Tuesday, May 28

Sextacy Continued - Ben, your item on drugs and unsafe sex, which highlighted the practices of a San Francisco sex education worker named Adam, reminded me of the criticisms leveled at gay safe sex outreach. Much of the community seems to be ambivalent about safe sex, and outsiders are beginning to question the money spent on prevention when the very people sent to preach safe sex don't practice it. In February, Citizens Against Government Waste issued a blistering broadside against government HIV prevention programs. It specifically targeted San Francisco's Stop AIDS Project among others. Based on CAGW's track record against Congressional pork, I will make the assumption (rightly or wrongly) that they aren't motivated by any particular anti-gay animus. (Prejudice or religious dogma often underlies attacks on HIV prevention.) Unfortunately, they seem to be better at criticizing than at offering effective solutions. However, stories about guys like Adam make it harder to rebut the arguments made by CAGW and others that gay-focused AIDS programs are a waste of taxpayers' money.