Ontario Gay Men's Sexual Health Summit 2009 - GMSH

Ontario Gay Men’s Sexual 

Health Summit 2009 

Welcome 

‣ GMSH update - James 

Murray 

‣ POZ Prevention W.G. – 

Rob MacKay 

‣ Gay, Bi, Queer Trans 

men’s W. G. – Ayden 

Scheim 

‣ Ethno-racial MSM 

Research W.G. – Alan 

Li 

‣ Francophone W. G. – 

Christiane Bouchard 

Updates 

1

GMSH Update 

To foster a systematic, evidence-informed, 

skilled, consistent and effective response 

to the sexual health needs of Ontario’s 

diverse communities of gay, bisexual and 

other men who have sex with men. 

To reduce the transmission of HIV and other 

sexually transmitted infections and 

improve our overall health and well-being. 

Provincial Advisory Body 

Barry Adam, Christiane Bouchard, Jose Cedano, 

Murray Jose, Rick Kennedy, Daniel Le, 

Bruce Clarke, David Lewis, Mark Lucas, 

Michael Hickey, Rob MacKay, John Maxwell, 

Shannon Ryan, Owen McEwan, Zavare Tengra, 

Paul McCarty-Johnston, Vijay Saravanamuthu, 

Ayden Scheim, Keith Wong, Art Zoccole, 

Peter Richtig, Maxxine Ratner, Jason Oliver, 

Steve Lincoln, Chris Lau, Frank McGee, James 

Murray, 

2

Strategic Plan 

Strategic Plan (cont’d) 

Goal 1: prevention 

community capacity 

to address sexual 

health needs of 

diversity of 

gay/MSM 

Objective 2: increase 

capacity to develop 

effective programs for 

gay men with HIV. 

Trans Men’s W.G. 

Francophone 

W.G. 

Ethno-racial MSM 

W.G. 

Newcomer MSM 

Resource Project 

POZ 

Prevention 

Working Group 

Definition, 

Values, 

Principles 

Service 

Provider 

Manual 

Training/Speaks 

3

POZ Prevention 

Knowledge and practice guidance for providing sexual 

health services to gay men living with HIV in Ontario 

‣ Developed by Toronto 

People With AIDS 

Foundation, in collab. 

with GMSH 

‣ Strengthen our ability to 

provide client-centred, 

high-quality sexual health 

services to gay men with 

HIV 

‣ Canadian AIDS 

Treatment Information 

Exchange will nationalize 


Goal 2: Reduce 

social + systemic 

barriers to 

services + 

empowerment 

POZ Sexual Health 

Guidebook 

Goal 3: Increase access 

to information 

Reduce HIVrelated 

stigma + 

discrimination 

Legal Guidebook 

Training on 

stigma and 

sexual 

health 

Stigma 

Campaign 

Stigma Campaign 

Internet Outreach 

Manual 

4

Poz Prevention Resources 





Guidebook 




Manual 

5

HIV Stigma Campaign 

1. To raise awareness about HIV stigma and 

discrimination amongst gay men and the 

relationship to sexual health and HIV prevention 

2. To create a dialogue amongst gay men about 

the issues in the campaign 

Ultimately 

‣ To reduce HIV stigma between gay men, reduce 

HIV transmission rates and improve all gay 

men’s sexual health 

Key Messages 

‣ HIV –related shame, fear, guilt and prejudice exist in the 

gay community 

‣ HIV stigma and discrimination affects the health and wellbeing 

of HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men 

‣ HIV stigma and discrimination make it harder for us to 

prevent HIV transmission 

‣ We can all fight 

HIV stigma and 


6

Traditional Media 

‣ Billboards 

‣ Other outdoor 

‣ Transit, resto bars 

‣ Print media 

‣Gay media 

‣Ethno-specific media 

(incl. language 

specific ads) 

‣Alternative media 


Print Media 

‣ Fab (Toronto, Hamilton,London, 

Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo) 

‣ XTRA! (Toronto, Hamilton, 

London, St. Catherine’s, Guelph, 

Niagara) 

‣ About (Toronto, Hamilton, 

London, St. Catherine’s, Guelph, 

Niagara) 

‣ Capital XTRA! 

(Ottawa,Kingston, North Bay, 

Cornwall, Brockville, Pembrook) 

‣ Fugues (Ottawa) 

Weeklies 

‣ Echo (KW, Cambridge, 

Guelph) 

‣ Buzz (Ottawa) 

‣ Pulse (Niagara) 

‣ Metro (Toronto, 

Ottawa) 

‣ Eye (GTA) 

‣ Now (GTA) 

‣ Voir (Ottawa) 

7


Ethnic Newspapers 

‣ India Journal (Toronto, London, 

Guelph, Kitchener, Hamilton, 

Ottawa, St. Catherine’s) 

‣ Ming Pao (GTA, Asian 

supermarkets in Ontario) 

‣ Korea Times (Toronto, London, 

Guelph, kitchener, Hamilton, 

Ottawa, Windsor) 

‣ Hindi Times (GTA, Ottawa and 

Montreal) 

Ethnic Newspapers (GTA) 

‣ Caribbean Camera 

‣ Le Metropolitain 

‣ Abab News International 

‣ World Journal 

‣ Sol Portuguese 

‣ El Popular 

‣ Brazil News 

‣ L’Express 

‣ Thoi Bao 

‣ The Weekly Voice 

‣ Desi News 

‣ CanIndia News 

‣ Uthayan 

‣ The Weekly Punjab Awaaz 

‣ Gujarat Abroad 

‣ The Weekly Bangla Kagoj 

‣ Pakistan Post 

16 

8

Campaign Bloggers 

‣ Bob Leahy 

‣ Brian Finch 

‣ Tim McCaskell 

‣ David Lewis 

‣ Vijay 

Saravanamuthu 

‣ Murray Jose 

‣ Nik Redman 

‣ Gaston Cotnoir 

Community Outreach 

‣ Condom pack and 

condom inserts 

‣ Bathhouse pack with wrist 

band 

‣ All languages 

‣ Posters 

‣ T-shirts for outreach 

workers 

‣ Post card (all languages) 

9

AIDS Committee of Toronto, Africans in Partnership Against 

AIDS, Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention, Black Coalition 

for AIDS Prevention, Fife House, 2 Spirited People of the 1st 

Nations, Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples-AIDS Program, 

Toronto PWA Foundation, Asian Community AIDS, Prisoners 

HIV/AIDS Support Action Network, AIDS Committee of Ottawa, 

Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, Bruce House, HIV/AIDS 

Regional Services (Kingston), AIDS Committee of Cambridge 

Kitchener Waterloo and Area, AIDS Committee of Durham, AIDS 

Committee of Guelph and Wellington County, AIDS Committee of 

London, AIDS Committee of North Bay and Region, AIDS 

Committee of Simcoe County, Access AIDS Network (Sudbury), 

AIDS Committee of Windsor, The AIDS Network (Hamilton), AIDS 

Committee of York Region, AIDS Thunder Bay, Peel HIV/AIDS 

Network, Peterborough AIDS Resource Network, AIDS Niagara, 

Franco-Queer, Centre Francophone de Toronto, 519 Church 

Street Community Centre, Hassle Free Clinic, Ottawa Public 

Health, Ontario AIDS Network, Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS 

Strategy, Casey House, Bruce House, HIV/AIDS Legal Clinic 

(Ontario), David Kelley HIV/AIDS Community Counseling 

Program, Rainbow Health Ontario, Association of Iroquois and 

Allied Indians, Union of Ontario Indians 

Serostigmatisation.com 

10

HIV Stigma Campaign 

Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, 

Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Urdu 

Chinese (simplified), Chinese 

(traditional), Japanese, 

Korean, 

Pilipino, Thai, Vietnamese 

Portuguese 

Spanish 

Campaign W.G. 

Barry Adam, Christiane Bouchard, Murray Jose, 

Rob MacKay, John Maxwell, Rick Kennedy, David 

Lewis, Carlos Rivas, Daniel Le, Ayden Scheim, 

Keith Wong, Chris Lau, James Murray, Frank 

McGee 

11

Top Drawer Creative 

www.topdrawercreative.com 

Creative 

Brian Gahan, Rachel Muir, 

Matthew Kyte, Chris Abbott, 

Danielle Polzin, Tyler Schell, 

Rocky Tesa 

Account Management 

Michelle Devan, Ashley Main, 

Terri Winter 

Focus Testing (Research 

Dimensions) 

David Kay, Anne Clavir, Nancy 

Dahl 

Media Planning 

Lisette Useche, Steve Aronovich, 

Keith Wong 

Web 

Frank Aloise, Nick Alafogiannis, 

Stephanie Moore, Jennifer Buktaw, 

Karan Vij, Kit Troung, Tiffany Learn, 

Decio Olher, Margaret Warsinska, 

Phillip, Chertok, Ainsley D. Miller 

Photography & Video 

Anthony Baird, Josh Eady, Katia 

Taylor, Henry Sansom, David 

Ottier, Carole Nelson, Alice 

Kilpartick 

Music Composition 

Edward Zaski 

Sound Engineer 

TJ Liebgott 

Media Spokespeople 

Rick Kennedy, Murray 

Jose, John Maxwell, 

Shannon Ryan, Kathleen 

Cummings, Bob Leahy, 

Brian Finch, Christiane 

Bouchard, Andre Samson 

GMSH/OAN Staff 

Jason Oliver, 

Communications & Social 

Marketing 

Steve Lincoln, On-Line 

Facilitator Support 

PR Support 

Kevin C. Pennant, 

Daniel Schneider 

Jonathan Crowley 

Pennant Media 

12


Goal 2: Reduce 

social + systemic 

barriers to 

services + 

empowerment 


Guidebook 



Reduce HIVrelated 

stigma + 



Training on 

stigma and 

sexual 

health 

Stigma 

Campaign 



Manual 

Sexual Health Education 

Internet Resource 

‣ Developed by AIDS 

Committee of London, in 

collab. with GMSH 

‣ Strengthen our ability to 

provide sexual health 

services online through 

gay chat and social 

networking sites 

‣ Paul McCarty-Johnston & 

Advisory Committee 

13

Some Next Steps 

Campaign Evaluation 

Suzanne Ross, Barry Adam, 

Jason Oliver, Steve Lincoln 

Process evaluation 

Qualitative interviews with 

range of people involved 

in the process 

Impact evaluation 

Pre and post-campaign 

survey 

Translation of legal and 

sexual health pocket-sized 

guidebooks 

Chinese (Simplified), Chinese 

(Traditional), Vietnamese, Hindi, 

Urdu, Tamil, Spanish, Portuguese 

Distribution 

Coming soon! 

Pre-Campaign Survey 

‣ Online survey monkey survey 

‣ Conducted week before 

campaign launch 

‣ Relied on squirt.org e-blast 

and informal promotion 

through facebook 

Sample 

‣ 1,949 men (7 transmen) 

‣ 66.7% gay, 29.8% bi, .8% (16) 

2-Spirit 

‣ Bell curve on age (55.4% age 

35-54; 17.6% 25-34) 

‣ 86.9% Canadian born (1,688) 

Non-Canadian born: 

‣ Africa – 12 

‣ Caribbean – 11 

‣ East or Southeast Asia – 38 

‣ Europe (non-UK) – 39 

‣ Latin America – 20 

‣ Middle East – 9 

‣ South Asia – 10 

‣ UK – 57 

‣ USA – 30 

‣ Other - 28 

14

Pre-Campaign Survey 

‣ 86.5% Caucasian (French, 

British, Portuguese, Eastern 

European, German, etc…) 

Non-Caucasian 

‣ Aboriginal – 81 

‣ African – 19 

‣ Caribbean – 42 

‣ East/Southeast Asian – 70 

‣ Latin American – 36 

‣ Middle Eastern – 26 

‣ South Asian – 26 

‣ Other - 41 

HIV Status 

‣ HIV positive: 112 – 5.8% 

‣ HIV negative: 1,561 – 80.4% 

‣ No test/don’t know: 232 – 12% 

‣ Refused: 37 – 1.9% 

Residence 

‣ Ottawa and area: 241 – 12.4% 

‣ Eastern ON: 130 – 6.7% 

‣ GTA: 906 – 47.7% 

‣ Southwestern & Central 

(Niagara, Hamilton, Windsor, 

Barrie): 525 – 27% 

‣ Northern ON: 140 – 7.2% 

Pre-campaign survey - attitudes 

‣ “Poz men likely to disclose” – 35.7% poz; 33.4% 

neg 

‣ “non-disclosure due to fear of rejection” – 76.8% 

poz; 64.6% neg 

‣ “no excuse for non-disclosure” – 53.6% poz; 

85.1% neg 

‣ “poz men face stigma in gay community” – 

84.8% poz; 69.2% neg 

15

Pre-campaign survey – sexual practices 

‣“Use sero-sorting” - 78.3% neg 

‣“comfortable having sex with poz guy” – 

30.8% 

‣“had unprotected with partner unknown 

status” – 40% poz; 22% neg 

‣“unprotected with partner known to be 

same” – 60% poz; 40% neg 

Pre-campaign survey - stigma experiences 

‣ “neg guy turned down poz guy due to 

disclosure” – 28% 

‣ “poz guy turned down neg guy due to 

disclosure” – 16% 

‣ “have been turned down due to disclosure” – 

69.6% poz 

‣ “felt stigmatized or discriminated against” – 

69.2% poz 

16

Pre-campaign survey – community support 

‣feel discriminated against by gay men 

generally” – 54.5% poz; 25.8% neg 

‣“feel supported by the gay community” – 

57.1% poz; 44.1% neg 

POZ Prevention Working Group 

Members 

Murray Jose, Mike Hamilton, David Hoe, 

Tom Hammond, Rick Kennedy, Bob Leahy, 

J.J. (Jay) Koornstra, Rob MacKay (Chair), Zack 

Marshall, John Maxwell, Paul McCarty-Johnston, 

Devan Nambiar, Patrick Truong, Barry Adam, 

Andre Ceranto, Herbert Co, Morlon Josephs, 

Trevor Gray, Len Lopez, James Murray, Frank 

McGee, Chris Lau 

17


Mandate 

…provide advice to the Provincial Advisory Body on the principles, 

values, and priorities for carrying out sexual health programming 

targeted to HIV positive gay/bi/MSM. 

Definition of ‘POZ prevention’ 

POZ prevention for HIV+ gay men aims to empower individuals, 

promote healthy relations with sexual partners and improve conditions, 

to strengthen the sexual health and well-being of HIV+ gay men and 

reduce the possibility of new HIV infections and other sexually 

transmitted infections. 


Activities 

‣ Ongoing advice on creative and strategic 

direction of HIV stigma campaign 

‣ Advising on the new poz prevention resources 

18


Activities (cont’d) 

‣ Presentations at Opening 

Doors, OAN meetings, 

and Guelph Sexuality 

Conference 

‣ AIDS 2008 abstract 

‣ Strategic planning on 

future directions for 

strengthening sexual 

health supports for HIV 

positive gay men in 

Ontario 

Gay, Bi, Queer Trans Men’s 

Working Group 

Members 

Alex Adams, Brody Giambrone, Matt Lundie, Zack Marshall, 

Syrus Ware, Brady Yu, Ayden Scheim, Nik Redman, 

Carlos Rivas, Rui Pires, Kyle Scanlon, James Murray, Chris 

Lau 

Mandate 

Provide ongoing direction and support to the Provincial 

Advisory Body in relation to gay/bi/queer transmen’s HIV 

prevention needs and the capacity of the provincial gay 

men’s HIV prevention strategy to address those needs… 

19

Activities 


Working Group 

‣ 7th Annual Philadelphia Trans- 

Health Conference, “Honoring Our 

Past – Envisioning Our Future” 

May 2008 

‣ Euro-Pride – Summer 2008 

‣ AIDS 2008 

‣ www.queertransmen.org 


Working Group 

20


Working Group 


‣ Re-print of English 

Primed 

‣ Translation and printing 

of French Primed 

‣ Needs assessment report 

‣ 519 training project 

‣ Stroke 

Ethno-racial MSM Research 

Working Group 

Members 

Gerardo Betancourt, Alan 

Li, Jose Cedano, Andre 

Ceranto, Abdi Osman, 

Tawanda Chirenda, Trevor 

Hart, David Lewis, Vijay 

Saravanamuthu, Cory 

Wong, Devan Nambiar, 

Maurice Poon, Tarik 

Bereket, James Murray, 

Chris Lau 

Mandate 

…promote greater inclusion 

of ethno-racial MSM in all 

phases of research; 

…increase capacity of 

ethno-racial communities 

and researchers to 

conduct research that is 

relevant to ethno-racial 

MSM. 

21


Working Group 

Activities 

‣ Research findings community 

feedback session – March 11’08 

‣ Poster presentation – CAHR 

Research Conference 2008: Myths 

Misconceptions & Information Gaps 

‣ Poster presentation – IAC 2008: 

Caught Between Homophobia and 

Racism 


Working Group 


‣ Oral abstract presentations – OHTN Research 

Conference 2008 

– Alan Li; Devan Nambiar; Trevor Hart; Maurice Poon; Tarik Bereket; 

James Murray. Caught Between Homophobia and Racism: Effects of 

Discrimination upon the Sexual Behaviour of Men who have Sex with 

Men (MSM) from Ethnic and Racial Minority Communities 

– Alan Li; Tarik Bereket; Devan Nambiar; Maurice Poon; Trevor Hart; 

James Murray; Andre Ceranto. Informational Gaps, Myths and 

Misconceptions of HIV Infection: a Call for the HIV Sector to Respond to 

Ethno-Racial MSM's Unmet Prevention Information Needs 

‣ Think tank planning: April 09 

22

Other work supporting 

gay men’s sexual health 

‣ Gayzone – Christiane 

Bouchard 

‣ POZ Prevention (Black 

CAP) – Morlon Josephs 

‣ POZ Prevention 

(ACGW) – Cheryl 

Tucker 

‣ Bathhouse Counseling 

pilot – Le-Ann Dolan 

‣ “Guys Like Us” – 

Gerardo Betancourt 

‣ Research – Barry Adam 

‣ In-Spot; Bathhouse 

Binder – Bruce Clarke 

26

inSPOT Toronto 

l inSPOT: an anonymous peer-to-peer online 

STI partner notification program 

31



32



33


34

Bath House Manual 

T.O. HEALTH 

35

Bathhouse Counselling 

Intervention 

A project for Gay/Bi men with HIV 

and 

Gay/Bi men at risk for HIV 

Le-Ann Dolan, Director of Programs and Services 

AIDS Committee of Toronto 

5th Annual Ontario Gay Men’s Sexual Health Summit 2009 

Background 

History 

• Pilot Project - Bathhouse Counselling 

Intervention (BCI): 

-Initiated from a concept originally presented at the 

Ontario 2007 Gay Men’s Health Summit 

“Mr. Sexx A Creative Approach to MSM HIV/STI 

Prevention” in Chicago & Berkeley 

36

Concept 

• Place a professional counsellor in a bathhouse 

to support gay/bi men with the complex 

psycho-social issues we know are driving new 

infections 

Getting Started 

Bathhouse Counselling Intervention: 

•Ontario AIDS Bureau hosts a community meeting: ACT, ACAS, BlackCAP, 

CAMH, Community members, David Kelly Services, Hassle Free Clinic, 

McMaster University, Ryerson University, Steamworks, Toronto PWA, and 

Toronto Public Health 

•Project Advisory Committee 

•2 of 3 Bathhouse buy-in is secured 

• Agreement that ACT will be the lead agency / Hassle Free Clinic supporting 

•Funding is secured 

37

The Pilot Project 

“To reach men that are considered difficult to reach” 

Pre-Intervention Stage (January 2009): 

•Bathhouse counsellor is hired (Marco Posada), 

•Survey and focus group(s), 

•Intervention Design (Protocol, Policies, Streamline Referral Process), 

•Visibility of project 

Intervention Stage (April 2009 to November/December 2009): 

•Coordinating shifts with support from M2Men Network and bathhouses’ management, 

•Program expansion (part-time counselor hired), 

•Evaluation throughout the project. 

Post-Intervention Stage (December 2009 to January 2010): 

•What we learned, 

•Dissemination 

How will it work? 

BCI will have two stages of intervention: 

Stage 1: 

Counselling Session at the BH: 

•Working with patrons; 

•Walk-in model; 

•Anti-oppressive, anti-racist, 

sex-positive, brief, solution 

focused and motivational 

counselling; 

•Time variable (10 to 45 min.); 

•And focused on the 

engagement stage of the 

helping relationship. 

Stage 2: 

Referral & Follow-up: 

•Referral to continued 

counselling with BH 

counsellor outside of the BH 

and/or 

•Referral to other community 

partners. 

•BH Counsellor to support 

clients to access and use 

appropriate services. 

38

Gerardo Betancourt 

AIDS Men’s Outreach Worker 

HIV/AIDS Prevention Program 

Centre for Spanish-Speaking Peoples 

www.spanishservices.org 

39

GUYS LIKE YOU 

(CHICOS COMO TÚ) 

• GUYS LIKE YOU is a 

fotonovela project (a 

graphic novel). 

• It is an educational tool 

that is very easy to read 

and culturally friendly. 

• Addresses issues related 

to Latino Newcomers in 

Toronto and HIV/Hep C 

Prevention 

www.guyslikeyou.ca 

• Distributed in downtown Toronto 

(English and Spanish version) 

• The format is a dramatic story that 

refers to the issues and difficulties 

that 3 Latino guys face while trying 

to integrate in the community. 

• www.guyslikeyou.ca - the 

website 

• People will be able to find the 

“ending” of the story and more 

information about the project 

and HIV/Hep C prevention 

40


• There has been an increase in 

the number of Latino 

Newcomers infected by HIV, 

Hep C and STI’s 

• We want people to discuss 

openly social barriers, 

vulnerabilities and imbalance 

of power in relations 

• Deals with the concept of 

MSM, abused relationships, 

stigma and homophobia 

• Visit the website 


• Spring 2009!!! 

41

Ontario Gay Men's Sexual Health Summit 2009 - GMSH

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?