Homosexual men strive to fight AIDS

Homosexual men strive to fight AIDS

By T. Sima Gunawan

SURABAYA (JP): "Why should we use condoms? None of us will get pregnant," a gay man said when Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) activists told him about safe sex.

"Are you a doctor?" another man asked with a frown.

That occurred in 1992 when Gaya Nusantara, the Indonesian Gay Network, started an anti-AIDS campaign through an out-reach program for the gay community in town.

After two years, there seems to be a significant improvement in the awareness on the need of safe sex as a way to prevent the disease, along with their fear of there being no cure.

"Now they ask about a good brand of condoms to use," Dede Oetomo, national coordinator of the group, told The Jakarta Post.

A member of the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations, Dede has been active in AIDS campaigns since 1989.

The spread of the killer AIDS is haunting the world. More than 16 million people are now infected with AIDS worldwide and some 6,000 new infections occur daily, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO estimates that there are 50,000 HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) carriers in Indonesia, much higher than the official figure. Nafsiah Mboy of the five-month old national commission said that as of Sept. 30 there were 1,420 people infected with the virus. Earlier reports said that as of June there were 256 people who tested positive for HIV.

Most of the those infected with the virus are heterosexual. Out of the 256 people, only 15 percent of them were homosexual, according to Nona Poeroe Utomo, the director of the Indonesian AIDS Foundation.

HIV can be transmitted through sexual contact, blood transfusions and the use of used syringes. Pregnant women infected with the virus can infect their babies as well.

Homosexual men, however, are considered to be in the high risk group.

In foreign countries gay organizations are actively involved in national campaigns to fight the disease. Pioneers of the drive to curb the spread of the deadly disease were homosexual people, which is not surprising since the first AIDS cases were found among the gay community.

Last year the government asked AIDS groups to direct their energies towards the national program on the disease. Dede was involved in the project as a member of the steering committee.

"At the last moment we were dropped from the committee. It seemed it was impossible for the government, in this case the Director General for Control of Communicable Diseases of the Health Ministry, to issue a decree bearing the name of a gay organization," Dede said bitterly.

Ujungpandang

A gay group in Ujungpandang, which is also quite active in the AIDS awareness campaign, was included in the provincial health commission, he said.

Dede, a lecturer at the state Airlangga University who got his PhD. in linguistics and East Asian studies from the Cornel University, is the first gay man in the country to have come out of the closet.

Homosexual people in Indonesia, especially lesbians, prefer anonymity due to social, cultural and psychological barriers. Cross- dressers (waria), who are better accepted in society, are more likely come out in public.

The Surabaya health office asked Gaya Nusantara to participate in a program for gay men infected with HIV, Dede said. Up to the end of last year, AIDS screening had been held seven times.

When the program was introduced in 1980s, only 20 men took the test. The last screening involved 80 people. None of them tested positive.

The respondents, however, were not happy with the program. They said it lacked confidentiality and that it proved difficult to obtain the results.

Dede said that people tired of the program and felt they were treated as mere statistics.

"I began to question whether it was wise to have such a program while the disease is still uncurable and there is no appropriate post-test program for those found positive," he said.

He referred to the government's and society's poor treatment of sex workers, saying they were reportedly isolated and condemned for having the virus.

While a vaccine for AIDS is still a distant dream, there is much to do to help those infected with the virus and to contain the spread of the disease. The government alone will not be able to deal with this. Dede said there are about 20 non-government organizations on AIDS situated throughout the country, including Merauke and Jayapura. Most of them were established in the last two years.

Hotline service

Gaya Nusantara is opening a gay hot line service, the first of its kind in the country. Six trained volunteers will answer any gay- related questions as well as those on AIDS. The number is (031) 593- 4924.

The other hot line services which provide information on AIDS are: Hotline Surya, Surabaya (031) 42-145, 42-482, 522-676, 522-938; Yayasan Kemanusiaan, Surabaya (031) 594-1075; Hotline AIDS Mitra Indonesia, Jakarta, (021) 321-0855; Yayasan Sidikara, Bandung (022) 302-458; Yayasan PRIAngan, Bandung (022) 250-4325; Yayasan Citra Usadha Indonesia, Denpasar (0361) 222-620; Lentera PKBI, Yogyakarta (0274)586-6767; Hotline AIDS PUS-Triple M, Ujungpandang (0411) 871-1051