m_writer

Thanks for posting this.  Hoping that everyone's Pride celebrations are safe and enjoyable, but it's important to be alert to what's going on around you when in large gatherings.

See the FBI and DHS Warning here.
SUMMARY
The FBI and DHS are issuing this Public Service Announcement to provide awareness to the public of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOS) or their supporters potential targeting of LGBTQIA+-related events and venues. Foreign terrorist organizations or supporters may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month.
I'm not going to avoid doing anything that I want to do.  But, I'm going to keep my eyes open.

I'd recommend Tarryl; I saw him at the last PS Forum event twice. Therapeutic and wouldn't take his shirt off, but so friendly and a good conversationalist and he really did well with the pressure on the right places upon my feedback. Who knows? Maybe the next time I can catch him shirtless. But the massage was good.

Unfortunately, guys are more expensive than chocolate.  You can really screw up your finances if you can't control yourself. 

^This!!!
Here is my two cents in typical long form fashion.
Firstly, thank you @SouthOfTheBorder for posting this topic. Clients don’t want to talk or think about these things. So many people are immature when it comes to discussing sexual health. Our culture stigmatizes people for wanting - and having - sex. Our culture looks down on sex workers and treats us as scapegoats. We’re the “dirty” ones, the irresponsible, the depraved. But that’s just not true. If anything, professional sex workers are much more responsible and informed than the average person with regard to managing risks, maintaining good sexual health, communicating with their partners, and guarding their personal safety.
For every sketchy provider story I hear about on here, there are half a dozen experienced working men doing the right things and handling business professionally, not doing drugs or extorting people or behaving recklessly. The negative stories stick out more so we tend to focus on those. In between the horror stories are many good guys doing good work.
I’ll share the following because I know that many of you respect honesty and straight talk. A lot of providers don’t want to share this type of stuff openly because many clients are uneducated and carry around unfair biases and misinformation around sex and sexual health and use it to demonize us. The concern is clients will hold such information against us thinking “So-and-so had such and such last year. Ohhh better not hire him because I might catch the same thing”. It’s not fair because your average msm bareback hookup is going to be a much higher risk to you than hiring a professional. Hiring an experienced pro with a head on his shoulders is going to be relatively much safer for you than random sex in the wild. Clients on this platform are more educated than average on such matters, so perhaps I am preaching to the choir - still stigma persists no matter what we share or keep silent on. That’s why we don’t talk about this stuff very often. Also, it’s not sexy. But it’s important just the same.
Non-provider men similar to me have WAAAY more unprotected casual sex than I do, and they only get checked every three months (at best!). Most of them are on PreP and bareback exclusively. Doctors in the US require quarterly testing for patients receiving a PreP regimen, so that’s normal. Some of my peers are not on PreP and don’t know their HIV status, much less whether they are spreading STIs around because they are not testing on any regular basis - perhaps only if/when they experience symptoms (and not everyone experiences symptoms). Many straight-curious and bi men fall into this category, but any type can. If they test, it might be only once or twice a year. Your best case scenario outside of hiring is a conscientious gay guy getting tested every three months.
I test every month because of my work. Not because I have more sex than others, but because I care a great deal about my clients, my own health, and my ability to work. Monthly testing only leaves a small window for anything to happen and me not know about it. Keep in mind when you test, you are not clear as of that date you test. You are clear as of 10-14 days or so prior to the date you test, perhaps less. Incubation periods take time for the infection to show up on a test and to be communicable to others. Verify this info with your healthcare provider, as I am not your doctor. I merely bring up the point to clarify testing is not an up-to-the-minute snapshot of what is in your body - rather a snapshot of what has developed in your body (or not) over a period of time since your last exposure up to the time you test.
For example, I had a session last year for a client with multiple providers in which I had unprotected sex (bottom) with one of the providers. I topped the client and another provider in that session. As it so happened, I tested on my monthly schedule the following day. A couple days later I got the test results and all was negative. Little did I know one provider I was exposed to during that encounter passed an STI on to me. Given my activities in the weeks surrounding the encounter, I was able to confirm by process of elimination who it was and when. I topped clients, as I typically do, in the following weeks without knowing any of this, and thankfully did not expose any of them to an infection since the infection was rectal only. On my next test, I caught the issue and immediately alerted a few people who may have been exposed based on the activities with which we had recently engaged. It was only a two week or so window that I potentially passed it on and was yet unaware I had an infection. Since I have much fewer clients engaging me for bottom and/or bottom-adjacent activities, it was pretty easy to identify the few that may have been exposed in that short window. Since I test so frequently, I fortunately had the opportunity to give them all quick notice to get tested and/or treated before an infection had enough time to develop, express symptoms, and/or be passed on to anyone else. Here is a client response:

I love my regular clients. Most them are really good people.
Aside - the provider I got the infection from is married to another provider. Given they have frequent unprotected sex with one another and with all of their respective clients, the risks for them are necessarily higher than your average working guy. Keep this in mind when hiring a provider couple, or one of a pair of providers. Not to stigmatize, but to measure your risk.
I have a fraction of the sex of men similar to me, and it’s generally with people who a) are more conscious about the risks they are taking, b) have much less sex on average, and c) practice safer sex -maybe 10-20%.
Every provider is different. Some have more recreational sex, some have less. Some have riskier sex, some safer sex, perhaps some mix of both. I’d say that providers tend to have much less recreational sex than their peers, if not by intentional choice, than by the mere practical realities of being in this business. That’s me. One cannot be blowing loads recreationally right and left and expect to have any sexual energy left for his clients to enjoy. 
Sex carries some risk no matter how much or little sex you have, be it protected or unprotected. Having sex exposes you to the possibility of contracting sexually transmitted infections, full stop. How much risk you are willing to tolerate is up to you. We have many other threads in the forums on how to mitigate risks, like oral vs anal, top vs bottom play, using condoms, vetting your guys, etc, so I won’t get into all those here. My point is you have to be responsible for your own health and assess your own personal level of risk tolerance.
For the married/attached guys out there regularly having sex with their significant other, it’s best to keep open communication with your partner/spouse about your hiring. I know many of you don’t share for various reasons, so you risk inadvertently passing an STI on to your partner, and that is a much more difficult conversation to have than discussing the boundaries of your relationship beforehand. I suppose, if you’re not having sex with your partner, you can manage your own sexual health without your partner needing to know anything about your hiring or hooking up habits. Assess and manage your personal level risk, and get tested regularly in proportion to that risk and treat infections promptly if/when they manifest. Simple as that. Better yet, if you’re able, get on PreP and follow the required testing regimen. I know many won’t for shared health record privacy concerns. Talk to your significant other. Sooner or later things will surface. One of my clients likes to bareback flip fuck and he regularly has sex with his wife. I am upfront with him about all of my sexual health and relative risks. He wants the sex anyway. Hey, to each his own.
This is our livelihood. It behooves us to stay healthy, obviously for our own sake, but also for the sake of our business. We can’t make money when we are recovering from a sexually transmitted infection. For masseurs like myself, I can’t offer escort service, but I can still massage, sans the extras I otherwise might offer during my recovery, nor can I offer combo massage / sex work service. It puts a damper on what I can earn in that 1-2 week period. For the full time escorts out there, they can’t earn a dime unless they are knowingly putting their clients at risk, which is not only problematic from an ethical and moral perspective, but also just doesn’t make business sense to do. We have too much to lose by damaging our reputations in this way.
So…in a sense, seeing a responsible, professional provider may actually carry, in many ways, less risk than having casual recreational sex with the average man who has sex with men. I don’t mean zero risk. Less risk.
I agree with much of the other posters on mitigating risk with visual checks, mouthwash, peeing after sex, washing, etc. Never a bad idea, but all of these are marginal at best in helping reduce your risk. If you have the sex at all, you already took on the risk. Very little in the form of after care will prevent you from getting STIs.
We sex workers take on this personal level of risk and manage that risk as best we can. That’s part of what you’re paying us for. Think like how much you pay an oil rigger vs a controlled environment factory line worker. One job is inherently more risky, so you compensate it more to account for that level of risk and damage control.
When your providers inform you that you may have been exposed to an STI, they are being responsible and doing the right thing. Please do not stigmatize them or punish them for doing their job or for taking on reasonable levels of risk that this job requires. Honor them and show them respect. Keep hiring us when we are well, because we are responsible and professional, and we care.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/idaho-man-gets-30-years-for-trying-to-spread-hiv-through-sex-to-male-victims/ar-BB1lZqzx?ocid=BingNewsSerp

An Idaho man was sentenced last week to 30 years in prison for trying to spread HIV to dozens of victims. 
Alexander Louie, 34, admitted to having sex with 30 to 50 different men and boys, including a 16-year-old, and didn't tell his partners he was HIV positive so he could infect them with the disease, the Ada County Prosecutor's office said in a news statement.
I just don't get why people want to do this. He's either mad at the world for getting HIV and wants revenge basically and/or finds it sexually exciting to infect people with HIV which is more likely I think the case when it comes to this guy.

He checks in with me fairly regularly too just to say hello and ask how I’m doing which I appreciate. I also check in with him  especially if I I see something or read something that I think he might be interested in or just to ask how life is treating him.

Vin/Danny just sent a text to me checking up on me because he was a bit worried when he noticed I was a little subdued from the PS event. I was really touched he took the time to contact about me and noticed.
Seriously he’s got one of the biggest hearts in this industry, and I look forward to when we can meet again.

Vin/Danny just sent a text to me checking up on me because he was a bit worried when he noticed I was a little subdued from the PS event. I was really touched he took the time to contact about me and noticed.
Seriously he’s got one of the biggest hearts in this industry, and I look forward to when we can meet again.

Whew! I replaced my boiled phone back in San Diego and all is well again. Too much client texting, I guess. Bitches be calling, all the time…
Wow, just wow. I had a great time. This was the first of what I expect to be many fun and fruitful annual visits.
Thank you @David-SF and @Oliver for hosting a lovely series of events. Well done! And thank you to the half dozen or so Company of Men members who hired me for various services over the weekend (even a repeat 😍), plus another member in San Diego Monday night after I got back. You know who you are and I sincerely appreciate your business!
Newell, my 4-hand massage partner was nervous to meet everyone but said he enjoyed himself at the dinner. He’s not so intimidating in person despite his size. He’s a sweet guy. @sam.fitzpatrick thanks for going out of your way to make Newell and I feel so welcome at the events.
@purplekow thanks for helping apply sunscreen to all those hard-to-reach places on my body 😉 
@mike carey I had no idea you can play card games with more than 4 suits. Learn something new every day. I’ll have to practice so I can play a round with you next year. And thank you for sharing the “Karen is a C*nt” comment from the forums. That was laugh out loud funny.
For those of you like me who didn’t know until now: cookies = feet. Eating cookies means licking toes, playing with feet, etc. I was out of the loop on that one. That’s the reference to cookie crumbs. 
@BodeBrentwood thank you for sharing your beautiful self and your cookies with the world, among other assets. It was a pleasure having you around the pool. You were a delightful and entertaining centerpiece to all of the goings-on in the hot tub. Thanks kindly for trying to lead me to an exit 😂 when I was carrying a massage table late night across the InnDulge courtyard to a client’s room. I know I must have looked out of place, dazed and confused scanning the room numbers to figure out where I was going. I won’t even mention Louie’s wild adventures, disappearance into the California desert, and eventual mysterious return. Too late. Thanks @Summerson for generously offering them space to stay in your room.
That hot tub at InnDulge is the place to be! Several other hotel guests booked me there who had nothing to do with CoM. I love a hot tub soak. Can’t wait to chat more there next year.
Other providers take note: the trip pays for itself if you just hang around the hot tub. I encourage more providers to visit next year. Consider this trip business development for us working men 🤣 just don’t risk writing it off on your taxes as such. 
Kudos to Danny for helping @purplekowin and out of the pools and staying dedicated by his side always. What a class act! We miss your delightful presence here on the forums 😢 but I understand it can be toxic in some corners at times, so I don’t blame you for leaving.
Clients encourage us to come to these events but it is quite expensive and we’re not exactly on vacation when we attend. We need more clients to come and support us at these things to make it worthwhile for every provider putting down serious time and money to make a several day visit (excepting those fortunate few who were dedicated hires for the whole weekend/week). We need more of you clients to join us next year.
I’m not complaining - I did well and this trip was totally worth it for me, in the short run and longer term - but I can see it make sense for more of us providers to attend if more clients were attending and spreading the wealth, so to speak. At the dinner, for example, we had 40 some odd people, including providers. We could easily make space for a lot more members there to support the 8-12 or so providers who attended, and more beyond that with enough critical mass. Just saying…
Y’all come next year if you never have or haven’t in a while. It’s a lot of fun 🤩 
Cheers! 🥂
-Simon

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Finally back on the East Coast and now the decision to be made is whether or not to put a bid in on one of the two houses that I saw and liked.  I will need to make a quick decision and I am 50 50 on it right now.   Thanks to Oliver and David and the whole Palm Springs crew for all their work and hospitality.    

It's always difficult getting back to reality after the weekend.   It was so fun as always and a pleasure catching up with everyone.  Thanks to @azdr0710 for organizing the hikes and the outing to Sunnylands, to @Oliver for hosting the lovely Sunday pool party, and to @David-SF for hosting the kickoff pool party on Friday.  

Got to spend considerable time with him this weekend and would like to echo everyone else comments. Vin is perfection personified both in body and in mind. Drop dead gorgeous and one of the most sincere, humble, sweetest gentleman you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. 

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

I met up with him a couple times in NYC pre-COVID, he was a sweetheart, as well as jacked, and VERY hot.

I met him last year in DC.  Very nice man,  wicked sexy in a very masculine, muscular daddy kind of way, and a great time overall. 

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Thanks to all who worked  hard to make the entire weekend a success. It was great fun catching up with people I’ve met before and meeting new people and making new friends.

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.

Me and maturedmuscle/Steve had a wonderful time (PM me if you want to know more), but I'm actually tired and glad it's over (there were a few setbacks on my trip), and as always, it's the people we met that made the biggest difference and joy. Making friends and meeting new people is the highlight of the trip, and I can't thank @Oliver @azdr0710 @sam.fitzpatrick and @David-SF enough for their kindness, attention to detail, gregariousness, and all in all making this year a wonderful success.