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Josh Robbins
The cover story by Tim Murphy boasts a beautiful design and the in-depth article is all about PrEP and gay men debate happening about HIV.
“Sex Without Fear” – Published Jul 13, 2014 on New York Magazine by Tim Murphy
Gabriel and his friends like to go dancing at places in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen like Viva and Pacha. One night last winter, they ended up at a downtown club hosting a circuit party, a huge gay rave with throbbing, industrial house music. The theme was leather and S&M, and Gabriel* wore a singlet. He’s usually the least interested in drinking of the group—he’s the responsible planner—but as the night wore on, he wound up becoming very drunk and very high and making out with lots of men. “I was feeling the fantasy of it all,” he says. A couple he vaguely knew grabbed him. They wanted to do more, insistently. Gabriel resisted at first and then, he says, decided to just give in to the spirit of the evening. It felt, at the time, freeing and hedonistic.
But he hadn’t been wearing a condom when they had sex, and in the morning, he woke up wanting nothing more than to regain control over that moment. Gabriel is a 32-year-old real-estate broker. He had tested negative for HIV the last time he’d been to a clinic. Terrified that might change, he went to Callen-Lorde, a health clinic in Chelsea, where he was placed on a 28-day course of a full HIV-medication regimen. When taken within three days of exposure, it dramatically reduces the chances of infection—something like the morning-after pill for HIV. Gabriel didn’t react well to the course: He felt nauseous and drained the whole time.
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The first two paragraphs re-published above is under special agreement and license between imstilljosh.com and New York Magazine. The cover image is courtesy of New York Magazine. Copyright permission was obtained prior to publication on imstilljosh.com. Please do not republish any part of this article without consent from New York Magazine. Copyright 2014.
