AAC Newsletter January 2015 by AIDS Action Council

AIDS ACTION COUNCIL OF THE ACT

NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2015

Happy New Year to all and welcome to the first AIDS Action Council newsletter for 2015. We are back with the doors open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday and there are many after-hours services and activities. We are extremely conscious that the rates of HIV increased in 2013 and again in 2014. However, we have real optimism that the virtual elimination of HIV in Australia is possible and that AIDS can be completely eliminated. Our hope comes from a raft of new evidence that supports treatment as prevention, new testing technologies and the huge improvements in the lives of those that access medication. These advances are real, although their potential will not be realised without governmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; will, community support and strength in partnerships. In 2015 you will see the Council continue to strengthen partnerships with the community and key stakeholders. Our staff and volunteers are our key assets and strength, along with the community organisations and groups we work with and who bring so much value to the work we do. Of course our relationship with ACT Government and in particular ACT Health is critical to our development and benefits from a strong and cooperative partnership. As we have always been, we remain a grassroots community organisation and seek to serve the interest of our clients and members as best we can. Watch this space in 2015 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it will be a year of solid achievements in service delivery, events and activities, peer education, peer support, professional education and health promotion. Our connection with you, our community, remains our most important foundation. Philippa Moss Acting Executive Director

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 1

AGM 2014

Council Awards

On 12 November 2014 the AIDS Action Council held its Annual General Meeting, which included elections for our Committee. The Committee for 2014–2015 includes:

This year the Council presented four awards to the following recipients:

• • • • • • • •

Dr Nathan Boyle – President Melanie Cantwell – Secretary Andrew Grimm Cris Kennedy Julia O’Boyle Anni Dugdale Peter Kensey Strephon Billinghurst

We farewell outgoing members Scott Malcolm and Claire Drake. Thank you for your hard work on the Board during the past years. We welcome the new and returning members of the Board and look forward to an exciting new year.

Fabulous member: Scott Malcolm In acknowledgement of his long term dedication and outstanding contribution to the work of the Council. David Widdup Award: Philip Habel In acknowledgment of his outstanding contribution as a volunteer and member of the Council supporting the PACT program. President’s Award: Alan Verhagen In recognition of his ongoing contribution of time and expertise as President of the AIDS Action Council of the ACT and ongoing contribution to the work of the Council. Community Award: Northside Community Service In recognition of Northside Community Service’s work to improve the service experience of older people (65+) living with HIV, many of whom also identify as LGBTI. In late 2013, Northside with the support of the Council, became the first Home and Community Care (HACC) provider in the ACT to receive Commonwealth Aged Care funding specifically targeted at improving engagement and access for older members of the LGBTI community and people living with HIV. The Council is privileged to work closely with such a professional and experienced organisation who are taking the lead in providing HACC services to the LGBTI community. The Dr Peter Rowland Memorial Address was delivered by Fiona Patten, who previously worked with WISE (the predecessor for SWOP ACT), was on the AIDS Action Council board and is now leader and founder of the Australian Sex Party. Fiona helped us get back to our roots by looking back and reflecting on the vibrant past of the Council. Importantly, Fiona also had us looking forward and recognising what an exciting time it is for Canberra and Australia as we continue to make leaps and bounds in the areas of HIV education, prevention and support.

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World AIDS Day in Canberra World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year. This important day continues to make its mark annually across the globe and provides an opportunity to raise awareness within communities about the issues that continue to encompass HIV and AIDS.

Canberra Sexual Health Centre’s ‘M-Clinic’

Each year the AIDS Action Council holds an event for World AIDS Day and in recent years this has entailed hosting a breakfast on the lawns of Westlund House. However, this year the Council hosted a community breakfast in Garema Place. Egg and bacon rolls, specially made red ribbon cupcakes and promotional World AIDS Day items such as red ribbons, pens, tea towels and fridge magnets provided the community with an opportunity to donate to this worthy cause. The event was also used to cross-promote the ENDING HIV campaign with signs and posters displayed throughout Garema Place.

For: Asymptomatic men who have sex with men (MSM) Location: Canberra Sexual Health Centre, Canberra Hospital, Garran ACT. Dates: First business Monday of every month for 2015: 5 January

6 July

2 February

3 August

2 March

7 September

13 April

12 October (in lieu of Public Holiday 5 Oct)

4 May

2 November

1 June

7 December

Patients can register between 4.30pm - 7.00pm. M-Clinic is designed to provide men who have sex with men an opportunity to come in for free, quick and convenient STI check-ups outside of regular work hours. Patients who attend M-Clinic and are found to have symptoms or significant medical concerns may be asked to return the next day to Canberra Sexual Health Centre for a more thorough assessment, with booked and walk-in appointments reserved the following day at 9am and 4pm. On arrival patients will be asked to register (if not already a patient at CSHC) and fill out a single page questionnaire based on lifestyle and sexual behaviour before seeing a clinician. All patients who register before 7:00pm will be seen before clinic close. M-Clinic is part of our response to increasing HIV diagnoses in the ACT (as well as other STIs). We encourage at least annual HIV and STI testing for all men who have sex with men, and more frequent testing (every 3-6 months) for men who have more than one partner or change partners. Although the ACT has not yet introduced rapid HIV testing, M-clinic patients can receive HIV results in less than 24 hours by phone or SMS, with full STI results available in one week.

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The Council also engaged with other community organisations and a shared space was utilised to promote World AIDS Day and these organisations’ work with harm reduction, sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) and blood borne viruses (BBV’s). Along with the help of our volunteers, the Council provided egg and rolls, cupcakes and information to over 250 members of the Canberra community.

Reclaim The Night: Marching against sexual violence SWOP ACT once again attended the Canberra Reclaim the Night on the 31 October. Reclaim the Night, locally coordinated by Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, seeks to raise awareness of the danger of harassment and harm that women continue to face when walking alone, especially at night. SWOP has been involved in Reclaim the Night for the past seven years. Around 200 people attended the march and watched the entertainment in Garema Place. A BBQ was held by the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Legal Centre with the Council and SWOP providing the equipment as a contribution. Entertainment consisted of an exhibition skate by Varsity Derby League and a performance by Buasavanh Tribal Belly Dancers who also led the march. Reclaim the Night was first held in Rome in 1976, with the first Australian march commencing two years later in 1978.

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter 2014 Newsletter October January 2015 2 Page 4

Scarlet Alliance National Touching Base Inc visits Forum 2014: Melbourne Canberra The 2014 Scarlet Alliance National Forum was the biggest yet with 114 sex workers attending the four day event. The forum offered a diverse range of presentations, panels and workshops with a full program interspersed with some fun events, culminating in the annual general meeting. An update was provided by all Scarlet Alliance member and associate member organisations on their 2014 activities highlighting their achievements and ongoing challenges, as well as presentations from the Scarlet Alliance male representative, the trans and gender diverse working group and the international spokesperson gave attendees an insight into their work over the past year.

Touching Base Inc. is a charitable organisation based in Sydney and has been active since October 2000. Touching Base developed out of the need to assist people with disability and sex workers to connect with each other, focusing on access, discrimination, human rights and legal issues, and the attitudinal barriers that these two marginalised communities can face. Touching Base provide information for people with disability or their carers on how to access the sex industry.

Two-and-a-half days were set aside for sex worker only presentations, workshops, consultations, policy development and the discussion of trends, changes and legal impacts across each state and territory. Panels and workshops provided attendees with a diverse range of choices that included migrant workers responding to trafficking myths; strategies to respond to discrimination; a half-day anti-racism workshop facilitated by sex workers of colour from diverse backgrounds; sex workers’ experiences of criminalisation and law reform; sex work and academia; sex worker peer education and activism in Northern Australia; and current issues related to biomedical HIV prevention for sex workers A public sex worker rally against ongoing decriminalisation was also held. The rally took place at Catani Gardens in St Kilda and gave sex workers, particularly those from Victoria, the opportunity to express their thoughts in relation to discriminatory laws and their impact on individual rights and autonomy. The program also provided opportunities for some ‘downtime’ and fun. Participants were invited to attend an evening performance by sex worker Queenie Bon Bon entitled Deeply Leisured by Queenie Bon Bon; a night of pampering and relaxation in a spa-type environment; and an end-of- forum party with performances by sex workers, awards and general revelry ensued.

Rachel (one of the co-founders and also the star of the documentary “Scarlet Road”) travelled to Canberra in October 2014 to facilitate training with sex workers interested in working with clients with disabilities. The oneday workshop was held at a local brothel and attended by 8 sex workers. This is the first this training has been held in Canberra and the feedback received from the sex workers was very positive.

Overall, the forum was thought-provoking, a great networking opportunity and provided a safe-space and platform for sex workers to connect and feel empowered.

For more information on Touching Base or Scarlet Road please go to www.touchingbase.org or www.scarletroad. com.au

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 5

Calling for Expressions of Interest: WAD 2014 The AIDS Action Council would like to call for expressions of interest from the community for people who are interested in joining a working group to facilitate the biggest and best World AIDS Day event Canberra has ever seen in 2015. The aim of World AIDS Day is to encourage all Australians to be aware of HIV; to take action to reduce the transmission of HIV by promoting safe sex practices; and to ensure that people living with HIV can participate fully in the life of the community, free from stigma and discrimination. As a community and as individuals, there is a lot we can do in relation to HIV. Working in partnership, we can encourage others to understand how the virus is transmitted. We can support people to access testing and treatment, as we know that getting treatment at the early stages of infection results in better health outcomes. We can also raise awareness that HIV positive people have the right to participate in a community without the threat of stigma and discrimination.

WORLD AIDS DAY 1 December

We are looking for 7 to 10 individuals who are interested in working together and driving this event. The core responsibilities of working group members include: • actively participating in the working group to fulfil its responsibilities; • attending regular meetings; • being prepared to volunteer a few hours every week up to the World AIDS Day event on 1 December 2015; • participating at the event; • actively supporting and raising the profile of World AIDS Day within your own individual sphere of influence; and • optimising the relationship between the working group and key stakeholders. If you are passionate, enthusiastic and have time to give to this important cause, please send me a quick email including your contact details by then end of January. I will be in touch to schedule a meeting in early February. 02 6257 2855 or philippa.moss@aidsaction.org.au

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The Women’s Centre for Health Matters (WCHM) is conducting research to find out how we can The Women’s Centre for Health Matters (WCHM) is conducting research to find out how we improve domestic violence in the ACT for can improve domestic violence services in the ACT services for LGBTIQ people. LGBTIQ people. If you are LGBTIQ and have been affected by domestic violence, or have cared for a LGBTIQ person experiencing violence, we want tohave hear from been you! Fill outaffected our online survey If you are domestic LGBTIQ and byby following the link below, or use your smartphone to read the QR code.

domestic violence, or have cared for a LGBTIQ person experiencing domestic violence, we want to hear from https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DVandLGBTIQ you! Fill out our online survey by following the link below, or use your smartphone to read the QR code.

Questions? Contact the project worker at a.roberts@wchm.org.au or at (02) 6290 2166.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/DVandLGBTIQ

Need help with domestic violence? Need at to talk? Questions? Contact the project worker a.roberts@wchm.org.au or at (02) 6290 2166. Domestic Violence Crisis Service: 6280 0900 QLife: 1800 184 527 Crisis Centre: 6247 2525 violence? Lifeline: NeedCanberra helpRapewith domestic Need13 11to14talk?

www.worldaidsday.org.au

Domestic Violence Crisis Service: 6280 0900 Canberra Rape Crisis Centre: 6247 2525 QLife: 1800 184 527 Lifeline: 13 11 14

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter 2014 Newsletter October January 2015 2 Page 6

ACT Testing Month 2014 November 2014 saw the Council undertake one of the largest HIV campaign rollouts that we have seen in the ACT. The inaugural ACT Testing Month was launched by Yvette Berry MLA at Fairday. This month-long project was designed to raise awareness of the importance of HIV, STI and BBV (blood-borne virus) testing to help reach an end to new HIV diagnosis by 2020. ACT Testing Month was driven by a range of health, HIV and STI organisations including: • ACT Health (including Canberra Sexual Health Centre, Population Health, Centre for Disease Control, Health Promotion, Communications, Policy and Government Relations) • AIDS Action Council of the ACT • Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT • ACT Medicare Local Testing was held at the regular STRIP clinics at Westlund House and The Ranch, with extra M-Clinics held at Canberra Sexual Health Centre every Monday through November. The Council also ran additional clinics at Westlund House during business hours, while O’Connor and Charnwood Pharmacies and Canberra headspace also provided opportunities for testing. This campaign saw us moving into new areas. Along with our usual promotional spots at Cube Nightclub, FUSE Magazine and posts on social media, we also ventured into mainstream media with an

interview and advertisements on FM104.7 and Mix 106.3. We also had our most extensive and comprehensive paid social media campaign across Facebook and Grindr, and expanded our social media suite to include Instagram. ACT Medicare Local and Canberra Sexual Health Centre presented a webinar and special training to a number of clinics across the ACT to ensure GPs were confident in providing appropriate and comprehensive testing. At this point it is difficult to assess the impact of ACT Testing Month on testing rates. Given people were also encouraged to attend their regular GP for testing, access to numbers are problematic to obtain. However, anecdotally the Canberra Sexual Health Centre has been very busy since testing month was completed!

The popular ‘Us Mb and HIV’ resource from AFAO for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has recently been updated and new copies just arrived. Call 02 6257 2855 or email contact@aidsaction. org.au and we can arrange for them to be delivered or for you to pick them up from Westlund House.

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 7

Experiences of HIV – The Seroconversion Study What do we do? People in Australia recently diagnosed with HIV are invited to participate in the Seroconversion Study, conducted by the Kirby Institute (University of New South Wales) and the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (La Trobe University). Funding is generously provided by the Health Departments of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, NT and the ACT. The study has been running since 1992 and continues to make a real difference to the lives of people affected by HIV, including: • Providing information to support health promotion for those affected by HIV; • Assisting the prevention of HIV and support for those dealing with a recent HIV diagnosis; and • Highlighting current gaps in policy and program development and implementation including opportunities for new research. To participate, individuals recently diagnosed with HIV complete an online survey about what they believe led to them acquiring HIV and their experiences since diagnosis. On completion of the survey, participants are invited to volunteer for a face-to-face interview where they can share their story in their own words. The information provided during these interviews has been particularly valuable and we have consistently received positive feedback from participants. Anyone over 18 years old living in Australia and having been diagnosed with HIV within the previous two years is eligible. Summary of the findings Consistent with HIV diagnoses in Australia overall, most study participants have been gay men. Some of the study findings have included: • The average age of men at diagnosis is 35 but the youngest study participant was just 16 years old at diagnosis and the oldest was 74. • The most common place where people believe they acquired HIV was at their partner’s or friend’s home, with the participant’s own home being the second most common. Also, few gay men attribute acquiring HIV to sex between regular male partners. HIV is far more likely to be acquired via sex with a casual partner or a ‘fuckbuddy’.

tested previously, prior to the test when they were diagnosed as HIV positive. However, only about half of men had been tested in the year prior to their positive test. There are multiple reasons why men avoid or delay testing in the months or years prior to their diagnosis, including the belief that they had not done anything ‘risky’, and fear of being told they were HIVpositive. Men who were less socially connected to other gay men were more likely to have avoided or delayed testing prior to their diagnosis. • After being diagnosed as HIV positive, participants accessed a variety of services such as: treatment advice, information on viral load, emotional support/counselling and access to networks of other HIV-positive people. Often, participants’ knowledge was out-of-date, particularly with regard to the side effects of HIV medication. • Immediately following their diagnosis with HIV, participants often reported changes to sexual behaviour such as: reducing the number of sex partners, stopped having sex altogether, avoiding sex with HIV-negative partners, disclosing their HIV status more often and reducing their drug use. • Participants were most likely to disclose being HIV-positive to regular partners and gay friends. Nonetheless, 17% had not told their boyfriend, 27% had not told any of their gay friends and 54% had not told any of their immediate family. • The decision whether or not to commence anti-retroviral therapy (ART) by those newly diagnosed continues to be a challenging one. The anxiety of coming to terms with their recent HIV diagnosis, the stigma still associated with HIV, their relationship with their clinician and the broader community, and concerns and doubts about the ART treatment itself have all been raised by study participants. What’s next The study is continuing with funding from most states and territories until 2015. In the context of the many changes in HIV prevention and treatment, individuals who have recently been diagnosed with HIV have a very important story to tell that can help shape how we better respond to those changes and help to inform public policy and HIV prevention and treatment work into the future. We will collect directly relevant information on testing, PEP/PrEP, beliefs about treatments, and changes in circumstance and relationships after being diagnosed with HIV. Visit http://hivss.net for more information or to participate. You can also read all of our previous reports at www.nchecrsurveys.unsw.edu.au/hivss/reports.htm

• At the time of the high-risk event (the time when the participant believed they acquired HIV), more participants were the bottom than the top. • Less than half had heard of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and 13% knew about PEP but did not believe the risk was sufficient to require it (on the occasion of the high-risk event). • Over three quarters of men reported that they had been

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 8

The reality of HIV has changed Daniel Reeders. Original published on medium.com on the 15th November

Here are ten things I want you to know about that. I’m making this in response to a video by Troye Sivan:

In a recent episode of Background Briefing, journalist Hagar Cohen noted that this changed the meaning of HIV from a death sentence to a lifelong, manageable illness. It was the first time I’d ever heard that acknowledged as a straightforward fact in the mainstream media. It took nearly 20 years. In the meantime, the media paid only sporadic attention to episodes like the controversy over barebacking and occasional isolated incidents of deliberate transmission—describing gay sexual cultures as immoral and irresponsible in the light of what they still viewed as a matter of life or death. Over the same time period, there were rapid gains in public acceptance of gay people and identity. Rather than coming out in their twenties or even later, young gay men started coming out in their teens—just like Troye did. A study from a few years ago showed that for a majority of younger gay men their primary source of information and support around sex and relationships was a heterosexual female friend from their own age cohort, rather than, as it had been in previous years, other gay male friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSgb3Y1B8Z4

Troye is a 19 year old Australian singer-songwriter who played Young Wolverine and recently came out as gay to his 2.9 million Youtube followers. Recently, Troye watched the HBO production of The Normal Heart and it made him realise how much he didn’t know about AIDS. So he made this video with ten things he wanted his viewers to know about HIV and sex. In particular, ‘use a condom, use a condom, use a condom.’ As my colleague Dion Kagan has observed, there has been a recent surge of interest in nostalgic reckonings with the early years of the AIDS crisis. It’s great that men like Troye are engaging with that history. In this post, though, I want to talk about ten ways in which the modern reality of HIV has changed, because I think, for a while, the mainstream media and heterosexual community more or less tuned out from following the changing landscape of HIV treatment and prevention.

Heterosexual people and mainstream media being out of date about HIV prevention matters more than ever, because they’re now key influences on young gay men’s prevention knowledge and practice. Troye, and other younger men like you, it’s great that you’re interested in learning about the early years of the AIDS crisis — but you also need to catch up on the modern reality of HIV treatments and prevention. So here are the ten things I want you to know about how HIV has changed: 1. Treatments (since the mid-90s) 2. Life expectancy (mid 00s) 3. Negotiated safety (since the 80s) 4. Non-condom risk reduction (since the late 90s) 5. Post-Exposure Prevention (PEP, since the early 90s) 6. Treatment as prevention (since the 00s) 7. Pre-Exposure Prevention (PrEP, since the late 00s) 8. ‘Negative’ men are more risky 9. Compensation but not complacency 10. Gay community life has changed Read on to find out more! How things have changed

Why? This is the front cover of TIME magazine for 1996, when it made Dr David Ho its Person of the Year for leading the team of clinicians and scientists who first established that combination therapy could prevent HIV from ever progressing to AIDS and death — one of the facts Troye mentions.

1) Treatments Since: the early to mid 1990s The first combination therapies could prevent HIV turning into AIDS—but they did terrible things to your quality of life, taking lots and lots of pills and dealing with serious side effects. These days, however, many people with HIV are taking 1–2 pills per day with fewer and less serious side effects.

TIME (30/12/1996)

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However, that’s introduced a new division into the gay and positive communities: between people who became positive more recently and have a really easy time of treatment, and people who have been living longer with HIV, dealing with longterm consequences from those earlier treatments.

2) Life expectancy Since: the mid-2000s Recent studies suggest a person who becomes HIV-positive in 2014 will have a life expectancy pretty similar to someone living without HIV. This year, a doctor in the UK wrote a letter saying, if he had to choose, he’d rather have HIV than diabetes. It has never been clearer that, for the purposes of criminal laws, media coverage and prevention campaigns, it is no longer truthful to treat HIV exposure or infection as a matter of life and death. Prevention messages that try to scare people with death from AIDS or the negative consequences of treatment, are increasingly seen as not credible. It’s not ‘giving up the fight’ to acknowledge that, nor is it complacency. On the Health Beliefs Model of rational health behaviour, that reappraisal is exactly what you’d predict from the changes we’ve seen around HIV. 3) Negotiated safety in relationships Since: the early to mid 1990s Even in 1988–89, at the absolute peak of the AIDS epidemic in Australia, gay men in relationships were using HIV testing and relationship agreements to have safe unprotected sex with their partners. They were doing that because closeness, skin contact and intimacy really matter to people in love. But because the drumbeat was ‘condoms condoms condoms’, these findings were controversial; it took another 4–5 years for researchers to even publish them, and another 3–5 years for community based organisations to create resources and campaigns promoting this strategy of ‘negotiated safety’. 4) Risk reduction without condoms Since: the mid to late 1990s It’s not just gay men in relationships who value closeness, skin contact and intimacy. Larry Kramer, author of The Normal Heart, really, really wanted a lifelong monogamous relationship and harbours a particular anger for gay men who don’t. He blames them for the AIDS epidemic. As a response to rampant homophobia, but not necessarily driven by it, gay men created sexual cultures where sex is valued independently from whether it happens in a relationship or not. They continued to see the value in it even after the AIDS crisis hit; indeed, valued it enough to keep doing it. Part of the strength of Australia’s approach to the HIV crisis was that we didn’t treat it as an opportunity to tell gay men to stop having so much sex. We promoted condoms because, when used consistently, you can have all the sex you want without needing to fear HIV. But the cost that condoms can impose on sensation and spontaneity and intimacy during sex are considerable. A subset of sexually adventurous gay men began experimenting on different strategies that reduce the risk of transmission, particularly if used in combination. In the process they proved that gay men who have sex without condoms are not ‘reckless’ with regards to HIV prevention—they still want to avoid it if they can, and many still use condoms sometimes,

as part of an overall mix of different protective strategies. But research shows men in this group get HIV at a higher rate than other gay men. None of the ‘risk reduction’ strategies comes anywhere close to 100% protection. Studies show some of them underestimated the risks but that others are not surprised when it happens. For a long time it was a great frustration that there was nothing in the ‘prevention toolkit’ for these guys. 5) Post-Exposure Prevention (PEP) Since: early 1990s (clinicians); mid 2000s (gay men) From as early as 1992, if a healthcare worker was exposed to the virus, e.g. by a needlestick injury, they could take 28 days of anti-HIV medication to stop HIV from getting a hold in their body and causing infection. This is called Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (which just means ‘prevention’). If you start PEP within 72 hours of exposure, you are highly unlikely to become HIV-positive. From the 2000s onwards in Australia we began offering gay men PEP, first via hospitals and more recently via gay-friendly clinics. However, in my home state of Victoria, only about 60% of gay men know about PEP. 6) Treatment as prevention Since: the late 2000s/early 2010s For a long time studies were suggesting that when people are on effective combination therapy and their viral load is suppressed to very low levels, they transmit HIV at much lower rates than people not on treatment. The PARTNER study recently came out and described people on effective HIV treatment, with suppressed viral replication and no other STIs, as ‘virtually uninfectious’. This has led to a shift in state and national prevention strategies to emphasise getting more people with HIV diagnosed and onto treatment earlier, which may have some benefit in protecting their own health as well as reducing the rate of transmission in the community. BUT—see the next item… 7) ‘Negative’ men are more risky Since: umm, I’m not actually sure You know the ‘window period’ when you have HIV infection but an antibody test comes back negative, because you haven’t developed antibodies yet? During that period, there is nothing controlling the replication of the virus in your system—no antibodies and no medication—so your viral load, the number of copies of HIV in a ml of your blood, is astronomically high. We call that period acute infection and it makes your risk of passing on HIV during sex much, much higher than the average per-contact risk. What’s even worse, you may get no symptoms during acute infection, or they might be a mild, flu-like illness. If you don’t get tested for a while, you might still think and

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 10

tell other guys you’re HIV-negative. We think that scenario explains more than half of all new transmission events in the gay community. It’s why regular HIV testing is so important.

Some gay men have no difficulty using condoms for all the sex they have. Some of those men are non-judgmental towards others who do.

Among my friends who’ve talked to me about being diagnosed with HIV, one of the hardest things to deal with has been the thought they might have put their partner or fuck buddies at risk, or been put at risk by them.

Some others are angry, judgmental, stigmatising. I’m thinking here in particular of Larry Kramer, who wrote The Normal Heart, but also the opinion pages of the Huffington Post, Youtube comments, etc etc…

Thinking about treatment as prevention and acute infection together leads to an interesting consequence: if you are a sexually adventurous HIV-negative guy and you are looking to have unprotected sex, it might be safer to have it with a known-positive guy with undetectable viral load and a history of regular STI testing, than with a guy who tells you he’s negative and is looking for unprotected sex.

The two key things I want to communicate here are:

MIND = BLOWN, RIGHT?

10) Changing nature of gay community Since: continuous and ongoing

More seriously though, acute infection is one of the reasons why earlier treatment of people with HIV, on its own, isn’t going to do much to affect the rate of HIV transmissions in the gay community. This leads to… 8) Pre-Exposure Prevention Since the mid to late 2000s Remember PEP? In about 2004 a new drug became available that had very few side effects and combined two medications in a really clever way that helps make treatment resistance a bit less of a concern. Pretty soon, some bright spark had the idea of experimenting with giving that drug to HIV-negative people for use on a daily basis to prevent getting HIV during unprotected sex. Like PEP but daily dosing and continuous, rather than for a month after a possible exposure. Turns out, it works... when you take it. Just like condoms work when you use them. Not everyone took the pill everyday. I’d argue that’s because they weren’t convinced, at the time, that it would protect them. Research shows the people who took the most risk were more likely to take the pill every day. More recently, another study found that intermittent dosing— two pills before sex, one pill after, one more the next day, was just as effective. PrEP is not going to replace condom use, but at last, we have something to offer gay men for whom the costs of constant condom use are a problem. 9) Compensation but not complacency Since: the early 2000s One of the things you’ll hear quite a lot is the idea that gay men who did reappraise the consequences of HIV infection, and whose prevention practice shifted as a result towards non-condom strategies, are ‘complacent’ or sometimes ‘reckless’ or even ‘dancing with death’.

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• even when they don’t use condoms, gay men use other strategies that show they would like to avoid getting HIV if possible • being judgmental clouds the waters when we are trying to get the information out there about alternatives to condoms.

The nature of gay community has changed significantly since the 1980s, when the AIDS crisis first emerged. I worry that some people see that as a straightforward process of loss and diminishment, rather than transformations with some losses and also some gains of capacity. Some of the changes include: • more diverse ways of being and ‘doing’ gay • more gay sub-cultures and fragmentary friendship networks • increased emphasis on media consumption in gay life and identity I’m heavily influenced here by a great piece of writing, Then and Now: Gay Men and HIV by Michael Hurley, 2003. Youtube channels like Troye’s and Adventures in Gay, TV shows like Looking, The Normal Heart, gay storylines on shows like Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, movies like Pride and documentaries like The Case Against 8, gay radio stations like JOY Melbourne, marriage equality debates on Facebook, sharing porn on Tumblr, signing petitions on Change.org… more than ever before, we express our gay community identity through shared patterns and habits of media consumption rather than occupying the same physical space and dancing to the same music or marching for a cause. That’s why it matters so much that, in addition to our nostalgic reckoning with the AIDS crisis of the past, we also use media in all its forms — social, gay community, and mainstream—to help the gay community and broader society catch up with the transformations in HIV prevention practice. ________________________________________ If you’re interested in my musings about how HIV prevention is changing, come on over to my blog Bad Blood (http:// badblood.wordpress.com/) and click ‘Follow’.

Garth Parkhill: The AIDS Action Council’s new Peer Support Officer Garth is a recent graduate of psychology with honours from Southern Cross University. He is completing the final semester of his masters in counselling and psychotherapy through the Australian College of Applied Psychology. He has also lived with HIV for 22 years. Garth will be working with the AIDS Action Council as both a peer support officer (2 days per week) and a counsellor (1 day per week). As a peer support officer, Garth will be responsible for delivering quality services to people living with HIV, with the goal of developing and establishing strong relationships with individuals and the community. Garth is also keen to cultivate supportive settings were all people living with HIV have access to information and services aimed at enhancing quality of life. As a counsellor, Garth uses person-centred therapy, coupled with a solution-focused approach. His aim is to

AN STI WON’T ALWAYS BE SO OBVIOUS! GET TESTED. GET TREATED. NO DRAMA!

In control: 46-year-old Canberran Garth Parkhill who has lived with HIV for 22 years. Photo: Jay Cronan

encourage self-awareness and insight and promote healthy change and empowerment so his clients can lead happy and healthy lives. He is also committed to providing a safe and supportive environment to enable clients to feel at ease. After growing up in Canberra and moving interstate, Garth is pleased to have returned to the ACT and is looking forward to re-establishing himself and developing strong community connections.

HPV & ANAL CANCER

W? WHAT DO I NEED TO KNO HOW CAN I PROTECT MYSELF? TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT VACCINATION FOR HPV AND HOW YOU CAN GET CHECKED FOR ANAL CANCER. FOR MORE INFO, CHECK OUT: THEBOTTOMLINE.ORG.AU

www.thedramadownunder.info

GAY MEN, HPV & ANAL CANCER

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 12

Reflections on Stepping Out

We received this wonderful feedback from one of the participants of the latest roll out of the Stepping Out workshop for same-sex attracted women. It has been included here with their permission. I just wanted to give some feedback on my time at the AIDS Action Council Stepping Out program. I wanted to firstly thank you for running this. It was a privilege to participate, and I am very grateful you have the time and resources for catering, making the space available at Westlund House and organising facilitators and activities. I, like many others, felt very nervous about attending, but I was made to feel welcome and comfortable from the very beginning. Special mention definitely goes to the two facilitators Jenni and Victoria who were superlative in their kindness, openness and willingness to share and be honest and authentic with the rest of the group The trust and intimacy of the group was very powerful, and gave me the courage to share my coming out story even though I didn’t know what to say, and didn’t even think I had a story to begin with. That session encouraged me to ring up my mum and tell her what was going on for me, which was a big step. I was very appreciative that no one put a label on me when I entered the room. At various times I felt I was ‘pre-label’; that it was too early to say what I am, or how I’ve changed. This helped me when I spoke to my mum, and enabled me to tell her that “I’m not putting a label on myself, I’m just in questioning space. But I don’t think I am attracted to men”. Though those sentences were difficult to say, knowing I had the support of the group made it so much easier. Hearing other people’s stories really helped me see that what I was going through was not that unusual or strange, and that other people had been in a similar place.

good, and most focussed just on feeling good about ourselves, building our confidence as worthy human beings. I think this is important because coming out can be a space of extreme vulnerability, so to do exercises that focussed on seeing the positives in ourselves was really valuable too. I think that’s all. I just wanted to let you know that though my story is still unfolding, and though I still feel like I’m working things out, Stepping Out created a huge safety net for me. I was able to normalise the things I was going through and didn’t feel strange or different, just accepted. There was no pressure to be a certain way; all that was required was a willingness to be real and authentic with the group. I am so happy that I did this and feel that what for many people can be a traumatising process has for me been ok; I’ve had ups and downs but participating in the Stepping Out group has meant I felt supported all the way through. I think it’s important to give positive feedback and to let people know when their work is appreciated; the work you put into Stepping Out has made a real difference to my life, and I’m sure all the other women in the group. With thanks, If you would like more information about upcoming peer education workshops for same-sex attracted men, young men and for women, please contact the Council on 02 6257 2855 or check out www.aidsaction.org.au/peer-education

IT’S TIME TO PUT YOURSELF FIRST

In the first week, Suzanne said that she had one friend who came out overnight, and another friend who took 10 years. That reassured me and emphasised that there is no timeline for coming out; that it happens at your own pace when things are right and ok for you. I think that just having the courage to come along to the Stepping Out program is huge in and of itself, and I felt that the facilitators really recognised that and created a safe space that made it ok for us to be ourselves, whoever we are, even if we don’t know what we are! I also feel that now I see Westlund house as a safe, accepting space that I can come back to and sit for a while if I feel things getting out of control. It also encouraged me to use the counselling service; I have used counselling services in the past and am comfortable with this kind of discourse and mode of selfexpression, however I felt safer knowing that the counsellors at AAC were familiar and ok with issues around coming out. The exercises that Victoria and Jenni set for us were really

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 13

HIV testing has become easier, quicker and less stressful. If you’ve put off having a test, it’s Time to Test – call your clinic or GP today.

www.timetotest.com.au

Safe Schools Coalition ACT Change is coming to ACT High Schools and Collages because Safe Schools Coalition ACT has arrived. Safe Schools Coalition ACT is dedicated to supporting gender diversity and sexual diversity in ACT schools. By bring together young people, their families, teachers and school staff, the program aims to improve learning environments for young people and their teachers- free from homophobia and transphobia. Safe Schools Coalition ACT member schools will have access to a broad range of tools, resources and support that suit the unique needs, concerns and capacity of schools communities. These services aim to improve safety and inclusivity for same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, their families and teachers, while taking a zero-tolerance approach to homophobia and transphobia in the school community. The official launch will be taking place in mid-February in perfect time for the new school year. To find out more about this fantastic program: www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/

Volunteering Council

the

Ben Martin Membership, Volunteer & Education Officer Volunteering at the Council remains a huge part of our organisation and we could not have achieved everything we did in the past twelve months without our dedicated and wonderful volunteers. During 2014, Council volunteers assisted in a number of capacities including condom packing, STRIP Outreach held at Champions in Fyshwick and at Westlund House, gardening, reception and administration duties, research, events support and much more. In October, the Council implemented a series of training sessions for volunteers to provide up-to- date information on HIV, sexual health and the organisation. The Council will continue to provide HIV training opportunities for volunteers so everyone is able to share the messages and knowledge of the Council in the wider ACT community. To make sure our volunteers can plan in advance we have prescheduled four volunteer meetings at Westlund House for 2015. These meetings will provide an opportunity to share ideas, find out the latest news from the Council and learn about upcoming volunteer prospects. Volunteer Meetings 2015 Tuesday 3 February: 5:30pm – 7:00pm Tuesday 7 April: 5:30pm – 7:00pm Tuesday 7 July: 5:30pm – 7:00pm Tuesday 6 October: 5:30pm – 7:00pm For a more comprehensive look at key dates for 2015, please be sure to look at the online volunteering calendar: http://teamup.com/ ks4a1d57f1b5374637/ Thank you to everyone who lent us their time and support last year – the Council would not have been able to do it without you!

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 14

A fabulous day had by all at Fairday 2014 Thankfully, Fairday 2014 could not be stopped by a little bad weather! As with every year, there was a sense of fun and celebration as Canberraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LGBTI community came together to relax, be entertained and partake in great food and stalls. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major focus was on ACT Testing Month and the Ending HIV campaign, however the regular favourites such as the pet parade, the launch of the SpringOUT Festival, a drag show and musical acts also featured.

With a record number of stalls it is sad to think that we have possibly finally outgrown the beautiful grounds of Westlund House where Fairday has been hosted since 2002. At this stage, we are unsure where Fairday will be held in 2015, although we are already looking into new locations to enable this event to continue to grow!

AIDS Action Council of the ACT Newsletter January 2015 Page 15

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY January 26:

Australia Day Public Holiday

February 14:

National Condom Day

February 26: