PozBearWI

Of course you took care of that gap...

While there is no way for me to know for sure, it appears that PrEP is being poorly managed. I observe a lot of profiles which show "on PrEP" but last test was years ago.

Well said @hntnhole. I wonder then if this is part of humanities genetic code for population control. We seem to be beating down the viruses which are trying to kill us; and floods and winds and quakes aren't making much of a dent. Not to say I want widespread death; but historically we've had times of massive population shrinkage - black plague big among them; and I suspect some before that in cultures we were never cognizant of.

Hmm, so I can interpret "side" as things which are NOT top or bottom.... Shall I take it oral is also excluded?

We were the non Jews in a Jewish neighborhood when I was born, and before grade school became the non Catholics in a Catholic neighborhood. I was aware of other global religions, but by early adulthood began to work with people who grew up in other cultures. Truly, our individual religions (or not as the case may be) had nothing to do with our work. So on this whole question, on one hand, I haven't experienced a problem. But it is certainly evident in Gaza and Israel. And the crux of that is the more fundamentalist Palestinians (Hamas) wanting and taking steps to cause Israel to cease to exist. If a European country declares itself ruled by a particular religion it really depends upon how that manifests doesn't it? The religion itself is simply that. With Russia/Ukraine it isn't religion but one particular head of state wanting to eliminate and consume all of the other. The end result is the same. My personal line in the sand are others telling me what I am allowed to believe. If we can coexist with that great. If that is a deal breaker; we have a problem. Honestly, I don't see what is so difficult for some to accept that others have different beliefs. Unless of course those beliefs are that differences can't exist. There is a whole lot of social energy around people telling others what they can do with their own bodies. For me that is the crux of the "abortion issue". Honest I am never going to have an abortion; nor impregnate anyone. I have no skin in the game of abortion, save that telling someone they can't end their pregnancy if they see a need to for themselves isn't any different than requiring vasectomies; or neutering someone against their will. Every one of us should have domain over our own bodies. Telling people what they must believe and/or do with their own bodies is what leads us into social traps where authoritarian governments become more dominate.

Men do seem to differentiate between sex and LTR; as is clear in human history.

Thanks @NWUSHorny. Would one of you 'splaine "side". As a reference it is not physically intuitive as top and bottom.

Good points @blackrobe WRT hookups for sex, hell yes, I would probably hook up, or at least attempt to with everyone posting on this thread so far were our proximity favorable to that. We engage our brains here, not just our dicks and asses. One reason we can hang in there here in cyber land is to bring our brains along with us. And our wide spread community makes the option of "hooking up" more a challenge than two guys in the same town. Hence one of the why's BZ has evolved to be more intellectual. For whatever reason, we've evolved here to more of a thoughtful community than a dozen years ago. The fact that BZ has been around for a long time makes it a fixture in cyber. Yeah, thinkin with our dicks is wonderful, but we don't all have opportunities like our city living brethren have. Each of us also "has a real life" outside of enjoying the delights of skin to skin. Perhaps it is in fact because we enjoy skin to skin so much; we connect intellectually while physically. I am not sure there is a whole lot of distinction of "gay" vs "straight" relationship aside from the pair being same gender. (and man, I shudder to even use that word). Rich and I are in our 24th year and truly, we'll keep going until one of us dies. Back when we started what made "gay" committed relationships different was that we needed multiple contracts to pretty much accomplish protections for each other from our common investment in our long term financial lives. Legal marriage solved that. The word "committed" used to mean that. It would appear, all gender aside, many relationships are committed with strings. Thus, easy to end should one or another "rule" be broken. PreNup central... For Rich and me, That we haven't a long list of expectations is I am certain a factor of our longevity. We don't "own" each other. We do have a common interest in each other; but we know that as death marks the end; it is inevitable. Understanding that now has in other relationships (parents; siblings) made those transitions something we planned for. We know that day is gonna suck; but we know what our short and long term options are. It helps to have a view of "when my relationship ends" and be ready for it. There is no IF about it.

That is a troubling account.

From the OP in 2017 my answer is yes. Bareback in the 1970's and never stopped. I did attempt to do some serosorting at times. But this has evolved to whether I would start/stop meds to gift. And TBH I'll look at my own health first. As it stands I am not on meds and while it is unlikely anyone is going to seroconvert if I fuck them; there are ways we might accomplish it if they were specifically wanting to seroconvert. At a point I believe I will start ARVs. And stopping for the purpose of passing it on is unlikely. If and when there is an actual question from someone directly to me; I'll figure it out for that instance.

I ultimately answered yes. Why? Because I don't have an obligation to make sure their secrets remain secrets. Now, I am not gonna take out ads and I don't need to broadcast it. But if I were asked by, for example, the guys spouse if he is doing his bathhouse thing; I don't feel an obligation to lie for him.

Race and religion are vastly different. Race has to do with your genetics. Religion is about beliefs - essentially the stories we've made up over the millenia about who we are; frequently absent critical inquiry. That said, many are free to believe whatever they want. Others on our planet have their beliefs dictated to them by others. And religion is a way to dictate beliefs. I acknowledge that religion did a lot for humanity along with its harms. Teaching a generally agreed upon moral code can make living a more peaceful thing. Countries which dictate a religion take choice away from its citizens and is counter to critical thinking which, IMO is essential to progress as we learn and discover.

Yes, but I won't stealth

And in truth; in most cases your risk is still less than 2%. So more than likely no conversion is going to happen. Risk? Yeah, Probability? low.

There is that.... 🙂 It would be a pleasure to flip fuck with you.

Does it even matter anymore "Liberal" vs "Conservative" Shoot the Rs don't even have a platform to publish- just a vague "whatever the orange jeezus says". This is more like rooting for sports teams than how our government is managed. Utter BS

Sorry, that made me burst out laughing... 🙂

OMT (One More Thing) 🙂 the above is where Curmudgeons come from....

Indeed as a reference it is offensive. I am however getting tired of our societal verbal "walking on eggshells". I believe we are collectively too quick to take offense, and in part I think this comes from this type of and all too frequently repeated course correction. I am poz. It is my choice whether I am going to be offended when someone asked me if am clean. If in person my response would be "yup, douched awhile ago.". We are in a society of intentional ignorance. And most of those folks don't give a crap about how this poz guy feels about much of anything. I don't take offense to the other epithets classically tossed my way fifty years ago either. F word or Q word my response is "yep!", which after moments of stunned silence has gone further in effecting course corrections.

And of course keeping Citizens United in place....

<sigh> It does seem to be the way... Maybe we can stop trying to fix our issues by making up a new word every few years....

Both

I met my husband when I was 50.... We've had a sexually open relationship the whole time and so my answer to you is, you'll be you.... Enjoy it.

That is always the risk of serialized stories... Some never get finished. Bottom like, did you enjoy what was there?

Exactly. At a point I accept that "I can't fix stupid". I gave up reacting to epithets decades ago; a defensive decision that has served me well. Truly I would rather someone speak words many take as offensive than not speak at all. These days our society is to quick to take offense and it isn't making things better....