[Edited Jan 27, 2022 to fix broken links etc.]
I travel a lot. Mostly for conferences and presentations, but I always like to fit in a little bit of vacation afterwards when I can. This year was the sixth time I went to the Philadelphia Transgender Wellness Conference and my fifth time presenting. The stars aligned and I was make a long deferred trip to New York City afterwards. I made a point of visiting two awesome bookstores, one great archive, and the LGBT Centre in Manhattan, which has an amazing mural by Keith Haring in the washroom.
While at the Centre I also checked out the safer sex supplies at the front desk and found this amazing swag that I hope will become more common outside of NYC. The #playsure kit is basically a little black case that has a space for a refillable! lube container, several condoms, and your pills. You can pack it with you wherever you go and always be ready for a good time. This initiative of the NYC Public Health Department is available for free at the NYC LGBT Centre, community events, and NYC sexual health clinics. To date, they’ve distributed over 150,000 and even gave them a fashion makeover designed by Marc Jacobs. I have never seen something like this before and very much hope that they become more common in places like Toronto.