COLE TUCKER SUCCUMBS TO AIDS

Cole Tucker a gay-porn actor died earlier this month from "AIDS related illness" at the age of 61 according to the website Queerty.

This may not be "need to know" news for many however in this day and age when young gay men are still performing unprotected sex and there is still a culture of "bug chasers" Tucker's passing deserves more than a footnote on some gay-porn blog.

There is still no magic bullet and ask those who now may live longer than those decades ago if they had the option of being disease free or have to live a life of taking meds to delay the inevitable which they would chose.

It's still important to put a face on AIDS all these years after it began regardless how the person became infected.

If You're Celibate You Can Donate

Two years ago when I had my second operation to repair my severely damaged hip due to a car accident not only did the surgery go unexpectedly long but I loss a considerable amount of blood.

That afternoon/night back in my room I was given two units of blood.

Not once did I think or worry about the blood what with the testing for a variety of things including HIV.

In the US gay men are still barred from donating blood.

But Canada has just lifted its ban but with a catch.

You need to have not had sex with another man for five years.

Now how they will enforce this rule is beyond me.

Will Big Brother now monitor gays through all seeing eyes and keep tabs on their sex lives ?

And what about women ?

They can contract AIDS/HIV as easily as men can but no one talks about banning them from donating blood.

Gay and bisexual men continue to be the scapegoats in polluting the much needed donated blood supply.

As I wrote I didn't give it a thought when I needed the blood, nor would I have if gay and bisexual men were allowed to donate. Obviously I needed the blood .... end of conversation.

Tom Judson Lives His Life With AIDS

Tom Judson, actor, composer, musician and author has written a post at HuffPost Gay Voices describing his living with, rather than dying from AIDS twenty years after getting "that" call from his doctor.

The gay plague is not the death sentence it was so many years ago but with that being said there is still no cure nor prevention other than abstinence or taking sexual activity precautions.

Judson wrote his book Laid Bare which was published in 2011 based on his life experience as an legitimate actor, musician and yes of course his days as gay porn star Gus Mattox.

The HPGV writing gives one man's perspective who unfortunately far too many gay and bi men can relate to with honesty and thankfulness.

As he concludes in his essay, Sadly, I lost Bruce and most of my friends. I even outlived the World Trade Center. And much to my surprise, I was around to celebrate as the 20th century slipped into history. But I'd have to say that of all the milestones I've passed since that shocking morning two decades ago, the thing that pleases me most is that I lived to see Cats close.

Brad Davis' Hollywood Secret

In early September 1991 Brad Davis gave up his battle with AIDS. The handsome actor who came to prominence in the 1978 film Midnight Express had been keeping a career ending secret for by then almost six years. He was 41 years young when he died.

In 1985 Davis had been diagnosed with being HIV-positive which according to his wife Susan Bluestein, a casting director in Hollywood, was caused from his use of drugs after his career started to take off with his Golden Globe award winning portrayal of Billy Hayes in Midnight Express. After several years of drug use and excessive drinking Davis cleaned up and got sober in 1981.

1985 was the same year that legendary actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS which brought HIV/AIDS to the forefront in news coverage and put a familiar face on the "gay plague" which then caused Hollywood to become a champion of the HIV/AIDS cause with fundraising efforts spearhead by many but in particular Elizabeth Taylor.

But that notoriety of the disease also came at a cost for actors and actresses, as while Hollywood became a champion it also became a devastator of careers if it were found out members of the acting community were diagnosed HIV-positive or had full blown AIDS.

In true Hollywood fashion, the studios and executives who held actors' careers in their hands, Hollywood went beyond the old studio days of hiding ones sexual preference or identity through its PR department to flat out turning their back on their own which caused those who were gay, lesbian or bisexual to stay further in the closet and those who, whether straight or LGB, suffered from HIV or AIDS to not only get in the closet but lock it and hope no one would ever find the key.

"We do give money to AIDS and the homeless and the blind. But we're not obligated to hire the victims of the various diseases or causes we support. It all boils down to business . . . dollars and cents . . . and those with an illness or the potential for becoming ill are an economic risk." a quote from a well known but "anonymous" Hollywood producer in an article the LA Times published in 1991 two weeks after Davis passed.

In a 1997 interview with New York Times writer Alex Witchel, Davis' wife described the great pains he went to seeking medical help only allowing doctors to visit him at home, ''Without the secrecy he may not have gotten better medical care, but earlier medical care,'' she said. ''It might have given him a little longer time and better quality of life. We became so isolated. He let a lot of friendships go. He was afraid certain people would pick up on some things. Our world shrank to the bare bones." In order to hide his illness Witchel wrote that Davis didn't buy prescriptions in his name but was supplied with prescription "leftovers" from others after they died.

Davis was going to write a book about his ordeal of working in Hollywood and having to keep secret his illness. While he died before he could accomplish that his wife did write a book using Davis' book proposal as the basis for her book, After Midnight: The Life and Death of Brad Davis.

In the proposal Davis wrote the following which speaks volumes of how Hollywood was then and some might ask "still is ?"

''I make my money in an industry that professes to care very much about the fight against AIDS -- that gives umpteem benefits and charity affairs with proceeds going to research and care -- but in actual fact, if an actor is even rumored to have H.I.V., he gets no support on an individual basis. He does not work.''

Michigan's HIV Sexual Terrorist

This is David Dean Smith who can be called nothing less than a sexual terrorist as he has been attempting to infect as many men and women with HIV as he can.

While the deliberate act of infecting a person(s) with HIV/AIDS is not new, the scope and range in the number of possible victims is staggering in Smith's case.

Smith was arrested this past Friday by Michigan authorities and he claims the number of his victims may be in the thousands.

The Kent County Health Department in Michigan is encouraging anyone who believes they may have been infected by Smith to come forward. Anyone concerned that they may have been infected can call the Kent County Health Department Personal Health Services Clinic at 616.632.7171. Calls and HIV testing are confidential.

Full story from MSNBC via Huffington Post is HERE.