My partee-going partner used to go to this HIV service providing non-government organization in Makati City where – he told me one time – one of the gay men “serving” him tried hooking up with him. Right after getting his PrEP supplies, he supposedly received a text message from one counselor who told him that the other counselor wanted to “do it with you”, a desired act since “nag-ti-take ka na ng PrEP so puwede na bareback”.
The impact: Tar stopped going to that NGO, so he (initially) stopped accessing a life-saving medicine.
“Can’t count the reasons why I feel violated,” he said to me.
No-no sana: Texting him in a “personal” capacity (when there’s no reason to). Sharing his personal number (among themselves, and to who knows who else). Offering sex to a client while working as a counselor. At iba pa.
But then, Tar said, encountering people like those isn’t “rare” for those who partee.
At least based on partees seen (or attended), there – allegedly – are “counselors” whose idea of PrEP promotion is as part of partees. It’s good that PrEP is promoted, and yet… let’s stop pretending that drug use in the LGBTQIA+ community isn’t an issue, and that these people’s actual participation in the drug use isn’t worth closer scrutiny. There are PrEP distributors who are allegedly also orgynizers. Yes… what people do in the privacy of bedrooms is their business, but then when the giving/holding back of PrEP is made dependent on whether you sleep with this or that person, then that’s more human trafficking than safer sex promotion.
Still not too many Filipinos use PrEP. Of course, profiteering is also an issue; too many “service providers” now ask for payment before you can get life-saving PrEP. But worthy of closer look is how PrEP is distributed, too. Kasi if even one or two or a few of the so-called counselors use this to sleep around… I don’t think we should be surprised at all why the uptake is small pa rin.
