Person wearing a black tshirt with the words “EVERYTHING I LOVE TO DO OFFENDS THE CHRISTAIN CHURCH - THANK GOD!” In pink lettering. They have tattoos on their arms and one hand is holding their belt buckle
Person wearing a white tshirt with the words “EVERYTHING I LOVE TO DO OFFENDS THE CHRISTAIN CHURCH - THANK GOD!” In green lettering. They have tattoos on their arms and one hand is holding their belt buckle
EVERYTHING I LOVE TO DO OFFENDS THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Running a presale until 1/16. Shirts are $25 + $5 shipping. Purchase by paying thru Venmo or cashapp with the color and size of your choice in the memo along with your name and address for shipping ⭐️
Venmo: notyourboyfriend
Cashapp: $kmoran
13.01.2026 06:41 — 👍 115 🔁 37 💬 2 📌 0
Honouring Lou Sullivan on this World Aids Day. He was the first known Trans Man to contract HIV & the first Trans Man to publicly live life as an out Gay man. Currently reading his diaries for the 3rd time. What a life he lived & a legacy he left behind. 💟🏳️⚧️
01.12.2025 23:58 — 👍 85 🔁 29 💬 2 📌 1
Cliff Raven outside Sunset Strip Tattoo in California shortly after buying it from Lyle Tuttle
A screenshot from https://www.luckyfish.com/cliff-raven-in-chicago-2020 reads:
When HIV emerged, studios began refusing homosexual customers, and many gay tattooers left the field. In a letter to Raven, one artist explains feeling relief that police raids closed him down. "I do not fancy working continually with people's BLOOD on my hands in these plague days of anguish and horrible viruses which they... don't know shit about," he says.
His community's palpable anxiety bolstered Raven's commitment to providing a medical-grade sterile environment, and it secured him as a beacon to gay men who wanted ink.
Pat Fish, the last tattooer trained by Raven, recalls him saying three things are necessary to be a good tattoo artist: art, craft, and morals. Part of having morals meant prioritizing clients' health.
"He made me buy an autoclave before he let me buy a tattoo machine," she laughs. This was in 1985. According to her, gloves weren't even industry standard until a doctor led a workshop on it at a tattoo convention in 1986—though Greg James, another tattooer who worked with Raven, says they were slowly becoming common in the early 80s. Raven began wearing them in the late 70s, and he was using an autoclave, the machine hospitals use to sterilize reusable equipment, as early as 1970.
It’s #WorldAIDSDay - Did you know sanitation and barriers are industry standard in tattooing because Cliff Raven, a gay tattooer from Chicago, made sure he could still provide service to his own community as most shops refused to tattoo homosexuals when the AIDS crisis emerged?
01.12.2025 18:08 — 👍 170 🔁 66 💬 1 📌 1
