infection rate in gay black men under 30 is even higher, at 6% a year
• The majority of the men in the study identified themselves as black. Not all the men identified themselves as gay or bisexual, but all the participants were having unprotected sex with men. More than 97% of men enrolled were willing to have an HIV test, and the results suggest that many men are not fully aware of their HIV risk: among those who thought they were HIV-negative or didn’t know their status, 12% tested positive.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that from 2006 to 2009, HIV infections among black gay and bisexual men under 30 increased 48% and that African Americans are overall disproportionately affected by HIV. Blacks make up 14% of the U.S. population, but account for 44% of all new HIV infections. According to 2009 data, 73% of new infections in black men are in gay and bisexual men.

The numbers come from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study, conducted between 2009 and 2011, involved 1,553 gay and bisexual men from Atlanta, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

I ask again, why? Not only that, but what could be the ramifications for this outside of the gay community?

I'm quite sure there are many reasons, and this is course is not meant to solely single out Black gay males. What it's meant to do is call out all of us. We all play a part in this. How you may ask?

It's obvious there's an epidemic in our community of Black men who sleep with not only other men, but women as well. They hide their true selves in an attempt to be accepted, because they know that being a Black male and gay leads to ridicule at best, maybe death at worst. Why have we made it so hard for these men to come out? (That could be a topic for another time) Do we not realize that such behavior hurts our entire community? It's led to Black women being the highest amount of new HIV cases among any group. Women as a whole account for 1/25th of new HIV cases, with Black women accounting for 66% of that total. Black women are only 14% of the female population, but 66% of new HIV cases among women! Look at that awful disparity! WAKE UP!!!

A few simple rules:

• Always wear protection with your partner
• Ask your partner to be tested, as a matter of fact-go together and look at the paperwork, if they throw a fit-then they aren't worth sleeping with. Simple as that.
• Ladies, if you suspect your dude is 'suspect', ask questions-it's your health and your right.

There are many gay men that live their lives out in the open and should be congratulated for it, I'm sure it's not easy. But there are many males who do not, who wear a mask in order to be accepted or to fit in. We have to find ways to make people feel okay to be themselves. It's a matter of life and death.

*a black gay man has a 1 in 4 chance of becoming infected by age 25; by age 40, he has a 60% of becoming HIV positive. ( I found the real fact, they had misspoken apparently, or maybe it wasn't an accident...)

Fixed Gear Bike Frenzy!!!

So for my 35th birthday I had a fixed-gear bike made for me. My boy Frank has been working on it for awhile under my 'creative direction' and control. It was made to resemble Iron Man's Mark 7 armor. Obviously, I'm a big Iron Man fan and this build was exciting and turned out great! Do you know what a fixie is?

From Wiki:

Fixed-gear bicycle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed-wheel bicycle, sometimes known as a fixie) is a bicycle that has no freewheel, meaning it cannot coast, because the pedals are always moving when the bicycle is in motion.In Australia, "fixed-wheel" is the normal term for the subject of this article—meaning the opposite of freewheel, and "fixed-gear" usually refers to a single-speed bicycle.

The sprocket, or cog, is threaded or bolted directly to a fixed rear hub. When the rear wheel turns, the pedals turn in the same direction.^[1] This allows a cyclist to stop without using a brake, by resisting the rotation of the cranks, and also to ride in reverse.

As a rule, fixed-gear bicycles are also single-speed bicycles—bicycles without derailleurs, with a single sprocket attached to the rear hub, and a single sprocket attached to the crank. Most fixed-gear bicycles only have a front brake, and some have no brakes at all.

The track bicycle is a form of fixed-gear bicycle used for track cycling in a velodrome. But since a fixed-gear bicycle is just a bicycle without a freewheel, a fixed-gear bicycle can be almost any type of bicycle.^[3]

In urban North America fixed-gear bicycles have achieved tremendous popularity, with the rise of discernible regional aesthetic preferences for finish and design details.^[17]Some road racing and club cyclists used a fixed-gear bicycle for training during the winter months, generally using a relatively low gear ratio, believed to help develop a good pedalling style.^[4] In the UK until the 1950s it was common for riders to use fixed-gear bicycles for time trials. The fixed-gear was also commonly used, and continues to be used in the end of season hill climb races in the autumn.

Dedicated fixed-gear road bicycles are being produced in greater numbers by established bicycle manufacturers. They are generally low in price^[18] and characterized by relaxed road geometry, as opposed to the steep geometry of track bicycles.^[19]

Fixed-gear bicycles are also used in cycle ball, bike polo and artistic cycling.

My bike was even featured on fixedgeargallery.com! This is an international site where people submit pics of their bikes.