Editor's note: With this col- ’ umn, Peter Jacobsen launches a series of columns of opinion and information on health matters in the lgbt communities. people are under increased scrutiny by politicians and the media, post civil union furor aside. Talk show hosts still foment discouraging vitriol about the “Death or the Family.” Zealots Judgement Day indeed. Queer I merit and reactive panic. field remains, for better or for. worse, one of the fewpublic health forums in which a queer voice is consistently present in Vermont. HIV continues to be a still protest at queer funerals. Politicians still w_ant to legislate how queer people have sex and form relationships. National debates about queer sex, health, and community are mired in judg- virus that conflates politics and the bedroom (or backroom). It Sure, sodomy’s legal still matters very much to queer now, but only our sustained ener— Vermonters. gy and activism will keep it that ' OITM has provided this way. With anti-queer marriage forum to talk about how our queer HIV continues to be a virus that conflates politics and the bedroom (or backroom). It still matters very much to queer Vermonters. fervor still saturating election-year rhetoric, some transphobic and homophobic laws could find their way to our next President’s desk. Even last year’s legislative ses- sion in Vermont saw a proposed '- and ultimately defeated — law for- bidding discussion of “homosexu- ality” in schools. And don’t forget for one minute that gender identi- ty is still not a protected class in Vermont (except by court exten—_ sion of the Hardwick case of Anthony Barreto-Neto). There are without doubt those who judge us and those who want to dragus back to pre-Stonewall silence. I work in HIV preven- tion because I came of age in an > age of fear-based sex hysteria in a, prudish New England state. This communities make choices about sex_. How do we stay healthy? . How do we have sex? There are so many unexplored areas of HIV prevention in Vermont, and we need to start talking NOW. We’re still dying, as a close friend says, and we’re still angry about a transphobic and homophobic sys- tem that keeps us sick and scared. It’s hard to say how I queer people in Vermont “should” make safer choices about how we have sex, or whether we share needles to inject hormones, "steroids, or illegal drugs. Most of us want to make “the right choic- es,” but in an inforrnation—saturat- ed age, it’s hard to know what messages to believe. As an exam- ple, the federal government just started announcing that condoms are' ineffective. A little confusion about sex makes a whole lot of . sense. Queer communities con- tinue to be disproportionately affected by health disparities — including HIV and other sexually transmitted infections — but the government continues to support our health only by associating us with HIV and AIDS. What’s true is that many of us are uninsured, estranged from healthcare, scared to learn about our HIV risks and status, and/or work in jobs or live in neighborhoods where being open- ly queer could put us in a much more direct danger than a poten- tial exposure to HIV. In Vermont especially, queer people of all stripes may be living in poverty, . without access to cruisy websites, transportation to the famed Route ' 89 rest areas, or the ability to visit Verrnont’s few queer-friendly bars and clubs. We have the right and responsibility as queer people to demand equal, appropriate health care and HIV‘prevention services. The questions I pose to you are these: what choices have you made to stay healthy? How do you keep sex frisky in an era of sexually transmitted (and institu- tionally ignored) infections? What information do you need to make more informed choices? Already suggested topics include HIV test- ing and lesbians, trans—men and safer sex material, queer people and party drugs, and redefining “safer sex” in the boondocks. Email me more ideas for this forum to peter@vtcares.org. Let’s move away from judgement and let’s keep queer relationships and sex legal, healthy, and enriching. V Peter Jacobsen is a big butch truck driver in Burlington (in his dreams) who wiles away hours at home arguing national security policy with his white cat, Condoleezza. ’I‘SS’l‘IN6 ACROSS 'l‘l—__lE_Sl‘A'l‘S : MONTPEIJER 800-649-2437 OCTOBER 1 AND 15 2-5 PM 73 MAIN ST. SUITE 401 rzuirmnn 802-775-5884 wavuasomrs 10 AM-1 PM 22 some MAIN er. THIS HALLOWEEN DON'T GET SCARED GET TESTED S1‘. JOHNSBURY 802-748-9061 WEDNESDAYS 3-6 PM 1235 HOSPITAL DR. SUITE 2 ST Auanns soz-5244970 ocroaerz 26. 1-3 PM 20 uouertron sr. RUIZ? 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