The gay men of San Francisco have worked hard to get the sex they want and minimize risks to their own health and well being and that of other gay men. They should be applauded and appreciated for their creativity, altruism, self-care, community care, and commitment to sex-positive values.
And they are doing so successfully, with minimal assistance from many public health leaders and journalists who see us as irrational, self-destructive, and irresponsible.
Despite creation of a cycle of panics intended to scare gay men away from sex (Superbug panic, crystal panic, second-wave-of-HIV panic, circuit-party panic, cyberspace panic) by public health leaders and journalists, gay men in San Francisco continue to do what we've always done: work assiduoulsly to maintain sex-positive values and create vast and diverse opportunities for the fulfillment of sexual desires, as we proceed with concern for the health and safety of ourselves and our community.
Recent research into sero-sorting--a practice NEVER encouraged or endorsed by HIV prevention leaders who continue to be locked in a "use-a-condom-everytime" mentality, despite the fact that local gay men have pioneered additional creative sex strategies for more than a dozen years--shows that San Francisco gay men are savvy, strategic, and caring of one another. One would never get this impression from the statements of local health officials and from most of the health promotion campaigns displayed in recent years.
This is what the "gay men's health movement" is all about: stepping outside of the pathology-based public health paradigm and the guilt/shame of HIV prevention and believing that gay men are healthy, reasonable, caring, and successful, even if we organize our sex and relationships in alternative, creative, and, occasionally, wild ways.
Eric Rofes
San Francisco
gmhs3@aol.com
