Nonprofits...

 

Conservatives have made it very clear they hate most nonprofit organizations that provide assistance for anything.  That goes double for anything that involves people who happen to be of color, poor, Gay, etc...   If it's an organization providing aid to these groups on matters of housing, food or medical republicans tend to despise them.  

Why?  They want 2 things, money & control.   They say nonprofits cut into corporate gains.  They also are concerned these organizations might be giving assistance to "those people."  Republicans want to ensure corporations get their money as well as control who gets what aid.  Being anti nonprofit is part of their hate agenda & a means of furthering WASPy agenda.

They scream it's to save the children, to protect their kind of people & to ensure financial viability.  What it's really about is simple hate & control.  Conservative groups hate anything that doesn't walk, talk, look & think like them.  

Expect to see more nonprofits lose funds & have to close.  It will get more difficult to find aid or any kind.  There be hoops, hurdles & cattle chutes to get any kind of assistance if republicans get their way.  Most people will go through all this only to be told, "We're sorry but you didn't meet our criteria for assistance."  Then they'll laugh as they walk off form those in need.

Is there anything more vile than a American conservative?

Cya...

Still Blah...

The weather is still blah & grey.  I have to go pick up my roomie from Fort Smith in a bit.  Not much going on here.

There are articles floating around about how the NYPD refused to hire an HIV+ man.  It seemed to be a communications position, so no need for physical interaction.  They are being sued by the Feds over discrimination.   Never for a moment think stigma & prejudice against + people is a thing of the past.  If anything, it seems to be ramping back up.

That's it for now.

Cya...

Ridiculous Article...

This "article" & I use that term very lightly, poses the question what does post-HIV, gay culture look like.   I read it because it could've been an excellent topic & conversation starter.  It wasn't.

Mr. Aviance, the author, normally writes on music.  OK, he's still entitled to his 2¢ on the matter.  I thought maybe he might have an unique perspective. I was wrong.

This is entire article is about his fear.  He's  anti-Truvada.  I get that, so am I.  But his opposition, is to the idea that people who want to use PrEP don't want to use condoms.  They want to "bareback."  Well, Duh!

To him, this is not only a dangerous thing to engage in sexually,  It's also a way means by which he distinguishes sluts & stupid people.  He's a prude.

This bigot is worried in a world without HIV or very little risk of the illness, gay men will stop using condoms.  This behavior will be seen as perfectly acceptable, like it was before HIV.  How ever will he judge people?

I oppose Truvada over concerns about the potential harm it may cause, that many won't use it properly & the fact it's just a giant kick in revenue for Gilead.  I think there's more concern for profits than health.  This man is worried about whose intelligence he can question & who he can slut-shame. 

Mr. J. Nelson Aviance; writer, opera singer & musiciologist, if this is really your opinion, then you're an absolute ass.  If your concern is over which people you may no longer be able to judge, then to hell with you.  I find your article disgusting.

I hope there is a day people can stop using condoms out of fear of transmitting illnesses.  I hope this because it might save lives.  I hope this because all the disapproving dolts' heads will explode in horror.  I hope this so people will have 1 less thing to use  in judgement of others.

I realize, I was judgy in this post.  That's my issue to deal with. I posted this at a single individual.  The author of that article is worried about how to judge the gay community.  I still have my issues with Truvada, but they were never about people being Truvada-whores.

Way to go Mr. Aviance, push to hold on to something just to divide our community.  What a jerk.

Cya...

More Discrimination...

I've talked a lot  about discrimination & stigma on this blog.  Often it's been in reference to actions in backwoodsy, podunk or 3rd worldy type places.   But never think the uber sophisticates of the urban world can't be just as prejudicial. 

This article talks about how surgeon in Manhattan refused treatment of a man due to his HIV status.    The doctor was informed his actions were illegal & it was eventually discovered his behavior  was habitual.  Now federal prosecutors are taking the doctor to court.

People try to play down the level of stigma & discrimination against HIV + people.  That's ridiculous.  The level of prejudice against + people is astounding & shows no signs of lessening.  Some complain when patients sue doctors.  But, in some cases what other choice was there?   If a single doctor can get away with refusing treatment, it could easily escalate to more doctors or even all of them.

Cya...

They Call Them Cracks...

I call them sinkholes.  This article discusses something I've mentioned before.  The farther you are away from the "norm" or socially desirable, the less apt you are to get help.  Rates of HIV average 3X higher in Latino communities & 7X higher in Black communities in comparison with White communities.  Everything that can be used to describe you that isn't utterly mainstream puts  you at risk in the realm of HIV.  Risk of not being  educated, not being screened/tested & not having access to resources to get survive the illness.

It's like being back in school & someone's picking teams for dodgeball in P.E.  All those things they used not to pick you then are the same things that are holding you back now.  I guess by that reasoning the worst thing you could be is a heavy-set, unattractive, lesbian, African-American, female who practices some non-Christian religion & is poor.  Oh yeah & she dresses funny too.  I'm not trying to make light of this, but I am trying to make a point.  The people with the resources seem to be mostly interested in saving those like themselves or those they think most deserve their pity.  Nothing new.

Cya...

Knee Jerk...

We all have people in our lives that cause us to react irrationally.  Some people anger us, some just annoy us & others just plain creep us out.  Those are the people I want to talk about today.  Those people in our lives that just send us into reaction mode that have never given us any cause to do or feel anything towards or about them.

Yet we do feel things about them.  Our instincts kick & make our skin crawl or feel the need for fight or flight.  We recently got a new neighbor in the rent house next to us, they happen to be people of color.  I grew up with people, who if they were still alive, would be writing letters to their congressmen telling them to have these people removed immediately. They were the types to look at a person from Cuba & call them a Mexican.  If you had corrected them & told them those people were from Cuba, they'd have told you, " I don't care what part of Mexico he's from."

I know that sounds horrible & racist, but it was the time they were from & the feeling is/was pretty common around these parts.  The town I grow up in only had one little black girl living there, other than the athletes who stayed on the college campus.  It must've been holy hell for her growing up in Miami, OK in the 1970's.  My grandmother would never let me even speak to anyone of color.  She a plethora of names for them, antiquated slurs, but amazingly enough none of them were the N-word.

The funny thing was that my mother, one of the world's top ten lushes, never ever addressed anyone like that.  She never once judged someone on their skin color, religion or whatever other descriptor you could imagine.  I learned tolerance from her, but not because she was exactly tolerant.  I learned not to judge others on those matters because my mother didn't want others judging her for her own short comings.

Regardless of the reason, the fact she didn't judge them stuck with me.  Over the years I've gone to school with, been friends with & even been involved (romantically or just sexually) with people of many ethnic backgrounds.  So, it really bothers me when I have knee-jerk reactions to people that I can't explain.

There is a man who works in a local business I frequent that quite frankly just creeps me out.  I don't know why.  He has never done anything to me.  I've never heard of him doing anything untoward, but still he is Mondo Creepy!  As it turns out, he has the same affect on my roommate.  We debate, is he a serial killer?  Is he a pedophile?  Is he an ax wielding maniac that on fifth Tuesday of every month hunts down people who like local news reporters or what?

It may be fun for us to speculate this matter, but the fact is he has done nothing to merit this contemplation of his personal life.  I have no reason to believe he is any of these things, but in the back of my mind I wonder.  I think, do not make eye contact & back away as quickly as possible without being obvious.

I shouldn't feel this way, but I do.  After all don't they say that serial killers are just like everyone else?  Don't the neighbors of these killy-types generally say the killer was always the most friendly person to have for a neighbor?  Whatever, the guy still creeps me out.  All I can do is try not to act on those feelings or let him realize I feel that way.  Good luck to me on that one.