New York: Supporting Safe Sex

On July 15, the Prevention Planning Group for New York City voted 29-0 to recommend changing a 1985 state code that bans sex in commercial venues, saying it interferes with HIV outreach work and should instead ban unprotected sex. The 50-member advisory body includes 40 community members and 10 government members; however, all government representatives left before the vote. Two members abstained.

The group could take its recommendation to the state Prevention Planning Group and the Public Health Council, which initiated the code more than 20 years ago.

Terry Evans, Positive Health Project's public health outreach coordinator, said he has conducted safer-sex workshops at dozens of sex clubs and parties catering to gay and bisexual men of color. "Being able to do this type of work in venues where people are actually congregating is invaluable," said Evans.

The code is a disincentive to commercial sex venue operators to cooperate with local health agencies or groups in providing patrons HIV/AIDS education, testing, and other services, say opponents. "Most of these providers are dealing with issues of being under the radar and working to avoid the code," Evans said.

For example, city health inspectors cited El Mirage for 228 code violations, which included 190 instances of oral sex observed and 38 of anal sex. But 80 percent of the latter involved condom use, city inspectors reported. The owner was a member of the city health department's task force of commercial sex venue operators.

"We got these guys to the table from like El Mirage, we were doing some comprehensive work with them, then they got a summons," said Donald R. Powell of the AIDS group Gay Men of African Descent.

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