Pride Guide 2002 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

'Be safe or die' doesn't work any more: What now?

by Karl D. Kimpo-Villanueva

"None of my friends use condoms.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor at a safer sex presentation I had given, a 20 year old gay male from the Cleveland area, whom I will call Mark, went on to say how a friend of his once told him that their friends will sometimes pass a guy around among their circle. One friend will have sex with him on one day. Another friend will have sex with the same guy a few days later, if not the next day, and so on.

"I never really thought about using condoms," he said. "It was always just: Okay, where's the lube?"

Going home that night I thought about what Mark said and I thought to myself, "Did

rubbers or get sick and die. When we were scared and angry we didn't need a lot of convincing to figure that out. Thus, the message was eventually embraced.

Nowadays the same message could get you a laugh or a roll of eyes to the ceiling accompanied with, "Dude, what rock have you been living under?"

Problem: Old message doesn't work with new attitudes.

Solution: Find a new message.

Well, that part wasn't hard. Defining the new message is a whole new can of worms to be opened.

In order to decide what this new message is, we as gay HIV/AIDS activists, educators, and service providers have to take a long look hard look at our community at large. We

The inundation of flyers and ads has become trite. One can't interact with a poster on the wall.

I just hear that? With almost twenty years of HIV service providers and outreach workers educating other gay men about this disease, did I just hear that? What the hell happened?”

Well, we all know what happened. What happened was a better understanding of HIV that led to more effective drugs which led to a notion that AIDS didn't have to be the cold specter of death it used to be.

What happened was the rise of a new generation of young gay and bisexual men who have never witnessed the complete and total decimation of entire circles of friends. At the same time their sexual decisions are also informed by living in a world that for them has always known the existence of HIV and AIDS. Mark, for instance, was born in 1982--the first known case of HIV was diagnosed in 1981.

What also happened in the generation of gay and bisexual men who did witness the decimation of entire circles of friends was the onset of what some have called "condom fatigue." I suppose this was inevitable. One cannot be expected to live in a continuous. state of panic and high alert year after year. After a while, you just give up.

Despite these factors and countless others, hasn't our community acted up enough? Hasn't our community educated enough? Apparently not, according to a March 2002 study by CDC behavioral scientist Gordon Mansergh, where he estimates that roughly 30% or so of men in the study had unprotected sex within the last three months.

Our attitudes toward HIV have changed and evolved going from unbridled fear and panic to white hot anger and sorrowful grief to today's sense of apathy and learned helplessness.

It wasn't a piece of cake to get our community to buy in to having safer sex by using condoms, but it was an easier sell compared to today. The message was simpler: Use

need to re-assess our communities' attitudes toward gay sex and HIV as opposed to five or ten years ago in a way that is genuine and honest. We also need to look at our own attitudes as activists, educators, and service providers in light of the rest of the gay com-

munity and find a middle ground that is realistic. We also need to be prepared to possibly incorporate several new messages for different people and get away from a "one size fits all" model of HIV prevention. In the end, some of the answers may be hard to swallow but only then can a new vision for HIV prevention be formulated.

One approach that deserves some exploration is one that involves more human interaction. This approach proposes that gay men still do want to talk about HIV and have safer sex, but the inundation of flyers and ads has become trite. I recently attended a panel discussion on HIV and gay men in Columbus. One of the panelists, a gay man who does HIV work, put it succinctly by saying that one can't interact with a poster on a wall.

Another idea may be to go back to Larry Kramer-esque rants and raves. Some have touted organizations like ACT UP or Queer Nation as having no real relevance in today's gay community; however, maybe that sentiment is starting to change as time goes on. Because of the ever-growing atmosphere of complacency, maybe our community needs a little shaking up. Although those tactics were loud and in your face, a real truth is that loud and in your face is at times is the only thing that works for some people.

Applying the theory of risk reduction to HIV prevention is another alternative. The risk reduction approach says it would be ideal to get an alcoholic from several drinks a day to no drinks at all but getting an alcoholic to cut his consumption down to half is a step in the right direction. It also says that having a cold turkey, zero-tolerance attitude is possibly harmful and could be a hindrance to a complete change in behavior.

Applying this idea to HIV prevention would mean negotiating with a very highrisk gay male who has had multiple anonymous sex encounters to go from not using

HOOD

condoms all the time to using condoms some of the time. Even though this man is still at risk for contracting HIV, his risk has at least been lowered. Another application of this theory is advocating that men at least pull out to ejaculate instead of ejaculating inside someone's mouth or anus. Again, although these men are still having unprotected sex, their risk for contracting HIV has been slightly lowered.

I am neither for nor against any of the methods that I profile here in this article. What I do advocate is an open dialogue to bring new methods to fruition and subsequent application. We need to admit to ourselves that the message just doesn't cut it

C-9

anymore and we need to acknowledge that a new vision must be found. If we don't, the rate of HIV infection will spiral beyond our control. If that happens, then it'll be pointless what our message is. It will be too late.

"We hit a wall about five years ago. There is a dawning awareness that the old methods just don't work anymore," wrote Eric Rofes, gay activist and author of Reviving the Tribe and Dry Bones Breath, in an article profiling a first-ever CDC study that measured barebacking among gay and bisexual men.

Karl D. Kimpo-Villanueva is coordinator of the ManHealth program at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

Staying over. Consider Zion UCC

A Unique Church for Unique People ZION

Here at Zion you don't have to be anyone but yourself.

It's not about who you know or what you know or where you work or what you wear.

After all, this isn't about popularity, it's about God. Zion United Church of Christ proudly reconfirms its commitment to the celebrations and struggles of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community.

Zion United Church of Christ

of Tremont is located at 2716 W. 14th Street in Cleveland.

Sunday morning worship service begins at 10:30 a.m.

If you have any questions, please call us at 440-230-4420 or visit our website at www.zionchurch.org

Saturday June 22 Sunday

8pm

June 23

3pm

a presentation by the

North Coast

Men's Chorus

Richard Cole, Music Director

Waetjen Auditorium

Cleveland State University

Celebrate Pride Month with us

SING OUT

Tickets may be purchased at the following locations:

Single-concert tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door..

tickets.com www.tickets.com 1.800.766.6048

High Tide Rock Bottom

1814 Coventry Rd. Cleveland Hts.

Body Language

3291 W. 115th St. Cleveland

Impulse @

Union Station

2814 Detroit Ave. Cleveland

Diverse Universe

12011 Detroit Ave. . Lakewood

Angel Falls Coffee

792 W. Market St. Akron

as we host the fabulous Rochester Gay Men's Chorus and special guest soloist Chris White in two concerts that will tune us up for the GALA

Choruses Regional Festival July 3-7 in Cincinnati.

For more information: www.ncmchorus.org_info@ncmchorus.org 216.556.0590