Black & Pink News, Volume 10, Issue 6 - November 2019

BLACK AND PINK NEWS

HIV/AIDS ISSUE November 2019

Photo courtesy of ERNESTO YERENA via amplifier.org

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A message from Dominique...

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The stigma of HIV and AIDS inside prisons is staggering. From staff to other incarcerated individuals, people living with HIV and AIDS are attempting to address their wellness needs while being othered and marginalized.

This issue is a collaboration with many community members who seek to support people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). This issue is also important for those who don’t identify as a PLWHA as well. Prevention is so important. Making well-informed choices can be a game-changer.

In our previous issue, we started a conversation about sexual health. This issue goes hand in hand with that. There have been so many breakthroughs, revelations, and milestones in HIV/AIDS care and education. And sadly incarcerated individuals seem to be the last people to be informed when at times we as a population can be the most vulnerable to the transmission and medication resistance.

I’m hoping this issue helps to remove the shame and fear of living with HIV and AIDS inside of the prison walls. In 2019 HIV and AIDS are truly manageable lifetime (for now) health conditions. Like diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis. You’re not damaged.

Your story is being written. This is not the barrier to your greatness that people would want you to believe. This is the REAL fake news.

We also need to stop perpetuating this sort of hate on each other.

In closing, I dedicate this issue to our family who we have lost inside of these institutions, and to those who’ve been alone, unseen and dismissed as they have worked to survive as someone living with HIV/AIDS inside of the carceral state.

I love you all.

Dominique <3 <3 <3 <3

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In This Issue News you can use World AIDS Day: How I Found Hope After My HIV Diagnosis page 6 - 7 Exercise Can Mitigate Depression and Anxiety in People With HIV page 8 HIV Progress Report: Are We Close to a Cure? page 9 - 11, 29 Community Voices page 12 - 13 Indigenous Month page 14 - 20

Black & Pink family Letters pages 21 - 24, 29 Poetry pages 26 - 27 Journal pages 28- 29

Black & Pink News Black & Pink Hotline The hotline phone number is (531) 600-9089. The hotline will be available Sundays, 1-5 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) for certain. You can call at other times, as well, and we will do our best to answer your calls as often as possible. We are sorry that we can only accept prepaid calls at this time. The purposes of the hotline are: Supportive listening: Being in prison is lonely, as we all know. The hotline is here for supportive listening so you can just talk to someone about what is going on in your life.

Organizing: If there are things going on at your prison—lockdowns, guard harassment, resistance, or anything else that should be shared with the public—we can help spread the word.

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work toward the abolition of the prison-industrial complex (PIC) is rooted in the experiences of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the PIC towards LGBTQ people, and we respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing. Black & Pink is proudly a family of people of all races and ethnicities.

About Black & Pink News Since 2007, Black & Pink free world volunteers have pulled together a monthly newspaper, composed primarily of material written by our family’s incarcerated members. In response to letters we receive, we send the newspaper to more prisoners every month! Black & Pink News currently reaches more than 9,400 prisoners!

Give us a call! (531) 600-9089 Sundays, 1-5 p.m. EST

We look forward to hearing from you! This is our first attempt at this so please be patient with us as we work it all out. We will not be able to answer every call, but we will do our best. We apologize to anyone who has been trying to get through to the hotline with no success. We are still working out the system. Thank you for being understanding.

Restrictions: The hotline is not a number to call about getting on the penpal list or to get the newspaper.

The hotline is not a number to call for sexual or erotic chatting. The hotline is not a number for getting help with your current court case; we are not legal experts.

Statement of Purpose Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. Our

Disclaimer The ideas and opinions expressed in Black & Pink News are solely those of the authors and artists and do not necessarily reflect the views of Black & Pink. Black & Pink makes no representations as to the accuracy of any statements made in Black & Pink News, including but not limited to legal and medical information. Authors and artists bear sole responsibility for their work. Everything published in Black & Pink News is also on the internet—it can be seen by anyone with a computer. By sending art or written work to “Newspaper Submissions,” you are agreeing to have it published in Black & Pink News and on the internet. In order to respect our members’ privacy, we publish only first names and state locations. We may edit submissions to fit our anti-oppression values and/or based on our own editing guidelines.

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National Indigenous History Month November 2019

Birthdays Aries March 21 – April 19

Taurus

April 20 - May 21

Gemini

May 22 – June 21

Cancer

June 22 – July 22

Leo

July 23 - August 22

Virgo

August 23 – Sept. 22

Libra

Sept. 23 – Oct. 23

Scorpio

Oct. 24 – Nov. 21

Sagittarius Nov. 21 – Dec. 21

Capricorn Dec. 22 – January 20

Aquarius

January 21 – Feb. 20

Pisces

Feb. 21 – March 20

by family member, Dan C.

http://elainalosersmith.blogspot.com/2014/11/november-horoscopes.html

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World AIDS Day: How I Found Hope After My HIV Diagnosis

By ALEXANDER CHEVES them.us December 1, 2018

Like many writers, I once dreamed of being an award-winning novelist teaching American Literature at an Ivy League university. I envisioned going to work with a brown leather briefcase and tweed jacket. When I was in college, I never saw sex work in my future, and I never imagined I would write how-to guides to anal fisting for the LGBTQ+ magazines I’ve grown up reading.

Everything changed in my last year of undergrad. I was on track to finish a degree in writing and had applied to various post-grad schools, where I would write dense research dissertations on Marxist literary theory, devil archetypes, the Beats, and so on. My future was mapped out. Then one morning I got a call from the student health clinic. My test results were in, and they couldn’t tell me over the phone.

The doctor who told me I had HIV was not unlike a character in a Flannery O’Connor novel.

She was hardscrabble and sternfaced with a lilted, South Georgia drawl. She wore a gold cross

necklace around her neck. As soon as she walked into the room and sat down, I asked, “Is it HIV?” “Yeah,” she said, her legs.

“Yeah,

crossing it is.”

At the time, I knew next-to-nothing about HIV. I have written about the depression that followed my diagnosis before, but I haven’t written much about how I viewed my virus that first year — and how many newly-positive people view their disease. I felt like something had invaded my body, like I have a parasite, and it made me feel dirty, ruined, soiled.

Shortly after my diagnosis, I started working on a manuscript that, five years later, has only partially survived.

At one point it was several hundred pages long. It is composed of journal entries, stories, confessions, and difficult nights with my “dark passenger.” When I read the pages I managed to save, I realize that I was addressing HIV as an entity separate from my body, a “beast on my shoulder,” something that wasn’t part of me but was actively attacking me. For some reason, personifying the disease made it seem less terrible. I had a ghost, a goblin.

Many things changed that year. The things that were so important to me before, like my professor dream, evaporated. I stopped hunting for grad schools. My parents didn’t understand what was going on, and I told them I was thinking of taking a different career route, writing

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21-year-olds are rarely offered the chance to examine their lives and question their purpose if they think they have one, but I was. Before HIV, my life extended no further than the next exam I needed to pass. I had never placed myself on a timeline that preceded me, a timeline that marched back to the great activists and artists who died from this strange and incredibly unfair disease. I realized that my life was something I could choose to continue or discard. If I kept with it, my efforts needed to matter in the real world, beyond academia.

My queerness became important.

It was more than hookups, more than going to the gay bar every weekend. Queer people are still disproportionately affected by HIV, particularly trans women of color. Why did so many of us have to die? How must this history be reckoned with? The efforts of ACT UP and other organizations — an unprecedented, years-long effort of sick people fighting for their own medication and recognition — should be remembered as the greatest grassroots movement in history.

Why, then, had I never been taught about HIV by the time I was in my 20s? Why had I never been taught the names of key activists in the fight against AIDS? Why were queer people still dying from this disease?

Two months before graduation, I flew to San Francisco to see the Folsom Street Fair, the world’s largest outdoor leather festival, for the first time.

It was my introduction to kink and BDSM, my first taste of queer sex culture, and a lesson on how my life should be lived. It meant more than any classroom lesson that year.

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I never went to grad school, because I didn’t want grad school. I wanted to be gay, and I didn’t know what that meant. In many ways, I still don’t. Since that time, I’ve written for various LGBTQ+ publications and helped pass along the education about HIV that I never received to others who need it. I’ve tried to dispel all manner of myths about gay sex, and help newly-positive men know that there is life after HIV, that their diagnosis is far from death.

I’ve raised awareness about what it means to be undetectable (which means you can’t transmit the virus), and how to have a sex life with HIV that doesn’t put others at risk.

I remember the first time someone reached out to me, a friend I had known for years. He sent a text asking if we could talk. Hours later, we were sitting in a square in Savannah, Georgia. He told me that he had tested positive a few weeks ago and that he didn’t feel “clean.”

but this time My friend let as I needed something I

it was too much. me cry for as long to, then told me will never forget.

“You have something in your blood. That’s it. If these guys can’t see past something in your blood, they don’t deserve you.”

There are precedents of this transferral, this change, in world literature as old as Christ. I still sometimes catch myself wanting to name this little devil, but then I remember that I am the beautiful and powerful and unique face of HIV. It’s us. It’s me. It’s something in our blood, but we are so much more than something in our blood. We are real people with real reactions and real loves, and if there’s any hope I offer to those newly-infected, it’s this: You’re clean. You’re valued. And if anyone can’t see past that little plus sign, they don’t deserve you.

“I’ve been taking several showers a day,” he said.

Other people have said similar things to me. A friend started wiping down gym equipment after he used it for almost ten minutes, scared that he would leave a “stain” and infect others. Everyone reacts to the news differently, and it takes a period of time to adjust.

I remember the day I started to feel better. I was eating Chinese food with a friend who had been living with HIV for many years.

At the table, I was chatting with someone on Grindr, and I wrote that I was HIV-positive.

The guy on Grindr instantly blocked me, and I started crying.

This had happened many times,

Photo courtesy of Josh MacPhee via amplifier.org

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Exercise Can Mitigate Depression and Anxiety in People With HIV

By Benjamin Ryan poz.com October 11, 2019

People with HIV can find relief from depression and anxiety through exercise, aidsmap reports.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, a team led by Andreas Heissel, PhD, of the University of Potsdam in Germany conducted a meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled studies published between 1990 and 2018 that included a total of 479 people with HIV.

two assessed the effects of yoga.

The exercise programs lasted four to 12 weeks and included two to six sessions of 45 to 75 minutes weekly.

Ninety percent of the participants finished their study’s follow-up period.

Of the nine studies reporting on depression, five were supported by high-quality methodology.

They indicated that the association between exercise and a reduction in depression was highly statistically significant, meaning it was very unlikely to have been driven by chance.

In the depression studies,

the investigators found that the factors that most greatly mitigated depression included aerobic exercise, training at least three times per week and engaging in supervised exercise.

Two of the five studies with data on anxiety were considered to have provided high-quality data. Just as with depression, exercise had a highly statistically significant association with anxiety reduction. “[These] findings suggest that exercise may serve as a therapy that helps people living with HIV to reduce depression and anxiety,” the study authors concluded.

The studies all randomized participants into two groups: One was prescribed an exercise program; the other one wasn’t. Symptons of depression or anxiety were assessed after the intervention period.

The participants were about evenly split between men and women.

The studies were conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, India, the United States, Iran and Germany.

Eight of the studies assigned participants to aerobic and two resistance training and the other

Photo courtesy of binkybink via Flickr Creative Commons

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HIV Progress Report: Are We Close to a Cure?

By Kimberly Holland and Emma Nicholls healthline.com May 31, 2019

Overview HIV weakens the immune system and hinders the body’s ability to fight disease. Without treatment, HIV could lead to stage 3 HIV, or AIDS. The AIDS epidemic began in the United States in the 1980s.

The World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source estimates more than 35 million people have died from the condition.

There’s currently no cure for HIV, but many clinical studies are dedicated to researching a cure. The current antiretroviral treatments allow people living with HIV to prevent its progression and to live normal life spans.

Great strides have been made toward the prevention and treatment of HIV, thanks to: scientists public health officials governmental agencies community-based organizations HIV activists pharmaceutical companies

Vaccine

Clinical trials are in the works.

The development of a vaccine for HIV would save millions of lives. However, researchers haven’t yet discovered an effective vaccine for HIV.

Basic prevention

In 2009, a study published in the Journal of Virology found that an experimental vaccine prevented about 31 percent of new cases. Further research was stopped due to dangerous risks.

In early 2013, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stopped a clinical trial that was testing injections of the HVTN 505 vaccine. Data from the trial indicated the vaccine didn’t prevent HIV transmission or reduce the amount of HIV in the blood.

Research into vaccines is ongoing throughout the world. Every year there are new discoveries.

In 2019, researchers at the University of PittsburghTrusted Source announced they’d developed a promising treatment allowing them to: 1. engineer certain immune system cells to reactivate HIV in cells that contain inactive, or latent, HIV 2. use another set of engineered immune system cells to attack and remove cells with reactivated HIV Their findings could provide the foundation for an HIV vaccine.

Although there’s no HIV vaccine yet, there are other ways to protect against transmission.

HIV is transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids. This can happen in a variety of ways, including: Sexual contact. During sexual contact, HIV can be transmitted through the exchange of certain fluids. They include blood, semen, or anal and vaginal secretions.

Having other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can increase the risk of HIV transmission during sex.

Shared needles and syringes.

Needles and syringes that have been used by a person with HIV may contain the virus, even if there’s no visible blood on them.

Pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding. Mothers with HIV can transmit the virus to their baby before and after birth. In instances where HIV medication is used, this is extremely rare.

Taking certain precautions may protect a person from contracting HIV: Get tested for HIV. sexual partners about status before having

Ask their sex.

Get tested and treated for STIs. Ask sexual partners to do the same.

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When engaging in oral, vaginal, and anal sex, use a barrier method like condoms every time (and use it correctly).

If injecting drugs, make sure to use a new, sterilized needle that hasn’t been used by anyone else.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a daily medication used by people without HIV to lower their chances of contracting HIV, if exposed. It’s highly effective in preventing the transmission of HIV in those with known risk factors. Populations at risk include: men who have sex with men, if they’ve had anal sex without using a condom or have had an STI in the last six months men or women who don’t use a barrier method like condoms regularly and have partners with an increased risk for HIV or an unknown HIV status anyone who has shared needles or used injected drugs in the last six months women who are considering conceiving with HIV-positive partners

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Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a combination of emergency antiretroviral drugs. It’s used after someone may have been exposed to HIV. Healthcare providers may recommend PEP in the following situations: A person thinks they may have been exposed to HIV during sex (e.g., the condom broke or no condom was used).

A person has shared when injecting A person assaulted.

has

been

needles drugs. sexually

PEP should only be used as an emergency prevention method. It must be started within 72 hours of possible exposure to HIV. Ideally, PEP is started as close to the time of exposure as possible.

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HIV is considered a manageable chronic disease. Antiretroviral treatment allows people living with HIV to maintain their health. It also reduces their risk for transmitting the virus to others.

Around 59 percent of all people with HIV receive some type of treatment, according to UNAIDS. The medications used to treat HIV do two things: Reduce viral load. The viral load is a measure of the amount of HIV RNA in the blood. The goal of HIV antiretroviral therapy is to reduce the virus to an undetectable level.

Allow the body to restore its CD4 cell count to normal. CD4 cells are responsible for protecting the body against pathogens that can cause HIV.

PEP typically involves a month of adherence to antiretroviral therapy.

There are several types of HIV drugs:

Proper diagnosis

Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) disable a protein that HIV uses to make copies of its genetic material in the cells.

Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) give HIV faulty building blocks so it can’t make copies of its genetic material in the cells.

Protease inhibitors disable an enzyme that HIV needs to make functional copies of itself.

Entry or fusion inhibitors prevent HIV from entering the CD4 cells.

Integrase inhibitors prevent integrase activity. Without this enzyme, HIV can’t insert itself into the CD4 cell’s DNA.

Diagnosing HIV and AIDS is a vital step toward preventing HIV transmission. According to UNAIDS, a division of the United Nations (UN), around 25 percent of HIV-positive people worldwide don’t know their HIV status.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV by up to 92 percent in people with known risk factors for HIV. For PrEP to be effective, it must be taken daily and consistently.

There are several different blood tests that healthcare providers can use to screen for HIV. HIV self-tests allow people to test their saliva or blood in a private setting and receive a result within 20 minutes or less.

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)

Thanks to advances in science,

Steps for treatment

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HIV drugs are often taken in specific combinations to prevent the development of drug resistance.

HIV drugs must be taken consistently to be effective. An HIVpositive person should talk with their healthcare provider before considering switching medications to reduce side effects or because of treatment failure.

Researchers are hard at work looking for new drugs and treatments for HIV. They’re aiming to find therapies that extend and improve the quality of life for people with this condition. In addition, they hope to develop a vaccine and discover a cure for HIV.

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Undetectable equals untransmittable

Here’s a brief look at several important avenues of research.

Monthly injections

Research has shown that achieving and maintaining an undetectable viral load through antiretroviral therapy effectively eliminates the risk of transmitting HIV to a sexual partner. Major studies have found no instances of HIV transmission from a persistently virally suppressed (undetectable viral load) HIVpositive partner to an HIV-negative partner. These studies followed thousands of mixed-status couples over several years. There were thousands of instances of sex without condoms. With awareness that U=U (“undetectable = untransmittable”) comes greater emphasis on “treatment as prevention (TasP).”

UNAIDS has a “90-90-90” goal to end the AIDS epidemic. By 2020, this plan aims for:

A monthly HIV injection is scheduled to become available in early 2020. It combines two drugs: the integrase inhibitor cabotegravir and the NNRTI rilpivirine (Edurant).

90 percent of all people living with HIV to know their status.

Antiretroviral therapy doesn’t eliminate HIV reservoirs.

ResearchersTrusted Source are exploring two different types of HIV cures, both of which would potentially destroy HIV reservoirs:

90 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV to be on antiretroviral medication.

90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy to be virally suppressed Milestones in research

Clinical studies found that the monthly injection was as effective at suppressing HIV as the typical daily regimen of three oral medications.

Targeting HIV reservoirs Part of what makes discovering a cure for HIV difficult is that the immune system has trouble targeting reservoirs of cells with HIV. The immune system usually can’t recognize cells with HIV or eliminate the cells that are actively reproducing the virus.

Functional cure. This type of cure would control replication of HIV in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.

Sterilizing cure. This type of cure would completely eliminate the virus that’s capable of replicating.

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Breaking apart the HIV virus Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been using computer simulations to study the HIV capsid. The capsid is the container for the virus’s genetic material. It protects the virus from being destroyed by the immune system.

Understanding the makeup of the capsid and how it interacts with its environment may help researchers find a way to break it open.

Breaking the capsid could release HIV’s genetic material into the body where it can be destroyed by the immune system. It’s a promising frontier in HIV treatment and cure.

‘Functionally cured’ Timothy Ray Brown, an American once living in Berlin, received an HIV diagnosis in 1995 and a leukemia diagnosis in 2006. He’s one of two people sometimes referred to as “the Berlin patient.”

In 2007, Brown received a stem cell transplant to treat the leukemia — and stopped antiretroviral therapy.

HIV hasn’t been detectedTrusted Source in him since that procedure was performed.

Studies of multiple parts of his body at the University of California, San Francisco have shown him to be free of HIV. He’s considered “effectively cured,” according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.

He’s the first person to be cured of HIV.

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Community Voices Tommy Young-Dennis “Your test results came back positive, I’m going to refer you to infectious diseases”. Words that would replay in my mind over and over again and follow me for the rest of my life. Little did I know that it was in that moment, my life would change forever and those words were the beginning of my mark on the world!

My name is Tommy and I am a survivor.

I am HIV positive. It was March 2010 and lately I had begun to have a serious outbreak in ache like blemishes on my body. I decided to visit a dermatologist thinking he will prescribe a cream or ointment and I will be just fine. The Doctor came in and man handled my face, merely grabbing my face and looking at me and then to my friend sitting in the room. He asked, “Have you had an HIV Test?” The question blew me away as that was an odd question coming from a Dermatologist.

I had been tested a few months prior, but he insisted I take another test as the blemishes appeared to be a symptom of the virus. At the moment, my mind went into overdrive as I spent the next week convincing myself this couldn’t be what it was; I was always safe and used protection. As you would guess, my follow up visit would be the one to change my life forever. The doctor, returning with my test results, stood in the doorway and said very casually, “Your Positive” and left.

No words of comfort, no personal connection; just a piece a paper with a bunch of words I didn’t understand and a referral. My heart dropped and tears flowed from my face as the only thoughts running through my mind is I am going to die!

What was I going to do? What did this mean? So many questions and no answers. I needed to find strength in this time so I sough comfort from my Grandmother, who I had told about the possibility of me having HIV after my initial doctor’s visit. All I could do was break down and cry in her lap. She held me, cried with me and assured me that everything was going to be ok. It made sharing the news with my Sister’s a little easier, and through so many tears and thoughts of uncertainty, I knew that I had a solid support system and foundation to help me though this. I sought the services of Nebraska AIDS Project, who conducted a rapid test confirming the diagnosis. The next few months were challenging, adjusting to my treatment and new normal, even a failed plan to complete suicide. So why do I say I am surviving? Because my diagnosis didn’t define me but empowered me to a level I would never imagine.

For anyone navigating an HIV diagnosis the most important message I can offer you is that it is not the end. In those first moments, Yes… It is scary and your mind is shrouded in the uncertainty.

Has it always been easy? No. In fact, I would be lying if I said it was. But HIV maintenance is far different than it was 40 years ago.

While there once was a time you would have to take 20 pills a day that is no longer the case. In fact, most individuals living with HIV take as few as one pill a day.

Perhaps that has been what’s helped me on my journey.

Being able to live virtually the same life (if not better) than when I was HIV negative. Not only can you live [with HIV] but you can THRIVE. For those of you reading this I want you to know what HIV is not 1. HIV is not a Gay Disease 2. It is not spread by sharing a tooth brush, toilet seat, kissing or passed by mosquitos.

HIV is spread through 1. Blood 2. Semen (Pre Cum) 3. Breast Milk (from an infected mother to child) 4. Vaginal Fluids 5. Rectal Fluids

HIV is does not mean death or a decrease in the value of your life. Sexual Health is just as important as maintaining your physical health. Make testing a priority and equip yourself with the necessary tools to protect yourself. (Condoms and PrEP.)

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Pastor Darryl Brown Jr.

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“ Once I b ega at my em n to take an intros pective lo otional, ok mental, even phy s p sical bod iritual, a y n ’s d realized “bank st that unfo a t e m e n t”, I rgivenes budget! s was not I could n in o the t afford un The cost forgiven , althoug ess. h somet print, wa imes in s far too fi ne much. I me on m t was co ultiple le sting vels. Th tags atta ere were ched to e price ach area result of of my life not doing as a the neces forgive t sary wor he man t k hat had g iven me H to IV.”

Pastor Darryl Brown Jr.’s story and book, I’m Positive: I Forgive You, journeys through the path of his story being diagnosed with HIV, and the aftermath of healing, forgiveness, and growth. Through his story, Brown has been able to give us a lens into the empowering moments of owing one’s narrative, stepping into our purposes as people, and growing in a healing direction from things which hurt us.

s the mention of hi at th er tt bi so “I was ange, cial expression ch fa y m e ad m e m na d boil. flips, and my bloo my stomach turn mine displayed on to ns io at tu si r ila Sim me in ovies would send television or in m ould eakdown and I w to an emotional br at I th gry with him an so f el ys m nd fi ’t to him. But I didn wanted to do harm , er that space. Howev in e lif e liv to t wan ions essing those emot rather than addr an t was somewhat of head on, I did wha e. m tal norm for emotional and men gs.”

I buried the feelin

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Photo courtesy of spiritwolf0612 via Flickr Creative Commons

The following report is from the National Congress of American Indians.

Black & Pink has excerpted content from this document to fit our newspaper.

Full report below. http://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/research-data/ prc-publications/A_Spotlight_on_Native_LGBT.pdf

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A Spotlight on Two Spirit (Native LGBT) Communities Over the course of the past year, Two Spirit (Native LGBT) communities have garnered a great deal of attention with respect to the status of their civil rights, health and personal safety, employment opportunities, and more. This is a synthesis of current research reflecting their realities.

The NCAI Policy Research Center wanted to highlight the status of Native LBGT and Two Spirit communities by sharing data and reports that show where we are gaining ground and where further support is needed. We hope these resources will be of value to your work.

Glossary: LGBT: Shorthand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people.

Two Spirit: Contemporary umbrella term that refers to the historical and current First Nations people whose individual spirits were a blend of female and male spirits. This term has been reclaimed by Native American LGBT communities in order to honor their heritage and provide an alternative to the Western labels of gay, lesbian, or transgender.

CIVIL RIGHTS - Recognizing our Two Spirit relatives: The NCAI passed a resolution at our 2015 Mid Year Conference in St. Paul titled, “Standing in Support of our Two Spirit Relatives in our Communities and Nations.”

- And supporting them in different venues—Native and non-Native: The Human Rights Campaign has been a strong ally and advocate for LGBT and Two Spirit Natives. They have collaborated with several Native leaders and advocates to share their stories here, here, and here.

- There are comprehensive resources available: The Two Spirit Resource Directory, which was updated this month, features community information on Two Spirit societies and groups in the United States and Canada, organizations, online resources, and Two Spirit films and books.

- Tribal nations can also access guidance: With the Tribal Equity Toolkit 2.0, tribal governments have access to examples of comprehensive resolutions and codes that support Two Spirit and LGBT justice in Indian Country.

- And many have made strides for marriage equality: With the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, this year has brought attention to the legalization of same-sex marriage among states and tribes. The map below shows the extent to which marriage equality exists on tribal lands in the U.S.:

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ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY - Many transgender Natives are facing workplace discrimination: 36 percent of Native American transgender respondents reported losing a job because they are transgender (Center for American Progress and Movement Advancement Project, 2015, p. 10).

- Even when employment is maintained, it is far less likely to be full-time: In a state survey of LGBT and Two Spirit people, American Indians reported the lowest rate of full time employment at 37 percent (Frazer and Pruden, 2010, p.5).

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- And these trends affect household incomes and the ability for same-sex couples to provide for their families: A 2008 national survey of transgender and gender-nonconforming people revealed that 23 percent of AI/ANs were in extreme poverty—earning less than $10,000 per year (Harrison- Quintana et al., 2012, p. 1). More than 1 in 3 children (35.2 percent) being raised by Native same-sex couples are living below the federal poverty level (Albelda et al., 2009, p. 13).

- So much so, that it is hard to put food on their tables: More than half of LGBT Native Americans (55 percent) are food insecure—having limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods (Gates, 2014, p. 2).

- Fortunately, some federal programs provide equal access to LGBT families: SNAP, WIC, and School Lunch programs do not narrowly define “families” or require that applicants for these services be related legally or by blood (Center for American Progress, Movement Advancement Project, and Family Equality Council, 2011, p. 4).

FAMILY ACCEPTANCE - Family acceptance is essential to the well-being of LGBT children: research shows that family acceptance promotes well-being and helps protect LGBT young people against risk, while family rejection has a serious impact on a gay or transgender young person’s risk for health and mental health problems. Family rejection includes trying to change a child’s orientation. While some parents consider this a caring reaction, gay children experience these behaviors as rejection and can cause LGBT youth to feel like they have to hide who they are.

- Families want to help LGBT youth, but often don’t know how. While some parents are trying to protect their children from harm, they can put a child at very high risk for suicide, depression and other health problems. Some types of rejecting behaviors, like blocking access to gay friends and resources or preventing a child from attending family events, are just as harmful as physically beating a gay or transgender child (Family Acceptance Project, 2009, p. 8).

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- Risks from rejection are severe: LGBT young adults who reported high levels of family rejection during adolescence were: more than 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide; about 6 times more likely to report high levels of depression; more than 3 times more likely to use illegal drugs compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection. (Ryan et al, 2009)

- Families love their LGBT children, but sometimes must learn how to protect and support LGBT children: When parents and family communicate that they value and love their LGBT child, children also learn to value themselves.

- More resources: Supportive Families, Healthy Children: Helping Families with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Children by Caitlin Ryan, Family Acceptance Project, San Francisco State University, 2009.

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HEALTH STATUS AND SUICIDE RISK - Culturally-appropriate health education and services are critical: Native gay and Two Spirit men are at higher risk for HIV transmission and infection. In 2013, 71 percent of new HIV diagnoses (120 of 169) among AI/AN men were attributed to homosexual (M2M) contact (CDC, 2015).

- As is building resilience in the face of suicidal risk: 56 percent of Native transgender and gender nonconforming respondents in a national survey had attempted suicide, as compared with 41 percent of all other transgender groups (Harrison-Quintana et al., 2012, p. 1).

- But being rooted in one’s identity heals: Research has revealed that urban LGBT and Two Spirit Natives’ experiences of discrimination decreases their self-rated health and increases self-reported physical pain and impairment. However, this trend was diminished if the individual felt high levels of actualization, which is positive integration between self-identity and racial group identity (Chae and Walters, 2009).

- That’s why we need to support more conversations internally: This year, both NCAI and the United National Tribal Youth (UNITY) hosted some of their first-ever dialogues on Two Spirit and LGBT identity and issues. Find resources here and here.

- As well as policy conversations at the federal level: In 2013, SAMHSA issued new guidance concerning standards of care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and Two Spirit AI/AN youth.

SAMHSA has also published several online resources through its Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center Two Spirit Learning Community. And in July 2015, the Indian Health Service hosted a listening session on LGBT Native health issues.

SAFETY AND SHELTER - Many LGBT and Two Spirit Natives struggle to find safety: In one state survey, nearly 1 in 3 LGBT Natives (29.4 percent) reported experiencing hate violence—a higher rate than any other LGBT group (Frazer and Pruden, 2010, p.10). Research with Native lesbian, bisexual, and Two Spirit women revealed high prevalence of both sexual (85 percent) and physical (78 percent) assault (Lehavot et al., 2009).

- Too frequently, schools are venues for violence against youth: 54 percent of Native gay or lesbian students experience physical violence because of their sexual orientation (Diaz and Kosciw, 2009, p.

13) and more than 1 in 3 reported missing class at least one month for fear of being bullied or harassed (Center for American Progress and Movement Advancement Project, 2015, p. 25).

- And safe homes may also be hard to find: It is estimated that between 20 and 40 percent of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBT, questioning, intersex, or Two Spirit. 26 percent of LGBT youth were forced from their home upon revealing their sexual identity to their parents (Ray et al., 2006, p. 11-14; 4).

- For transgender Natives, housing discrimination is not uncommon: 47 percent of AI/ANs have been denied a home or apartment because they were transgender or gender non-conforming (Grant et al., 2011, p. 113).

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- However, there has been some movement to eradicate these trends: SAMHSA hosted a Listening Tour in 2010 and produced a report with promising practices for supporting homeless LGBT youth. In June 2015, the Obama Administration and HUD announced plans to roll out new housing protections for LGBT Natives on tribal lands.

DATA RECOMMENDATIONS - Improving research and science: The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law published a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Practices for Asking Questions about Sexual Orientation on Surveysâ&#x20AC;? report in 2009. We encourage our partners engaged in collecting tribal data that includes sexual minorities to consult this guide for detailed recommendations.

- Recommendations for the Indian Health Service: Representatives from the NCAI and its Policy Research Center attended the IHS listening session and presented recommendations for improving: cultural competency with AI/AN LGBT individuals; measures of culturally relevant services; data collection measures; intake processes; LGBT health education; referrals; among other areas. *If you have further resources to share, please email research@ncai.org.

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Letters From Our Inside Family Dear Black and Pink Family Peace, Love, Respect, and Solidarity to my brothers and sisters! My name is Victor AKA Chaos and I’m a African American King. This is my fourthtime writing in to the family, unfortunately, nothing has ever been published. I wish to share a part of chaos world with with you, so I do hope your eyes will Beabie tp see into a little of my life of who I am and what’s going on with me. I read so many poems, and inspiring, encouraging words of others and wisdom form all my brothers and sisters apart of this black and pink family.

And I have to say I am blessed, so honored to be amongst all of you strong, inspiring, powerful, brothers and sisters who share the same struggles and obstacles as I do. Words can’t begin to describe how im so empowere by your stories every moment and word of encouragement!

I am a dominant African king , and the challenges we face and endure from day to day is truly mind blowing. In 1993 I came to prison when I was 21 years old, on a 15 to 30 prison sentence for murder, Im now 45 years old, with only 4 1/2 years left to my sentence out!

Since being I have been harassed, oppressed, hated, discriminated against, set up, and disrespected by prison guards and the inmates who are supposed to be prisons and convicts are no better, because they help the administration

oppress their fellow con brothers!

I have multiple assaults on prison guards in multiple state prisons here in PA, and on inmates as well!

I am now in the S.M.U. program for two assaults on two guards at another prison. Since being in this S.M.U. it hasn’t been too bad, but I have been called faggot and have had my meal bag and mail tampered with, but it hasnt been too bad. Yet I remain to keep my composure so I can make it home in 4 1/2 years to my five beautiful grown daughters, and my seven gorgeous grandchildren. I live given society all the prison time that they are going to get from me, I strongly believe 30 years is long enough, therefore I will not give them the satisfaction of giving me another Inik house case, to stop me from obtaining my destiny of rejoining my children or freedom!

But know my black and pink family it is all of you who keeps me focused strong, and motivated for success.

Thank you! Every Last one of you!

We are a family and we must keep each other strong and fighting this good fight, because we stand and we fight for a cause, and that cause is freedom to be to equality, respect, and to be treated as human being!

And I will stand with each and everyone of you in “solidarity” but we must stand together not individually but as a collective unit, as a team one to be represented and recokoned with, and as a community we will not be silenced, we will not be oppressed, dehumanized,

you will not rob us of our dignity.

And you “will” respect us!! I want to take this time give a shoutout to a strong muslim African Queeen my lil-sis Rosalyn. As SaalamuAliakum lil-sis, I am muslim as well I follow the teachings of the most honorable Elija Mohummad (F.O.I.) Fruit of Islam. Sister I admire your strength, when you speak you speak with authority in your words, you generate respect, your strong, your beautiful, and you are a very powrful Muslim African Queen! I’m looking for a strong Muslim Queen like you.

You say you got a minute before you land? You gots to find a way to reach out to me A.S.A.P. so I can reach out to you and be a support system to you. I’m from Clevland, Ohio, but I say move sis, like that is how I get down. I’m looking for a Muslim wife! Get at me!

Peace, Love, & Solidarity Victor M (PA) Dear Black and Pink, To the ones that don’t know me, my name is Simone “Sozo” L. But to those that do know me, this is Sozo Jit. I have a question, what is the definition of real? Everyone has their own definition. I have never encountered the definition in the Bible.

But what does being real entail?

Can anybody say that they’ve never told a lie or did something fake or flawed? We can sit and justify our actions all we want, but at the end of the day, we are

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all flawed in some way or another. If Cain killed Abel and Judas betrayed Jesus, how can we put trust in mankind? I’ve learned through experience that every betrayal begins with trust. We spend our life trying to separate the real from the fake, but everyone shows their true colors one way or another. My ex girlfriend used to tell me that when someone shows you their true colors, believe them because all snakes shed their skin. Would you rather be friends with someone who is fake, or flawed and accepts it? Sometimes your closest friends can be transformed into your worst enemy. The key is to always ask God to protect you and give you clarity. Shoutout to Aunty O.J,Aunty Delilah, Diaz, and many more.

not going to like everyone, but we share a common struggle.

I strongly believe that we should not be engaging in slanderous, back biting gossip, any other shady behavior which, more times than not, is motivated by self-misery jealousy, envy or prejudice of some sort, or a combination of these things.

Simone L A.K.A Sozo Jit (FL)

However, knowing that I don’t live in a perfect world, all I can do is my part to remaining positive and continue to encourage and support those who will accept it.

My name is Tara and I am a 48 Y.O. transwoman who has been incarcerated 24 years in VA on a 72 year no parole sentence. I have been reading Black & Pink for a couple years now and this is my first submission to share some thoughts and also to seek advice.

Lately it has been disheartening to realize that some of us are not aware of what the term transgender means.

Using the definition from Gender Identity Center of Colorado, the term transgender means “a term that is used to refer to the entire community of individuals who cross gender boundaries from recreational cross dressers to transsexuals.”

I strongly believe that those of us in the LGBTQI community should do all we can to educate, encourage and support teach other. Of course everyone is

It’s bad enough we are subject to all sorts of abuse from some staff and a large majority of offenders that are “-phobic” one way or another, but when we bash members of our own community, we do a huge disserve to our community. Family and solidarity are words that should be respected and strengthened, not torn apart by anyone especially members of the LGBTQI community.

An issue I am personally struggling with is how to properly word complains / grievances to obtain gender affirming items such as make-up, hygiene products.

Being issued bra and panties helps, but just isn’t enough.

If anyone is willing to share their success in obtaining such items, it is greatly appreciated. The wording of such things is so important along with any other helpful information such as case law, outside resources, etc.

Tara (VA) Dear Black and Pink Family, Hello again! This is my third attempt to write you all.

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I don’t know what’s happened or even if my previous letters left the prison where I’ve been housed for 12 years and counting. So, just in case…

My name is Kylie Ariq Nyx, Ariq for short. I’m a 30 year old transwoman on hormones and happily married to another inmate here in the Idaho Department of Corrections.

We’ve been together for 5 years now, though only married for one year. Common Law marriage only so we don’t get split up.

There, re-introductions are over. I hope this letter finds you all in good stead or at least good spirits. I just wanted to tell my story. Not the one that explains why I’m incarcerated, but the story of my incarceration and how I find the man of my dreams in the most unlikely of places.

Like most LGBTQ… people in prison, I’ve “been around the block a few times” with relationships.

It wasn’t easy for 71/2 years, just trying to find someone who cared.

I’d been cheated on, dumped for a floozy, raped, abused and had my heart ripped out many times (29 times to be precise.) Then I met a man at our outside worship area that I swear it was love at first sight. He says the same thing too. He even wrote a letter to B+P a while back, though we never saw it in any issue since. His name is Daemon, for safety reasons, though I believe he signed his letter T.N.T (his initials).

I asked the priest, who I’ve known since Intake, “who’s that, he’s really cute.” I thought I was being quiet, but he apparently heard me because his head snapped up and looked at me. He blushed, then paled and made himself busy really quick.

I was embarrassed because I was trying to behave. I was recently

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out of an emotionally abusive relationship , you see. We stayed at the service for only an hour. During which time, we’d introduced ourselves and talked a little. I’d found out that he was only there to take care of a problem of someone lying about him behind his back. We left, and spent the next 2 weeks at the gym getting to know each other.

Then we had 2 wonderful years as cellmates before the gangs moved into our unit. So we left. By this time we were well known as couple and staff have done everything they could to keep us apart. They even sent him to a different facility for a while.

For that 6 months we each keep hearing about the other’s infidelity and so both of us spiraled down into depression. I became a queen bitch for that time, though many guys tried to get down my pants. When he came back, we met up again at the chapel. (coincidence? Maybe.) I saw him and it was like the sun came out.

I squealed in delight and tickled him into the wall of our room, literally.

I was crying, smiling, and showering him in hugs and kisses so fast that everyone was amazed.

Thankfully the priest was an old inmate friend of mine and kept his mouth shut, watching for the guard while I got myself under control.

For a while things were wonderful again. But it wasn’t perfect, we weren’t in the same unit anymore, and no matter what we tried, we couldn’t get that way. Then I was almost raped again in my unit and got moved to the psyche ward for safety and to start H.R.T. I’ve been here ever since. We got married by Common Law (in church only).

Last Sept. 16th, though it hasn’t

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been a very happy marriage. I worry about him constantly since he was diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and a particular staff member has taken a nasty vindictive shine to him. We hang in there, though. Even when other inmates claim to have had sex with me, or that we’re going to, since Daemon and I have been together. It’s wonderful, but it also sucks that there are people like that. People who would ruin a couple’s lives just because they’re jealous or something. But we will persevere! I’m still in the psych ward for safety and he’s still on the other side of the compound.

I get out in 3 years, no parole; and he sees the Board in 2 years.

In short, the moral of this story is, when you find that special someone, fight for it. And don’t let anyone come between you, no matter how much it hurts. With this letter, I’ve also included some of my poems.

I hope both my letter and at least one of my poems appears in an upcoming issue of B+P, soon!!!

Lots of Love!

Ariq Nyx (ID) Greetings to all the beautiful people at Black & Pink and especially the many readers and contributors that make this newsletter what it is, outstanding! For the record, the LGBT will forever have my love and support. I need to thank my gay family members for teaching me what is truly right: Love and respect ALL people for what’s in their heart, not who they are or what color their skin is. That said, I would like to shed some light on an issue that I pray does not offend anyone as it is not meant to, but is somewhat .

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It’s the use of the letter “Q” which stands for Queer and is still used by some at the end of the acronym LGBT. By definition from The American Heritage Dictionary, the word Queer is used as a disparaging term for a gay or homosexual person. It is also defined as; of a questionable nature or character or; strange, odd, suspicious, fake, or feeling ill or queasy. Now I must as the question, Does anyone really want to represent those definitions?

If so, you would fit into the old mold brought about by ignorant racists that still exist today. Throughout the years of struggling, much progress has been made. Look at the U.S. Supreme Court ruling for gay marriages and the increase of openly gay demonstrations against political figures. I’m sorry but Queer has no room in LGBT. We are so far past those definitions why would we still include them? Please don’t give the racist people a reminder of something as disparaging as the Q-word included in such a beautiful acronym as LGBT. It’s just not proper and there is nothing queer about the LGBT. Please share your feelings on this and once again my love to all of you with a shout out to my Kristen Bell named Dawn.

Stephen (PA) Blessed Be, I’m hoping this letter finds you well. To all my brothers, sisters, sistermisters and mistersisters, I send my love. For the last two years I have been receiving Black and Pink.

It saddens me to see, that in 2018, we are still dealing with so much hatred towards the LGBTQ Community in the nationwide Department of

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Corrections System. I have been very lucky to have not faced much of that myself. To my family who has, I send my love to you.

I am coming to the end of serving 5 and 1/2 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

Upon release I will be moving to New Mexico to start a new life. Part of that new life will be getting involved with Black and Pink and other groups to make life better for my family who are still incarcerated. I will still read every story of my brothers and sisters as soon as my Black and Pink arrives.

Stay strong my family. It is only through our strength that they will not defeat us.

With much love, Just. (TN)

Dear Black & Pink, My name is Domingo Mendoza and I am currently incarcerated in New York State Department of Corrections serving a 2 year sentence for selling drugs. I am 32 years old and this is the first time I have ever been arrested and sent to prison and talk about a SHOCK!! When you hear stories about prison you think that maybe people exaggerate and the show Oz was just dramatic, well they didn’t and IT’S NOT!! I am in a medium facility and have been these past 10 months and I have witnessed so much violence and hatred towards people in out community and just people in general.

I

have

had

someone

get

cut right next to me and blood spattered on my sweater. I was beaten up when interrogated about the incident because I wouldn’t tell what I witnessed but I know what happens to “snitches” and I refuse to have that happen to me. Sure I felt bad about what happened to that guy but I also need to protect me. I have been stripped outside and searched for no reason in front of many other prisoners just to degrade and humiliate me.

On Thanksgiving I was beaten by a guard for, and I quote, “walking around like a homo, pirouetting and shit”. I did nothing like that. That particular guard harasses me on a daily basis for being a “faggot”.

The guards put me down more than some of the inmate do. I get sexually harassed on a daily basis.

Yes, some of the guys are cute and I go along with it, others are aggressive and NASTY and have the craziest notion that because I am a gay male I want EVERY male I see. That seriously drives me crazy! To think I must love being surrounded by all these males and that I am in heaven is ridiculous.

Yes some guys are cute, wellgroomed and maintained, others are stinky, sloppy, ugly and nasty and it’s always the ugly ones who think they have a shot and are cute. Delusional!! I still stay true to myself and don’t tone myself down for anyone. I am feminine and can’t/won’t change that regardless of the consequences. Sometimes I don’t know how I have done this for 10 months and can’t wait for the last 8 months to be over with.

This makes me have the utmost respect for the LGBTQ community

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that are serving life sentences or have done a lot of time. I read letters from them in your newsletter and they help me get through the rough days. I strongly believe that as a community although we may not all get along we should be united because we don’t need anymore people hating us because enough people are against us in the first place. I am and have been openly gay but I also understand why many are reluctant to come out in this kind of environment. The majority of responses to our sexuality are negative and can seriously impact someone being comfortable with who they truly are. I am trying to start a committee at my facility because out of the 1,500 inmates here, we have 30 out and proud LGBTQ who would like to try and make a change here at this facility.

We want others to feel accepted and comfortable to be who they are and have a support system for each other. In an environment where mostly everyone is against us, we need some kind of support.

That’s another reason I think your newsletter is such a great asset to our community. I am thankful for the person who introduced me to Black & Pink and I tell everyone about it. I am thankful for Black & Pink in general. And I would also like to say to all the readers and contributors, THANK YOU!!

Every poem, letter, and piece of artwork help me remain strong and give me the motivation to get through another day because there are others like me who are having the same or similar experience and are making it through this.

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Art From Our Inside Family

by family member, Luckie

by family member, Dan C

by family member, Luckie

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Poetry From Our Inside Family Paint Brush I keep my paint brush with me Whereever I may go, In case I need to cover up So the real me doesn’t show.

I’m so afraid to show you me, Afraid of you’ll do - that You might laugh or say mean things.

I’m afraid I might lose you.

I’d like to remove all my paint coats To show you the real, true me, But I want you to try and understand, I need you to accept what you see.

So if you’ll be patient and close your eyes, I’ll strip off all my coats real slow.

Please understand how much it hurts To let the real me show.

Now all my coats are stripped off.

I feel naked, bare, and cold, And if you still love me with all that you see, You are my friend, pure as gold.

I need to save my paintbrush, though, And hold it in my hand, I want to keep it handy In case somebody doesn’t understand.

So please protect me, my dear friend And thanks for loving me true, But please let me keep my paint brush with me Until I love me too. ........

I love this poem so much!

I wanted to share this amazing poem with all the people struggling to be who they really are, I’ve struggled 33 years w/ the fact that I’m gay.. even though I’m open now, I still hold my paintbrush with me..

To all my brothers and sisters, anyone who can relate to this poem, I feel you soo much...Please feel free to write to me personally..I’m giving my full information to all who needs someone who’s been & is going threw struggles, I love you all please know that.. please be strong, please know you are not alone. I’m going to say it one more time, I love you all!

Jimmy G (IL) Untitled Untamed Battering rain, Windy Roads no shame The trees sway, at night I play Life of pain, No one to Blame, the needles fire, Is my only desire The family cry, I’m trying to die so much Inside, no longer wishing to hide, living in sin, as I fix up my rinse feeling Bliss as I twitch, mind no longer making sense paranoid with the crimes I commit,

now I sit doing my stint Doing time in a dark hellish pit Venus

dedicated to my wife Venus

Scared state, on my feet looking down, wanting to weep heart Beats, feel like I’m drowning life was lost, now I found the utter fear, as I consult my seer as souls touch, an unspoken rush was it luck, or fates founding cause before you, I was drowning life of pain, unmoving rain when you came, I saw the day still afraid, wondering if you stay this life is a mess, just like the rest without you love, I must confess my heart is true, as I think of you my only hope, yours is too the bond I feel, with so much zeal is only cause, you are near remember I’m in this, cause I love you Venus till death do us part, and beyond death’s mark as our souls embark, I speak from my heart love forever your soulmate, never depart For Venus, my wife Andrew R. (AR) The Shadows...

The shadows hide my shame secrets dearly kept,

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Drowning in conviction from every tear I wept, Emotions are like waves embarrassed that I felt, The things i want to tell you I keep it to myself, Don’t know how you would take it to know what’s on my mind, Opinions are like daggers thirsty for my blood, Living in the darkness intimidated by the light Because what it will reveal I fear you may not like, The shadows hide my shame secrets dearly kept You don’t want to know the truth so I keep it to myself..

Antonio L. (Phoenix) (FL) I had never known the freedom I was going to miss until it was gone and went away and I couldn’t have your kiss so I thought and thought and thought again without ever to explain the deadly art that tore apart my heart with so much pain I’m lost and don’t want to know the way unless with you to make it through this is where my heart will stay so believe me girl when I say to you you’re the only one for me for I would search the highest mountains and swim the seven seas Tony A. (WA)

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No Rush Relax! I’m a go slow close your eyes envision this lay on your belly back side first soft kisses on your neck on down your spine as I lick blow caress and finger your sides a bite here a bite there just to shock your nerves over your hips the back of your thighs and around every curve on up to your ear then I whisper love flip upon turning over I kiss your lips your heart is racing but there is nowhere to go as the temperature rise still I go slow...

Blessed I love you and I sincerely feel that I am blessed to have you in my life sometimes I feel as if I don’t deserve to have someone as special as you. I’ve always wanted the best for you and everyday I wish I could give you more. So I strive to be my best for you and everyday better than before. Every second every minute every hour day month and year I proactive to perfect my love for you so that I can give you the gift of unchangeable and unbreakable love. That same love that you have given me and I am forever grateful....

Her Needs Tell me how you like it you say and I will do and baby I’m going to do me but this is all about you so tell me how you like it foreplay or hard core oils toys or uncut and row no doubt protected to ensure that we are safe so please tell me so we quicken our pace say it say it lets make this thing exist cause I’m so eager so ready from my head to

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your hips what you maybe wondering but that’s solely up to you I told you if you tell me baby I’ll do....

Out My Mind I must have been out my mind to have seen that you were the one one as in only only as in one how could I have been so blind to not see that she was mine exclusively entirely solely and did I mention mines...

I Wish I wish things could have been different I wish things could have worked out the way we planned they’d be I wish I would have knew the things I know now because I would still be there to see you smile I wish we could start over where we began if we couldn’t be lovers you’d be my best friend I wish you were mine and I back yours would you could you love me again with all of my flaws...

Valentine The comfort your love brings is indescribable and I find so much joy in the everyday things that make us laugh. And even though it’s been sometime since I’ve seen you there’s not a day that goes by that a though of you don’t invade my mind, which by the way is my favorite part of each day. It’s amazing the effect you have on me.

As I write your presence empowers me to go on. Lady you enhance me making me better than I would ever be. Who I am today I’m proud to say is because of you and for that I love you.

CL Nobles (FL)

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Journal

November is a time when we begin looking back on the year, and upon the upcoming one. In this space we wanted to give you a place to write out what good things 2019 brought you, what lessons, what growth, etc. Also, as we look forward to 2020, what are you goals for next year? What do you want to see manifest in your life?

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Also are the people who have served 10, 15-20 years already and are still alive being them. I want everyone to know that you are NEVER alone.

We as a community go through this together. There are many of us who cannot truly be themselves. thank you everyone for your help with my bid!!! And to anyone out there having a hard time, know that you are never alone even though it may seem that way at times.

Please fellow readers be strong, be resilient, and most of all BE YOU!!!

I love my community and everyone in it. UNITED WE STAND!! Much love from me in the NYSDOC!!

In March 2019, research was made public on two other men who had received diagnoses with both HIV and cancer. Like Brown, both men received stem cell transplants to treat their cancer. Both men also stopped antiretroviral therapy after receiving their transplants.

or cure it. Over the decades, advances in technology and medical capabilities have brought more advanced HIV treatments.

finding a cure. With those new treatments come better methods of preventing the transmission of HIV.

Successful antiretroviral treatments can now halt HIV’s progression and decrease a person’s viral load to undetectable levels. Having an undetectable viral load not only improves the health of a person with HIV, but it also eliminates the risk of them transmitting HIV to a sexual partner.

Medically reviewed by Jill SeladiSchulman, PhD on May 31, 2019 — Written by Kimberly Holland and Emma Nicholls

At the time the research was presented, “the London patient” had been able to remain in HIV remission for 18 months and counting.

“The Dusseldorf patient” had been able to remain in HIV remission for three and a half months and counting.

Where we are now Researchers barely understood HIV 30 years ago, let alone how to treat

Sincerley, Domingo M. (NY)

Targeted drug therapy can also prevent pregnant people with HIV from transmitting the virus to their children.

Each year, hundreds of clinical trials aim to find even better treatments for HIV in the hopes of one day

Photo courtesy of Josh MacPhee via amplifier.com

Black & Pink News

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Call for Submissions Seeking erotic short stories, poems, and art by Black & Pink incarcerated and free-world family members for a new zine. To be mailed, art cannot include full nudity. Please send submissions (and shout out to the authors from the first issue mailed in January!) addressed to Black & Pink — HOT PINK. This is a voluntary project, and no money will be offered for submissions, but you might get the chance to share your spicy story with many other readers! The zine will be sent one or two times per year.

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Photo courtesy of Victoria Garcia, “Respeta” via amplifier.com

Photo courtesy of Josh MacPhee via amplifier.com