To Everyone Who Wants The Story of AIDS to Finally End

This is an open letter to ask that you help get the word about the messages contained within my novel. Whether you read or buy the book is irrelevant. Its message is what you need to share, now and loudly. Writing this book took over a decade. It took all those years, not just because it was a process in which I had to make sense the horrible losses of many friends to AIDS, and loss of my mother who lost a five-year battle to Cancer, the year after the AIDS crisis had “ended.” In spite of all that loss, what I most needed to explore was what I lived as soon as the “crisis” was over.

Leslie SmithJuly 16, 2014letter, leslie smith, act up, aids, hiv, hiv+, end aids, call to action, silence=death, hiv diagnosis statistics, personal thoughts, blogComment

Why Today, June 27th, is No Ordinary Day

Today is June 27th. It is and average day leading into prime time summer summer. And due to the lingering cold, summer started late this year. Today, you probably want to cut your work day short, enjoy an ice cream from a Mr. Softee truck, hit the beach or the park, spend time with your kids, or do any one of a thousand things that go with the season we all love to enjoy.

On My Tattoo, Part One (Because I have Two).

I am going to take a break from the AIDS and HIV prevention in today’s blog, because I am much more than just an HIV + man. I often found myself frustrated with the gay community’s amazing ability to weaken itself with subdivision, as if being white, gay, and HIV+ were not enough to separate me from the whole of humanity, I am also expected to be identify as a “long-term survivor,” “over-forty,” “hairy,” “bearish,” and now expected much more than I am comfortable with, a “Daddy.” And make no mistake I recognize all to well the safety and comforts that are found in the subdividing “sameness”. They are powerful tools in making a community and creating empowerment for in individual. But there is an inherent dichotomy in that as well.

Leslie SmithJune 25, 2014hiv+, hiv, aids, man, gay community, gay, tattoo, meaning, belasco, yoruba richen, ted talk, leaving the rest Comment

Highly Offensive Pornographer Paul Morris Has It Partially Right, But VERY Twisted.

To his benefit I might add.

Paul Morris and his company Treasure Island Media have made and/or distributed over 145 controversial porn movies, all of which (I think) center around the exchange of fluids between sexual partners. His most recent film, Viral Load, is reported to feature the exchange of positive semen into negative men, and has some calling to make his films illegal. I have not seen the film, but I have seen and do own some of his earlier work.

Why I Often Say Testing HIV Positive Was The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me

Recently I was called on the carpet for making statements that seem at odds. I am a staunch advocate for using PrEP, condoms and any other new recourse that can be used to stop the spread of HIV. But in my 1993 one man theatrical show, Finding My Voice On The “F”-Train, and in several blog posts, I have suggested that testing HIV+ was the best thing that ever happened to me — because it gave me the freedom to live my life on my own terms.

Leslie SmithJune 13, 2014hiv, positive, pep, prep, condoms, testing hiv, hiv+, living with hiv, being hiv, jan brady, growing, std clinic Comments

Among other things, Leslie sometimes writes thoughtful stuff!