More can be done to reduce the risk and vulnerability of men who have sex with men (MSM) and to Society Against Sexual Discrimination (SASOD) member and MSM activist, Ryan Rawlins, feels that the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) is in a position to step up its work in this area.
Rawlins, in a recent interview with the Stabroek News, noted that the NAPS receives monies from donors to work in this vulnerable community. He pointed out that even though there is a law which basically makes it illegal for men to have sex with men more can be done.
“We are all humans and we should be treated that way,” he said in a recently interview.
Distribution of condoms and some sensitisation work is just not enough, according to Rawlins, who said that because of the treatment MSM receive, even from officials, drives them more underground; a situation that continues to fuel the spread of HIV.
According to Rawlins, the buggery law needs to change because it also contributes to them being harassed by the police and as a result many MSM refuse to file complaints at police stations because they are afraid of the reaction of police officers.
“Even when you passing the police stations sometimes you should hear what the police officers would say to you,” Rawlins said.
He said many times MSM are accused of being “lawless” but in many instances it is just a defence mechanism employed because of the constant harassment on the streets.
“We are human and not every day you will be in that mood to take it and sometimes you just lash out,” he explained.
Asked whether it would not be better for MSM to keep their lifestyle on the down low, Rawlins said this has its advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages, he said, would only be for the individuals as life would be easier for them but on the flip side in hiding their sexuality many of them might start families as a façade and this could have devastating effects on a number of persons including young children.
“My thing is we are all humans and we must understand that none of us is God and we should allow each other to live our lives,” Rawlins
He said members of the Guyana Defence Force also harass MSM.
“One night a group of us was standing on the road gaffing and a GDF patrol pass and stop and say if they come back and see us we would see what they will do to us. What was the most we could do? Nah run off the road and that is what we do,” Rawlins said.
Health care
Meanwhile, Rawlins said while many of the health care professionals no longer take issue with MSM seeking medical service there is still work to be done and in his own words it is still “not good enough”.
“This is still one of the reasons why a lot of MSM don’t want to seek certain services because when they go the health officials would have an attitude. I still think work needs to be done with them so that they can cater to the needs of the MSM,” Rawlins said.
Rawlins gave a recent example of a friend of his who faced some difficulty when he sought medical treatment at a hospital and it was only after he returned with him that he was treated.
“They know me good. So he was treated,” Rawlins said adding that also because he was a member of SASOD this may have played on the minds of the health officials. “…I don’t have a problem but I have friends [who are openly gay] who have had
problems.”
And though his friend was treated when he accompanied him Rawlins said that there was still the issue of them being pointed out by a security guard at the institution.
On another issue Rawlins said that openly gay men also have difficulty finding employment. He recalled that he had been called for an interview, but when he arrived he was told that his application could not be found. He requested access to a computer and pulled up the application but in the end he did not get the job and was told the reason was that he was attending university.
“But I know that was not the issue because I had stated in the application that I was going to UG so him [the interviewer] telling me that because of UG I cannot get the job was not true,” he said.
Rawlins said he has also experienced superiors wanting to give him all “kinds of things to do that were not in my job description and I had to put a stop to it.”
At one time Rawlins said that speedboats operators at the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling refused to allow him to travel in their boats and he was forced to seek the assistance of a senior official who intervened and he now boards the boats without any hassle.
Recently, Director NAPS Dr Shanti Singh had described a study which had found that existing programmes in Guyana for MSM are small scale as not being “entirely true.” She had said that said some of the nine organisations that do work with civil society also work with the vulnerable group and are very effective. Those, she had said were chosen by an independent technical review panel which selected the programmes that received funding from Global Fund.
“In the most extreme case, funding for MSM programmes supported by the Global Fund in Guyana dropped by 96% between initial proposal and final budget,” said the report released last week by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR) at Johns Hopkins University.
However, according to Dr Singh it was not a case of the Global Fund giving the money to work specifically with MSM but rather the money was given and then a call for applications was made and based on the proposals the organizations which received funding were selected by the technical review panel.
According to the study, which was conducted by students in eight countries, despite HIV prevalence among MSM in Guyana being nearly 20 times that of the general population, “prevention efforts are hampered by criminalization that prevents many government bodies from directly addressing the HIV epidemic among MSM; programmes, where they exist, are limited to small-scale behavioral interventions.”
The report on the study, titled ‘Achieving an AIDS-Free Generation for Gay Men and Other MSM,’ found that funding to prevent and treat HIV consistently fails to reach programnes designed to control the disease among gay men and other men who have sex with men.
The report also found that resources dedicated to addressing the epidemic among MSM are “grossly insufficient, and that funding intended for this population is often diverted away from MSM-related services.”
