02 Sep 05

A new advertising campaign from GMFA encourages all gay men, whatever their HIV status, to take responsibility for preventing the transmission of HIV.

GMFA spokesman Matthew Hodson said, "Most gay men acknowledge that everybody has a responsibility for safer sex. However, if you look at the data on what men actually do when they have sex, it's clear that a lot of men take the attitude that if their partner isn't going demonstrate responsibility, by using a condom, then they won't demand it."

GMFA conducted a series of interviews with gay men on the scene and found that, although most men felt that everyone should behave responsibly, many men expected people to take different levels of responsibility depending on their HIV status or whether they were top or bottom in sex. "What's unfortunate," said Hodson, "is that we have a situation where many men who aren't infected think that it's up to HIV positive men to take responsibility and ensure that the sex is safe. At the same time many menwho are positive expect their partners to take care of their own health and assume that anyone willing to have sex without a condom is also HIV positive."

According to recent research carried out by Sigma, which looked at gay men's sexual activity over the last year, about one in five diagnosed HIV positive men had been the active partner in unprotected sex with men they believed to be HIV negative, the most risky sexual practise for transmission of HIV. Almost one in four gay men who had not been diagnosed HIV positive had been receptive in unprotected sex with someone whose status they did not know or who they knew to be HIV positive.

"It's not enough to assume that your partner will prevent the transmission of HIV," says Hodson. "It doesn't matter what your HIV status is, it's up to every individual to take responsibility for the sex that they have and to stop the spread of HIV."

The new campaign takes the line that all gay men have equal responsibility to prevent transmission of HIV, irrespective of their HIV status. That responsibility may manifest itself in different ways though, as HIV positive men may be motivated to protect their partner's health and uninfected men are likely to want to preserve their HIV negative status.

"There are also other reasons why HIV positive men would want to have safer sex," said Hodson. "Using condoms means that they can avoid the risk of reinfection with different strains of the virus, and will help prevent catching other sexually transmitted infections, which may be more problematic for positive men. In this campaign though we decided to focus on preventing transmission of HIV, which is the responsibility of all gay men, whatever their HIV status."

GMFA's Positive Campaign Group, will be bringing out a campaign specifically for HIV positive gay men which looks at the potential risks of co-infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, such as Hepatitis C, later this year.

A discussion of responsibility in safer sex, data on who in the UK is having unprotected sex, interviews with gay men about responsibility and details about the criminalisation of HIV transmission can be found at www.metromate.org.uk/responsibility.