That scary NYC DOH HIV prevention ad? Trenton Straube nails it at POZ...

The long and  rambling post I wrote on Monday about the new and controversial HIV prevention ad released by the New York City Department of Health has been on my mind.

As I was writing what I thought would be an objective post in which I would not take sides on whether the ad was an effective or ineffective ad, I found myself admiring the willingness to shake up the status-quo and the use of shock tactics to wake up gay men - and particularly young gay men - out of the complacency that seems to have settled over the community when it comes to HIV/AIDS.

I've seen a lot of the leading gay bloggers write non-committal posts asking readers to express whether they find the ad effective or ineffective.  But a few have taken sides.

On the pro side:

• Tokes Osubu of Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD)
• HIV positive blogger extraordinaire Mike Tidmus
• Legendary LGBT and HIV prevention rights advocate and playwright Larry Kramer
• Dan Savage (sorta-pro) "The Scare-Mongering, Diseased-Anus-Mongering HIV Prevention Ad That's Pissing People Off"

..and, ehm, me?  At least that's what I sorta said in my last post.

Expressing outrage about the ad were:

• The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) which released a joint statement calling for the ad to be withdrawn
• Openly gay NYC councilmember Danny Dromm and the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA) as expressed on this NY1 video
• Rod Townsend at This Is FYF
• Trevor Hoppe at Trevorade

There are also all the telling pro- and anti-ad reader remarks posted by readers at Joe.My.God. and Towleroad, among others.

Tonight, though, there is a great opinion piece by POZ Magazine copy editor Trenton Straube which nails exactly why the ad has drawn such divergent reactions as well as why the hunger for a frank discussion of the issues that lead to HIV transmission among gay men in this day and age still do not excuse the use of scare tactics for the sake of it.

From his essay:

Personally, I oppose sugarcoating reality--if the facts are scary, then so be it--and I suspect that most people, especially young men who have sex with men, are oblivious to the accurate statement "It's never just HIV." Let's tell that truth. It's important, especially in light of the bareback pornification and sexualization of, well, most everything nowadays, and in light of the growing believe that HIV is a manageable disease (surely, all the recent news about Truvada as a pre-exposure prophylaxis will convince some folks that high-risk behavior isn't so high risk after all).

However, let's talk about the PSA's tone and presentation. This 30-second horror show is one thunderclap away from parodying those "Gathering Storm" ads that warned about the impeding dangers of marriage equality. Such melodramatic delivery overshadows the important message. I get that the campaign is in line with the city's other fear-based PSAs against smoking, which relish in images of clogged arties, diseased lungs and amputated fingers.

But do we really need to see a mutilated anus in association with HIV and men who have sex with men (MSM)? The ad does more to stigmatize anal sex than people living with HIV. Cigarettes and HIV aren't synonymous and the two shouldn't be treated identically in a campaign. As other online commentators pointed out, smoking, unlike sexuality, isn't part of your intrinsic identity as a person. Sexuality subjects you to discrimination in terms of human rights, religious equality, loving relationships, etc. 

Read the entire piece here. It's certainly worth it. And my easily impressionable mind is back on the 'no to the NYC DOH ad' column.

Related: 

• Sean Strub vs. Larry Kramer: Fearful HIV NYC Ad (Petrelis Files)

Tragedy (That's Not My Name!)

Above: The Ting Tings video for "That's Not My Name!" (much, much more at Ting Tings TV here)

I was not even aware of this but... Joe.My.God has the traumatic news that the Virgin Records at Times Square and Union Square will be no more after 2009.

This follows the closing of Tower Records and HMV stores in the last few years (and a recent New York Times article on the dwindling number of record shops in the city).

Over at Joe's someone asked "Doesn't Best Buy totally have as good of a CD selection as Virgin does?" Blasphemy!!!

That might be the case if you are looking for the latest Celine Dion or Michael Bolton but where oh where will I get my fix of UK dance music imports? (Then again, I did get The Ting Tings amazing debut album "We Started Nothing" for $5.99 at Best Buy this week).

All of a sudden I feel old. The young kids do no longer get the concept of a CD, much less an LP, a cassette tape or an 8-track. Sadness.

• Related: Soon there will be no virgins in New York (Manhattan Offender)

Spain: Organizations decry homophobic attacks against gay men caught having sex in public bathrooms

Above: Isaac Rodríguez explains what happened after he was caught in a Pio Prince Mall bathroom stall with another man (ADN Television).

Remember Senator Larry Craig's bathroom incident? You probably do as it became almost as big a news story as Britney Spears' meltdown last year (actually, my friend Michael Rogers broke the story over at his BlogActive blog).

If memory serves well, some of the reaction back then - including from gay media - expressed disgust, disdain and utter shock at the fact that some men use public restrooms to cruise other men - as well as the usual lurid coverage that accompanies stories like these.

The whole bru-ha-ha led to amusing commentary from Rex Wockner and a handy video guide of signals gay men use to cruise other guys by Rod Townsend (the Felching Flytrap is particularly effective - or so I've been told).

Which brings us to Spain: It may not be a story about a homophobic politician being caught in his own hypocrisy, but I was struck by an article published yesterday in Madrid's ADN ("Sex in public bathrooms, homophobic aggressions") and the tone of the coverage.

Basically, representatives of LGBT rights organizations tell the newspaper that security guards at some public establishments such as shopping malls and train stations are being overtly aggressive and have verbally and physically assaulted men found having sex with other men in public bathrooms. They say that these attacks are homophobic and that security guards who are overzealous in taking justice in their own hands should be brought to court.

"A month and a half ago I witnessed how a man attacked another at the Atocha train station because he was offended by a look," said Miguel Ángel González, President of the LGTB Collective of Madrid (COGAM), "he began to hit him until the security guards showed up, they quickly took the victim away, while the nothing happened to the attacker" [Funny, I remember walking into that exact bathroom during a visit to Spain and being shocked by how cruisy it was].

He says the victim never reported the incident and explains that a lot of the men that cruise the bathrooms are in the closet and afraid to bring charges against the attackers.

Manuel Ródenas, an attorney specializing on LGBT rights, tells ADN that there is a legal vacuum when it comes to these cases since there are no laws that address instances in which the aggressor walks away free.

"[Having sex in public bathrooms] is not a crime as long as it can't be categorized as exhibitionism;" says Ródenas, "The victims do it with discretion and do not want anyone to find out, but the security guards often open the stall doors, breaking their intimacy and forcing the proof."

Now, if you have read articles about public restroom sting operations in the United States usually you see a number of men being arrested or charged by police with their names and addresses sometimes published the next day in the local newspaper. I can't remember any instance in cases like these in which a man has gone on record or on camera to defend his actions.

Well, check the video above (larger version here).

Isaac Rodríguez, tells ADN about being assaulted by a security guard at the Prince Pio Mall back in February after being caught in a bathroom stall with another man.

"I was in a stall with a guy, a security guard came in, looked below the stall doors, saw that there were more than two legs and gave a strong kick to the door and pulled us out. He began to insult and threaten us. He said he was a Nazi and that he'd be our worst nightmare."

"The security guard grabbed my head and pushed it against the mirror, but the aggression did not leave a mark or an injury, so I wasn't able to present proof."

In the video he says that the attack lasted for 20 to 30 minutes and that it was rather unpleasant. He also shows exactly which bathroom stall he was using which for some reason I find really funny but, hey, I have a weird sense of humor. He also says that straight couples sometimes use public spaces for sex as well but are never taken under custody or attacked.

Rodríguez has taken the security guard to court.