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Get ready for the LoveYourself x Laboracay week! LoveYourself advocates and other participants of the #SaveSexy Lifeguards Race organized by TheRedWhistle will be roaming the beautiful sands of Boracay to spread HIV awareness from April 29 to May 1. As part of their race, #SaveSexy lifeguards will be giving out essential HIV prevention kits containing condoms, a whistle and shirts – look out for them in their iconic red shirts and necklace whistles in and around Station 2. Fans can also follow the #SaveSexy lifeguards through the Cyburban app and other social media as they will be updating their personal accounts to amplify the message of HIV awareness and share the fun moments of the race. Before heading to the island, LoveYourself provided all lifeguards with an HIV101 session to prep them for their information dissemination duties. Visit TheRedWhistle official website for more details.

By Hershey Homol The first time for anything can be downright daunting—be it your maiden trip driving a car, your initial instance asking someone out beyond a coffee date, or even your sexual debut having a casual or romantic encounter. Understandably, your first HIV test may scare the living daylights out of you. Maybe it’s the thought of blood extraction, or the possibilities on the result of the HIV test that leave your palms sweaty. Here are a few reminders to help you prepare and build your confidence before your first HIV test. Photo by Manny Marcelo for The Philippine Star First HIV test reminders 1. No fasting required. “Unlike other medical examinations, HIV testing does not require any form of fasting,” says Rye Gaba del Carmen, LoveYourself Head of Operations. Go ahead and indulge on your favorite snack or drink before going to your scheduled test. 2. Have an open mind. “An open mind is all a client needs to have for this test,” says del Carmen. Let go of your fears, and if...

With a batch name that literally means to “hope” and having passed a more selective recruitment process, Batch Hiraya bravely joins the ranks of lovers to help champion HIV screening and positivity. Batch “Hiraya”  For the first time ever, LoveYourself used a Filipino word – hiraya meaning “wish” or “hope” – as the official name for a batch of volunteers. “We've considered Filipino or Tagalog names before, as we think we have a beautiful language, and just decided to do it this year,” says the LoveYourself recruitment team. “We thought hiraya sounded great and is actually pretty appropriate given the changes LoveYourself is going through.” More Selective Each batch including Batch Hiraya is encouraged to train as LoveYourself counselors and assist in manning the advocacy’s HIV screening hubs . The batch also works together on projects to help the advocacy. This system is designed to ease them in to the larger organization’s activities and existing members. But unlike other batc...

Ready, ace, smash!  It’s that time of the year again when strait men rummage through their non-proverbial closets, or sprint their way to the nearest active lifestyle boutiques to look for the perfect sports attire as The Straits Games (TSG) draws nearer to its 2013 leg: Manila. This highly anticipated affair dates back to 2002, when it started as a friendly annual sporting event initiated by Malaysia’s Leadership for Gays (LPG, formerly known as Leadership Program for Graduates) and Singapore’s Men After Work (MAW); aimed at fostering the spirit of friendship among LGBT communities, and at the same time, promoting health and an active lifestyle. That’s why the main attraction of TSG is the different sports tournaments for teams and individuals — volleyball, badminton, bowling, and now, tennis and squash. The ‘games’ was named after the Straits of Malacca, a stretch of water where Malaysia and Singapore are both coincidentally located. An etymology that can also suggest the idea ...

The Straits Games Manila 2013 (October 18-20) is promising to be the friendliest and most fabulously produced sporting event to hit Manila this year. And it’s all thanks to the combined push from two groups – one filled with veteran organizers the other brimming with eager young volunteers. Veteran organizers The first group led by Dennis Corteza and his The Library Foundation friends, are mostly in their mid-30s and early 40s, and all veteran organizers eager to make The Straits Games Manila 2013 the splashiest yet in its 12-year run. Corteza has produced other local sports spectacles like the Ms.U Bowling Pageant, Bowlibining Pilipinas, Billiardbining Plipinas, and Volleybining Pilipinas. He recalls joining The Straits Games 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and coming back to the Philippines with a trove of fun pictures and new friendships. Corteza’s rave review of the event piqued the interest of his friends, so much so that when the opportunity this year came for the Philippines to...

iSupport World AIDS Day (#iSupportWAD) First and foremost, we would like to say our biggest THANK YOU to everyone who supported iSupport  for World AIDS Day (WAD). You guys have no idea how huge and strong your impact was to everyone. Your simple way of changing your profile photos to iSupport Poster on both your Facebook and Twitter accounts and joining our Tweetfest using the hash-tag  #iSupportWAD  were extremely helpful in educating our online friends. (You may refer to the link here  for the iSupport Poster and the TweetFest) . In addition, we would like to share some photos during the World AIDS Day Parade in Cebu. See how cute our banner! The Love Yourself Cebu Team We assure you that this is just the start of a whole new adventure in our continued fight against HIV/AIDS and the stigma that goes along with it. We can't wait for our lined-up events for Christmas and for the year 2013 -- events that you have never experienced before! We look forwa...