HIV/AIDS is not, however, the only determiner of the health of GBT men and MSM; and that's where Gay Men's Health Summit (GMHS) comes in. GMHS embraces the World Health Organization's 1946 definition of health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
We in the Washington area are encouraged by the National Steering Committee for the Gay Men's Health Summits to organize towards hosting GMHS 2012 here immediately before AIDS 2012. The convergence of these two events holds great promise to increase the involvement of academics and Global MSM communities in GMHS and to infuse greater grassroots engagement in the International AIDS Conference.
Let's come together to begin discussing openly how to make GMHS2012-DC a reality and to re-vitalize the movement for GBT men's health in the Greater Washington area in the process.
Six Foundational Principles of gay men's health summits, projects, or campaigns
1. Replace the HIV-centric paradigm of health advocacy for gay men with holistic models that integrate (but do not default to) HIV
2. Rethink the crisis paradigm of HIV work and embrace contemporary understandings, meanings, and implications of HIV for gay men of all colors & classes
3. Challenge deficit-based models for work with gay men and replace them with asset-based approaches
4. Strategically and politically confront structural forces challenging the well-being of gay & bi men
5. Embrace a "big tent" vision of community, respecting diverse ways of organizing sex and relationships among gay men: shame and guilt
are the health hazards, rather than specific sex practices and sex cultures
6. Launch only efforts that are neither overtly or covertly sanitizing, sanctimonious or moralistic
GMHS and the Gay Men's Health Movement seek to address 8 Core Issues Confronting queer men of diverse generations, ethnicities, races, locations, and social classes
1. Explore the longings for intimacy and connection with other men and the social structures, networks, and ideologies that promote or prevent such connections.
2. Understand the meanings of anal sex, penetration, & the exchange of semen and explore the relationships between various racial, ethnic, and class-based masculinities and anal sex practices
3. Grapple with the emotions, pleasures, & wounds emerging from childhood and adolescent experiences with boys & men
4. Tap into sources of resilience, creativity, determination, humor & playfulness in diverse gay men's cultures
5. Support healing from trauma: violence, abuse, homophobia, racism, poverty, AIDS and addiction
6. Examine the ways transgression, risk, and the taboo interact with queer men's sexual desires, practices, and subcultures
7. Confront ways in which privileged masculinities of youth present challenges to & opportunities for well-being as men age
8. Revive and recreate community rituals, social structures, and networks to replace those lost during the most intense crisis years of AIDS
Join us for a discussion and planning meeting
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
6:30pm - 8:30pm
The DC Center
1810 14th St NW
click here to RSVP on facebook
