"South Africa’s gays receive no HIV help
Gus Cairns
www.guscairns.com
23 September, 2004

Despite living in the country that still officially has the highest number of HIV positive citizens in the world, South Africa’s gay men receive no HIV prevention help from their government at all, says the United Nations.

“South Africa’s homosexuals are finding themselves excluded from safer sex campaigns,” says a report from the UN Regional Information Network.

Despite South Africa having a liberal constitution and a thriving gay scene, it reports, the subject of gay sex is still taboo among government circles.

The result is a dangerous situation where a freewheeling gay scene characterised by sex-on-the-premises establishments and a lot of drug use is combined with a total unavailability of free condoms.

The South African scene has seen a big rise in the use of drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine and Kat, a crystal-meth like amphetamine sold in small bags called ‘snatches’.

Cape Town and Johannesburg in particular feature thriving ‘boots only’ bars. Evert Knoesen of the South African Lesbian and Gay Equality Project said: “Club owners are pretending that drugs are not being used in these establishments. They also pretend people are not engaging in risky sex practices at the venues and make no effort to provide condoms.”

However Knoesen also criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s lack of interest in protecting gay men.

“The South African government has done absolutely nothing around safer sex education specifically for gay and lesbian people. The entire onus is on non-governmental organisations, and that sector is not capable of coping with an unfair burden.”

However the South African Health Ministry retorted that gay organisations had been slow to devise safer-sex programme proposals."

A Chillling reminder of life outside North America...

Rob

I'm in South Africa for a few months, and the AIDS crisis here definitely seems a black problem. It's rampant and black men won't wear condoms.

I attended the Pride parade and festival in Johannesburg just this weekend. It seemed pretty much like any Pride event I've been to, and there was plenty of mention of AIDS, etc. I caught a packet of condoms/lube from a drag queen on a float and someone later was walking the crowd giving out free condoms. I didn't go clubbing later, and haven't done the bars here (not really my thing) but hear talk about one bar that is a nude bar (clothing not optional), that's sleazy and back-roomish. But hey, we have the back room things in the States, don't we? Overall, gay life here strikes me as the same as at home. Safe sex is used by the sane ones, ignored by the insane drugged up ones.

Granted, I don't see much of gay life here, but the glimpses I get look pretty familiar.

I'm not sure about the government funding thing, but here is the interesting thing about this country. Their constitution states sexual orientation as a protected status. However, the courts are having to make the laws fit the constitution, so the gay marriage right thing is making its way through the courts. I was telling someone that SA society seems reversed from US. Here, they have the laws and constitution to protect it, but it's generally not accepted (I see a LOT of closets here). Whereas back at home, it may be more accepted mainstream-wise, but they're trying to pass laws to stop it.

Anyway, just my 2 cents from a visitor here.

Yeah working with refugees/immigrants to the states from African coutries is an eye opener. In several countries the woman doesn't have the right to refuse sex. When I asked my sister's Nigerian born ex-boyfriend about homosexuality he said it doesn't exist there.