Bay Area Reporter - December 8, 2005
Kevin Davis

At the San Francisco Gay Men's Community Initiative-sponsored forum, panelists from the health department and others weighed in on subjects like serosorting sex partners, Internet cruising's body part fetishism, party drugs, and methods for activism. The event had a game-show format and was moderated by Joan Jett Blakk.

Not everyone embraced unprotected anal sex and the topic remains controversial. At points during the meeting several participants pointed to the fact that unprotected anal sex is the most common way HIV/AIDS is transmitted among men who have sex with men. Audience members applauded during these comments.

Many of the 70 attendees, mostly in their 40s, voiced strong opinions on the social effects of barebacking porn.

It glamorizes and normalizes the behavior, said panelist and LGBT events Web site editor Ggreg Taylor, who said he lobbied Miller beer to withdraw sponsorship from the Folsom Street Fair for allowing one bareback porn producer to advertise in the fair's program guide.

Such films fetishize internal ejaculation, said Titan Media Vice President Keith Webb.

"How many cum loads can they take? I'm not going to help a 20-year-old kid in Iowa do something unsafe," said Webb. "Twink barebacking is reprehensible - using kids, paying them to risk their lives."

David Van Virden argued that not producing such films, even with external cumming, takes Titan out of the dialogue and leaves it wide open for renegade producers.

"As barebacking evolves, they can't justify being in the discussion," said Van Virden.

Several in attendance pointed to the popular Treasure Island Media title, Dawson's 20-Load Weekend, as irresponsible.

Reached for comment, officials with Treasure Island Media defended their films.

One should not model one's sex life on entertainment and the peer pressure argument against particular pornography, responded Treasure Island cameraman Nick Stevens.

"You can't say I watched a murder mystery and now I'm a serial killer," said Stevens, a four-year employee of the 7-year-old company. Treasure Island does not pair actors of different HIV statuses, with few exceptions.

"Our movies are for models to have sex the way they want," said Stevens. "Why should we not film that?"

The health department has no official opinion on the films, as there exists no current data on how they affect viewers' behavior. "In the meantime," said STD Prevention and Control Director Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, "we have to support free speech."

Acknowledging barebacking's "liberating" feel, Klausner said that while many super infections are related to unprotected anal sex, it's uncommon in men infected for over a year. "It's a much more serious concern with re-infection, if recently infected," he said.

Serosorting - sex between those with the same HIV status - might help decrease infections, said Klausner, who urged sexually active men to lobby the www.Craigslist.org Web site for a "Poz for Poz" personals section. He also urged men to ask their doctors for nucleic acid amplification gonorrhea and chlamydia tests.

'Disability queens'

While the evening was energetic, one invited panelist's absence overshadowed the event. Jeff Sheehy, UCSF AIDS Research Institute communications director and Mayor Gavin Newsom's AIDS policy adviser, objected to the term "disability queens." Sheehy declined his invitation, calling the forum topic, "What do we think of disability queens?" a way to replace a doctor's objective diagnosis with what he views as judgment. He questioned whether the topic was part of a health department agenda instead of a community-initiated topic. The SFGMCI was started by people who work for the Department of Public Health.

"Deciding the health status of another individual is not a subject for community debate," said Sheehy. "What is the relevance of that question to community building? We're passing judgment on people living a life of medical duress," whose condition is defined based on specific criteria and circumstances - serious opportunistic infection or progression to full-blown AIDS and CD4 counts under 200.

A vibrant-looking gay man may have "a carefully calibrated lifestyle that preserves their physical resources," said Sheehy in his RSVP to SFGMCI's Doug Sebesta.

Addressing misconceptions, debunking myths, and changing attitudes results from open dialogue, countered Sebesta.

"As one panelist said, it's the elephant in the room that everybody makes reference to," said Sebesta, a DPH epidemiologist. "Whether in jest, whether or not it's based on fact or not fair, it's out there. Who is hanging out in the Castro during the day - the Starbucks boys."

Disability queen is an inflammatory, derogatory label for many people living and struggling with HIV, agreed Sebesta. "But, there are many healthy people who get to hang out."

The DPH staff who brainstormed the forum's topics included Frank Strona, the recently deceased Mike Pendo, and Sebesta, who noted they're all longtime members of the gay community.

Sometimes called "AIDS exceptionalism," the disability queen label is potentially stigmatizing, implying taking advantage of the system, said Klausner, who noted that PWAs fought for their resources and are still underserved in areas such as financial support and housing.

Online cruising

The emergence of dysmorphia - internalizing displays of steroid-pumped body parts in what many view as cold, disheartening, limited communication of online cruise sites - was another theme the panelists passionately laid out. Body fetishism creates narrow self-conceptions, and Web sites like www.Manhunt.net eclipse brick and mortar gathering places, making, as Taylor noted, reopening the baths "a mute point."

Instead of making friends in baths or in bars, "We start viewing people as body parts, if that's your major mode of social interaction," said Sebesta.

Although some meet long-term partners online, and hypothetically, online discussion groups can lead to real life meetings, a compulsive, hyper media-focused, Internet-based social and sex life creates isolation, said Sister Constance Craving.

Disappointed in the low turnout at recent marches and memorials, Craving said, "The activism we engage in is seeking dick."

Taylor agreed, saying that promiscuity and using growth hormones for validation is a symptom needing self-reflection, not societal judgment. He added that men lie about their penis size and HIV status online.

"Blow Buddies has no business," said Taylor. "Buena Vista [Park] is lonely."

For those coming out before Will & Grace , body image resulted from childhood "chronic concealment," said Steven Tierney, the new deputy director for programs at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "It's a miracle we're here with the hostility we grew up with," he said.

Meth

Drawing on his background in adolescent substance abuse counseling, Tierney eloquently explained the ongoing meth crisis, the drug's quick, deep, and permanent effect on neurotransmitters, relapse patterns, and the thousands of addicts who have talked in recovery meetings about how the drug robbed them of housing, jobs, and dignity. He persuaded the crowd to take responsibility for change from within, not abandoning that role to public health.

Government should not regulate erectile dysfunction drugs, Tierney added, with a wary glance toward Klausner, who only recently abandoned his campaign to get federal officials to increase the penalties for illegal use of erectile dysfunction drugs.

"Activism works when we believe we have something to offer [that] we're worth saving," said Tierney.

***

The SFGMCI will hold a community planning summit Saturday, December 10 from 10 a.m. to noon at 1360 Mission Street, Suite 401 (between 9th and 10th streets). Interested community members are invited to participate.

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