The Gay Men's Sex Survey is distributed annually to various organisations and at events such as Mardi Gras and other gay pride events across the UK. The information gathered from these surveys helps shape much of gay men's health promotion. The numbers of black gay men and other minority men recruited over the past few years has remained constant, representing roughly 6% of the overall respondents. In the year 2000, of the 9,764 men recruited, 130 identified as black, 164 as Asian and 57 as Chinese. 

The Sex Survey is a crucial tool for gathering information, most gay men attending gay establishments and events over the years have been accustomed to completing one. The information obtained sets the groundwork of much of the HIV promotion work in the UK. Therefore it is crucial for future planning of HIV promotion work that black and other minority gay men figure in such statistics. 

With this in mind and in collaboration with club promoters and generic health agencies such as Blackliners and the Mayisha Project in Birmingham a separate piece of research was conducted to coincide with the Mr Black Gay UK 2000 event. Gaining the trust of the men was important and achieved by constant outreach work at venues away from the mainstream gay scene conducted over a period of months. Men were asked before entering the venue to complete a postcard size questionnaire focusing on eight specific questions. The completion of the card took seconds and remained confidential. Respondents posted the completed forms before entering the main arena. Of the 500 people who attended 273 questionnaires were returned. Whilst the information provided some new and important information on HIV testing and status, the main aim of the study was to focus on the process of collecting data not on the information gained. 

If the numbers of black gay and minority gay men are to increase health professionals will have to spend time investing in them as they have done with the mainstream gay scene over a number of years. Researchers may have to look elsewhere in order to recruit these men and adopt new approaches that again will take time and resources. Only then will we truly be able to observe the sexual behaviour of these men and plan accordingly.

Further information on the findings from this research can be obtained by contacting me on 020 7816.

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3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."