You’re invited: Spring cruise to Barcelona! 🌞

December 28, 2018

You're invited: Spring cruise to Barcelona! 🌞: Join Us for a Spring Cruise!

I invite you to join me and several other older gay men this spring on a transatlantic cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. I've been invited to speak a few times to the travelers, and I look forward to socializing with a group of old and new friends. You can find more information on the Cruising Polar Bears Facebook page!

In my last newsletter I made reference to an essay I'd written for Psychology Today called "The Curse of an Attraction to Older Gay Men," and the response to it blew me away. I heard from so many people who were grateful to finally read something on this subject. I want to share with you one of the responses (with the writer's permission and edited to protect his identity). I think that you will see why I found it so powerful.

A Special May-December Romance

Doug and I are fifteen years apart in age. Early in our thirty-two years together, it bothered me. Now we rarely think about it-but to some, it seems strange.

While fifty years difference is considered unusual in general, as Harris Wofford writes about in this New York Times article, age differences in gay couples are not at all unusual.

Movies Worth Watching

As winter sets in here in Iowa, Doug and I have been watching more and more television.

We try to find series that we want to binge watch and are always looking for good movies-especially those that inspire and educate about LGBTQ history and our continued fight for queer liberation. Here's a list of Netflix movies that fill that bill.  

Breaking Stereotypes, One Med Student at a Time

A few weeks ago, some of my gay friends and I agreed to act as "patients" at Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical School as an exercise in diversity training for the medical students. A young freshman med student was my "doctor," whose task was to inform me that my HIV test had come back positive.

After he told me, I responded, "Oh f**k, what am I going to tell my wife?" My intent was to throw him off balance from the usual expectations that only young, careless gay men are getting HIV. It seems to have worked.

If you have a local medical school, you might consider volunteering as a patient to help educate future doctors about diversity and to challenge the stereotypes of aging and being gay. As Paula Span reports, medical schools are trying to make sure their students have a realistic view of treating older adults.

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