Gay London clubs bars sex: map, calendar/diary, reviews, news from DISCODAMAGED

Gay urban myth

How often have you heard or said, "I have an undetectable viral load and so the risk of getting HIV from me is very small even without using a condom." It's a seductive message, even more so because there is some truth in it, but there are serious complications. As Dr Ulrich Marcus of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin said, "There are simple truths and complex truths. People like simple truths - complex truths are often inconvenient, because they require people to realize that what they do – even if they act with best intentions – may have unintended consequences." Continue reading for the complex truth and more...

Welcome to the sex you want

A friend forwarded us this amazing HIV Harm Reduction resource from Canada. We've never quite seen a resource like this, all in one place. Check it out... http://www.thesexyouwant.ca/

STI stats make grim reading. London's top of the list. Time to shape up and pull together!

We're an STI ridden bunch of typhoid Marys according to the latest data.

Matthew Hodson says “Let me be blunt: Sex has consequences. If you have sex with lots of men, you are much more likely to pick up an STI, including HIV. You can catch gonorrhoea from oral sex - at least 16% of gonorrhoea cases were detected in the throat, so wearing condoms for anal sex is not enough to keep you free from STIs. Having gonorrhoea will make you more vulnerable to HIV, if you have not been infected, and more likely to transmit HIV if you are HIV positive, even if you’re on treatment."

Meanwhile, Sports Day cometh!

 

LOW VIRAL LOAD - NOT SO GOOD

"A study of 101 gay men at the Fenway Health HIV clinic in Boston, USA (Politch) has found that a quarter of men with undetectable viral loads in their blood nonetheless had detectable HIV in their semen.

Although seminal viral load in these men was low (median 200 copies/ml), the researchers suggest that this is still enough to be one of the explanations for ongoing transmission in gay men despite a high proportion being on antiretroviral therapy."

Read more on Aidsmap.

MASSIVE CRIME CRACKDOWN LAUNCHES IN WEST END. WILL RUN FOR SIX MONTHS!

Pic: ITV News

The Metropolitan Police Service has launched its largest ever crackdown on crime and anti-social behaviour in the West End - they're after thieves and troublemakers, drug dealers and takers and venues that turn a blind eye to them. Oh, and folks that step outside the tiny bit of land you're allowed to drink on outside venues. Operation Trafalgar will see everything from car checkpoints to watchtowers (!) being erected at busy junctions.

In a major operation, hundreds of extra officers will be drafted in on the busiest nights of the week for a six-month period until the end of September. Operation Trafalgar, which launched today (Thursday 29 March), will see up to four hundred extra officers deployed into the West End on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, in a New York-style operation to add to the hundred officers who usually patrol on each of those nights in Westminster.

KETAMINE CLASSIFICATION UNDER REVIEW. GREAT VIDEO.

Apparently it's too popular and They are worried.  The BBC reports it thus: A review of Class C drug Ketamine has been ordered by the Home Office.  It follows concerns about its increased use and the harm the drug can cause. Home Secretary Theresa May has asked independent experts on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to update their advice.

Which all rather reminds us of a film a dear friend, Max (sadly deceased), made...

CLAP-O-METER LAUNCHES... WITH NEW POST POKE/ LIKE SORRY I'VE GIVEN YOU A DRIPPY PRICK "TOOL"!

What kind of message do you prefer to get on Gaydar or the like? "I want your red hot poker up my hot wantin' man c*nt?"  OK, too much.  How about “We seem to have a lot in common and I’d really like to get to know you better”?  “I’m really sorry but I have gonorrhoea and I think you may have it too,” isn’t going to cut it for most people but, if that’s the case, what can you do?  Well, there's FANTASTIC NEWS! 

VIDEO: SH*T GAY GUYS SAY ABOUT HIV. WELL DONE GMFA!

AREA'S LICENSE TO BE REVIEWED. CLUB NIGHT MUSICAL CHAIRS EXPECTED

Lambeth Council's to review the licence of Area due to a police report alleging there's a "blatant supply of drugs". The licensing sub committee (not that kind of sub - think  a kaleidoscope of sleazy local incompetent councillors serving local party politics and grandstanding) meets next Tuesday 14 February at 7pm.

It follows Fire going through the same process resulting in a six week temporary closure.  We imagine lots of club nights shuffling around whilst wrists are slaps, promises made and so on and so forth.

We hear that most Vauxhall venues have seen some kind of police action lately.

The council papers are here...

24/7 GYM CULTURE

Interesting article in the Guardian hereabout the booming 24-hour gyms popping up everywhere. The article features The Gym at Vauxhall's St George Wharf - very popular with London's gay men looking to get club fit. 

Weird things about The Gym in Vauxhall:it's the only gym we've ever seen people pop out for frequent cigarette breaks.  An instructor also told us that some folks often take G to exercise which they don't encourage.  It's rammed most hours with long queues to get in and out at peak times. It's also popular with folks just out of Brixton prison, according to a policeman we know. If you go and find it too busy, they're opening another in Stockwell.

WAR ON DRUGS GETTING REAL?

After Sir Richard Branson said we should end the war on drugs yesterday, new sentencing guidance came out today. Is the farce over?  Nope, but it could be showing signs of seeing some sense albeit due to the prisons being unable to take in any more people.

"Continue reading" for quotes from the usual suspects...

VIDEO: MADONNA DOES CRYSTAL METH

MEPHEDRONE MASSACRE!

The Evening Standard today claimed Mephedrone was "linked" to 42 deaths whilst pointing out by name the next popular drug?! 

Here's what they flippantly claimed: "Banned party drugs M1 and meow meow mimic the effects of rave drug ecstasy in the brain, say US scientists. They found the newer drugs did not cause the same long-term fall in the feel-good hormone serotonin. Meow meow has been linked to 42 deaths.

QX SPEAKS UP ON DRUG DEATHS

Pretty good article in this week's QX here...  We see a bit of sensible chat going on here too.  If you think you could do with talking to somebody, don't avoid it. the new Club Drug Clinic might be a good start?

DESPITE NICE GESTURES, THE GOVT IS STILL FAILING ON HIV

Despite talking the talk, let's not forget that Cameron's government has still not launched any kind of major advertising campaign on HIV.  Rates are on the rise, folks are still ignorant, the charities at the coal face of it struggling against a tide of complacency, ignorance and a devil may care attitude.

Peter Tatchell summarises things very well as ever. "Continue reading" for an education on where we're at today. It's reall good and taught us a thing or two.

VIDEO: DAYS LIKE THIS - LITTLE BLUE FLOWER

An Irishman who has struggled his entire life with alcoholism and depression discovers a little blue flower, and it profoundly alters the course of his life.

ONE IN 20 GAY MEN HIV+. FIND OUT IF YOU'VE GOT IT AT THE PUB

After our great event on Friday night at the RVT some depressing news just before World AIDS Day. One in 20 gay men is positive and 25% of those unaware or not wanting to know. The amount of new infections hit 91,500 in 2010. Figures come courtesy of the Health Protection Agency.

CLAPHAM COMMON DEATH WASN'T MURDER. IT WAS POPPERS

You may recall concerns that a man found dead on Clapham Common was the victim of another homophobic hate crime.  Apparently not and the two men who were arrested at the time have been exonerated.  The man, a married father, had a heart attack after taking poppers, according to the coroner.

You can read the full report on the Streatham Guadian's website here...

PORN STAR: STOP TALKING ABOUT HIV

Interesting take on HIV.  Pink News has an interesting coment piece by porn star Michael Lucas, pictured.

He says "Here’s a sentence I never thought I would write: I’m in favour of a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. Not in the military, of course — those days are behind us — but in the bedroom. What I’m talking about, specifically, is HIV. And my point is that, at least when it comes to sex, we should talk about it less."

You can read the full comment piece here. Any views?

 

THREE PER DAY

A French study of 106 people with HIV and Hep-C reported that those who drunk three or more cups of coffee a day were 80% more likely not to suffer from adverse side effects. The report was given at the tenth AIDS Impact Conference has just finished in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Read more on Aidsmap.