Lika Starr » hiv-aids

World Aids Day A Time For Hope

Lika Starr — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:12:22 +0000

Every year here at LikaStarr.com we change the Express Yourself – Protect Yourself photo residing in the sidebar of this site in honor of Aids awareness. We do this every December 1st in recognition of World Aids Day. Today will be our third year and we hope to have many more Decembers to come.

This year we want to do something a little more special in addition. We have partnered with Love and Pride, the largest retailer of gay themed design jewelry on the planet – their outreach is global. More importantly, their size allows them to some great things on a grand scale. Things like help raise money for valiant charitable organizations. Over there years Love and Pride have given thousands and thousands to charities like the Mathew Shepard Foundation, GMHC (Gay Mens Health Crisis), Lambda Legal and others.

World AIDS day is a time of hope, a time to help and a time to act. If you want to help out with World Aids Day there is no better way than to help our gay brothers suffering with AIDS at the same time. You can do this and get something to back in return. Something that you can cherish, be proud of and to remind yourself and others that we should all continue to care.

Love and Pride donates 100% of the net proceeds of its “A Time for Hope” watch to the GMHC foundation. It really is a beautifully inspired watch that adorns the famed red ribbon on its face and sports a deep reaching hue of blue in the classic band. It is a watch to be proud to wear at any gay themed event, political, charity or otherwise – everyday if you are so inclined.

The watch retails for $125, not bad especially considering all of the net proceeds go to the GMHC. To encourage you to help we’re offering a 30% store-wide discount until December 3rd at 3:00 pm EST. Just enter the *coupon code, 301130 when you’re ready to check out. That means the watch is yours, the donations are made and all you pay is $87.50. Throw something else in your basket that bring the total to $100 or more and you get free shipping too. That additional item could be the awesome tell-it-like-you-feel-it “Erase Hate” pendant in which 100% of the net proceeds are donated to the Mathew Shepard Foundation.

Of course Love and Pride has tons of fashionably hot jewelry to choose from. We’ve simply chosen two items that fit the day. While you’re there you might want to pick up some other items for yourself or gift for that special person in your life.

To easily find the watch and pendant simply click on the link at the top of the Love and Pride home page that reads “10% of all proceeds supports equality for all.”

*Coupon code does not apply to the “Erase Hate” pendant.

Witch Doctor Gambian President Says He Will Kill Gays

Lika Starr — Fri, 23 May 2008 03:00:47 +0000

My oh my — That’s a long staff you have there Mr. President. Gambia’s president, Yahya Jammeh says he’ll kill gays if they don’t leave the country. He’s mandated that gay renters be kicked out of hotels and their dwellings before he sends in the troops to round up gays.

I feel sadness and pain for all residents of the Gambia to have such a disturbed leader. My words are not just in regards to his blatant murderous hatred of homosexuals. This man actually says and believes he saves lives (yet he contracts to kill his own). He believes he can cure AIDS, pneumonia and other serious illnesses just by waiving his hands, by touch and herbal concoctions.

I have to wonder if he uses his staff as a magical wand. One wave and hundreds killed or saved. Or, maybe he uses it for a more personal pleasure behind closed doors. Ahh…the magic of imagination. It can take one to some peculiar places.

Lucbilly from YouTube has more on the story.

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I came across poetic justice in the words of Lenelle Moise, who responded to President Jammeh’s announcement via her YouTube channel. Have a listen to her moving words below. I must admit this vid gave me chills the first time I played it. It’s a great piece Lenelle

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The Gay Community

Lika Starr — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:17:21 +0000

The title of this article is strong and there

The Mother of Ryan White Wants To Talk With Mike Huckabee

Lika Starr — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:02:04 +0000

Ryan White was a poster child for non-homosexual AIDS victims in the 1980’s. At 13 he contracted the disease via a treatment for hemophilia. At the age of 18 in 1990 Ryan’s life would end at the mercy of AIDS.

Ryan’s story did help a lot of people overcome the fear of being around those who have AIDS. He should forever be remembered for his bravery and struggle to help others.

“Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me” ~ Ryan White

“It was difficult, at times, to handle; but I tried to ignore the injustice, because I knew the people were wrong” ~ Ryan White

Mike Huckabee’s comments from 1992 in a questionnaire recently made headlines. In which he said carriers of the virus should be isolated [quarantined]. More on this can be found on my blog. After the headlines broke, Huckabee was interviewed of FOX News where he said he does not recant his views but would state them differently in retrospect.

On Tuesday the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) had sent a letter to Mike Huckabee asking him to meet with White’s mother. The Huckabee Campaign declined any response so far.

The HRC letter followed a phone call on Monday by the Associated Press who spoke with Jeanne White-Ginder, Ryan White’s mother. White-Gender told the AP ”We have to treat this disease like a disease, and like Ryan always said, not like a dirty word.”

White-Gender said, “It’s so alarming to me,” in reference to Huckabee’s views on AIDS. She stressed, “It’s very important to me that we don’t live in the darkness,” talking about a time when HIV/AIDS was thought to be transmitted by casual contact.

[UPDATE:] Huckabee agrees to meet with Jeanne White-Ginder, mother of Ryan White who died in 1990 of AIDS contracted by hemophilia treatment derived from blood.

“I would be very willing to meet with them…I would tell them we’ve come a long way in research, in treatment,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee told reporters that he doesn’t want to hurt any families of AIDS victims. He said, “I certainly never would want to say anything that would be hurtful to them or anyone else. I would have great regret and anxiety if I thought my comments were hurtful or in any way added to the already incredible pain that families have felt regardless of how they contracted AIDS.”

Lika Starr

We should be assured that the HRC will do everything they can to ensure this meeting takes place. But what does all this mean? It means that Huckabee is doing what he does best – being Likable. I am almost certain he would not agree to meet with this mother had her son been older and a homosexual that contracted AIDS through sexual contact. America should not be fooled by his acceptance of the meeting. Huckabee is fully aware that this was an ‘innocent’ child that touched the heart of America. He is using that as a basis reach out to those same Americans.

However, it does not change the fact that he refuses to recant his views of 1992 and to this day stands by his convictions against homosexuality. It does not change that he feels carriers of the virus should be isolated. It does not change that he believes homosexuality is a sin and does not support same sex unity personally or in the eyes of the law.

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More On Huckabee And AIDS

Lika Starr — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:20:17 +0000

The latest story breaking today on Huckabee is regarding a 229 questionnaire submitted to Mike Huckabee as a candidate in 1992 for a U.S. Senate seat. At that time he suggested a quarantine and said celebrities should fund more of AIDS research out of their own pockets.Huckabee said, “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with
the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers
of this plague.” He also said that in the first time in history AIDS is a plague that has not been isolated.

At the time when Huckabee submitted his answers it was widely known that AIDS could not be transferred by casual contact – thus making a national quarantine unnecessary.

On his views of homosexuality Huckabee said, “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle,
and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”

As a 2008 Presidential Candidate Huckabee offers the following statement regarding AIDS on his website.

“My administration will be the first to have an overarching strategy
for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States, with a
partnership between the public and private sectors that will provide
necessary financing and a realistic path toward our goals.”

Lika’s Take:

Huckabee Schmuckabee – nuff said!

Lika Starr

World AIDS Day Is Today December 1st

Lika Starr — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:39:47 +0000

“Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the increase in HIV/AIDS in the US. At that that time I suggested that we all (especially bloggers) need to do our part to up the awareness level because the message has faded over the years.

With the new drug cocktails that have been developed over the years people have wrongly assumed the risk has lessened. That is simply not true. To make matters worse, there are strains of the disease that modern medication may have little effect on. Also there seems to be a common thought amongst some sexually promiscuous homosexual men that if they get AIDS then all they have to do is take the meds and not have to worry about it anymore. There are bareback clubs in particular that have been formed for this purpose – to get AIDS.

I’ve been told by several people usually in their twenties that AIDS is no longer a big deal. “That was in the 80′s,” they say. They are wrong. The numbers are creeping back up because we no longer “think” it’s a big deal. It’s time to wake up. Again.

To top it off our current compassionate President, Mr. Bush, has vetoed additional spending on AIDS awareness. It’s up to us to inform each other. When I wrote that article I pledged that my blog would support HIV/AIDS awareness. I wanted to do something special so I created a graphic. Although I designed the graphic for my blog shortly afterwards and placed it on my blog I didn’t want to officially announce it until now.

The graphic above is part of what will be an ongoing AIDS awareness campaign for this blog. About the design: I found the photo doing a Google search. I wanted a photo of two hot guys kissing for my project but I wanted to keep it clean but intense at the same time. I’m really not fond of “scare” tactics used in other campaigns. Instead I prefer to promote safe hot sex to sell the message. The photo I selected came from Queerty. It was from an old story back in 2006 about Gay Muslins seeking political asylum in the Netherlands. Gays seeking asylum had to watch videos of two men kissing in a park to prove they were gay.

“Express Yourself – Protect Yourself” is a slogan I really liked because it promotes sex while promoting safety. I also like the song, Express Yourself, by Madonna.

Of course I think we should all be creative and come up with our own projects/graphics for this cause. Uniqueness is key but if you like the graphic I made please feel free to use it with or without credit to me. I’ll keep it located near the bottom left-hand corner of my page for now. Since this is an ongoing project I figure its okay if it’s located near the bottom. Besides how many of us guys do you think won’t notice it no matter where it’s placed. If I’m looking at a page with mostly text and there’s a photo of two hot guys kissing I’m going to see it (and take a closer look) no matter where it is. *grins*

Lika Starr

Bush – Says Congress Acting Like A Teenager

Lika Starr — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:19:45 +0000

Bush says no to additional AIDS funding.

“The [Democratic] majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it’s acting like a teenager with a new credit card,” Bush said in a speech after vetoing a spending bill.

Congress attempted to overturn the Presidential veto but failed by only two votes.

The bill would have pledged an additional $84 million in AIDS funding. The AIDS funding increase was only a small part of the vetoed Labor-HHS appropriations bill. The total amount sought for funding amounted to $606 billion, about $10 billion more than the President had asked for. The full story was printed in the Dallas Voice and can be found here.

Lika Starr

Florida Says 1 in 22 Gay Men Have HIV

Lika Starr — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:04:18 +0000

A study by state health officials in Florida say that for every 22 gay men in the state one of them has the HIV virus. The official varied numbers look like this:

One in 11 gay white men in Broward County have HIV, as well as 1 in 17 gay black men and 1 in 16 gay Hispanic men.

In Palm Beach County, 1 in 13 gay black men have HIV, as do 1 in 29 gay Hispanic men and 1 in 34 gay white men.

Gay activist groups argue the correctness of the numbers because no one really knows how many gay men there are. The study was generous with its assumptions where it speculated that 10 percent of the state’s population of males are gay. The activist groups fear that number may be too high which would make the percentage of gays with HIV even higher.

Regardless of who’s right or wrong the numbers are staggering and prove that HIV awareness is failing. Flyers and pamphlets no longer work says activists. This holds especially true with men who hook up over the internet via mediums like MySpace and other social networkds. The younger guys aren’t being taught prevention like they should be.

Overall it’s disappointing news for the Gay Community since Florida ranks somewhere in the lower top 20 US cities as having the highest number of gay men living in its larger cities. If the reports are correct, then it is undoubtedly true in other metropolitan areas of the country as well.

Lika’s Take:

Hopefully this will spark a newly designed AIDS awareness campaign geared towards how gay men meet online due to the social boom on the internet. I can think of a few ideas. Social networks like MySpace already target their members with ads according to their profile criteria and what they read on the site. Google Adsense and others like their system target content to display their ads. Other sites like gay photoblogs target ads by nature of the site content. Other gay news sites are contenders to campaign as well.

I think all gay bloggers should step and run an HIV/AIDS awareness ad free of charge. The social sites should do it to as well as advertising programs like Google Adsense. I spend most of my time on the internet and rarely do I ever see anything promoting safe sex for gays unless I’m searching for the term. It’s time to shape up guys and get with the program. It’s almost as if it has been forgotten amongst the internet explosion. I will pledge to start my own campaign very soon!

Lika Starr