A Community Manifesto: A New Response to HIV and STDs

A Community Manifesto:
A New Response to HIV and STDs

	Schedule STD/HIV testing by email at hivstd.info@metrokc.gov or call 206-205-7837.
	Click here for a list of HIV/STD organizations.
	Haga click aquí para Manifiesto de la comunidad en español

In the face of alarming increases in HIV and STD* infection rates among Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, we--the MSM HIV/STD Prevention Task Force--issue this Manifesto calling for desperately needed community norms and actions.

We, the MSM HIV/STD Prevention Task Force are a group of individuals. We include both HIV-positive and HIV-negative persons. We include all genders and sexual orientations. We are people of varied ethnicity and age. Many of us are HIV prevention workers, or Public Health employees. We are researchers, educators, activists and instigators.

Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men must act against the behaviors and attitudes responsible for the increased spread of these diseases. Today, one in seven Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are infected with HIV. Among Gay men in King County, syphilis rates are 100 times higher than in the general heterosexual population, and are estimated to be 1000 times higher among HIV positive Gay men than among the general heterosexual population. These rates show we have stopped doing the things that protect us and our sex partners from needless infection.

Every Gay, Bisexual, or other man who has sex with men is responsible for the health and well-being of the community. Our sexual relationships should be passionate, healthy, consensual, honest, and respectful. We are accountable for our behavior-to ourselves, our sex partners, and our community:

Knowingly transmitting HIV is avoidable; its transmission is unacceptable.
Disclosing HIV/STD status does not negate the necessity to practice safe sex.
Bare-backing is unacceptable high-risk behavior except in committed monogamous relationships between partners of the same HIV status.
Transmitting HIV knowingly is an act of violence.

HIV/AIDS prevention workers, health care providers, public health staff, and AIDS service organizations must lead by motivating the community to prevent future STD and HIV infections through:

Up-to-date, relevant information about HIV and STD prevention.
Loud, clear messages of health.
Diverse, specific, and crucial HIV and STD prevention statements delivered in a variety of media.

*Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), including syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes are transmitted from person to person through sexual contact and increase the risk of getting or passing on HIV.

All Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men must care about health--their own, the community's, and each person's-as an act of self-love and an affirmation of self worth by:

Joining together to make safer sex-the proper use of condoms and treating each partner with honesty and compassion-our community norm.
Challenging friends or loved ones that do not conform to this community norm with the consequences of their actions.
Advocating for information, access to treatment, and an end to discrimination.

We who are HIV positive men must take responsibility for not transmitting our virus, to demonstrate compassion for all our partners, anonymous and long-term, and to show our concern for the standing and reputation of our community.

We who are HIV negative or don't know our HIV status must believe that HIV infection is not inevitable, must learn what our status is, take responsibility for not acquiring HIV, and get tested regularly. We cannot assume we are HIV negative if, since the last HIV test, we have had unprotected anal sex with a partner whose HIV status is positive or unknown.

To all Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men:

	If you have multiple sex partners, use a condom for anal sex and get tested regularly for HIV and STDs.
	Know your HIV and STD status, disclose your status to sex partners, and ask them to disclose theirs to you.
	Challenge any sex partner who doesn't know his HIV and STD status.
	In disclosing to potential sex or drug partners, give an honest, accurate HIV/STD history, including test results and how long since your last tests.
	Realize that medications for HIV are expensive and damaging to a person's system-even with today's advances, HIV infection is never trivial.
	If you choose to use mind-altering substances, like poppers or crystal, you risk letting down your guard-being high is not an excuse for unsafe sex.

Accept that your actions have consequences.

Get tested.

Future generations of Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men must not inherit HIV!

Stop transmitting STDs and HIV NOW!

What people are saying about the Community Manifesto:

"It has been good to participate in the process of developing the Manifesto because it makes a strong statement to the community that we must all be responsible to stop the spread of STDs and HIV. The Manifesto contains clear statements of how that can be done and challenges us all to take an active part in it every day, in every encounter we have with others in the community."

~ Roger Winters, Community member

"This is the beginning of a community dialogue to see if we can establish some norms that will work for the community and protect us. We have also planned to have information on the web site where individuals can send us their comments to see if they agree or disagree with our norms."

~ Phil Pelino, Community member

"I do anticipate the continuation of the dialogue, I don't anticipate this being the final word on anything. As with all of the press we have had this summer I think it will just help us to maintain the discussions."

~ Jack Johnston, Positive Power

We want to hear what you think about the Community Manifesto! Fill in the blanks below. Selected quotes from submissions can be found here and also here. You may wish to submit comments anonymously as well. After you press the Send button, you will be taken to an intermediary "Bravenet Processing Form" which will ask you if the info you entered was correct then press the Continue button to be taken to our confirmation Thank You page.

Endorsements to the Community Manifesto:

Show your support and add your name to the list of endorsers. On November 21st and 28th, in honor of World AIDS Day, we will re-print this Manifesto along with the full list of people who have sent us the following form. Click here to download the Endorsement Form (PDF, 63 KB*), fill out the blanks, then mail or fax it to us.

*You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to open files formatted in Adobe PDF. Click here to download and install Reader for free.

1. Aaron Silverberg
2. Alonzo Plough
3. Amy Radford
4. Ann Blake
5. Barak Gaster
6. Benjamin French
7. Betsy Brown
8. Betsy Dowling
9. Bill Deyoung
10. Blair Stewart
11. Bob Knudson
12. Brad Roter
13. Chris McCaslin
14. Chris Stone
15. Dan Langdon
16. David Beckwith
17. David Buchholz
18. David Heal
19. David Hopkins
20. David Kersey
21. David Webb
22. Diane Ferrero
23. Diane Mallory
24. Douglas Leighton
25. Drew Emery
26. Eli Harrison
27. Eli Sanders
28. Eric Hutcheson
29. Eric Spivack
30. Eric Thom
31. Frank Chaffee
32. Grace Rhem
33. Hunter Handsfield
34. Jay Brown
35. Jeffrey Koenen
36. Jennifer Chang
37. Jim Holm
38. John Hatton
39. John Koch
40. John Mark
41. John Newbold
42. John Wiesman
43. John Zimmer
44. Joshua Martin
45. Kathy Silvernan
46. Erica Seddig
47. Tom Auer
48. Ken Smith
49. Kevin Elliott
50. Kevin Inouye
51. Kevin Moore
52. Kimberly Keith
53. Kyihya Thomas
54. Kyle Stemple
55. Lee Heck
56. Lees Rietmeijer
57. Leila Pasalic
58. Lonnie Lopez
59. Lori Potter
60. Luis Viquez
61. Mark Alan
62. Mark Alstead
63. Mark Hanses
64. Mark Holman
65. Matthew Farnsworth
66. Matthew Skews
67. Michael Delorey
68. Michael Dondelinger
69. Michael Donnellan
70. Michael Hanrahan
71. Michael Rice
72. Miles Conrad
73. Mitchell Ware
74. Nathan Messer
75. Neil Bradshaw
76. Nhan Thai
77. Norman Adkins
78. Philip Curtis
79. Joseph Angel
80. Ron Baylor
81. Salle Certo
82. Sarah Hufbauer
83. Scott Verrette
84. Scott Wittet
85. Sophie Petersen
86. Steven Thomas
87. Switchable Yento
88. Tim Bradbury
89. Trey Zehmer
90. Webster Crowell
91. Wil Williamson
92. Phil Pelino
93. Michael Underhill
94. Jef St De Lore
95. Roger Winters
96. Jeffrey Weldon
97. Roberto Gonzalez
98. Chuck Kuehn
99. Craig Kelso
100. Mike McMahon
101. Rosemary Ryan
102. Roger Roffman
103. Bill Krutch
104. Anne Meegan
105. Robert W Wood
106. Sister Glo Euro N'Wei
107. Jaci Oseguera
108. David Richart
109. Mark Fleming
110. Erick Seelbach
111. Michael Mckee
112. Susan Kingston
113. Hanne Thiede
114. Keith Barland
115. Jack Johnston
116. Robert Marks
117. Quinten Welch
118. Bruce Maeder
119. Brad Roter
120. Dan Savage
121. Tim Hillard
122. Jeffery Schouten
123. Robb Miller
124. Jeanne Marrazzo
125. Rick Heib
126. Sister Faerie Clara Voyant
127. Orry Ardena
128. Sister Teta Lotus A. Bowl
129. Joe Average
130. Arnold T Martin
131. Ron Sims
132. Steve Wakefield
133. Aleksa Manilla
134. Timothy B. Jones
135. Dustin Collings
136. Bellial Darshan