Outliving HIV (1994)

New AIDS Foundation campaign: "Outliving HIV"

Posters, postcards focus on renewed hope

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, JANUARY 11, 1994 -- The San Francisco AIDS Foundation today announced the release of a new bus shelter and postcard campaign, targeting gay and bisexual men of all colors, that stresses renewed hope and improved quality of life in the midst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Titled "Outliving HIV," the campaign focuses on how gay men can live a full and vital life, and how they can re-energize hopes and dreams that may have diminished in recent years. It also reinforces the practice of consistent safe sex, which may have been undermined in some men by a sense of inevitability and helplessness in the face of the epidemic.

Campaign coordinator Wayne Blankenship said "Outliving HIV" seeks to connect safe sex to the idea of outliving the epidemic.

"This campaign is about declaring ourselves alive again," Blankenship said. "We are all long-term survivors of HIV, whether we are HIV-negative or HIV-positive. The skills we've acquired fighting this disease help us to move together into what may sometimes seem an uncertain future."

Bus shelter and MUNI billboards show a gay man with brightly colored lips and yellow flowers in his hair, and read: "Outliving forecasts of doom." The posters advise gay men to "Keep it safe. Make a plan. See it through." The idea: to stress planning for the future, an essential element in regaining lost hope and realizing personal goals.

The posters offer two referral phone numbers. One is for the Compass Project, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's one-on-one counseling and peer support service for HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men (415/487-8010). The Compass Project is committed to supporting men in discovering personal solutions to a variety of HIV concerns. The other phone number is for the AIDS Foundation Trilingual Hotline, which answers questions and concerns about HIV in English, Spanish, and Filipino (1-800-367-AIDS).

Blankenship said the campaign raises questions about what it means to be gay in the '90s.

"Society is in turmoil over gay issues," he said. "Our societal and personal futures will bring both setbacks and unimagined successes. In such a period of upheaval, it is essential that we recommit to taking care of ourselves and each other."

A campaign kick-off event will be held January 15, from 10 AM to 5 PM at 18th and Castro Streets. The five-postcard series promoting the campaign will be distributed free, as will condoms.

Gannett bus shelter posters on Castro and Polk Street and MUNI underground billboards along Market Street will also be installed January 15.