Subject: Another SF gay objects to AIDS, Inc. targeting our sexuality
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 13:41:22 EDT

Steven D. Keller
607 Castro Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 255-8975
Email Address: [email-masked]

August 28, 1999

To whom it may concern,

I dropped in late to the Stop AIDS sponsored meeting on August 26, 
1999 titled, Heads Up! The Low Down on Oral Sex. In the forty-five 
minutes or so that I was listening most of the talk was about anal 
insertive/receptive gay sex with or without condoms, percentage of 
risk either way and the dangers of contracting HIV through anal sex. 
Subjects that have been talked and written about repeatedly over for 
the last 18 years.

Throughout the remaining 45 minutes maybe 15 minutes was truly 
devoted to information concerning oral sex receptive/insertive, with 
or without a condom. And during this discussion about oral sex, 
phrases like "we're not really sure", "the study is not that 
complete", "we need more time", etc. encompassed this part of the 
talk. Nothing of great value, new or old, came out of this study or 
was very informative. Most of this information has already been 
published over and over again with regards to oral sex, so why are we 
wasting money by funding a group of people who had nothing new to say?

During the Q&A period, a woman in the audience wanted to know why 
human blood for the HIV test had to be diluted 400 times for testing 
and if it is a fact that undiluted blood from any human would test 
positive? I thought it was a reasonable question since we are dealing 
with HIV and how it is transmitted. Instead, the moderator (who I 
have seen off the clock at various sex establishments and backrooms) 
told her that if she had a question about oral sex they would answer 
it but they would not speak about the Elisa/Western blot tests. I 
thought it ironic and surprising that he shot her down since the 
panelists spent most of the last 45 minutes talking about anal 
receptive/insertive sex causing HIV.

All these groups, SF AIDS Foundation, Stop AIDS Project, etc. think they are doing 
the right thing by participating with the government for answers to 
gay men's lives and sexual habits. Of course this is how these 
various groups also receive funding for themselves. But what they are 
actually doing is putting the gay male community right into the hands 
of the "old boy network" that wants to eliminate, bit by bit, our 
freedom as gay men. Besides, how many studies have been done 
concerning anal/oral receptive/insertive relating to HIV/AIDS, on 
heterosexuals or lesbians?

How many full page ads have been in the Examiner, Chronicle, Bay 
Guardian, SF Weekly or The Independent screaming, "Syphilis/gonorrhea 
on the rise in the heterosexual and lesbian communities" or articles 
stating, "Heterosexuals not using condoms, lesbians not using dental 
dams to avert the spread of HIV/AIDS". Finally, how many 
heterosexuals or lesbians do you know would stand on the street 
corner and talk openly about their sex lives with strangers holding 
clipboards? We are all supposed to be susceptible for this deadly 
disease, right? So where are these studies? Where are these recruits 
and where are these public forums being held?

Personally, I'm tired of being shamed into silence about the type of 
sex I have and with whom I have it. I'm also tired of these paper and 
pen pushers strategically placed in the "gay areas" asking private 
and personal information and then supplying these statistics to our 
government so that their funding continues to flow in. Hasn't anyone 
beside myself had enough of this prodding?

Come on folks, we are not suppose to be straight or lesbian people! 
We are gay men, we have our own identity and we should be accepted 
completely for whom we are as gay men. Our sexuality and the freedom 
of this expression was a major reason our gay brothers before us put 
themselves on the line, fought with determination and for which some 
died. Have we forgotten? Have we not learned? Do we constantly have 
to give up something to get something? If so, why does it have to be 
our sexuality?

Whether we admit it or not, gay men are being targeted by the media, 
politicians, AIDS service organizations, federal as well as local 
governments, doctors, scientists and pharmaceutical companies. And 
the sad thing is most of this backlash is being led by gay people in 
power within our own communities. Who needs Jesse Helms, Lou Sheldon 
or Rev. Fred Phelps? They are just going along for the ride!

In conclusion, I would like to send a warning to all current sex club 
owners (especially Blow Buddies), bookstore operators, and bars with 
backrooms. If the honorable, openly gay and now self-promoted saviour 
of the gay male community, Dr. Mitch Katz, is using outdated 
information to keep the baths closed in this wonderful City of San 
Francisco, what makes you think he will not be using the "new" oral 
sex information to close the remaining sex clubs, bookstores and 
backrooms in bars? Think about it.

Sincerely,
Steven D. Keller

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