Bejata does WAD and one blog he missed

As he is prone to every year, Bernard has a pretty good rundown of what gay and lesbian black and Latino bloggers are writing in observance of World AIDS Day.

For the full rundown head over to his (new) Bejata Word Press blog here.

One entry he has missed is Emanuel Xavier's blog post on his MySpace page. Not sure if you need a MySpace profile to get access to it. I've always found MySpace blogs to be a bit unwieldy in that respect.

If you are among the black and Latino LGBT bloggerati and would like your own WAD post to be listed, simply leave a link to your post in Bejata's message section.

Finally, but not least, Kenyon Farrow (his blog is here) has written to remind me that he'll be blogging from the National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, GA, which begins tomorrow.

He is doing it on behalf of the Prevention Justice Mobilization project of the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) which is challenging the United States government on how it undertakes HIV prevention in this country.

Those blog posts will appear at the CHAMP blog which you can access here.

Other Blogs: Enrique Iglesias gays it up, Moscow Pride violence, Queens pride, Matt Sanchez and MORE!

Keith Boykin has some interesting thoughts on that YouTube video making the rounds of Enrique Iglesias more than performing at a gay bar in London (see above). Terrance is smitten. I personaly retch everytime I hear his voice, but - hey - that's me.

Rex covers the recent violence at Moscow Pride, so does Doug Ireland here, while Joe.My.God took pictures at yesterday's small protest outside the Russian consulate in New York. Michael Petrelis also has photos of a similar protest outside the Russian consulate in San Francisco. Good as You takes issue with one aspect of the protests in NY and SF.

Rex also posts an article he wrote in 1991 about the Soviet Union's first ever gay pride events.

Bernard's gone fishing and sometimes I get the feeling I might want to join him.

Bloggernista answers that all important question: Where in the world is Matt Sanchez? Explains why some YouTube videos I found of the former gay porn star and marine reservist show him in Iraq (Previously on Blabbeando...).

Bushwick Boy takes a look at Sunday's Queens Pride festivities. Manhattan Offender was also there and took video clips to prove it.

Chris Crain has announced the launch of a gay news aggregator webpage named, appropriately GayNewsWatch.com.

Jasmyne Cannick has a series of posts on her recent trip to Africa alongside "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington.

JockoHomo has a look at some HIV/AIDS awareness ads from Glasgow.

Miss Wild Thing picks her tribe over news that a former Democratic National Committee gay outreach advisor is suing the DNC.

Donald asks dancehall-reggae singer Buju Banton to explain himself in light of a recent performance he did in New York (and has a related poll for his blog readers).

From Venezuela, Jogreg admits that it wasn't easy to open up about his life as a gay man in Venezuela in as public a venue the BBC (he won a contest and was given access to write in blog-form on the BBC site for a couple of months) [NOTE: Both of those links lead to Spanish-language only entries, sorry].

Cocodorm goes after black gay and lesbian bloggers

It's been a year almost to the day that I posted some comments regarding black and Latino gay porn in the wake of a scandal in Chicago involving porn producer Phillip Bleicher and his well-known (in certain circles) Cocodorm a/k/a FlavaWorks a/k/a Thugboy a/k/a PapiCock a/k/a Cocoboyz productions.

At issue: Did Cocodorm instruct performers not to wear condoms during live sex sessions broadcast online to paying subscribers? Did performers sign a contract that was reported to the Chicago Health Department as being akin to "illegal servitude?" And did Bleicher and some partners also bilk public funding through a purported nonprofit youth service agency he set up for expenditures including liposuction surgery and trips to Brazil?

Bernard Tarver over at Bejata has the published findings of the Chicago Health Department investigation and - no surprise - it's a damning report.

Thing is that since the scandal broke Bleicher left Chicago and settled in Florida. But - what do you know? - the past can sometimes catch up to you.

Now, a few bloggers have kept up with the story, including Bernard, Jasmyne Cannick, Darian Aaron and C. Baptiste-Williams. Incredibly, Cocodorm is now targeting them with cease and desist threats as Bernard chronicles over on his blog.

Not the right move at all. Let's hope that Bleicher gets what is coming to him. Support bloggers that are reporting on the issue and stop supporting sites that exploit young gay men.

Other responses:

• Flava Works has gone too far (Keith Boykin)
  
• Cocodorm gets caught in the porn act (Greasyguide)

Recommended: A Conversation With My Brothers

For those who might be checking this blog from time to time or people who might stumble upon it during these days, I recommend that you keep an eye on Bernard Tarver's blog Bejata over the next few days for what promises to be a thought-provoking series of posts on black gay men at midlife.

These entries provide a unique look at middle-age gay black men talking about their own lives (as opposed to others such as health service providers or researchers talking about the 'reality' of gay black men's lives) as well as opportunities for reflection (I certainly saw some echoes of the Latino gay male experience in the United States among some of these comments).

• Part 1: Intro: A Conversation With My Brothers (March 25, 2007)
• Part 2: The Search for a Community (March 26, 2007)
• Part 3: Friendship, love and intimacy (March 27, 2007)
• Part 4: The End of Our Youth (March 28, 2007)
• Part 5: The Second Act (March 29, 2007)
• Part 6: Love and the Older Man (March 30, 2007)
• Part 7: Redefining Community (March 31, 2007)
  
• Part 8: Looking Back, Moving Forward (April 1, 2007)
• Part 9: We'll All Be Old Someday (April 2, 2007)
• Part 10: The Need for a Plan (April 3, 2007)
  
• Part 11: Golden Men (April 4, 2007)
• Part 12: Conclusion: A conversation with my younger brothers (April 5, 2007)
• Coda: Where do we go from here? (April 7, 2007)
  

But wait! There's more! The Republic of T. ponders...

• Intimacy (April 7, 2007)
• The End of Youth and the Second Act (April 7, 2007)

Enjoy.

My New York: I am gay (and this is where I stay)

So walking down the still muggy subway platform station as I made my way to work yesterday morning, I just had to stop and take the picture above: "I AM GAY, and this is where I stay."

Well, ok!

Of course I got a little bit closer and was surprised to see that the subway poster was actually part of a campaign funded by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) called "The Campaign for Black Gay Men's Lives" and developed under contracy by Better World Advertising to "respond differently to HIV."

Now, this is old news, apparently, as I see that the campaing launch actually took place back in April. Perhaps it took a few months for the posters to make it to Queens subway stations? In any case, it's refreshing to see a campaign targetting African-American communities in New York City that proactively affirms the value of black gay men's lives in this city.

Three years ago, we did a series of similar ads in Spanish-language newspapers in New York City with not nearly as much money and without access to an advertising firm. In the ads, we featured Latino gays and lesbians from all walks of life talking about their identity, their nationality and their connection to Latino communities throughout New York City (the first such ads to run in the country, I believe).

Perhaps in the future we can also get the same level of support for a wider campaign.

All in all, the ad left me feeling optimistic, for the first time in ages, that HIV prevention among people of color communities in the city might be entering a new, more effective stage. And that would be great news for all.

BEARback yes, Bareback NO

Last year a friend brought his Venezuelan friend, a bearish guy living in Spain, to my place of work so he could meet my boyfriend and I. Well, a year has passed and lo and behold, he was back today. This time though, I caught his name.

No wonder I recognized his face: He's the famed photographer, Juan Antino, who has pretty much documented the Bear world throughout Spain, Europe and the rest of the world. Better yet, with collaboration from on of his friends, Javier Hartza, Antino has decided to launch a project to promote HIV prevention in the Bear community and is seeking partners throughout the world to engage in the campaign for free.

So far the campaign has consisted in a series of palm-cards, posters and web banners promoting a sex-positive, condom-positive message in Spanish, English and German. The main message is "Pelos si, a pelo NO" (a literal translation is "Hairs yes, not bare" which they have smartly re-frased in English to "BEARback yes, Bareback NO"). They are already working with bear groups throughout Spain, Costa Rica, the United States and elsewhere.

If you want to see some of Antino's professional photography work you can go to his webpage (where you can also click on the link "Info Gallery Bears Against AIDS" to take a look at the palm cards). Wish direct prevention campaigns like these were being done in the United States. Granted, they might not be for everyone but as targetted community campaigns they can have more effect than generalized HIV prevention messages.