AIDS in the Circle City
MSM Solutions
If the white gay male community has been told a hundred times over the last 25 years, what is there possibly that could get through to them now? Again, I believe that education is the best way to combat this epidemic. A specific bathhouse in Indianapolis offers pamphlets and brochures on the different risks of unsafe sex. The owner also distributes condoms for free and has bulletins posted in the entrance to the bathhouse stating the risks of unsafe sexual activity. Indianapolis also is home to a Mobile AIDS Clinic. It began in February of 2003 and distributes condoms, bleach kits for cleaning needles (although there is no needle exchange program) and draws blood on site to test for HIV. The city officials know that those who are at the most risk do not often go to traditional clinics, so they are bringing the clinic to the patients.[1]
Although the MSM problem is one that continues to exist, there are men who are taking things into their own hands. In an article entitled “Painting the Town Red” in the Indianapolis Star from November of 2003, discusses a group of about men called “the Bag Ladies” who once a year for the last 20 years have dressed in drag and taken busses around the city to gay and lesbian bars to raise money and HIV/AIDS awareness. They give the funds raised, nearly $100,000 in 2003, to the Indiana AIDS Fund, a private philanthropic organization designed to combat HIV/AIDS in Indiana.[2] Sadly, the Bag Ladies are no more. Founder and planner Coby Palmer said in an article nearly a year later that he had decided that after 25 years it was time to retire. “It’s time to get some young blood into leadership positions.”[3] Although the Bag Ladies have ended, it goes to show that the desire of a single person can make a difference.
