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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1999)
junfl Ifl, 1998 » ITTTilneu's S ay G oodbye he gay and bisexual men’s commu nity and Cascade A ID S Project have been intertwined, it seems, forever. Sixteen years ago, when men G ay and bi men who rely on CAP for HIV counseling and testing who love men— or simply have sex with will soon have to go elsewhere by Inga Sorensen them— were getting sick and dying in droves, the nonprofit agency sprang into being, bom of a desire to assist them. Bruner says from this point on “when a pro profit agency? Or avoid testing altogether? The For the past several years, queer guys of all gram’s funding is reduced, the program will be questions don’t stop there: What about young ages have turned to CA P for HIV counseling reduced proportionately." queer guys? Or fears about testing through a gov and testing. It was a place they felt comfortable. “It’s unfortunate, but the agency can’t con ernmental agency? Will the dialogue surround They could talk openly about their sexual prac tinue operating the way it has in the past," he ing HIV names reporting come into play? tices— what they did with or to other men, what says. No more sprawling debt to pay off, no more “It’s hard to know,” concedes Bateman. “It’s risks they may have taken. They could clasp a scrambling patchwork. “We’re not doing that very complex.” boyfriend’s hand or kiss a male friend without anymore.” Bateman is also concerned about manage encountering the shock and disdain of the sur ment’s decision to slash C A P’s popular Neigh prised and judgmental. ews of the cut, meanwhile, is prompting borhood MenTalk program, which has grown to “When I walked through those doors to get 14 groups. MenTalk gives gay and bisexual guys concerns about where— or if—gay and bi tested, I knew I was home," says Ron Dickinson, men will receive testing services. a place to get together throughout the Portland who went to C A P for testing in September “We test about 600 people a year,” says Geof metro area to talk and socialize, with the goal of 1998. frey Bateman, an amiable queer man who coor building a sense of community. Bateman esti Prior to that, he’d been tested three times via dinates C A P ’s counseling and testing program, mates 300 men have participated in the gather the Multnomah County Health Department. “You don’t know who you’re talking to or what they may think about your sexual preference or sexual behaviors,” says Dickinson, | referring to the public health establishment. “And you’re sitting down with someone who is paid. They may be overworked or stressed out or a little tired of hearing the same things day in and day out.” C A P ’s program is fueled by volunteers who have committed weeks, months— sometimes years— to test and counsel those who seek out the organization. Those volunteets, mostly queer men, are trained and certi fied to he counselors. “You knew they wanted to he there. It wasn’t their full-time job— it was their contribution to the commu nity,” says Dickinson, who found his C A P experience to be so positive that he went on to become a volun teer counselor himself. “I worked with clients from 17 to 70. They would Cascade A ID S Project displays this arguably ironic billboard in downtown Portland tell me, ‘We love that you are here. We love what you’re doing,’ ” he says. which features weekly Tuesday night testing ses ings this past year. He expects the number of sions at the agency. groups to be sliced in half. But Dickinson et al. won’t he doing it much “It’s unfortunate,” he says, “hut at least that longer. C A P is shuttering its 5-year-old HIV Like Dickinson, Bateman says many of the counseling and testing program at the end of men who show up at C A P do so because they program will keep going.” Alan Rose, manager of C A P ’s HIV preven like the peer-based format; additionally, all the June for financial reasons. testing is done without needles. (A saliva test is tion and education programs— and an architect “It’s a new day at CAP,” says Thomas Bruner, of the testing program—says: “The (testing] pro who became the organization’s executive direc used.) “My sense from clients is that they come in gram has been so successful. It’s a great loss.” tor a year ago. “The new day is here, and with it Rose has tendered his resignation effective and identify very strongly with the counselor. It comes some new, hard, painful realities.” can he very powerful when they know the coun July 15. He says that while the program cut is In a story that ran in Just Out in November, not the sole reason he’s leaving, it is a significant selor is gay; they may feel that person has been Bruner said he wanted to make C A P a “strong, in the same situation, or had to make the same one. efficient, effective and strategic organization,” “It feels like a chapter has closet!,” Rose says, marking a “significant turning point for CAP, a decisions, or had to go through a similar process to get to where they are today,” says Bateman. adding, “The question now is: Who will take the cultural shift." lead for HIV prevention among gay and bi For years, the agency faced problems of “Talking with your peers can have such a great impact.” men?” financial mismanagement, and the hoard of Despite that, he acknowledges that financial directors, Bruner said, gave him “a mandate to he waiting room at the Multnomah Coun times could be better. beef-up the business infrastructure of the com “Money for prevention is diminishing. AIDS ty Health Department's ST D Clinic has a pany.” fund raising across the country is down.... I warm feel. The deep maroon and blue chairs And that’s exactly what he says he’s doing know all of that,” he says. "But I’m very con and walls create a relaxed atmosphere. Framed now. According to Bruner, the Washington artworks dot the walls. The windows facing the County Health District, a primary funding cerned about what will happen to the people who would typically come here for testing." elevators have been frosted to place clients with source behind C A P ’s counseling and testing privacy concerns more at ease. The lighting is Will they go to the county? Or to a private program, has decided not to fund the program provider? Or to another community-based non soft. for C A P ’s new fiscal year, which begins July 1. N T People seeking STD-related services and/or HIV counseling and testing share this same space, this same waiting room. Carol Casciato is the charming and energetic county health services specialist for the STD program. She takes us on a tour of the clinic, which is located on the sixth floor of an office building in downtown Portland, not far from CAP. She wants to convey the feeling created by the space and the staff; Casciato seems proud of both, and tells Just Out she believes the county is equipped to handle an influx of gay and hi men who may turn to it for HIV testing, which is available five days a week via walk-ins or by appointment. Currently there are two counselors handling HIV testing. Both are women, though Casciato says there are openly gay men on staff available to do the testing if a client makes that request. The county typically conducts its tests with needles, though Casciato says an oral test will be administered if asked for. Casciato notes that some men already use both the county and CAP, while others will give the county a try for the first time. Still other men, she acknowl edges, will seek out other alternatives, or none at all. “I think C A P ’s program has been invaluable and I’m sorry to see it end," she says, adding, “My main concern is that some men may not feel comfortable testing elsewhere.” Over the years, county health officials have worked closely with CAP, and Casciato says the same holds true now. She’s been meeting with Bateman and Rose to brainstorm ways the health department can support C A P during this transition period— as well as ways it can make its own services more comfortable for gay and bi men. “We want to do what we can,” she says. David Christensen and Doug Moon agree. The two openly gay men are work ing with the county’s new hepatitis A and B vaccina tion and community edu cation program for gay and bi men. The program, which the duo dub the “Gay Men’s Health Project,” kicks off July 1. It’s designed to improve the sexual health of gay and bisexual men in Multnomah County by reducing the incidence and spread of hepatitis A and B. In addition to testing and treatment services, the ST D Clinic will also offer low-cost vaccina tions for hepatitis A and B and risk-reduction education for queer men and other men who have sex with men. Christensen was a driving force behind the creation of C A P ’s counseling and testing pro gram, and for years he has worked with CA P and Multnomah G xinty on HIV-related issues. Both he and Moon express confidence in the county’s commitment to reaching queer men, and they point to the fledgling Gay Men’s Health Project as the latest example of that ded ication. “It’s disappointing that C A P ’s program is ending,” says Christensen, “but things change. It’s inevitable, so it’s important to come up with ways to address that change.” 9