San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119 - Friday, March 14, 1997 - Page A24
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Supervisors Leslie Katz and Tom Ammiano said they would try to find about $150,000 to exponentially increase efforts to battle the spread of the HIV virus. As things are now, the city will spend only about $15,000 to pass out condoms in bars and clubs in the fiscal year starting July 1.

"Morally, we must take all steps to ensure that no one leaves a bar without a condom," said Katz, who chairs the supervisors' Health, Family and Environment Committee.

For the past few months, Katz has been critical of the city's health department for not responding quickly to her proposals to step up free condom distribution in places where the combination of alcoholic drinks and dancing can result in people heading off for sexual liaisons.

She has also questioned why San Francisco has fallen behind such places as Cincinnati, Seattle and Washington, D.C., in giving out condoms where people need them in a hurry.

But yesterday, city health officials pledged their cooperation. "The health department believes condom distribution is an important part of prevention efforts," said Anne Kronenberg of the department.

The campaign is run for the city by the Stop AIDS Project, which distributed 57,000 condoms through bars and clubs in the six months ending in February. If its bid for the $15,000 grant is approved, it will pass out about 130,000 in the coming fiscal year.

In addition, the city pays groups such as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to distribute hundreds of thousands of condoms at events like street fairs and educational programs.

Ideally, said the project's Dan Wohlfeiler, some 900,000 condoms should be passed out in the nightspots. With the $150,000 appropriation, he said, his group could do that and step up efforts to get bar owners, managers, bartenders and nightclub doormen to talk up the campaign and help educate people about using condoms.

That $150,000 may sound like a lot of money, Wohlfeiler said, but a lifetime of medical treatment for a single AIDS patient can cost that much. "If we can prevent one case, it's cost-effective," he said.

The Stop AIDS Project's Steve Gibson told the committee that his group already distributes free condoms to 60 businesses, including 40 bars, for distribution. Most are in the Castro, along Polk Street and South of Market.

Some bars have to be encouraged to place the condoms in an easily noticeable spot where customers can grab them. But others, Gibson said, eagerly help.

At Daddy's, a Castro Street leather bar, owner Phil Turner spends $1,000 a year on condoms he distributes to customers. At Club Townsend, the doorman at the South of Market spot passes condoms out to customers, sometimes as many as 2,000 on a single weekend night.

Other suggestions made to the committee included stepping up distribution at clubs frequented by African Americans, who have the fastest rising rate of HIV infection. And in addition to bars and clubs, it was suggested that condoms be passed out in hair-cutting establishments, at libraries and coffee houses and by cabbies on late-night runs.

Ammiano suggested that education efforts could include "live condom demonstrations in bars. It's allowable under the law. It would have a little erotic appeal, but it would be educational."
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