Hear Results of Euro Sex Survey

posted: 27/04/2011

Come and find out the results from the biggest every survey of gay men's sex lives. In summer 2010 over 1650 men from North-West England (800+ in Greater Manchester), took part in the online European gay men’s sex survey. 180,000 gay and bi men across Europe joined in – the world’s biggest survey of gay men's sex lives and life.

Find out what’s going on
On Tuesday 31 May in the early evening, at LGF in the heart of Manchester’s gay village, you can find out

• A bit about this Europe-wide survey
• Find out what’s going on across Europe
• See how the UK compares with other countries
• Find out how NW England measures up to other UK regions
   

Over about two hours there will be a mix of Presentations, Question and Answers, and Group Discussions.
 

Welcome to all interested in gay men's sexlives and HIV prevention needs

It’s open to everyone interested – people from the gay community, people interested in HIV prevention for men who have sex with men, people providing or commissioning health and social services, gay community organisation staff and volunteers, clinic and social services staff, gay businesses, helpline and switchboard workers, gay youth groups, …..
 

Book your seat by Friday 20 May
Refreshments and nibbles provided, and it’s free – you just need to book so there’ll be enough room, nibbles and refreshments for all
There’s a simple booking form HERE you email back to Shaun at LGF 
All he needs to know is your name and an email address and tell him you want to come to the GMSS Seminar on 31 May. If you work for an organisation he would like to know your organisation's name and your work email.

When and where

The evening is on Tuesday 31st May, it starts at 5.30pm and ends 7.30pm
Lesbian & Gay Foundation, 5 Richmond Street, Manchester, M1 3HF
 

Survey Results for anyone who wants to do some homework and ask smarter questions, here are the results for NW England

All the UK results are here

The rest of Europe, by country is here

Non-Discrimination Law Guide

posted: 04/04/2011

The first ever Handbook on European Non-Discrimination Law is now available. It offers practical guidance to help people with discrimination claims at the UK’s Courts and Tribunals. Since the UK made the Human Rights Act part of UK law almost all discrimination cases are dealt with in the UK. The handbook is based on the decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg and the European Court of Justice in Brussels.

The handbook is intended for advice workers, human rights organisations, equality bodies like the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission, as well as lawyers, judges, and prosecutors.

It contains the context and background to European non-discrimination law (including the UN human rights treaties), discrimination categories and defences, the scope of the law (including who is protected), and the grounds protected, such as sex, sexuality, disability, age, race and nationality.

It’s been published jointly by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Court of Human Rights, and is the first comprehensive guide to all European non-discrimination law.
 

"The Guide will improve access to justice for victims of discrimination across Europe. It sets out the complicated system of rules in a simple and comprehensive manner. It is fitting that this successful joint venture should be launched as we prepare for the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights."
Jean-Paul Costa president of ECtHR

Handbook on European Non-Discrimination Law

European Anti-Discrimination Law Review

Human Rights Court - HIV discrimination

posted: 18/03/2011

The European Court of Human Rights has just made a helpful and important ruling about HIV discrimination. The court said discrimination against people with HIV is so widespread that it means people with HIV are a “vulnerable group with a history of prejudice and stigmatisation”.

This ruling makes it easier for other people to make HIV discrimination claims on human rights grounds. This means people with HIV will automatically be treated in future human rights cases as 'vulnerable'. This means one less thing to prove when making a human rights claim in UK courts and tribunals.

With cuts to public services for people with HIV, including access to free legal aid, more people with HIV in the UK are likely to need to use the Human Rights Act. This ruling will help.

The European Court case was against Russia. Russia refused a residence permit to a man from Uzbekistan (who is married to a Russian woman with whom he has a child) simply because he is HIV-positive. The Court said this plainly breached their human right to family life. If he hadn’t had HIV he would have been given the residence permit to live with his wife and child in Russia.
 

The court said, "The mere presence of a HIV-positive individual in a country is not in itself a threat to public health."
 

Human Right to Family Life and non-discrimination

Russia was found to have broken Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to family life, and Article 14, which bans discrimination.
 

Last October, the European Human Rights Court ruled against Russia because of Moscow's bans of gay pride events. Then the court found that Russia was breaking the European Convention guarantees of freedom of assembly and association, the right to an effective remedy and prohibition of discrimination.

Source

 
More details on this New York law professor’s blog

European Court of Human Rights

Testing In European Gay Sex Survey

posted: 26/01/2011

In June we asked gay and bi men to take part in the first Europe-wide web survey of HIV and sexual health risks and needs. Thank you to all who joined in.The first report is out now; it became the world’s largest survey of gay and bi men. 180,000+ gay and bi men took part and 10% were from the UK – 18,400 men.
 

Behind on testing
The UK has Europe’s fastest growth in HIV but the survey tells us gay men in many other countries are testing more often. More men tested in over a dozen countries last year than in the UK, including men in Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Russian men.
 

Two out of three gay and bi men in the UK haven’t had a HIV test in the last year as recommended. And around 1 in 3 UK gay and bi men have never taken a HIV test.
 

When did you test?

If you are a gay or bi man who has not been diagnosed with HIV, when was the last time you had a HIV test? Annual HIV tests make sense in NW England because around 1 in 10 men on the local scene have HIV, with about one third of those with HIV not knowing this.
 

Half the men who have never had a HIV test are convinced they don’t have HIV – but we know for sure some men are wrong about this. Most untested men think they probably don’t have HIV but some are not sure, and a few haven’t tested yet, even though they think they probably have HIV.
 

I Did It campaign

A national testing campaign is now running across England using outdoor, online and gay press adverts. The I Did It campaign believes men are more likely to take a HIV test if they hear positive things from other men about testing, whatever the result.

There's a new website to inspire and encourage men through hearing other men’s test stories. It has a handy local clinic finder, and men can come back and tell their own HIV test story.

Clips of positive men talking
Aside from men’s HIV test stories and the clinic finder, the website has key facts about HIV tests, a discussion forum for men to talk about testing, videos of positive men talking about receiving a positive test result, and information on the support available for men who test HIV positive.

G.A.Y. founder Jeremy Joseph has just taken a HIV test and talks about his own test result in PinkNews

Testing information and clinic finder THIVK - Test, Take Control

I Did It

The full European Sex Survey report will be out In September 2011. You can find more about the survey here

And the results are published here

UK reports dealing with HIV testing among gay and bi men:

Tactical Dangers – report of UK’s Gay Men’s Sex Survey 2008

Testing Targets – report of UK’s Gay Men’s Sex Survey 2007

HIV and Gay European Migrants

posted: 06/01/2011

Gay men from Central and Eastern Europe who now live in the UK are at risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to a new study.
 

Around one in four of the men surveyed said they had unprotected anal sex with a casual partner of a different or unknown HIV status, and 15% of men reported being paid for sex. The risks faced by gay and bi men from central and eastern European countries are broadly no worse nor better than the risks run by British men. But the men need culturally appropriate HIV and STI information.
 

The study looked at what happened after the ten central and eastern European states joined the European Union in 2004. Joining the EU gave people the right to live and work in the UK. The men were from the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Most (80%) of those surveyed live in London.
 

Online recruits
Using the internet cruising sites gaydar and gayromeo, the investigators recruited 691 men. They answered in-depth on-line questionnaires. The men had a mean age of 29 years, most were working and 54% had a degree. The majority (83%) have lived in the UK for over a year and mainly live in the capital.
 

Risks taken
There is a high level of risk behaviour raising the chances of HIV transmission.

• 13% were paid for sex in the UK, with 22% having a history of being paid for sex
• 37% said they recently used recreational drugs
• 31% have had a sexually transmitted infection
• 62% had ten or more sexual partners in the past year
• 23% had unprotected anal sex that involved a risk of HIV transmission.

But HIV testing rates were high, with 79% stating that they had ever tested, and 64% said they had tested since arriving in the UK. British men could learn something helpful about taking regular (at least annual) HIV tests, from some of these European men.
 

HIV is less common than for British men
Prevalence of HIV was 5%, much lower than prevalence among UK gay men, which some studies have suggested is as high as 12% in London, and 1 in 10 in Manchester.  Most of the men diagnosed with HIV, were diagnosed in the UK (78%).
 

Britons' bad example? Risky behaviour rises after arrival
The longer men lived in the UK, the more likely they were to report risky sex. Levels of drug use are higher after men have been here a year, and partner numbers also rise.
 

Condomless risks
Unprotected sex with casual partners of an unknown or different HIV status was linked significantly with being HIV-positive, or untested, recreational drug use, and being paid for sex in the UK.
 

“CEE (Central and Eastern European) MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) are at significant risk of the acquisition and transmission of HIV,” write the investigators, who emphasise the UK’s “duty of care to ensure that MSM from CEE countries are aware of their sexual health services in the UK and are able to access them.” They call for HIV prevention materials to be tailored to meet the needs of these men.

“Our findings suggest that CEE MSM report comparable levels of risk to those in the general MSM population in London and the UK,” comment the investigators, “interventions aimed at MSM should be accessible to CEE MSM.”

Source with reference