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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2002)
fahmary 15.2002 » ; m íiü iv jM in e w s Eric Brown Does the financial » I District Manager uring Mercedes Herrada’s coming- out experience, she met a number of other young people who identi fied as gay, lesbian, bi or trans. W hen she saw many of the friends in her support network begin to become infect ed with HIV, she knew she had to do something. She has done a lot. For the past 2 1/2 years, H errada has been a strong advocate w ith C ascade A ID S Proj e ct’s Teen to Teen program, w hich provides outreach and educational services to high- Volunteer educates risk people betw een 14 and 22. S ince she began, she has made her presentatio n “h u n young people about HIV dreds of tim es.” Coordinator Amanda Schnell makes arrange- b y T om S te v e n so n ments with schools, group homes and juvenile detention centers across the metro area for young volunteers to come in and speak to a group of kids who need to hear their message. They then receive a cal endar of monthly events and sign up for whatever they can do, according to Herrada, who also works full time for Providence Health Care System. “This allows the volunteers quite a bit of mobility, be ing that most of us either go to school, work or do both,” she says. “Some A gay couple living with A ID S motivated Mercedes H errada to volunteer months I can do with the Teen to Teen program close to 10 work- shops, while at other times I may only be able to Herrada says although the response differs do two or three.” from group to group, some questions always are Herrada, who came out as a lesbian when she asked. The most prevalent: C an you get HIV was 13, says she did not have a positive role from saliva or kissing? model to help her through the process. T h at is “We tell them that someone would have to another reason she became involved in the drink 32 ounces of saliva from an HIV-positive Teen to Teen program. person in order to contract HIV,” Herrada says. “Now that I’m a little older, I w ant to be “T he thing is, the hum an body only produces able to provide that reassurance for oth er youth eight ounces a day, so it’s impossible. However, who are questioning their sexuality,” she says. if two people have open sores in their mouths “I want to be a representative for other people there is a possibility, but that would be a blood like me.” to-blood transmission. I think a lot of the youth Perhaps the biggest motivation came when are surprised there are only four body fluids that Herrada became close to a gay couple who are can transmit HIV.” living with AIDS. She says the relationship Herrada says the volunteers also answer a lot moved her deeply. of questions about the frequency with which “W atching their progression with the virus one should get tested and whether using two was a really intense experience,” she says. “I had condoms makes sex safer. The constant battle, never wished HIV upon anybody, but after she adds, is convincing the youth HIV/AIDS is meeting them I felt extremely passionate about not “a gay disease.” making sure that I could be a part of the [educa- Despite the continual efforts by programs tional] process.” like Teen to Teen to spread the safe-sex message, During the presentations, volunteers make it many young people still are becoming infected, a point to use the proper terms for body parts, and that fact is unsettling to Herrada. such as vagina and penis, and they encourage “Considering that over half of the new HIV the youth they are meeting with to do the same. infections are in people under the age of 25, I Herrada says many kids are simply not comfort- don’t think that youth are practicing safer sex able talking about sex in a forthright manner. “I than they were 10 years ago,” she says. “But that think it says a lot when someone who is in high does not mean that all youth are having unsafe school doesn’t feel comfortable saying ‘vagina.’ ” sex.... I think that youth have a tendency to Herrada notes the presenters also get a big think that we are invisible and that it won’t response during the condom demonstration. happen to us. But it does." jH “We go through the steps of how to properly use a condom as well as a dental dam,” she says. For more information about the TEEN TO T een “We always pass around a few different types o f program, contact Cascade AIDS Project at condoms so that people can see and feel what 503-223-5907. they look like. Sometimes people don’t even want to touch the condom. A nd if they don’t T om STEVENSON is a Portland free-lance umter want to touch the condom, I don’t know if they and a full-time Portland State University student are ready to have sex.” who can be reached at ruraltom@yahoo.com. G etting the W ord O ut in Portland world have you 300 NE Multnomah Portland OR 97232 503.238.6036 n l i f t lo r r n - r v ? 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