Another Case Of Southern Stigma...

This article details how an accepted applicant to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's department was refused a position as a deputy due to being HIV+ back in 2012.  The applicant had been accepted, all but a health exam.  His physical showed him to be in good health living with HIV.  The department rescinded the offer.  

The man took his complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission back in 2012.  They took years investigating & dealing with the Sheriff's department.   In February, the EEOC determined a likelihood of illegality & sent it to the US Department of Justice.   In July the DOJ, determined he had the right to sue due to a violation of the American's With Disability Act.

The case is still ongoing.  This man will probably never get any form of reasonable compensation for this violation.  But, maybe this will teach this particular Sheriff's Office something.  Doubtful, but it might.

Cya...

Blocked...

According to this article, Australia has announced it won't subsidize Truvada or PrEP.  The reasoning was simple, cost.  Gilead will be able to reapply, but it'll need to drastically altering its pricing for the drug to be considered.   

Good for Australia.  Why pay for the med when these people could just use condoms?   So many people have jumped on the PrEP train & drank the kool-aid.

Cya..

Wanting Openess, But Not Really...

For the last couple of days, there've been articles about a man named Tom Knight who is HIV + & using Grindr.  OK, let's be honest,  Grinder is a hook-up app,    He was looking for sex or least a potential sex partner.  According to Tom, part of the conservation went something like this:

OK, as a + person, I get why he was open,  I don't get why he was upset  about the other man being equally open.   The guy simply said he couldn't deal with HIV.  His prerogative.  At least he didn't act like he could & then ditch Tom.

In the article & in Tom's posts, people go on to say how witty he was & support Tom. In some of the articles, he goes on to talk about how it's hurtful to be rejected.  He tells how his viral load is undetectable.  How is someone on Grindr supposed to know about your viral load?  Why should someone take your word for it? 

The comments on the articles weren't nearly as pro-Tom.  They were more apt to see this for what it was.  This was an interaction revolving around Grindr.  These men were looking to hook-up, not deal with each others' baggage.  IMO, Tom should be glad this guy was just as honest as he had been.

I get being rejected hurts, but that's life.  If this other man can't deal with the idea of a + partner via a chat message, how well do you think he would've done in real life?  Why not just deal with the fact, a lot of HIV- aren't going to be able to deal with someone + as a sex partner?  Why not date HIV+ people?

Tom wasn't witty.  Tom isn't some kind of Grinder hero.  Tom is an HIV + man who got his feelings hurt after being rejected.  Like a lot of us, he's trying to save face at the expense of someone else.  The other man's unwillingness isn't the problem here.  The problem was Tom's princess-tude that everything should go his way or else.

Cya....

Trying, Sometimes It's The Hardest Thing To Do

I dabble with a lot of things; fixing faucets, taking out overgrown shrubs & concocting my own recipes.  I do most of this out of necessity.  I don't have the $ to pay someone else to do it.  I'm never fond of the process to begin with, there's all that uncertainty.  Can I do this?  How much worse will I make the situation? Eventually, I usually concede & at least try.  It's not always pretty, but I did put forth an effort.

Most of what I dabble with, other people know how to do.  Usually their parents taught them how.  I did not have the luxury of parents willing to teach me anything, with he exception of drinking. I have had to go through almost everything most people take for granted & try to do it by trial & error.  There are more often errors than successes, but eventually I get to something that works for me.  Then one day someone walks up & does it the right way &  I have V8 moment & face-palm myself.  The way they did it made so much sense, it was so much easier, but I never knew how to do it, until that moment.

Past that, I've had to learn to adjust somethings to my life.  Like realizing I don't have to do all the dishes, laundry or other cleaning at once.  It's OK, if I can only mow a bit of the yard at a time.   It will still get done.  I don't have to do any of my household chores on anyone else's schedule other than my own.  I can take all day Sunday and cook tons of stuff up in case I don't feel up to cooking later in the week.  I can clean one part of the kitchen a day and keep it fairly clean.  This is my house & my life & I will learn to do it my way and accept it as being OK.

I do dabble with recipes.  Dabbling with recipes is a process of evolution.  It takes time.  I've told a few people online about my recipes, but not until today did I post them.  Today I posted four of my recipes on Allrecipes.com.  I'll have to wait to see if they accept them for general viewing.  If they do I'll post the links.  Until now I never did it, I didn't want the recipes to be rejected.  Finally I accepted the worse thing they could  do was to say "No" & that there were other sites to submit to if they did reject my submissions.  Most of all I had to realize they would be rejecting my recipes, not me.

Go ahead try, try something.  So what if you fail.  You just might enjoy it and learn something along the way.