Pride excess and risks

posted: 27/08/2010

Pride is a tempting party time of drink, drugs and sex. So what’s not to like? The crowds, scene atmosphere and all-out hedonism drive some of us past our limits. Our livers complain, there are comedowns, and if we ‘forget’ and don’t use condoms, we may end the weekend with HIV or some other STI, or pass something on.

How can we stay more in control?
We can all use tips and tricks.

Set yourself strict limits and party only on special occasions, so you might decide one night only over the weekend, and set a limit for how late you stay out, the types of drinks, how many, or what you do.

Be more choosy about the situations and people, where the temptations to excess may be too much for you to resist.

Take only so much money, and leave at a time you decided earlier.

Drop the shots and more risky drugs.

Ask friends to watch out for you and help you stick to your rules and limits.

Alternate drinking soft drinks with alcohol.

Choose other ways to enjoy the time with friends – a BBQ, picnic, walk or swim, galleries, shopping, movies or a show.

Abstinence, going on the wagon for a time, works for some.

You can look after yourself and those around you and  have a good time.

Community Service for HIV+ Popstar

posted: 26/08/2010

Updated 27 August

The HIV-positive German popstar accused of infecting her former partner was given a two-year suspended sentence and is required to do 300 hours of community service work, if possible working with an organisation that helps people with HIV.
 

Nadja Benaissa, 28, admitted having unprotected sex and not telling her partner she has HIV, as German law requires. The law is different in the UK.
 

The No Angels singer was found guilty of causing bodily harm to one man, and of two cases of attempted bodily harm.
 

Benaissa admitted she had sex with three partners without telling them she has HIV. One of them later tested HIV positive.

Virus evidence unchallenged

The court ruled that she had "in all probability" infected one of her lovers, who contracted HIV at the time of their relationship and that she had endangered the life of another, who remains free of the virus. Similar accusations towards the singer made by a third former lover, which were originally included in evidence, were not heard in order to speed up the trial.

The prosecution evidence given by the expert German virologist, Professor Josef Eberle of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, said there was little doubt that Benaissa had infected the man, because they both had a very similar strain of the virus, a rare form which was first discovered in West Africa.

However this evidence went unchallenged (because she pleaded guilty) and it is notable that the judge only said that 'in all probability' she infected him. In a criminal case in Britain 'in all probability' is not good enough - she has to be proved the source of his infection 'beyond reasonable doubt'.

Having a similar strain of HIV, even if this is rare in Germany, doesn't prove he could not have been infected by someone else with the same strain. Until a few years ago the Crown Prosecution Service in Britain made the same sweeping claims about people who shared the same rare strain of HIV. Then expert virologists for the defence here demonstrated that this proves nothing except that two people have the same strain of HIV. The man could have got that same strain from someone else.   

She could have faced up to 10 years in jail, but prosecutors sought a lenient sentence because she confessed and expressed remorse.
Benaissa was arrested very publicly in Frankfurt last year, shortly before she was due to perform a solo concert, and spent 10 days in custody.
 

Pressures and a hard life 

The five-day trial, which took place in a youth court in Darmstadt as Benaissa was just 16 when the first offences took place, heard detailed evidence of the pop star's troubled youth. Benaissa spent time living on the street, where she developed a drug addiction. She had a child when she was 16.

Stop and Think

For those of us who are quick to say: how could she? I would like to ask a few questions: could you imagine finding out you are pregnant, and that you also have HIV, at 17? Can you imagine the fear that you could possibly infect the baby, and the anxiety that the medications you need to take in order to prevent the transmission may harm you and the baby? Can you imagine fearing for your own future? How would you tell your partner, or your ex, or the person you are hoping to have a relationship with? And what could the consequences be?
 

Source BBC

Update Source The Guardian 
Stop and Think from HIV Policy Speak Up blog
Statement by German HIV organisation Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe (in English) on HIV and the Criminal Law
HIV criminalisation blog

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Join the Disability Benefits Survey

posted: 26/08/2010

We are keen to find out what people living with HIV think about how the benefits system works. The survey is organised by the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), a network of different disability charities and campaigns, including NAT (National AIDS Trust). George House Trust supports the coalitions study.

Please take part in the survey here

Finding out about you and work, Employment Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Disability Living Allowance

The survey asks what you think about work, and if you have ever claimed Employment and Support Allowance – the new benefit for people who cannot work due to ill health or disability. It also asks about Housing Benefit and Disability Living Allowance.
 

The government is planning major changes to benefits, and already we know many people with HIV have serious problems with disability benefits. To campaign well for people living with HIV we need to know more about the experiences of people living with HIV, good and bad.
 

The survey ends on 20 October 2010. Take part in the survey in here please

If you have any questions about the survey or NAT's work on benefits, contact Sarah Radcliffe, NAT's Policy Officer 

 Disability Benefits Consortium 
 

£212 from Ribbons, Rallies and Rubbers

posted: 26/08/2010

As part of the Fringe of the Manchester Pride Festival, our Ribbons, Rallies and Rubbers - Diary of a HIV Activist evening raised £212. It continued our 25th anniversary celebrations and featured speakers and artists involved in different types of HIV activism over the last 25 years.
 

The ever fabulous Jonathan Mayor, long standing prolific activist Peter Tatchell, the founding fathers of George House Trust, drag king extraordinaire Valentino King and the captivating performance poet Gerry Potter took to the stage in front of an audience of over 90 people at the Frog and Bucket Comedy Club.

YouTube of Jerry Potter's poem that he perfomed on the night and has performed at various HIV and AIDS vigils. It's a piece demonstrating the very centre strength of being queer. A heartfelt battle cry reaching through the decades and constantly involved in the now. A cheer for hope and a decoration adorning gay history.
 

The night was talked about on gaydio and we’ve had appreciative emails saying what a good night it was.
 

Thank you to all who came and showed HIV activism still matters.
 

Budget Cuts Threat

posted: 26/08/2010

Amid the renewed criticism that the June budget affects the poor and people with disabilities such as HIV worst of all, despite government claims that it is ‘fair,’ and 'progressive,' Britain's equalities watchdog has now warned it could take action. If ministers have failed to carry out the legally required assessment of the impact on vulnerable people, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now threatened action.
 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies described the budget yesterday as "clearly regressive". The respected and impartial think tank did a far more detailed study than it could just after the budget, and has now taken into account things like changes to Disability Living Allowance, Housing Benefit and Tax Credit, and has found that these and all the other changes mean people with incomes in the poorest tenth of the population are the biggest losers in the budget.
 

Equalities warning

Neil Kinghan, the EHRC's director general, issued his warning after Mark Hoban, the Treasury minister, stonewalled questions on the BBC Radio4 Today programme about whether the government had carried out a statutory assessment of the impact of the budget on women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and the elderly.
 

Kinghan said: "It is for the Treasury to demonstrate it has complied with legislation and assessed the impact of its decisions on vulnerable groups. If it cannot do so, then the commission will have to consider appropriate enforcement action."
 

Source

Report on Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis of the affect of the budget on different parts of the population
Institute for Fiscal Studies' own analysis of the budget