HIV Volunteer
Thursday, December 21, 2003
Is this a website or what? No updates in two weeks!
Two weekends ago, I attended the Human Interaction Values (HIV) workshop run by The Library Foundation (TLF). The workshop is intended for men-seeking-men (MSM�s, or fag/bi/closet/pa-mhin/bi-curious or what-have-you for the politically incorect) in order to equip them with necessary information about, well, sex.
My intentions for joining the workshop were less honorable: foremost, to scout for prospective dates, and second, to sneak into the swimming pool.
The seminar delivered on its promise. It taught safe sex in a manner that can be absorbed by 25 restless gays who are more interested in dating other participants or in sneaking into the pool (or possibly both at the same time) than in knowing the various strains of the HIV virus.
Like for example, on the topic Creative Ways of Encouraging your Partner to Use a Condom, a facilitator demonstrated how to put a condom using the mouth by doing it on an eight-inch dildo about two inches wide. He got a standing ovation, aside from offers to do the act on them. (Mental note to myself: inquire how to become a facilitator after the seminar).
Right after the afternoon coffee break where they served bananas, we played a game called Match the Name of a Venereal Disease to its Picture. It was fun: imagine Morticia Addams teaching kindergarten school.
And like practically all gatherings in this country, the workshop ended with a beauty contest, or beaucon in gay parlance. Current and previous workshoppers competed in Traditional Costume, Casual Wear, Swimsuit, and Evening Wear to bag the title Ms. TLF. No one from my batch wanted to volunteer so we made lots. My name got picked and I threatened to leave early if they forced me to join the contest. Hello, I wasn�t prepared. Luckily somebody volunteered himself, poor soul, in lieu of me.
At the end of the day, the workshop was not just about safe sex and STD�s. It was also about creating an open community where you can share issues that are also experienced by other members. It was about relating to other gay people in a different environment other than a darkened one. |
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