OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS —— JUNE 1998 — 25 I 5% 3; .-. 3: I Book Review- Dry Bones Breathe: Bay Men l.'t-eating Post-AIDS Identities and l.'uttu:-es BY RIC KASINI KADOUR Since the 1996 Interna- tional Conference on HIV and AIDS in Vancouver, British Co- lumbia, leaders in the AIDS community have struggled to make sense of gay men's expe- rience of AIDS with the advent of anti-retroviral therapies. IWhile HIV transmission ap— pears to be on the decline in_ most gay communities, trans- mission among gay men under 25 years of age is rising steadily. Gay men were begin- ning to recreate their lives as they were in the 1970's with Circuit Parties, bacchana- lian multi-day events based on a disco formula of music, sex, and drugs. By 1997, many AIDS or- ganizations began to feel the support of the gay and lesbian commu- nity waning. After the Vancouver confer- ence, gay men appeared to develop a growing indiffer- ence to AIDS. Many gay lead- ers offered explanations: Gay men were fatigued. Gay men needed to forget about AIDS for a while. Fewer gay men were dying therefore it was less of an issue for gay men. Etc, Etc. But nobody has of- fered a complete analysis of gay men's relationship to AIDS. . .until now. Eric Rofes, a doctorate student in Social and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, a long- time activist and the author of Reviving the Tribe, has a new book called Dry Bones Breathe: Gay Men Creating Post-AIDS Identities and Cultures (pub- - lished by Harrington Park Press, 1998). Dry Bones Breathe is a de- scription and analysis of gay men's changing relationship to the AIDS in the mid-90’ s. In a brilliant move, Rofes distin- guishes the biomedical epi- demic of AIDS from the socio- political AIDS crisis of gay men in the 80's and early 90's. From there, Rofes outlines what he feels is the end of the commu- nal crisis of AIDS, chronicling the rise in unprotected sex, STD rates, Circuit Parties, and the re-opening of sex clubs and bath houses. The notion of AIDS as a disease and AIDS as a cultural event has been dealt with be- fore in a New York Times Maga- zine article by Andrew Sullivan - and a piece by Dan Savage that appeared in Seattle's alterna- llve weekly The Stranger. Rofes is the first to explore this dis- tinction with depth and schol- arly attention that a full length book allows. As a result, Rofes is able to discuss the diminish- ing role of AIDS in gay men's culture and still acknowledge the reality of a continu- ing, but ing epidemic. While Dry Bones Breathe is a must read for anyone look- ing to understand the gay men's culture, Rofes is best read with a few grains of salt. Like most people who has been an active player in the AIDS community, Rofes writes with bitterness toward AIDS service organizations and na- tional AIDS advocacy groups. With an almost schizophrenic fervor, he chastises the national media for the End-of-AIDS hype and AIDS organizations for their continuing message "AIDS is Not Over.” He blames unprotected sex on static HIV prevention efforts that have failed to acknowl- edge gay men’s changing rela- tionship to AIDS. At the same time, Rofes attributes the in- crease in sexual risk among gay men to a new understand- ing of a seemingly manageable HIV disease. The result is a book that jumps around and appears on the surface to be critical of everything. At the end of Dry Bones Breathe, Rofes outlines his vi- sion for the AIDS community. Rofes suggests that AIDS ser- vice organizations, HIV pre- vention programs, and na- tional AIDS advocacy or politi- cal organizations need to change the way they operate in order to respond to gay men's changing needs. He sees these organizations and programs expanding to. -?.dd.rs.s§ _1arssr gay.me:ts J,Iea!!h...IIs%s9lfi. ?l‘=.°l corrititurlity“development by Eric notes among gay men. While this is a nice thought, Rofes misunder- stands the nature and function of most AIDS organizations in the late 1990's. AIDS organiza- tions are no longer equivalent to -gay organizations as they were when lesbians and gay men founded them in the mid- 80's. Most AIDS orga- nizations are a b a n cl 0 n i n g their status as gay organiza- tions in order to serve a more di- verse population with HIV. One can- ~ not even assume that an AIDS organi- zation is gay friendly, these days. And many of these organi- zations have few lesbi- ans or gay men work- ing at them. So the thought of AIDS organi- zations transforming themselves into lesbian and gay community health centers is a good idea come too late. «..____\ PRIMARY CARE IN FRANKLIN COUNTY I Mara Vijups, M.I_). Family Practice Specialist _ NMC Rural Health Services Caring for Adults & Children E_r_I,<_>§,b_u_r9,‘ Swanton East Fairfield 933—5831 868-2454 8273032 LAUREN BERRIZBEITIA Psychotherapy 431 Pine Strret Burlington, VT 05401 802.862.6931 slidmg fee scale WOMEN6 CHOICE Cheryl A. Gibson M.D. Susan F. Smith M.D. G’I’.~‘\lECOLOG«.C ASSOCIATES 23 Mansfield Avenue, Burlington, Vermont 05401 802-863-9001 Fax'.802-B63-4951 I Ed. Note: Eric Iofes will be speaking at 7pm Thursday, Iune18th at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Burlington. See announcement on page 4 for more details. Youth Advocate for Safe Schools continued from page twenty three commitment in supporting all youth. Many are already mak- ing plans to take him up on his offers, such as Palmer Legare from the gay/ straight alliance in Cabot and Tami Eldridge, the Executive Director of Out- right Vermont. One school that accepted Dean's offer is Union 32 High School in East Montpelier. The Governor gave a 45-minute talk to hundreds of .U—32 stu- dents on Thursday, May 7. He sent a strong message that ho- mophobia has no place in schools. As quoted in The Bur- lington Free Press, Dean hopes his appearance "opened up the thought process.” He ex- plained, “I just don't think we can live in a society where in- tolerance to other human be- ings is acceptable.” In a telephone interview, Tami Eldridge of Outright Vermont expressed great delight at the advances we have made. "These are really exciting times for GLBTQ youth,” she said. Eldridge credits a statewide collaboration of GLBTQ and allied youth and adults for these accomplishments. The LQ‘.“I°‘.‘*.’.F;Y,"‘.“t.h.' FfS’:"la§.Iv INS‘: work a strong‘-Ie'a‘lie'r' ir'1"‘this' effort. Kate Geiges from Youth Aware of Addison County credits the Network for "defragmenting, unifying and strengthening” our commu- nity. However, if it wasn't for Outright Vermont, this author proclaims, we may never have reached this far. 4 At the same time, Eldridge cautions not to leave bisexual, transgendered "and questioning youth out of the discussion, and to avoid simple comparisons between racism ‘and homophobia. ”While the roots of all oppres- sions may have similarities,” she explained, ”the aspects and experiences are very different." There is nothing you can truly equate with homophobia or the experience growing up gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or questioning. We need to go more in-depth when speaking about GLBTQ youth. Additionally, Eldridge points out that people often present racism as an issue that has been successfully elimi- nated. ”In fact,” she reminds us, "racism is alive and well, and remains a problem both in the GLBTQ community and w . - . . . .,,. . V,‘ ‘ - t};:ifLa;:Se"'"‘3‘--"‘-please e.-mail oitmyoutlI@usa.net or 9 p g [H . ;. . . I straight alliances are con- cerned, they're popping up all over the place! There is known to be about ten of them across the state. Recently, the princi- pal of Vergennes Union High School has been working with the school board to form a GSA ‘there. This is a big step for such a conservative community. Stan Baker, a plaintiff in the freedom to marry lawsuit,. boasted that the former mayor (now the Director of Guidance Services and a guidance coun- selor. at the school) once claimed that "there are no gay people in Vergennes.” Today, many of these so-called ”non-. existing” youth are speaking up — and their message is loud and clear — we will not be ig- nored. People who work with youth could benefit if they took one message to heart; that is, Outright’s chants from last year's Pride march: ”2—4-6-8, don't assume your kids are straight!" and “What do we want?...Safe Schools!...When do we want it?...Now!" Andrew I. Campbell is the new Youth Editor for Out in the Mountains. If you have an event or story relating to or afl%cting gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or questioning yoitth, hiliritiafltb"DrHt7_Cl1ii1plielll: ’l”(5 ‘B63: #942, Middlebury, VT 05753-0942 -4 ...c...-«- ..