I'm going to sound wishy washy on this and I hate being wishy washy. I don't like that
Broke Straight Boys is going to do bareback, I was here in the gay community before HIV and AIDs I was in the parks, the bookstores and tearooms having sex with every man I could. I didn't know their names, hell most of the time I wouldn't even recognize them if I saw them on the street unless if they dropped their pants. When AIDS became well known and people started dying it felt like my world was falling apart. I almost felt like I was losing my gay identity.
I had sex with a LOT of men but it was almost all oral sex. They didn't know at that time exactly how the virus was being spread and they weren't sure if oral sex was safer or not. They were even saying that you might catch AIDS through deep kissing. I was so scared, the usual hangout turned into ghost towns. Inside I felt like after all the cum I'd swallowed I had to be infected. I was so scared to get tested because I felt I would be positive but I was also scared not knowing. I made my appointment at the LGBT clinic and I had to wait for a month to get in. When the day finally came for me to go I was a nervous wreck, I don't even know how I managed to drive the 45 miles to get to the clinic. Sitting in the waiting room surrounded by literature I was actually shaking with fear. Finally a small older kind female nurse called me into the back and started the interview process. Everything was anonymous I was just a number but because the clinic had government support we had to go through an interview process so they could gather information.
I was so nervous and scared I stuttered when I answered her questions. The first question she asked me was when was the last time I had unprotected sex then how many mend did I have unprotected sex with in a week, I was embarrassed to tell this grandmotherly type woman that I was having sex with at least 25 men a week then she asked how many men in 2 weeks then a month then 3 months. I was doing the math in my head and the numbers were adding up way too fast and way too high. She was very nice never had a shocked look on her face and didn't preach to me at all but gave me the facts and what I could do to protect myself. She gave me information and condoms then did the test. I had to wait for another month to get the results.
It was excruciating waiting for the results, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep my work was suffering finally the day came. I fully expected to hear the news that I was positive. They would not give you the results over the phone because if you were positive they wanted to talk to you and counsel you. When I got into the little room with the nurse and she handed me the sealed envelop I was shaking so badly I couldn't even open it, she opened it for me and handed it over, I had tears in my eyes and couldn't read it so she read it for me and told me my results were negative. I broke down and cried like a baby. I was relieved and thankful for whatever reason that I was negative because with my lifestyle I did not think I should be.
At that time AIDS was a death sentence now it can be managed more successfully, if you can afford the medication. I do practice safer sex and I still get knots in my stomach when I go in for my tests twice a year and I am still thankful when I get a negative result.
The porn sites where leaders in promoting safer sex and almost every porn company went to using condoms for penetration and we did not see cum shots in the mouth or on the anus, we missed it but we understood how important this was. The porn industry gay and straight was hit hard by AIDS and they did a really good job of promoting safer sex and getting tested and doing their best to make sure their models were tested. I think it is a sad state of affairs that now the porn industry is doing the opposite now most porn companies are promoting unsafe sex in their videos. I think especially young people see this as an example and believe that HIV is not as risky or dangerous as it once was. I've seen young people who actually look for infected people to have sex with because they feel that once they have HIV they don't have to worry about it anymore.
With the new law in LA county that all porn actors must wear condoms is a good law. Now that the porn companies are no longer regulating themselves it's good to see the government stepping in and taking that decision out of their hands. I hope that this law will spread across the land and become a regular law for the whole country then there will not be any competition between sites to stay in business by showing riskier sex.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." We don't need any more statistics.