Opinion :: Guest Opinions
Boston’s own World AIDS Day theme by Keith Orr
Bay Windows ContributorMonday Nov 23, 2009 Tuesday December 1st will mark the 21st annual World AIDS Day. Since its inception, the impetus of the day has always been about raising awareness of impact of the pandemic worldwide.
Each year the organizers adapt a theme. In 2009, they will highlight Universal Access (to health care) and Human Rights for their international focus.
While these are noble and important points to make, I have my own theme to deliver to my fellow gay men here in the greater Boston area: For many, education about sexual health and specifically the seriousness of HIV seems to have fallen off the radar screen.
I don’t know if we can blame 8+ years of non-science based "abstinence only" education or if it’s somewhat inevitable with the changing face of the treatment of HIV/AIDS that information fatigue would have set in, but whatever the reason, gay men -- and specifically younger gay men -- don’t seem to have more than just a basic understanding of a virus that has no cure with complicated treatment that is constantly evolving.
This past September, a group of concerned activists in London commissioned an independent market research firm to look into the attitudes of gay men. While there were some harsh attitudes about the "business" of HIV prevention and education from the respondents, one of the most startling statistics was this: When asked if HIV was a manageable illness that would allow someone to live a normal healthy life span, 41% of those under 25 years of age agreed with that statement.
I fear that this sense of complacency and misinformation is not exclusive to our British counterparts.
When a team from AIDS Action was conducting sexual health surveys among gay men in Boston last fall, only 18% of those asked indicated that they had ever received any type of one-on-one sexual health counseling, either from a clinician or from their personal physician.
It’s as if once you identify as a gay man, you are assumed to be instantly imbued with all of the knowledge you need. You’ll know how to be sexually safe, you’ll know what the impact of recreational drugs can have on you and your decision process, you’ll know how to discuss the use of condoms with your partners, and you’ll know what to do if there is an incident that could put you at risk for contracting HIV.
If, as a sexually active gay man, you can’t confidently say that you know this information, then you owe it not only to yourself to get informed, but you owe it to the rest of us sexually active gay men to know it too.
In my experience working at AIDS Action’s MALE Center where I administer confidential free HIV testing on a part-time basis, I can tell you that the majority of the guys I test are coming through our doors not for routine testing but in response to a specific incident, one that they often can recall quite vividly. In many cases, they have waited months to access testing, believing that the behavior, or just the fact that they have sex with men, has predestined them to be HIV positive.
They are often embarrassed and ashamed, wrongly believing that one-time "risky" sexual behavior is their own individual personal failing and is totally out of step with their peers. Often they will describe that they experienced a sexual situation that they knew was unsafe, but they decided that they didn’t know enough about the risk factors to make a well informed decision. In that scenario, their behavior often defaults to what would please their partner and they decide that they will grapple with any potential fallout after the fact.
Emotions run high for many as we talk through the testing process, and although I remember the stress of my first HIV test circa 1980’s, where you waited two weeks for the results, the current ten minute waiting period for the results of a rapid test are no less traumatic.
Fortunately, in a majority of testing, the results are negative -- the die is not precast for HIV just because you are gay. But the discussion that comes with the information about status often proves to be as valuable as the test results themselves.
I hope that as a result of my counseling, each individual leaves that testing room with more knowledge about sexual health than when they walked in, that they will understand the human condition has to allow for potential risk behavior and most importantly, in the case of HIV/AIDS, knowledge is power.
To that end I offer you some action items:
Get tested and know your status. If you are sexually active, every 6 months is great. At a minimum, do it yearly. Do your online research; find out what you do and don’t know about HIV/AIDS. If online isn’t engaging enough or doesn’t answer your questions, attend a volunteer outreach worker training class at a local AIDS Service Organization. If outreach classes aren’t your thing, look into free programs like MALE Center’s "Sex Life Coaching" where you get your knowledge one-on-one from a clinician.
Talk to your doctor. If you are uncomfortable talking about your sex life with them, or if he or she can’t answer your questions, then you may need a new provider.
If you think a sexual situation may have put you at risk for HIV, then learn how to access post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment within 72 hours. It’s an intervention that can dramatically alter your odds in the HIV equation.
For me, the most important part is this: Start taking charge of your own personal responsibility for your sexual behavior. Enjoy yourself, protect yourself, inform yourself, and treat each other as you’d like to be treated.
Keith Orr is the Marketing Manager for The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and is also the host of One in Ten Radio, Boston’s LGBT radio show on WFNX 101.7FM.
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