This is a response I had after reading a post in a blog about sex parties and unsafe sex and HIV.. ..

Its a bit of a rant but its how i feel about the current state of gay socializing in Metropolitan New York City and being 54..

Very well said...

I know I'm ranting a little but at 54 I have witnessed to much, to speak about but I still remember when I see someone intentionally have poor judgement in a public sex situation (or even private). My first loss of a friend from HIV was in 1984 and I probably have witnessed at least 200 friends that have passed on or are struggling with the disease since then.... and begin to feel like a dinosaur with no community... I still remember and miss friends that are long gone and it only seems like yesterday that they died. Hell, I am surprised with all the running around I did in my younger years that I am not POZ myself and yet I still have to work to keep myself negative..

Youth and beauty are definitely disarable in todays youth oriented society.. and being older gets you ignored and tends to make you invisible in some social circles. No one wants the "old man" let alone have sex with him.

Sex is sex.. old or young it's the feeling and not what you look like or your age that matters in the end..

While I agree condom-less sex feels great , but I'd rather not become positive at the expense of a few minutes of fun. Especially, to have to endure endless medications that screw up your liver or living with chronic infections or having to sit on the toilet with constant diarrhea, being tired, getting facial or body wasting, peripheral neuropathy, loosing all your peripheral body fat due to meds, or have a blood cholesterol level that of salad oil at 1200.. Need i go on?

It's just not as easy as "there are pills for it" and its "only" a chronic condition.

Young, hot and sensible might love and live a little longer but only when we understand that the old people you avoid were once the young people that you might have been attracted to. Age, being POZ, having a disability, cancer, grey hair, a little bit or even a lot fat, etc doesn't change how we feel about connecting with others.. the ability to love , have sex , be happy etc.. They are more like scenic stops on our way through life.