Newspapers / Lambda (Carolina Gay and … / Feb. 1, 1998, edition 1 / Page 5
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Feb. '98 HIV Attitudes by Ken Hewett If you haven't read the Janu ary 20th issue of the Advocate^ you really should. Within its pages is one of the most thought provoking ar ticles on AIDS that I’ve read in a long time. Entitled, “Are Gay Men Lis tening?” it does not waste its ink with impersonal statistics on AIDS; in stead, the article concentrates on the experience of eight gay men with sexual relationships in the age of AIDS. What I found most admirable about this article (despite the lack of African-American and Asian-Ameri can voices) is that the men were very diverse; one is a leading AIDS re searcher, some are HIV-positive, some are HIV-negative, some have had few partners, some have had LAMBDA Editorial many, some always practice safer- sex, and some don’t always practice it. What I found to be very disturb ing was one profile, that of a man named Tony Valenzuela. Tony is a twenty-nine year old resident of San Diego who works as an activist, pom star, and hustler. He is also HIV-positive. An orga nizer for Sex Panic!, “... a New York City-based group advocating total sexual freedom...” (p.51), he doesn’t believe in any sort of sexual bound aries. While I don’t know enough about Sex Panic! to form any solid opinions about the group, I believe that Mr. Valenzuela is a very poor representation of any group he be longs to, whether it be Sex Panic!, gay men, or people with AIDS. You see, he claims to have had “As many as 150” sexual partners in 1997 and estimates that his sexual encounters Pages HAVE YOU EVED WONDEDED ABOUT ^ hopping freight trainsO ebonies O beat poets O meditating the Harlem Renaissance O psychadelic shamanism O the art of erotic massage O Afro-Caribbean jazz O organic gardening ^ Black Panthers O Arabic feminists O the Stonewall rebelb-n ^ post-modern French philosophy O vegetarian cooking O drag queens O the Chinese cultural revolution O herbal medicine i^you can find it all and more, atO INIEPNMIONAUST EOORS 405 WEST FB\NKL1N 6TDEET CHAPEL HILL 919094201740 MONDAY-SATUPDAY 11-8 SUNDAY 12-6 OA VOLUNTEEP-PUN, NOT-FOP-PPOni, COMMUNITY PESOUPCE CENTEPO were "...unsafe about a third of the time” (p.51). He justifies this by say ing that “sex with a condom js artifi cial sex” (p.50), that he can’t ^‘...re sist the eroticism and joy of unsafe sex with a consenting partner” (p.51), and that people should start paying more attention to their “erotic” health (p.51). While I believe in sexual free dom, I personally think that this is all bullshit because personal respon sibility and freedom go hand-in-hand. Still, I’m glad that the Advocate printed this story because it raises many questions about sexual behav ior in the age of AIDS. My first question is: What in the hell is this man doing having unprotected sex, especially when he knows he has the HIV virus? He says, “People are always saying that unprotected sex always equals AIDS. We keep pounding into people that they have to think this way. But it’s not that simple. It’s a complicated equation” (p.51). Obviously, the man is unable to use a little common sense to solve what should be a simple equation. AIDS is transmitted in four ways: oiood h, nsfusion, the sharing of needles, from mother to child dur ing pregnancy, and sexual activity. I begin to wonder where Tony thinks AIDS comes from. Yes, transmission through unprotected sex may not be at a rate of 100%, but it is still high risk. I can’t believe that not only is he not worried about picking up a deadlier strain of the virus, but that he would be so willing to play Rus sian roulette with someone else’s life. Personally, if I had AIDS, I would be unable to live with myself if I infected someone else because we didn’t take the proper precautions. My second question is: Is this guy really being honest with the men that Tony sleeps with? He speaks of “...making informed deci sion...” (p.50) and sex being “...with continued on page 6
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