AEGiS-PRn: West Hollywood City Council Votes to Draft Measure for Mandatory Condom Distribution for City's 'High Risk' Establishments as Part of 'Safer Sex City'

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

West Hollywood City Council Votes to Draft Measure for Mandatory Condom Distribution for City's 'High Risk' Establishments as Part of 'Safer Sex City'

PRNewswire - Friday July 9, 1999

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move heralded by many local AIDS prevention and treatment activists as groundbreaking, the West Hollywood city council -- overriding its own city staff & human services commission's recommendation -- voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to instruct staff to draft a plan for mandatory condom distribution in the city's "high risk" bars, nightclubs and adult establishments. Staff had recommended a voluntary plan, but following impassioned testimony from activists the council voted 3 to 2 (Vote: Heilman, Koretz & Prang, YES; Guarriello and Martin, ABSTAIN) for mandatory distribution. Council also voted unanimously to adopt the staff and human services commission's recommendation to increase the total number of condoms the city distributes (currently through the West Hollywood Cares program) to 250,000 -- up from 36,000 -- as part of a stepped up AIDS prevention effort.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) earlier this year secured sufficient signatures to put before city voters a ballot initiative requiring such a program. City council member Jeff Prang helped convince AHF to delay action on its "West Hollywood 'Safer Sex City' Initiative" pending council action. The initiative would have required the city to implement and enforce a mandatory condom availability program.

"Condoms stop HIV infection when those at risk have access to them," said Cesar Portillo, AHF's government affairs director. "It's inexcusable that gay bars would profit from gay patronage and then refuse to carry city-purchased condoms -- but they have. Now, such bars and other adult businesses will have to follow the law or face the consequences."

West Hollywood -- an epicenter of gay, male culture on the West Coast -- is also a West Coast epicenter of HIV/AIDS cases and infections. According to recent Los Angeles County Health Department HIV/AIDS statistics, West Hollywood has an AIDS case rate of more than twice that of any other part of the County. And despite the public's overall good general knowledge about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention, researchers believe the alarming increases in unsafe sex practices among younger, gay men may inadvertently be due to the widespread success of combined drug therapies for HIV -- which may foster a sense of complacency among high-risk populations such as these gay youth.

With the 'Safer Sex City' ballot measure campaign recently underway, activists and HIV prevention experts met with increasing apathy and even antagonism by bar owners along Santa Monica Boulevard as they approached them with free condoms and safer sex materials for their patrons. As a result, activists from AHF and elsewhere were determined to seek a mandatory condom distribution plan. It appears they are on their way to getting one.

"Bars that specifically cater to people at high risk -- gay men -- do not take this program seriously with regards to actually displaying the condoms within easy reach or any reach at all," said Ethan Stone, AHF's Treatment=Life HIV Testing Coordinator and a former coordinator for West Hollywood Cares in his testimony before City Council. "When I distributed these condoms (for West Hollywood Cares), I frequently would see that boxes were not open from prior months...often there were no condom containers to be seen at all -- ones that I had dropped off to these sites -- and the bar staff were not helpful...containers were shoved in corners so dark, that I couldn't even find them myself when I wanted to just go back and check and see how many there were. To me, that's not a community effort... these establishments just don't care. It's not necessarily resistance -- they just don't care about the situation, or about having the condoms that easily available -- I think condom distribution should be mandated at these places."

After Tuesday's vote, the total number of condoms being distributed will increase almost sevenfold. In addition, City staff were instructed Tuesday by the council's vote to draft language mandating the availability of free condoms as well as enforcement mechanisms. With the three vote majority voting for such drafting, passage of the final wording is expected.

AHF serves over 5,000 patients at 5 out-patient healthcare centers and 2 residential facilities throughout Greater Los Angeles. In addition, as part of its Treatment=Life Program, AHF operates the WEHO Lounge coffee house/HIV testing center on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, where it offers free, anonymous or confidential HIV testing seven days a week. For more information, call AHF's Ged Kenslea (323) 860-5225.

SOURCE: AIDS Healthcare Foundation
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