Sex can be affirming, pleasurable and positive for a range of health-related reasons including stress reduction. It is also an opportunity to (re)discover our bodies. Like many gay and bisexual men, you might be wondering about sex during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some tips to help you make choices that are right for you:

MPact Global Action for Gay Men's Health and Rights has announced the launch of its fourth global survey on the health and human rights of gay men, bisexual men and other men who have sex with men.

MSMGF joins the Australian Federation of AIDS Service Organizations (AFAO) and fellow HIV advocates worldwide in celebrating the Australian government's recent move to publicly fund Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. This new policy will make this life-saving intervention more accessible and affordable to gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men. MSMGF has been a long-time advocate for the timely roll-out and scale-up of PrEP, a pill that has been proven to work with great efficacy in preventing HIV infection.

July 5, 2017 - A new report released today by the Global Forum on MSM and HIV (MSMGF) and OutRight Action International in collaboration with the Global Platform to Fast Track the Human Rights and HIV Responses with Gay and Bisexual Men argues for a global health and development approach that is inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people. Released ahead of this year's United Nations (UN) High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, the paper calls on countries to recognize and address the impact of stigma, discrimination, violence, and criminalization on health.

May 16, 2017 - The past ten years have witnessed tremendous advances for HIV and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) rights globally. However, this progress does not outweigh the horrific instances of violence these groups face throughout the world, such as the targeted persecution of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya, violent crackdowns on HIV service providers for gay men and transwomen in Tanzania, and other injustices.

Oakland, CA, 25 May 2017  - Vital programming for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men around the world will be slashed if the President's proposed budget released earlier this week is approved. Over $1 billion in arbitrary cuts to global HIV programs at the State Department and USAID in the President's budget would mean increases in avoidable HIV transmission and more unnecessary deaths. The White House's budget calls for an approximate 17% cut to components of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a complete defunding of HIV at USAID, as well as deep cuts to other life-saving global health programs, including the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis – the leading killer of people with HIV – and family planning and reproductive health programs.

February 13, 2017 – Oakland, California, USA - MSMGF (the Global Forum on MSM & HIV) endorses the Consensus Statement on Risk of Sexual Transmission of HIV from a Person Living with HIV Who Has an Undetectable Viral Load. That statement reads: People living with HIV on ART with an undetectable viral load in their blood have a negligible risk[1] of sexual transmission of HIV. Depending on the drugs employed (and the person's individual situation), it may take as long as six months for the viral load to become undetectable. Continued and reliable HIV suppression requires selection of appropriate agents and excellent adherence to treatment. HIV viral suppression should be monitored to assure both personal health and public health benefits.

January 18, 2016 - MSMGF is pleased to make the MSMIT available for download on its website in four languages: English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. You can download these translated versions by clicking here.  A Russian translation separately led by the Eurasian Coalition for Male Sexual Health and UNFPA is available here. The MSMIT (or the MSM Implementation Toolkit) is the most recent operational guidance available on the design and implementation of HIV and STI programs targeting gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men worldwide. This tool was developed and launched in 2015 by UNFPA, USAID, and MSMGF in close partnership with UNDP, WHO the Gates Foundation and over 100 experts from around the world. The publication targets public-health officials and program managers, as well as NGOs and health workers implementing HIV and STI programs with gay men.

(Durban, South Africa) – MSMGF attended Tuesday a press conference to address the findings of a new Kaiser Family Foundation/UNAIDS report presenting alarming data that 13 of 14 donor governments reduced funding in 2014-2015 for AIDS investments in low- and middle-income countries. Chris Beyrer of the International AIDS Society noted this reduction in funding is expected to fall particularly hard on key populations, including gay and bisexual and other men who have sex with men, as donor governments that contribute to the Global Fund and PEPFAR are far more likely to support key populations programming than their domestic government counterparts. This report provides further evidence that all the high-minded talk of "ending AIDS " will be empty rhetoric without necessary and sustained investments by donor governments.

Immediately following, an all-day meeting to discuss the future strategic direction of the organization, MSMGF's (the Global Forum on MSM & HIV) International Steering Committee and Board of Directors released their new Strategic Plan for 2016-2021 titled: Community Action, Sexual Health & Rights.

CPR* is a new e-learning hub assembled by MSMGF (The Global Forum on MSM & HIV) and made possible with support from the Levi Strauss Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It offers continuing education opportunities for all health professionals including healthcare providers, community and government clinic workers, NGOs and CBOs, policy makers and other health sector stakeholders to ensure that sexual health programs for gay and bisexual men are aligned with WHO-endorsed global standards for services. This includes a major focus on interventions across the full HIV services continuum, including prevention, treatment, care and support.

New York, NY - June 8, 2016 – The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), The Global Network of Trans Women and HIV (IRGT), Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE),  and MSMGF (The Global Forum on MSM & HIV) together with the Global Platform to Fast-Track the HIV and Human Rights Responses Among Gay and Bisexual Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (The Platform) are deeply disappointed by the adoption of a flawed Political Declaration today at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS (HLM).  The Political Declaration inexcusably fails to meaningfully address the HIV epidemic among key populations, including gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, and transgender people. The Final Declaration damagingly excludes and misrepresents key populations.  It also lacks an explicit commitment to support and finance key population-led and tailored prevention, care, and treatment services. Likewise, it is woefully misses the mark in highlighting legal and policy frameworks that stigmatize and criminalize our communities worldwide. While the document opens with a sweeping "commitment to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030," our networks and many of its global civil society allies contend that today's Political Declaration is a significant set-back in our work to end AIDS, particularly among key populations.

(New York - June 6, 2016) At a make-or-break moment in negotiations over a United Nations Political Declaration, set for adoption during the High Level Meeting on HIV starting June 8 in New York, a coalition of advocacy organizations from around the world have called on governments of the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Netherlands (and other members of the European Union), to intervene by fighting for the inclusion of critical language regarding the needs of marginalized and criminalized people around the world.

(Oakland, CA June 20, 2016)--As MSMGF reported last week with NSWP, IRGT, GATE, and the Global Platform to Fast-Track the HIV and Human Rights Responses Among Gay and Bisexual Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (The Platform), United Nations member states adopted a very weak political declaration at the UN High-Level Meeting to End AIDS (HLM) in New York City. While the Political Declaration sets ambitious goals to accelerate HIV prevention and treatment targets to deliver treatment to 30 million people by 2020 and end AIDS by 2030, the document's failure to adequately include, define, and commit to progra

Receiving news of the mass shooting that took place at a gay bar in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. was unnerving and heartbreaking. The news came just after MSMGF and its partners spent the prior week educating governments, including the U.S., at the United Nations' High-Level Meeting about why relegating gay men, sex workers, transgender people, and people who use drugs to one problematic paragraph in this year's Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS is shortsighted, dangerous, and wrong. Governments worldwide expect our communities to stay quiet and satisfied with tokenism in support of some greater good, revealing the underlying belief that "queers, hookers, trannies, and junkies" are expendable. This idea gives governments and its citizens continued license to behave badly and violently.

New York, New York - June 9, 2016 -- As we reported yesterday with our partners NSWP, IRGT, GATE, and the Global Platform to Fast-Track the HIV and Human Rights Responses Among Gay and Bisexual Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men, the United Nations High-Level Meeting to End AIDS (HLM) opened Wednesday amidst a storm of controversy with UN member states approving a very weak political declaration to set global HIV policy priorities for the next 5 years. While the political declaration claims to commit UN member states to "fast-track targets" to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, the document's repeated omissions, exclusions, and misrepresentations of gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, and transgender people as key populations affected by HIV worldwide, lack of commitments to key populations programming, and failure to address legal and policy frameworks that stigmatize and criminalize key populations all raise new barriers and obstacles to achieving targets to end AIDS.

MSMGF has provided recommendations on several key advocacy entry points to influence the document drafts that lead-up to the High-Level Meeting (HLM) in June. These include:

(April 19, 2016 Oakland, CA) – Yesterday, the UN Mission co-facilitators Zambia and Switzerland released the "Zero Draft" of the political declaration for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM). MSMGF thanks the governments of Zambia and Switzerland for facilitating an inclusive process in developing and releasing the Zero Draft. This draft builds on the 2011 Political Declaration, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and emphasizing evidence-based strategies needed to effectively fast-track the end of AIDS:

(March 17th, 2016--Oakland CA)--One of the key global HIV advocacy opportunities of this year, if not of many years to come, will occur at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM), to be held at the United Nations in New York City from June 8-10, 2016. At the HLM, diplomatic missions representing governments from across the world will meet and issue a “political declaration” on the HIV global response. This political declaration will, in turn, have significant influence for years to come in the setting of global HIV policy priorities, including those of national governments and major international donors.

The IRGT and MSMGF are proud to announce the release of a new report entitled "Most Impacted, Least Served: Ensuring the Meaningful Engagement of Transgender People in Global Fund Processes." The document is produced by the IRGT: A Global Network of Transgender Women and HIV, which has broad cultural, global and geographic representation.

MSMGF is proud to announce, together with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the launch of a Global Platform to achieve ambitious global HIV and human rights targets among gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men. The Platform is a response to accelerated targets set by UNAIDS for the global HIV response, the "Fast-Track strategy" to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Through the Platform, members will provide strategic advice to United Nations agencies, major donors, and other stakeholders on HIV program needs and priorities for gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men. In all its work, the Platform seeks to "re-center" the global response to HIV around unabated and disproportionate HIV incidence and prevalence in this population worldwide.

MSMGF has partnered with LINKAGES and FHI360 to publish, Rights in Action: Access to HIV Services among Men Who Have Sex with Men, the first of a series of technical briefs highlighting the main findings from MSMGF's 2014 Global Men's Health and Rights (GMHR) Survey.  Each brief will focus on specific challenges and opportunities that impact efforts to scale up coverage and quality of services for men who have sex with men (MSM) across diverse regional contexts.