The Pope stirred up AIDS activists again last week when he stated that promoting condom use would “aggravate” the problem of HIV in African countries. Years of work by sexual health advocates could be demolished in a few words by the head of the Catholic Church. You only need to look to Uganda, where the effects of switching from comprehensive sex education to abstinence only messaging has resulted in an increase in HIV infections. The Canadian AIDS Society responded quickly to the Pope’s words in Canadian newspapers, as did many other sexual health representatives. While I liked headlines like “Marriage is Not a Condom,” I took hope from Catholics themselves.

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A recent newspaper headline shouted out that 25% of Vancouver’s female sex workers have HIV. The article focused on a study from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and its gist was that anyone buying sex should presume infection is probable and practice safer sex. I think anyone having sex with a partner of unknown sexual history should practice safer sex, but the emphasis on sex workers being an alarming source of HIV was annoying, to say the least. HIV is a transmissible disease, and it takes two to tango, as they say.  Sex workers are not mere vectors of the virus. They have been infected with HIV by someone – quite possibly from a client who will pay more for sex without a condom, as Dr. Julio Montaner, one of the study authors, notes. So why make the emphasis on sex workers and not their clients? Public safety of johns, of course.

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Disclosure is an emotional journey that is “never easy,” says Carol, who has been an HIV activist for a long time. Because she’s so politically active, people might assume disclosure is a piece of cake to her, but no. Meeting new people means deciding about disclosure again and again. She’s not alone. For women coming into PWN for the first time, disclosure is one of the most asked about issues. Just when do you tell someone you have HIV? Are there times when you must? Simply, yes. Disclosure is personal, intimate, and legally mandatory.

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Our annual SpringBoard conference was last night. As one of the coordinators, I’m tired, but so happy at how things unfolded. People bravely tried new things (theatre), connected on their passions (sharing stories of activism) post diagnosis, and were physical together (yoga). They were challenged to think of new strategies of dealing with stress when they’re “in the thick of it” (you can’t run out for a massage when you’re at work, but there are other things you could try). Many participants considered whether they were balanced in their lives by doing the Medicine Wheel exercise. Of course we shared the common connectors of food and company.

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