Serving Body and Soul With Music, Games and Art, Magnet Health Clinic Adds a Touch of Fun to Health Checkups

The holistic gay men's health movement is growing, with a handful of health centers in places such as Seattle, Philadelphia, and more recently Tucson. Near 18th and Castro streets in San Francisco, Magnet is both a health clinic and social venue, and an example of a gay community movement switching its health concentration from solely on AIDS to a wellness approach.

"We've maxed out on the effectiveness of narrow HIV approaches to gay men's health," said Eric Rofes, a Humboldt State University professor of education and founder of the gay men's health movement. "Working with people around a single virus might be effective in a crisis moment like the 1980s," Rofes said, "but 20 years later some of us believe it has led to health disparities visited upon gay men." There are diverse ailments affecting gay and bisexual men that need to be recognized, Rofes said, from tobacco use and high cholesterol to depression, addiction and prostate cancer.

"Welcome to the future of gay men's health," said Magnet Director Steve Gibson. Visitors relaxed as a disc jockey spun ambient music. A Twister game lay in the center's entrance, though few men who stopped by seemed interested in games. A skeleton crew staffs the center, which operates on a $450,000 annual budget from city and corporate grants.

Counselors at Magnet ask whether clients have experienced depression or substance abuse - topics organizers say few physicians and clinic counselors delve into. A recent Magnet forum covered crystal methamphetamine use among gay and bisexual men, which experts say is contributing to risky sexual behavior and HIV infections.

Researchers have found higher rates of sexual abuse, addiction, and childhood sexual abuse among gay and bisexual men, with each epidemic contributing to higher risk-taking behavior.

"What we've found is there is this interlocking web of epidemics among gay men -- HIV is only the most famous," said Ron Stall, chief of HIV prevention research at CDC. "The more problems you have, the more likely you are to put yourself at risk for transmitting HIV. What it tells us is that we should be raising all the health boats, rather than just one," Stall said. Magnet's approach, said Stall, is one that health experts will be studying to see what effect it has on overall community health.

Back to other news for October 3, 2003