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1

You gays are out of control. Did you know that no society that has accepted the gay lifestyle has ever lasted more than a decade?

Posted by Samson | March 12, 2008 12:48 PM
2

Damned if I know.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | March 12, 2008 12:49 PM
3

Maybe it means you should go get your cock and balls cut off.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | March 12, 2008 12:52 PM
4


I recognize the writing style; it's the unclarity you get when you write by focus group and committee. You may recognize it from such shows as 'The Bush Administration' and 'The Clinton Campaign'.

Posted by bohica | March 12, 2008 12:58 PM
5

@1 - An intriguing claim. How about some evidence?

Posted by Luzclarita, PhD | March 12, 2008 1:01 PM
6

They put out literature with this feel-good ambiguous bullshit because (as some commenters will know doubt demonstrate) some gay men inexplicably associate safe sex practices with a sex-negative attitude... as if saying anything less than free love equals advocating abstinence.

Posted by UNPAID BLOGGER | March 12, 2008 1:04 PM
7

It means you should know your body enough to recognize possible symptoms. It means that you should ask and answer as straight up as you can with the people you sleep with. And it's not judging whether you hustle or sportscrew or have a monogomous boyfriend -- that regardless you have a right to not be treated like crap or lied to and to have rockin' good sex. Honestly, it's not that fluffy or weird a paragraph, imho -- I think you might want to modulate the snark-o-meter a degree or two, Dan.

Posted by John | March 12, 2008 1:06 PM
8

Hey its just as bad or worse in the straight world. I recently heard 1 in 4 teen girls has an STD and half of the sexually active black women teens have an STD. So don't go blaming us.

Posted by Jersey | March 12, 2008 1:07 PM
9

Click through to their "Action List if you have an STD".

Where you will find a bulleted list with 12 different action items - yet the word "condom" is nowhere to be found. wow

Posted by Barak | March 12, 2008 1:07 PM
10

@5: Sally Kern will give you all the evidence you need - she's on it!

http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/vote_her_out

Posted by Oklahomo | March 12, 2008 1:08 PM
11

it means, "negotiate price beforehand".

Posted by adrian! | March 12, 2008 1:09 PM
12

Dang, John, I knew you were going to say that. I should have said so before you did.

Process. It's not about whether you get syphilis, it's process. It's about whether you got it in a process that was affirming and supportive of your idividualhoodness.

Posted by elenchos | March 12, 2008 1:10 PM
13

oh well done you...i love public health writing and truth be told i am responsible for similiar missives and i recognize true mastery.

this writing style is a combo of writing by committee, time pressure and making sure that absolutely NO ONE is offended or any judgement made.

mostly the time issue though, its get it down and get it out. i just read a report that women addicted to nicotine have higher rates of smoking.

Posted by Jiberish | March 12, 2008 1:11 PM
14

Your idiot server won't let me post links, but go to msnbc.com and check out the story about the Kansas woman who spent two years stuck in the toilet in her boyfriend's house. Priceless.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | March 12, 2008 1:15 PM
15

use a fucking condom before you wind up killing someone or being killed by someone. that would be my campaign.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | March 12, 2008 1:16 PM
16

@14: That story just made my goddamned day.

Posted by Gloria | March 12, 2008 1:19 PM
17


@10 - maybe we should start a Denmark death watch. They legalized same sex civil unions in 1989; that means they have nine months until they implode. Recent rankings as 'world's most livable country' are obivously by products of liberal media bias and will not forestall the inevitable.

Posted by bohica | March 12, 2008 1:21 PM
18

I was just tested for syphilis, which I thought was hilarious. Apparently, having inflamed retinas (which I do) can be a symptom. I think I might be the least likely person on earth to have syphilis, but whatever. Doctors have to cover their bases, I guess.

Posted by Julie | March 12, 2008 1:23 PM
19

Those weak "prevention materials" are such a fucking feel-good waste of resources, and a hopelessly out of date model, from the early years of the disease.

@15 I think that's a little brusque, perhaps, but on message.

And I love this, at the bottom of that Action Guide page --

"ACTION is for gay, bi and trans men and our sex partners and friends. There are many different words we use to describe our bodies that reflect our individual self-concepts and gender identities. ACTION uses words that may not match everyone’s preferences. When you’re thinking or talking about the info in ACTION, use whatever words make the most sense to you."

Posted by It's Mark Mitchell | March 12, 2008 1:29 PM
20

So, wait... If I want to prevent getting an STD, I should have sex with strangers or become a sexworker? Is that what they're saying? Why are these sentences even next to each other?

Posted by JD | March 12, 2008 1:37 PM
21

Headline update:

"Bad News for Sluts"

Posted by Non | March 12, 2008 1:40 PM
22

Please. No more group hugs within the public health sector. It's not working. We judge people who drink and drive, why can't we throw a little shame and guilt toward people who knowlingly risk their own and others' lives with unsafe sex? Why is it ok to say 'smoking causes lung cancer' on a pack of cigarettes but it's not ok to tell people 'rampant unsafe sex spreads disease'? All this mamby pamby, I'm ok, you're ok fluff muddles the message. Get to the point!

Posted by LMC47 | March 12, 2008 1:45 PM
23
What does that paragraph even mean?

It clearly says, "Die faggot, die!"

What, you can't read English or something?

Posted by Judah | March 12, 2008 1:46 PM
24

Can you get syphillis from giving head if your man blows his load on your chest? i.e. not swallowing or spitting?

this is probably a Savage Love question...

Posted by Mike in MO | March 12, 2008 1:48 PM
25

it's mark mitchell -

isnt it sad that people are more concerned with title and words than the very real threat of disease that afflicts them?

Posted by Bellevue Ave | March 12, 2008 1:48 PM
26

It means, "If you abstain or have safe sex, THE HOMOPHOBES WIN!!"

Posted by VanNat | March 12, 2008 1:52 PM
27

It's because they're afraid to just say," Come on, act a little straight for a change."

Posted by Marty | March 12, 2008 1:56 PM
28

Let's see: seventh straight year of rising numbers. And: seven straight years of the Bush administration.

Something like 10 to 12 years of flat funding for domestic HIV/AIDS and STD prevention funding.

Six straight years years of Bush's faith based crap. Six straight years of gag orders and special audits of HIV prevention organizations working with gay men.

Maybe what you really ought to be angry about is the desire of politicians to control public health efforts and throw you under the bus?

Posted by gnossos | March 12, 2008 2:19 PM
29

Let's just make homosexuality illegal. That will cure all STI's and make the world a safer place.

Posted by montex | March 12, 2008 2:23 PM
30

"Whoever you are, ... you deserve respect ... and the experience you desire."

That is the motto of modern progressivism.

Posted by David Wright | March 12, 2008 2:42 PM
31

I think we should make teen girls illegal. They are the ones harboring all this disease. At least a quarter of them.

Posted by Jersey | March 12, 2008 2:50 PM
32

Mike in MO @ 24,


Hard to say. We need more details--many more details.


Start with everything that happened after dinner, and don't leave *anything* out.

Posted by Original Andrew | March 12, 2008 3:13 PM
33

@31: It's even worse than that. According to the Seattle Times article, "half of teens reported being sexually active and about 40 percent of those were infected."

This is frankly mind-boggling. 40% of sexually active teenage girls are infected with one of the four diseases tested for. (The test doesn't even include gonorrhea, syphilis, or HIV.) This statistic scares the fuck out of me.

The test also didn't check teen boys, but I'll bet the infection rates are even worse there.

Posted by Greg | March 12, 2008 3:21 PM
34

Do what Canada does (and which I just found out about when I went to Buddies in Bad Times theatre last night): have little dispensers in public washrooms with a safe-sex kit. It has two condoms, two little wee packets of lube, and a blue card that says, basically, "Condoms used when you give or receive head, or when you fuck, will help prevent the spread of disease. Idiot."

Free things with bright colours: catchy and effective!

Posted by Beth | March 12, 2008 4:31 PM
35

I don't understand why the gays in public health are so afraid of offending someone. I think it's part of the same problem that has gay guys acting like fucked up republicans who just wanna fit in with the mainstream and be 'accepted'.

Instead of having some fucking balls it's like we're asking for permission to live.

What's wrong with simply saying - Having unsafe sex and fucking everyone in sight is going to kill you. You are more than a pitre dish.

The last time I was tested for HIV and syphilis at Harborview I told the person testing me that I *really* don't want HIV. She said that was something she very rarely hears. I don't know about you, but that was fucking disturbing to me. The last time I was tested for HIV and syphilis at Gay City I expressed a similar sentiment and the guy in the room doing the testing just stared at me like I had just broken some taboo by expressing an opinion.

UGH!

I'm worried about the gays... and I am one.

Posted by America's Next Top Bottom | March 12, 2008 4:40 PM
36

#35 Maybe it's because (unless you're a bug-chaser) its something that doesn't need to be said. Visiting a clinic is usually a little traumatic for sexually active adult even if you've been super safe. maybe the guy at Gay City wasn't looking at you strangely for expressing your opinion but looking at you like "duh, who does?" And for those who think condoms are always protection against syphilis think again, unless you slip on a condom as soon as you whip your dick out. Syphilis, like gonorrhea, is absurdly easy to get. If your uncovered dick rubs up against another uncovered dick and one of you has syphilis its possible to pass it on. The same with gonorrhea.

Posted by Daniel | March 12, 2008 6:13 PM
37

Back in my slutty days, I never fucked without a condom - and I usually didn't fuck people I didn't know at least somewhat.

I also carried one of those little hand sanitizer thingys around with me, so I could do a clean-up if I thought something was a bit not right - or if someone blew a load on me.

Plus, I was/am a firm believer in Dan Savage's "Harmonica method". At least I think it was Dan's method, and I think that was what it was called. (It was an awfully long time ago.) Basically, if you think the guy is going to shoot, don't let him do it in your mouth. Play him like a harmonica.

Sorry to be indelicate, but those are my safe sex tips. I have no idea how valid they are, but they seemed to have worked for me.

Posted by catalina Vel-DuRay | March 12, 2008 6:33 PM
38

Honestly, it sounds like they're practically encouraging me to become a manwhore, but if I hadn't spent three years as an English major, I think I would have needed a codebreaker to understand that shite.

Posted by Gitai | March 12, 2008 6:46 PM
39

This stuff is known by the drunks of first avenue. Are you telling me gay men are dumber than a drunk on first ave?

Posted by Sargon Bighorn | March 12, 2008 7:47 PM
40

Everything after the first comma would be lovely if it wasn't supposed to be about preventing STDs. How about saying something relevant to the subject you say you're going to be talking about?

Posted by east coaster | March 12, 2008 8:29 PM
41

gay men are more naïve than drunks on first ave. you know where you stand in a hell hole.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | March 12, 2008 8:32 PM
42

this is a question of economics.

if you make having hiv less severe you also reduce the incentive to avoid such behavior that transmits hiv.

one of the things that makes getting the hivvy severe is social stigmitization but gay health services have all but eliminated that. because it isn't nice to ostracize people with hiv engaging in risk behavior. and hiv was public enemy #1

Posted by Bellevue Ave | March 12, 2008 8:45 PM
43

It reminds me of back in the early days of the AIDS industry, when I was a lowly volunteer for a lowly organization. I remember some bitter queen called up and gave me thirty shades of holy hell because we had the typo "Aids" instead of the correct format of the acronym, AIDS, on some silly bar handout.

And then there was the ever increasing acronym of GLBT, and what letters should go in what order.

Then it started to get really bizzare: Instead of gay or bi men, we had to contend with "men who have sex with men" but who were not "queer identified"

That's about the time I gave up.

Posted by catalina Vel-DuRay | March 12, 2008 9:35 PM
44

Is there ever any good news for gay men?

Posted by wonder | March 12, 2008 9:58 PM
45

I love the harmonica method!

Posted by Mike in MO | March 13, 2008 6:41 AM
46

#36 I don't think it's obvious that gay men don't want HIV. I think the numbers speak for themselves. HIV and STD rates are on the rise.

All you have to do is take a peak on any sex site to see that. It's all about taking loads up your ass or 'dropping a load'. How gross does that sound?

Or, you could try meeting someone for sex. If they're a top they want to fuck you without a condom. If they're a bottom they want you to not use a condom.

I don't get it.

PS. I'm not a bug chaser - just a hypochondriac.

Posted by America's Next Top Bottom | March 13, 2008 8:31 AM

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