#HIV Marriages

[letmemarry]

HIV Marriages for HIV Positive Brides and Grooms in India

In a society where traditions and societal norms often dictate the path of matrimony, the challenges faced by HIV-positive brides and grooms in India, especially in Hyderabad, are distinctive and demanding. This article delves into the complexities surrounding HIV-positive marriages, shedding light on the need for support, understanding, and the creation of a more inclusive environment.

Brief Overview of HIV-Positive Marriages HIV-positive marriages involve couples where one or both partners are living with HIV. Despite medical advancements, societal stigmas continue to surround these unions.

Importance of Support for HIV-Positive Brides and Grooms The emotional and psychological toll on couples navigating HIV-positive marriages emphasizes the crucial need for support networks and understanding within their communities.

Context of HIV-Positive Marriages in India, Specifically Hyderabad India, with its rich cultural tapestry, faces unique challenges concerning HIV-positive marriages, and the city of Hyderabad is no exception.

Understanding the Challenges

Stigma Surrounding HIV-Positive Individuals One of the primary obstacles faced by HIV-positive brides and grooms is the pervasive stigma attached to their condition. Addressing this stigma is vital for fostering acceptance.

Lack of Awareness and Education A significant hurdle lies in the lack of awareness and education regarding HIV transmission, prevention, and the realities of living with the virus.

Emotional and Psychological Challenges Coping with the emotional and psychological challenges is a journey often traveled in isolation. Counseling services play a pivotal role in supporting these couples.

Navigating the Wedding Preparations

Support Networks for Couples Establishing robust support networks is essential for couples preparing for an HIV-positive marriage. Friends, family, and community organizations can offer invaluable assistance.

Counseling Services Professional counseling services provide a safe space for couples to address their concerns, fears, and aspirations, ensuring they embark on their marital journey with resilience.

Positive Examples and Success Stories Highlighting positive examples and success stories of HIV-positive marriages inspires hope and resilience within the community, dispelling myths and misconceptions.

Legal Aspects of HIV Marriages

Rights and Responsibilities Understanding the legal rights and responsibilities of HIV-positive brides and grooms is crucial for navigating societal expectations and safeguarding their union.

Legal Safeguards for HIV-Positive Brides and Grooms Legal frameworks exist to protect the rights of individuals with HIV. Awareness of these safeguards is vital for ensuring fair treatment.

Navigating Societal Norms and Expectations Balancing traditional expectations with the realities of HIV-positive marriages requires open dialogue and education to foster acceptance within communities.

Wedding Rituals and Traditions

Adapting Traditions for HIV-Positive Couples Customizing wedding rituals and traditions ensures that they align with the needs and comfort levels of HIV-positive couples.

Creating a Supportive Environment Fostering a supportive environment during wedding ceremonies helps create a positive and inclusive atmosphere for the couple and their guests.

Inclusivity in Wedding Ceremonies Promoting inclusivity in wedding ceremonies not only supports the couple but also contributes to changing societal perceptions surrounding HIV-positive marriages.

Community Involvement

Raising Awareness Community involvement is crucial for raising awareness about HIV, dispelling myths, and fostering an environment of empathy and understanding.

Building a Network of Support Communities can play a vital role in building a network of support, ensuring that HIV-positive couples have the backing they need to thrive in their marriages.

Encouraging Empathy and Understanding Creating spaces that encourage empathy and understanding reduces stigma and helps the community embrace the diversity of love.

Healthcare Support

Access to Medical Facilities Ensuring access to medical facilities and healthcare services is imperative for the well-being of HIV-positive brides and grooms.

Importance of Regular Check-Ups Regular health check-ups are vital for managing HIV. Encouraging couples to prioritize their health is essential for a fulfilling marital journey.

Dispelling Myths About HIV Transmission Education plays a crucial role in dispelling myths about HIV transmission, promoting a more informed and accepting society.

Financial Considerations

Challenges in Employment Opportunities HIV-positive individuals may face challenges in employment opportunities. Addressing these challenges through advocacy and support is essential.

Financial Planning for HIV-Positive Couples Financial planning becomes crucial for HIV-positive couples, considering potential challenges in the employment sector. Government and NGO support can play a vital role.

Government and NGO Support Governments and non-governmental organizations can contribute significantly by providing financial support and creating initiatives to empower HIV-positive couples.

Social Media and Advocacy

Utilizing Social Platforms for Awareness Leveraging social media platforms is a powerful way to raise awareness, educate the public, and advocate for the rights of HIV-positive couples.

Advocacy for HIV-Positive Marriages Advocacy efforts aim to break down societal barriers, challenge stigmas, and create a more inclusive society for HIV-positive couples.

Empowering Couples Through Online Communities Online communities provide a space for couples to share experiences.

#HIV Marriages #HIV Positive Marriages #HIV Partner #HIV Marriages near me #HIV Marriage Bureau Near me #HIV Marriage consultancy in Hyderabad #HIV Positive #HIV girl for marriage #HIV marriages in India #HIV positive matrimony #HIV Positive matrimonial #Hiv Positive life partner #HIV positive brides #Hiv positive Girls #HIV Positive Grooms #HIV positive marriage #matrimonial site for HIV positive #marriage bureau for HIV positive #HIV positive woman marriage #Hiv positive matchmaking #HIVpositivemarriage #HIV marriage bureau Bangalore #HIV marriage #HIV matrimony #Hiv positive Matrimonial India #HIV positive marriage bureau #Marriage of HIV Positive #HIV matrimonial #HIV positive marriage site #HIV Positive Datings

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Apr 23, 2024

“All of my friends are dead.” It was said in his customary matter-of-fact tone, without the slightest hint of self-pity. This was Robin, my supervisor at university, who would often discuss his pre-academic life and what it was like to be a gay man during the worst of the Aids crisis. That he had survived at all struck him as incredible.

In those early days, the sense of an angel of death targeting a particular community seemed like the realisation of a nightmare. When it first emerged in the US it was known as GRID (gay-related immune deficiency). An article appeared in the New York Times on 3 July 1981 with the ominous headline: “Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals.” Some called it the “gay plague”.

Confusion turned into widespread panic, not limited to the gay community. The first time I heard of the disease was during a PE lesson at primary school. Such was the general ignorance that our teacher warned us not to borrow each other’s plimsolls or we’d catch Aids. Some time later I saw the government’s public health advert on the television; I remember little about it except the large tombstone with the dreaded four-letter acronym as an epitaph.

In the 40 years since the virus was identified, there has been a sea-change in attitudes. Whereas the government’s campaign set out to frighten people with the message “it’s a deadly disease and there’s no known cure”, a recent advert by the Terrence Higgins Trust reminds people that those diagnosed with HIV “can live a healthy, happy life just like anyone else”. Much of the stigma has dissipated.

The same is true of homosexuality itself. One could say that while the Aids crisis exacerbated the hatred and mistrust against an already beleaguered community, it also spurred activists onto the pathway to normalisation. Whereas the pursuit of a gay lifestyle was romanticised — or demonised — as a dance of Eros and Thanatos, a way to ensure that one remained beyond the scope of civilised society, today the very notion of being orientated towards one’s own sex is largely perceived as unremarkable. Those who bleat about their oppression as gay people in a climate of widespread tolerance are luxuriating in a kind of perverse nostalgia for a reality they could never comprehend.

For those who lived through it, the Aids crisis was a moment when the concept of a “gay community” actually meant something. Lesbians were instrumental in providing support for their gay brothers, and amid the loss there was a sense of greater solidarity. I remember seeing a production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart in New York in 2004. The audience mostly comprised of older gay men, and Kramer was among them. Afterwards, people were visibly shaken from watching the worst of their past so unflinchingly dramatised. One man approached Kramer and, through his sobs, I heard him simply say: “thank you”.

Kramer has been credited as a kind of Cassandra figure, one who had warned that the hedonism of gay life in the late Seventies would lead to trouble. His novel Faggots (1978) was loathed by conservatives for its graphic depiction of the sexual free-for-alls of New York’s bathhouse culture, but it was also mistrusted by the gay community for its moralising implications. Its lead character is on an impossible quest to find meaningful love in a world of fleeting sexual encounters. Kramer was criticising what he saw as a sybaritic and morally vacuous culture, and the sense of an impending reckoning has led to the novel being interpreted as predicting the outbreak of Aids.

When the crisis exploded, Kramer was one of those calling on gay men to exercise sexual temperance, and to shut the bathhouses until the virus could be contained. For this he was accused of being a puritan and a traitor to the gay lifestyle. His play The Normal Heart is set around this time, and in one furious monologue a character rails against a Kramer-type figure for trying to make gay men feel ashamed of their own liberation.

For the ultra-religious, Aids was seen as a righteous punishment from God. Many had been appalled at the promiscuity that inevitably arises when women are no longer in the equation. Male sexuality has always been contained to a degree by the institution of marriage, but gay men had been forced to exist on the periphery. There was no need to abide by sexual mores, because the rules had clearly not been written with them in mind. In other words, sex became an integral aspect of their own defiance against the society that had shunned them.

It always seemed a catch-22. Gay men were loathed for their sexual licentiousness, and at the same time excluded from the very ethical framework that would, to a degree, offer some kind of incentive against it. In his 1982 lecture, “Rediscovering gay history”, the historian John Boswell addressed this fundamental contradiction and argued for the need for a gay archetype or moral aspiration. He pointed out that when a straight man cheated on his wife, he at least knew that he was falling short of society’s expectations. But the same could not be said for gay men:

“I think that part of the reason for the ambivalence of the intellectual establishment in the United States is that they can’t tell when they read a book like Edmund White’s States of Desire, whether the life of casual promiscuity it depicts represents a homosexual ideal or the failure of an ideal. Are they reading about what gay people should do, what they do, or both, or neither? So they don’t know how to fit it into their usual critical apparatus. They don’t understand what would be a departure from homosexual ethics because they don’t know what homosexual ethics would be. And neither do we.”

Boswell was right that this ambivalence existed within and without the gay community. When William Friedkin’s film Cruising was released in 1980, the most vehement opposition came from gay campaigners who feared that it would depict them as being inherently deviant. And yet the movie had been shot in the leather bars of New York City, and the real-life sex acts that were filmed were hardly atypical. This subculture may not have been reflective of gay society as a whole, but it certainly existed.

Perhaps it could be said that the activists who sought to ban Cruising won out in the end. Their implicit goal was that gay people could be brought under the aegis of heterosexual respectability — that they could, in other words, live as conventionally as everybody else. It didn’t surprise me at all, therefore, that it was a conservative government in the UK that eventually legalised same-sex marriage. It would appear that we have seen the cultivation in the Western world of the kind of shared ethical ideals that Boswell seemed to crave. Gay monogamy is no longer seen as an oxymoron.

Many gay rights groups, of course, opposed same-sex marriage. To them, it was a way to control gay people, to bring them within the same heteronormative yoke that dominated the rest of society. This debate echoed those of The Normal Heart, where there was a fear of an attempt to “civilise” those who had found freedom in occupying a realm outside of social convention. To be gay was to be different, and for many this was a source of pride. An older gay man once told me that sex was far more exhilarating when it was illegal. It meant that even the most casual sexual encounter was a little act of rebellion.

But even as tolerance has increased, anti-gay feeling has not gone away. The Aids crisis galvanised such prejudices, and of course religious fundamentalists have always opposed those who they deem to be acting against the wishes of their various gods. Today, these prejudices are resurfacing through the obsession with gender identity, an ideology that shames gay people for not being attracted to members of the opposite sex and has been responsible for the government-funded medicalisation of gay youth. In many ways, this is a “progressive” rehash of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, with its prohibition in schools against the “promotion” or “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

The instinctive disgust that many people feel towards those who do not share their own sexual inclinations is seemingly hard-wired, and so what we call “homophobia” will always emerge in one way or another in a majority heterosexual culture. But at least to be gay is no longer defined solely by the sexual act, and that for one man to fall in love with another is widely considered to be an unexceptional fact of life. The gay rights activists of yesteryear weren’t necessarily calling for universal indifference, but perhaps we’ll get there in the end.

#Andrew Doyle #homophobia #gay rights #medical scandal #medical malpractice #medical corruption #same sex attraction #AIDS #AIDS crisis #HIV #gay history #same sex marriage #homosexuality #homophobia 2.0 #woke homophobia #gender identity #gender ideology #gender identity ideology #religion is a mental illness

[our-inspire-verse]

Right.... you used to die if you got HIV. I forgot.

I forgot there wasn't a cure until recently, or really treatment or awareness etc. And im sure we have a long way to go and i sure don't know it all..

But i hope that the queer people before me know that a young 23 year old queer person was struck with the realization that things have improved dramatically, in ways we couldn't all picture, and didnt all get to see. And i cried tonight just holding all of it in my hands

I hope they know someone thought about them tonight. And i hope little revelries like this keep happening.

#queerness #hiv #lgbt #rights #community #healing #i actually need a moment oh my god #the fact we're so far along i have the capacity to just. forget something so fucking. oh god i havent stopped crying #its okay im okay i just. wow. remember when marriage wasnt legal #and the thought that everything is scary and hard rn and we're far far far far far from safe or perfect #but tonight. for a moment. i forgot it happened that you could die from hiv. you know. a major part of my queer history #i love you #system babbles #rambles #positive vent #poetry

[aquitainequeen]

A project to clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch reached a milestone, the global tiger population stabilised, and Botswana was hailed for its HIV success, plus more positive news

The great garbage patch cleanup hit a milestone It has become emblematic of our throwaway society, a grim testament to the pitfalls of single-use plastic. But this week, efforts to clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch reached a milestone: 100,000kg of plastic removed so far.

Admittedly, it’s small fry. Strewn across an area twice the size of Texas, the floating mass of rubbish is 1,000 times larger than what has been landed so far. But the Dutch nonprofit behind the project, The Ocean Cleanup, said it was preparing to scale up.

“We are ready to move on to our new and expanded system, which is expected to capture plastic at a rate potentially 10 times higher,” said Boyan Slat, its CEO.

The Ocean Cleanup uses computer modelling to predict where large concentrations of rubbish will accumulate, and skims it from the sea using giant booms. The nonprofit deploys similar technology at river mouths to stop plastic entering oceans in the first place.

Image: The Ocean Cleanup

Read more...

#Environment #Health #Politics #Society #positive news #positive.news #Great Pacific garbage patch #the ocean cleanup #plastic capture #plastic pollution #cornwall #botswana #unaids #fighting HIV #tiger #tigers #cheetah #slovenia #same-sex marriage #toyota #cargo bikes #Seagreen wind farm #scotland #wind power #body positivity #scallops #good news

[whatevergreen]

Stonewall Was A Riot, 1994

A reminder that Reagan wasn't the only "problem" president regarding the LGBTQ and AIDS/HIV.

"During his eight years in office, our 42nd president not only introduced the military’s disastrous Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy in 1993, he also furthered the ban prohibiting HIV-positive travellers from entering the US, failed to pass the Employee Non-Discrimination Act and showed questionable leadership in easing approval for crucial HIV medications.

If that weren’t enough, Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented same-sex married couples from receiving federal benefits and recognition."

#lgbtq #gay #posters #same sex marriage #hiv

[arctic-hands]

Legit tho I've heard that the best way to make an atheist is to send a kid to Catholic school

#maybe that was my lapsed mother's intention when she considered sending me to catholic kindergarten #however my early-blooming psychosis-having ass would have been the exception to the rule #just being eleven and pychotic and going to baptist church was enough to do long-lasting damage and brainwashing #imagine being smol and believing everything you're told #I'm still mad tho that theta's New Jersey catholic school sex ed was better than my Indiana public school sex ed #her sex ed was basically 'don't do this before marriage but we know you're going to do it anyway so use a condom don't tell the pope' #mine was 'condoms don't work so don't bother using them' #why yes my school was labeled a baby-making factory in national newspapers why do you ask #and why yes my state had a massive HIV outbreak by the time I moved out #tho that was also fueled by the banning of needle exchanges #the planned parenthoods being chased out didn't help tho

[dr-anadeep-chandi]

Poor Personal Hygiene And Biological Non-Diversity Can Decline Fertility

View On WordPress

#ATT #bacterial vaginosis #bloganuary #consanguineous marriages #cultural diversity #dailyprompt #Fertility #Genital mutilation #genital TB #genitic diseases #health #HIV #infection #infertility #inter-religion marriages #intercaste marriages #IVF #neonatal death #pregnancy #stillbirths #tuberculosis

[kajmasterclass]

#Aging with HIV: A Courageous Life with Martina Clark | KAJ Masterclass LIVE Breaking Barriers: Martina Clark's Journey as the First Openly H #the doctors told Martina Clark she had HIV and five years to live. With a sense of nothing to lose #she dove into activism. Then #fell into an international career #starting as the first openly HIV-positive person to work for UNAIDS in 1996. A mix of personal memoir #travel #humor and an up-close look at the squishy underbelly of the United Nations #My Unexpected Life follows her personal journey—emotional and physical—interwoven with her professional path. From diagnosis to starting tr #surviving an abusive marriage and fostering a teenage daughter #Martina’s memoir adds an insider’s view to the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic #particularly as pertains to women. Throughout #she draws parallels to the COVID pandemic–including her own long-haul bout with COVID–reflecting on her experiences as she journeys through #a well-stamped passport #and a stubborn determination that keeps her alive to bear witness to the human condition in My Unexpected Life. HIV unaids kajmaster #Youtube

[starlightseraph]

house md will always be remebered as the most insane thing ever broadcast because of how unabashedly feral everyone involved was.

a short collection of things that happen on the show, just off the top of my head, not even scratching the surface:

- house shoots a random dead body in the morgue and then sticks him in an mri machine, which pulls the bullet out of the dead guy’s head and destroys the machine, costing the hospital millions

- foreman gets bitten by a person with rabies

- chase kills an african dictator

- cameron steals drugs from a patient after possibly getting hiv from said patient

- house induces a migraine and then takes a drug made by his arch nemesis (who he’s been stalking for 25 years) to get the drug taken off the market. he then takes lsd (in the hospital, in the middle of a case) to cure the migraine.

- chase goes into anaphylaxis after doing body shots

- house stops an elevator so he can perform a cavity (vaginal) search on a teenage heart transplant patient who’s in cardiorespiratory arrest

- they give a neurosurgeon mushrooms to cure his food poisoning, then they stick him in an operating room. the neurosurgeon strips in front of a health board assessor.

- kutner dies for gay marriage

- house sets an autopsy room on fire while trying to juggle flaming bottles

- house gets recruited by the cia

- taub gets held at gun point after diagnosing a stripper with skin cancer

- in almost every single episode, the team breaks into multiple houses

- house fakes terminal brain cancer so he can get drugs implanted directly into the pleasure centre of his brain

- house cons us immigration to get his fake wife a green card. he also uses his fake wife’s ukrainian food truck to spy on people

- house tries to get wilson, his closet case boybestfriend, into bed every few episodes. every other sentence out of house’s mouth is about wanting to rail wilson.

- taub has a kid with his ex-wife, after they divorce, at the same time he has a kid with his 25 yo side piece. the kids’ names are sophie and sophia.

- house and wilson have a bet on who can hide a chicken in the hospital the longest without anyone finding out

- house tries to kill himself like 6 times and always fails (insulin shock, overdoses, electrocution, jumping off a building, cutting, etc)

- house fakes his death to get out of a prison sentence after violating his parole so he can live out his bi love story with his gay best friend who has 5 months to live

#if people think r/okbuddyvicodin is insane they should see the source material #hate crimes md #hilson #hugh laurie #rsl #robert sean leonard #house md #gregory house #james wilson #hugh laurie biggest hilson shipper fr #rsl biggest hilson hater #r/okbuddyvicodin #tw sui attempt #tw self h4rm #tw self harm #tw self harm mention #dead poets society #dps #yes robert sean leonard aka neil perry from dead poets society is the second main character in this show #starlightseraph’s brainrot

[letmemarry]

Matrimony for HIV-Positive Grooms and Brides in India

In a country where societal norms often shape the contours of relationships, the narrative around HIV marriages is undergoing a transformation. Across the vibrant landscapes of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata, couples are not merely bound by love but are pioneers in rewriting the script of matrimony. In collaboration with letmemarry.com, these cities are witnessing a resurgence of hope, resilience, and the celebration of love that transcends the limitations imposed by HIV.

Mumbai: A Tapestry of Love and Resilience In the bustling city of dreams, Mumbai, HIV couples are weaving a tapestry of love and resilience. Letmemarry bureau, as a catalyst, plays a pivotal role in connecting souls. The city's cosmopolitan spirit embraces diversity, fostering an environment where couples facing the challenges of HIV can build a life together. From strolls along Marine Drive to the vibrant street food culture, Mumbai offers a canvas where love knows no boundaries.

Delhi: Embracing Love Amidst Traditions Delhi, the heart of the nation, is witnessing a harmonious blend of tradition and progressive values in HIV marriages. Letmemarry Bureau in Delhi is not just a platform; it's a bridge that connects hearts beyond the stigma of HIV. The city's rich history becomes a backdrop for couples as they navigate life together, overcoming societal norms and building a future steeped in understanding and mutual support.

Bangalore: Tech Hub and Hub of Love In the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore, where innovation thrives, letmemarry.com is carving a niche for fostering meaningful connections among HIV couples. Beyond the tech corridors, couples explore the city's parks, cultural events, and eclectic cafes, forging bonds that withstand the challenges of societal misconceptions. Bangalore's progressive mindset provides a supportive ecosystem for couples in HIV marriages.

Kolkata: Artistic Expression of Love Kolkata, with its artistic soul, provides a unique backdrop for HIV couples to express their love. Letmemarry bureau in Kolkata actively engages with the artistic community, breaking down stereotypes. From the iconic Howrah Bridge to the serene boat rides on the Hooghly River, the city offers a poetic setting for couples to script their love story, free from the shackles of societal judgment.

Life Together: Triumphs and Challenges

Navigating life as an HIV couple in these cities comes with both triumphs and challenges. While the supportive ecosystem created by letmemarry.com fosters understanding and love, societal stigma remains a hurdle. The couples' resilience, mutual support, and the platform's commitment to inclusivity contribute to the triumphs over adversity.

Celebrating Everyday Moments

In the midst of societal challenges, HIV couples in these cities find joy in everyday moments. From sharing a cup of chai in Mumbai's local trains to exploring Delhi's historical landmarks hand in hand, from tech-inspired dates in Bangalore to artistic expressions of love in Kolkata's cultural festivals, every moment becomes a celebration of their unique journey together.

Summary:

Redefining Love, One City at a Time

In conclusion, the top four cities in India – Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata – are not just witnessing HIV marriages; they are witnessing a redefinition of love itself. With letmemarry.com as a guiding force, couples in these cities are navigating life together, breaking down societal barriers, and rewriting the narrative of matrimony in a way that celebrates love in its purest form.

#hiv positive marriages #hiv positive groom near me #hiv positive bride near me #HIV Marriages #HIV Positive Marriages #HIV Partner #HIV Marriages near me #HIV Marriage Bureau Near me #HIV Marriage consultancy in Hyderabad #HIV Positive #HIV girl for marriage #HIV marriages in India #HIV positive matrimony #HIV Positive matrimonial #Hiv Positive life partner #HIV positive brides #Hiv positive Girls #HIV Positive Grooms #HIV positive marriage #matrimonial site for HIV positive #marriage bureau for HIV positive #HIV positive woman marriage #Hiv positive matchmaking #HIVpositivemarriage #HIV marriage bureau Bangalore #HIV marriage #HIV matrimony #Hiv positive Matrimonial India #HIV positive marriage bureau #Marriage of HIV Positive

[doberbutts]

Curious about something you mentioned in your post last week, you said that in your opinion all drugs should be legal and I’m curious about how that would be a positive at all? Like I get weed bc it’s pretty harmless but when I think of drugs I think of cocaine and heroin, which have destroyed so many lives. If it was widely available wouldn’t that end up hurting more people than helping? That’s just my opinion but I’m curious on the other side

I do think all drugs should be legal. This is said knowing that addiction runs in my family and that the only reason my older sister is my *sister* is due to drug use and addiction. Otherwise she'd be my cousin.

Making drugs illegal does not stop people from getting high. It does not stop drug related crime. And it certainly does not stop drugs from tearing families apart.

Addiction is a symptom of a larger problem. Solve the problem and the addict problem goes away. Solve the addict problem and drugs stop ruining lives and destroying families and creating massive amounts of drug related violence. Places that have roled out decriminalization strategies effectively have seen an overall reduction in crime rates across the board, a reduction in recreational drug use, and a reduction in bloodborne illness like HIV. Creating safe needle exchanges as well as safe places to get high with medical staff onhand has also created a locale where very few people die from overdose.

Most people hear "decriminalize all drugs" and think I mean a free-for-all. I don't. I think the drug market should be regulated. I don't think you should be able to get ketamine or heroin over the counter at a walmart like you can get asprin. But I think it's time to stop putting people in jail for getting high.

My aunt tore her life and her family and her health apart for years while she was addicted to heroin. My sister, her daughter, needed to be removed from her care due to the amazingly bad choices she made as a mother due to her addiction and her prioritizing drugs over the health and safety of her daughter. My aunt has had multiple heart attacks from the damage the constant drug use did to her body.

My aunt is more than a decade sober and do you know why? It's not because she got a wakeup call when her daughter was taken away, because at the time she willingly and freely signed her over to my parents because that got her "out of [her] hair". It's not because she had a heart attack, because she went right back to it the moment she was out of the hospital. It's not even because she spent time in rehab and prison, because the moment she was out she was using again.

No, my aunt got sober because her life changed. She was put on a better pain management plan. She got out of her shitty marriage to her shitty husband. She completed some education to make her more hireable so she didn't have to rely on less than safe means of paying her bills. She reconnected with my sister and reforged their relationship once she was 18. She bought her own house. She found love with someone who didn't give a shit about her past and brought out the best in her.

My aunt was a deeply unhappy person. Heroin made life more tolerable for her. Until she couldn't tolerate life without it. Until she'd do anything, anything, to get her next high.

A lot of addicts are addicts because they are self-medicating for something else and their drug of choice has chemical properties that makes their brains crave it more. If you fix the "deeply unhappy" part, you create a healthier environment for that addict to take control over their life again. Without it, they are far more likely to continue to relapse.

Knowing this, why would I then want to add the threat of prison and jailtime- life-ruining things themselves- to an addict's list of concerns?

Look up rat park sometime. In the rat paradise, drugged water was freely offered, and occasional a rat here or there would take a hit or two, but rarely enough to even get high and almost never habitually. Addiction literally didn't exist even though the rats were taking addictive substances. But the rats in cages, seperated from each other, with no enrichment, crammed into small spaces and stressed to hell? Those rats took hit after hit after hit until they overdosed and died. The addict rats were deeply unhappy. The drugs were their only escape. The paradise rats had to be lured in with sweetened drugs to even consider and even then they rejected them. The caged rats did not need sweetner, even though the drugs made the water bitter.

If we can see such a stark difference in rats having their needs met vs rats experiencing isolation and stress, what would happen if we showed human addicts the same consideration?

I think a lot better results than continuing to jail deeply unhappy and desperate people for doing the only thing they can think of to cope.

[outcider]

This whole James Somerton thing makes me want to go around and yell at random people that the marriage equality push of the 90s wasn't about white picket fences, it was about getting people healthcare in an epidemic. Did marriage equality help everyone equally? No, and it's important to acknowledge that. But when you've got a lot population of people not getting HIV/AIDS treatment and you can massively reduce that amount and pass the bill off to major corporations, you do so. Also, reducing the amount of uninsured in your community means that those left each getting a bigger piece of the charity and grant money.

Also, straight people were swooping in and feasting on the dying. Some of the families that kicked their kids out still had legal rights and could decide that their kid 'wouldn't want' extreme life saving measures, too undignified. Also, none of the expensive AZT stuff, it's experimental don't you know. The cheaper their death was, the bigger the bag the families got.

People were dying alone. Spouses were being cut off from ever seeing the loves of their life again the moment they went into the hospitals. They were sitting at homing knowing that uncaring blood relatives were making decisions.

Were some people into marriage equality for respectability? Sure. As James Somerton has shown, just because you are gay doesn't mean you aren't a festering pile of shit. However, almost all the energy and donations came from people horrified at stories of people dying alone, not getting potentially life saving medications, and the spouses, and sometimes kids, who were powerless and had to just wait, and then let the blood relations take every dollar, every personal item, everything the person they loved had ever created.

#james somerton #todd in the shadows #aids #hbomberguy

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids,

Here are some good things that happened in 2022!

January:

Canada bans conversion therapy

Greece allows gay men to donate blood (for the first time in 45 years!)

Israel legalizes surrogacy for gay couples

People in Switzerland are now able to legally change their gender without having to undergo surgery first

February:

New Zealand bans conversion therapy

Nonbinary people in Columbia are now entitled to a birth certificate with a "nonbinary" sex marker

Nayarit (Mexico) allows same-sex couples to adopt

Kuwait overrules a law that has been used to criminalize transgender people

Jowelle de Souza makes history as the first openly transgender parliamentarian in the Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago)

March:

Chile legalizes same-sex marriage

 France removes the deferral period for gay men donating blood

The United States announces an overhaul of TSA protocols to implement gender-neutral screening at checkpoints

Wales (United Kingdom) bans conversion therapy

Kristin Crowley makes history as the first openly gay (and the first female) chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department (United States)

Diana Zurco makes history as Argentina’s first openly transgender newscaster

April:

Santa Catarina (Brazil) now allows nonbinary people to change their gender marker without having to file a lawsuit

Jalisco (Mexico) bans conversion therapy

The United States issues the first passport with a nonbinary gender 'X' option

May:

Greece bans conversion therapy

Lithuania allows gay men to donate blood

Croatia allows same-sex couples to adopt

Austria removes the deferral period for gay men donating blood

June:

Hidalgo (Mexico) now punishes people offering conversion therapy with up to 3 years in prison

Quebec (Canada) allows people to be classified as a parent (rather than a mother or father) on their child's birth certificate

North Carolina (United States) no longer demands proof of surgery from people who wish to change their gender marker

Spain prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status

Kamala Harris made history by hosting the first Pride Month reception by a sitting vice president at their residence (United States)

July:

Switzerland legalizes same-sex marriage

Antigua and Barbuda legalize "same-sex behavior"

Andorra decides to legalize same-sex marriage (the law will come into effect in 2023)

Slovenia legalizes both same-sex marriage and adoption

Ariana DeBose makes history as the first queer woman of color (and the first Afro-Latina) to win an Oscar for acting (United States)

August:

India expands the definition of family to include "queer relationships"

Chile equalizes the age of consent

In Saint Kitts and Nevis, same-sex activity is no longer illegal.

Vietnam declares that homosexuality is not a disease and bans conversion therapy

Ellia Green makes history as the first Olympian to come out as a trans man (Australia)

September:

In India, the State Medical Councils can now take disciplinary action against doctors who provide conversion therapy

Cuba legalizes both same-sex marriage and adoption

 Durango (Mexico) legalize same-sex marriage

Canada removes the deferral period for gay men donating blood

Kim Petras and Sam Smith make history as the first openly transgender woman and the first openly nonbinary person to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (United States)

October:

Latvia allows civil unions for same-sex couples 

Paraguay bans conversion therapy

Byron Perkins makes history as the first out football player at HBCU (United States)

Duda Salabert and Erika Hilton make history as the first two openly transgender people elected to the National Congress of Brazil

November:

Singapore decriminalizes gay sex

Singapore also lifts censorship of lgbt+ media

Hidalgo becomes the first state in Mexico to recognize nonbinary people

Ireland removes the deferral period for gay men donating blood

December:

 Barbados legalizes "same-sex acts"

Here is to more good news in 2023!

With all my love,

Your Tumblr Dad

#lgbt #lgbt+

[bioethicists]

my wife brought up a brilliant point this morning: a huge problem with the way we view psychology (a problem which is frequently exploited + used to justify a lot of just. shitty work) is that it lives in a no-man's land between "social sciences" + "natural sciences" in the collective imagination.

consider: one of the first works which spurned my interest in psychiatric abolition was durkheim's work on suicide. as a sociologist ("social scientist"), he uses pretty rigorous quantitative methods to show that suicide is much less correlated with levels of depression than it is with cultural factors (like religion, country of origin, marriage rates). however, people do not respond to the medicalization of suicide by saying "well, durkheim proved that suicide isn't a mental illness symptom, so this is unscientific"- this is obviously a drastic oversimplification of his work + it's commonly understood that sociology does not "prove" immutable social truths.

similarly, i would not comment on a study which identifies changes in t-cells over time among hiv+ patients by arguing that it didn't deeply explore the social environments or past traumas they had experienced, (even though those could have an impact on t-cell count), because i understand that is not the purpose of the research + ultimately they had to choose to control for these factors without centering them in order to obtain important medical information. "this information is meaningless because it doesn't include each patient's trauma history" would be an absurd critique.

among the general population + many self-assured researchers, psychology gets both the privilege of being a "social science" (so we can't expect it to be TOO exact; it's complicated; it's not really saying that's ALWAYS true; if it proves inaccurate that's because culture/social factors must have muddied it up; we can't really expect PROOF for most of it) as well as a "natural science" (you can't question its basic presumptions or you're a science denier; the dsm describes real things which existed even before it was written; it obviously is rooted in biology even if we haven't discovered how yet; reducing its measures to quantitative evaluation is fine + unproblematic).

my point here isn't to argue that psychology is a "social" or "natural" science, but rather that we need to rethink what work those categories actually do + whether the distinction between them is as strict or meaningful as we believe it to be. our strict dichotomies between "objectively proven truths" + "social observations which are ultimately just informed opinions" are exposed when we look at a field which seems to be uncomfortably situated within both. what kind of work might become possible if we abandoned this dichotomy, rather than bickering over whose work belongs in which club?

#tagging this b4 i start: prayers for me that this can be concise cuz i have a bunch of dead french guys to read for class #psych abolition #ok it wasnt too bad

[randomriddlee]

guys hear me out imagine house md veterinary hospital au in which:

house got kicked by a cow during his internship and his leg didn’t heal properly which made him use a cane

he was forced to switch to small animal practice, he still hates clients but his fluffy patients love him for some unknown reason

wilson specialises in equine medicine (wilson is basically a horse girl) and because their hospital doesn’t get much calls for horse consults he spends most of his time being annoyed by house

instead of being exposed to hiv cameron gets bit by a rabid 16 year old yorkshire terrier

a lady comes with an obese labrador and chase nearly gets rabid himself

the ducklings are responsible for restraining first and treating patients second

foreman is afraid of small dogs

chase makes fun of him but he’s terrified as well

cameron has four senior sick rescue cats which seem to be immortal

house is addicted to ketamine instead of vicodin

there’s at least one joke about chase’s interest in bdsm and getting bit

wilson always gets a new golden retriever when entering a new marriage, the dogs always stay with his ex-wives

house constantly remarks that he should change his motorcycle for a horse to wilson’s horror

stevie mcqueen was actually brought to the hospital by a rescue for lab animals, house adopted stevie after his treatment was finished

cuddy specialises in animal reproduction and house constantly tries to win the argument by bringing puppies to her office (she folds on occasion)

house nearly does a necropsy on a goat with anthrax

#house md #gregory house #james wilson #lisa cuddy #eric foreman #allison cameron #robert chase #the ducklings #and of course hilson is included in this au #hilson #i’m currently on season 3 so sorry for not including other characters

[genderkoolaid]

In the last two decades, there has been a growing body of literature on trans health in India. However, most research is limited to HIV/AIDS and primarily focuses on trans women. Studies on trans men or transmasculine identities and their healthcare needs and experiences in India have received little scholarly attention. Even globally, the literature on trans men’s health is relatively scant, with existing studies conducted mainly in Western countries. There exists a dearth of government data and statistics on trans men in India. The only attempt to enumerate the transgender population was made by the national census, which categorised them as ‘other.’ The census estimated 4,87,803 transgender people in India. However, several transgender activists have argued that this number is a considerable miscalculation and an inaccurate representation of the entire transgender community in India. Moreover, the lack of official data on trans men also risks under-allocating funds for much-needed welfare programmes. Moreover, trans men experience direct and indirect discrimination in healthcare settings. Such experiences include being asked invasive or inappropriate questions about their bodies, invalidating their gender identity via misgendering, deadnaming, and being denied healthcare or receiving low-quality care. Sometimes, it also includes physical mishandling and verbal harassment by the hospital staff and co-patients or not being allowed to enter certain hospital wards or spaces. [...] For many trans men, the family becomes the first space for mental and physical violence and outright rejection of their identity, with instances of forced heterosexual marriages or corrective rape. Vinay (name changed), a 30-year-old trans man from Punjab, says, “Family says ‘you’re ruining our reputation, get married, have one-two kids and then everything will be fine.’ They even use rape as a measure saying ‘you don’t know who you are, and when it happens, then you’ll know [your true sexual orientation].’”  Many have to deal with uninformed healthcare providers unwilling to treat them because of their gender identity. Lack of knowledge amongst medical professionals and poor social understanding of trans men means that trans men often have to self-advocate and explain their health-related issues and gender identity to medical practitioners who constantly challenge or dismiss their identity. This self-advocacy and mental effort to explain or justify one’s gender identity and expression often leads to emotional exhaustion. Soham (name changed), a 24-year- old trans man from New Delhi, recounts his experience of going to a hospital,  “The doctor came and shouted my dead name. There were a lot of people in the emergency room and I remember feeling numb for a second…He shouted, ‘Is this you? Yehi naam hai aapka?’ (‘Is this you? Is this your name?’)…Then he literally pointed at my chest and said your chest is so flat, do you have your periods? I was numb and I didn’t say anything. I didn’t get my medicine, I didn’t tell him my problem, I just went home and I locked myself in my room for a week.” 

— I Didn’t Get My Medicine, And I Locked Myself In My Room For A Week (Trans Men Are Invisible in India's Healthcare) by Arushi Raj and Fatima Juned

#m. #rape tw #examples of transandrophobia #transandrophobia #transmisandry #anti transmasculinity #transunity