WILB
QUARTO

HQ

 

     
  

  

fll‘

BY SUSAN MCMILLAN

' ow is eating Haagen Dazs like practic-
Hing unsafe sex? It’s all about tempta-
tion, according to Susan Davis, of
Hilltop Light Ministries (HLM), the faith-

‘ I based organization delivering an AIDS preven-

tion message to youth. This group is out there,
promoting HIV testing and distributing con-
doms to minority kids on the streets of
Burlington. ’

Why isn’t the staff preaching absti-
nence like many other religious groups?.I put g
this question to Davis, HLM’s Health Initiative
for Vermont (HIV) Project Director. The
answer is in the Haagen Dazs. Davis explains it
like this: When you are a bitdepressed, do you
ever console yourself by reaching for that pint
of ice cream in the freezer? Likewise, when a ’
teenager gets down and depressed, he may
reach for someone to be close to. He knows,
just like you know, it is not a healthy choice.

Prevention is all about resisting
temptation, and it is never easy. As Davis
reminds us, we are all aware of the significant
benefits of a healthy diet, but we do not always
act accordingly — sometimes, we choose the ice
cream. Knowing this truthabout human behav-
ior, Davis finds it unrealistic to preach absti-
nence to sexually active teenagers.

Granted, the analogy is an oversim-
pliflcation. However, in the midst of
Burlington’s youth subculture, this federally
funded, church-affiliated program is spreading

 

inside out:

this issue's contents

V Take Me To You

Leaders p. 3.
Outright Vermont moves to
co-directors

V More 111an Vllaher
Under the Bridge p. 6

Em Richards works to save
our rivers and include queers
in the process.

 

“,4 ,‘_:

V/lONT'S‘,VOlCE FOR THE LESBIAN, GAY, BlSEXUAl:, AND TRAN.‘

the ‘good word,’ and it is a message that kids
may actually hear. Although associated with
Hilltop Light Assemblies of God Church
through their common founder, the Reverend
Patricia C. Davis (Susan Davis’ mother), the
folks at HLM are interested in saving kids’
lives before worrying about their souls.

Susan Davis began her life-saving
ministry at age 13 in Malawi, a country she
describes as “the warm heart of Africa — the
people there are just so sweet and caring. It I
was amazing to be there among people who
material-wise and health’-wise had so muchless
than [we] do.” It was a real challenge, she says,
to Western ideas of prosperity.

At first, she says, “People were starv-
ing and they were sick, and we didn’t know if
they were sick because they had no food or
starving because of the war in the next country.
So we started food farms to help feed people.”
It grew into an AIDS relief effort as the illness
was identified.

‘ _ Davis, a soft-spoken woman with
warm eyes behind her glasses, smiles often as
she speaks. “Then,” sheladds, “some people
said that people were doing the same things
and needed the same things in our own place.”
So, she came home to minister to the health of
youth of color here. _

Asked how many youth Hilltop Light
has had contact with over the past year, Davis
says “about 1200.” She agrees that there has
been a major increase in the population‘ of
youth of color in Verrhont, particularly
Burlington. Many are multi-racial, she adds,

kids?

V choice Beats
Harassment p. 11

Will school choice make the
difference for marginalized

r

    

  
 

Hilltop Light director Susan Davis

 
 

and they don’t fit in the boxes on government
forms. » I '
Most of the outreach, 80 percent, is‘
done by peer counselors, youth of color (age
19 or younger) talking to youth of color.
Because they might be familiar faces from
school, or have a history of high-risk behavior

, themselves, their information is treated as cred-

ible by the youth they talk to. There is no hint
of the relentless abstinence message hammered
into our youth by conservatives. Certainly,
abstaining from sex is the best choice, but is it
realistic’? When confronted by criticism from
conservatives about the project’s endorsement
of condoms, Davis’ response rings clear:
“People are dying. If you care about them, you
do something.”

reports on Shirley

VDogisHerCo-piot

p. 20 Scott Sherman

MacLaine’s latest romance.

Behavior is the issue, Davis says, not
moral judgment. The goal is prevention, and it
starts with risk reduction. It starts wherever the
youth are. p

I-Iil1top’s message is straightforward.
Get tested. If you are going to have sex, have
safe sex. Or, better yet, try ‘postponement.’

" According to Davis, postponement might mean

waiting until you learn your partner’s last
name, or his/her HIV status, or until you are
sober. Any postponement, they say, is a step in
the right direction. HLM outreach workers
openly_discuss STDS, condoms, dental dams,
and HIV testing.

Outreach workers leave the confines
of the office and go to

the kids, usually in confd an p_ 8

News 2-3
Editorial 4
Letters 5
Features 1 > 8, 9
Views 10 - 16
Arts 17 - 21
Calendar 22
Community Compass 22
The Source 25
Classifieds 28
Gayity 29

44444444444