San Francisco Chronicle (SF) - MONDAY November 18, 1991
Elaine Herscher, Chronicle Staff Writer

In the heart of the Tenderloin, the church serves an ethnically and racially diverse congregation, many of whose members are not exposed to AIDS education anywhere but through their church.

Glide began offering HIV testing two days a week last July. But after basketball star Magic Johnson announced 11 days ago that he is infected with the virus that causes AIDS, requests for testing and safe sex information skyrocketed, said the Rev. Cecil Williams, Glide's pastor.

For convenience, Glide decided to give people the option of getting free, anonymous tests on Sundays, when they could leave the church sanctuary, talk to a counselor, get a blood test and take home a safe sex packet -- complete with condoms, latex gloves and safe-sex tips.

Except for congregations such as the Metropolitan Community Church, whose members are predominantly gay or lesbian, most of the nation's churches have shunned discussion of AIDS, much less testing on the premises.

"No church, I'm sure, in America is having tests and passing out information on dealing with AIDS and HIV," Williams told the congregation yesterday morning. "Nobody should leave here today saying, 'I don't know, and I don't have the proper information.'

"Let us go beyond the wall of denial -- stop denying the fact that HIV exists."

Glide has offered community outreach and support groups for HIV-positive people for some time.

"We didn't wait for the world to get excited about somebody famous before we did something," said Phyllis Jean Jackson, one of the church's AIDS outreach counselors. Glide has come under fire from other churches, especially those with large African-American congregations, for teaching safe sex instead of preaching abstinence.

During a speech Friday at Howard University in Washington, D.C., before a conference of the United Methodist Church, Williams reached into his pocket and took out a safe sex packet to bring home his view of how to stop the spread of the virus. "It scared all the church people to death," he said, "but the students loved it. They asked for 2,000 of them."

Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. -- the hours that testing will be available each Sunday -- 55 people took an HIV test yesterday. The program is conducted by doctors and nurses of the San Francisco City Clinic and is a joint effort of the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Glide Goodlett HIV/AIDS Project.

Said Jackson: "A lot of people feel safer knowing their church is behind them."

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1991. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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