On July 13 in New York City, some 300 people attended "Barebacking, Drugs, Internet Hook Ups: Is HIV Unstoppable?" at the Fashion Institute of Technology - the fourth in a series of town hall meetings on gay men, club drugs and HIV. The audience was more ethnically and racially diverse, and younger, than at previous meetings, said Dan Carlson, who organized the events with Bruce Kellerhouse.
Four panelists described their struggles with drugs, unsafe sex, or both. "I did crystal [methamphetamine] for 15 years," said Michael K. "It has been a long, exhausting battle to get off crystal." During his addiction, he had mostly unsafe sex. "I had a total disregard for what I was doing, what I was doing to my body," he said.
"I thought all gay men wanted was sex," said Christian Gonzalez, whose introduction to the gay community was through the Internet. At large drug- and sex-filled circuit parties, he could usually find drugs, including crystal. "I never used condoms when I was on the circuit scene," said Gonzalez, who quit the drug.
The meeting's last hour was spent in an audience questions and comments session, where people talked about their own experiences with drugs and unsafe sex and offered suggestions about how to respond to these issues. The event moderator was John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote, directed and starred in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Kellerhouse said that the group would soon turn the town hall meetings from discussion to action.