► The Gaybombay Sunday Meet On 29th July 2007 At Zou, The GB Special Meet on 'Living with HIV'

[Rish]

The GayBombay Sunday Meet on 29th July 2007 at Zouk, Andheri.
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The GB Special Meet on 'Living with HIV'.

Venue: Zouk, Hotel Imperial Palace, Telli Galli, Andheri (East);
Mumbai 400069. Time: 4 pm to 7 pm. Entry: Free.

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Next Sunday GB will be repeating a meet we had around this time
yesterday. We're repeating it because it is a subject that has, if
anything, become even more important since last year - Living with
HIV/AIDS.

Before I explain anything about the meet let me emphasise one thing:
you don't have to have HIV or know someone with HIV to come! In
fact, let's be quite clear there will be NO disclosure about who has
HIV and there will be no need to volunteer any personal information.

GB has dealt with HIV/AIDS before in several meetings - on what the
disease is, how to prevent it and how to get tested for it and,
along with other efforts like condom distribution at parties and all
the work that Humsafar is doing, it must've had an important effect
in preventing the spread of HIV in the community.

But its hard to be safe all the time and the scale of the problem is
so large that inevitably some people do turn positive. It could be
you. It could be your boyfriend. It could be a friend - gay or
straight too (I don't know if others have had this experience, but a
quite a few straight people seem to feel comfortable talking about
intimate issues with gay guys. Either they seem to see us as a fount
of all wisdom on sexual matters or we don't bring in personal
intimacy [at least from their point of view - its another problem
for us if its a cute guy confessing his women problems!]) .

The point is that its increasingly likely that we may have to deal
with the issues of someone being positive, and its best to be
prepared. A positive diagnosis for HIV is certainly NOT a death
sentence. Its not even like another illness, because you're probably
not sick at all at that time and may not be so for ages. Yet its
this strange nature that is also deceptive because it can lure us
into just trying to forget about things and not do anything, when
there are certainly some basics that you should know and be prepared
for. And that is what this meeting is about.

To help us with this discussion we're enlisting the help of Kashmira
Shaw, a counselor, who has helped several people in the community
deal with this issue. She used to work at CASA, a NGO, that did HIV
counselling; it was very gay-friendly but it has sadly shut down due
to funding problems. But Kashmira is working as a professional in
this field and she has helped several people we know and we're very
glad to get her to help us this Sunday.

(As a side reason to come, we are often asked for contacts for gay-
friendly counsellors in Bombay, for all sorts of reasons -
depression, parents, relationship issues, etc - not just HIV, and
Kashmira is one we usually recommend. So if you've been wanting to
meet her, or any counsellor but want to get an idea what they are
like, it would be a good idea to come for this meet. The subject
will be Living with HIV, but you'll be free to chat with Kashmira in
the tea break and see if she can help at a later private session).

If anyone has further questions about this meet you could mail them
on this list or me directly at vgd67 @ yahoo.co.uk .

Vikram

PS: Please note that this is not going to be a medical meet (though
the information will be available if people want it) but more on the
emotional and personal issues of adjusting to life as a HIV+ve
person or to having a partner or friend who is HIV+.


Details are also available on our website: http://www.gaybombay.org.
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Directions: Hotel Imperial Palace is a 5 minute walk from Andheri
station on the East side. Walk up the Andheri Kurla Road (towards the
Highway) and turn right into Telli Galli. It's the 3rd building on
your right.

But if you're driving and taking the Andheri flyover, from West to
East, make a left turn at the signal at the end of the flyover. Or if
you're driving on the highway make a left turn at the Andheri flyover
road and a right turn at the signal before the flyover. This is Telli
Galli. Almost towards the end of this road, close to Andheri Kurla
Road (perpendicular to Telli Galli), is Hotel Imperial Palace, on
your left.
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SOME DON'TS:
`GB, as a support group, has created this comfort/safe space for
gays. Many people at the event may be "newbies" (those still coming
to terms with their sexuality and/or those who have mustered the
courage to come to such an event for the first time). We request you
to be sensitive to the comfort levels of others and to behave and
dress accordingly.
`No dark rooms; if found indulging in any "hanky panky" you will be
asked to leave the event.

[Ben]

Hi : Is there a follow-up meeting ? has the meeting been minuted - I know its rather late asking. Just wanted to know. Would be nice if someone who attended could put down briefly what happened at the meeting.

Ben

[Rish]

Sorry for the late reply, Ben. I am afraid there were no minutes recorded of the meet given by Kashmira Shaw; but if I will check and see if there are any reports or comments about the meet on the GB Yahoogroups. I shall search and put it up here!