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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Homo / Nightlife / Upcoming Got the AIDS? The HIV? Well, That Really Sucks...

Posted by Adrian Ryan on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:26 AM

But there is a promising fledgling club night, just for you...

“Positive” is a brand new Seattle club party targeting HIV Positive people and their friends. It is slated to be a quarterly event, and the premier is tomorrow night at Re-Bar.

“This is the only HIV+ dance party in Seattle,” explain the DJs Barbarella (Lisa Damm) and Problematic (Tatayana Doss), the devisers of the event.

Barbarella & Problematic

“There are (HIV+) support group meetings, teas, potlucks and socials, but no club nights. We wanted to make sure it was just as normal as any other club night. Just because someone is infected with the virus doesn't mean they no longer like to dance and have a great time with their friends.

“Many of the people that are intended for this event are reluctant to support it for fear of exposing their status publicly...the very reason we decided to throw this event. We want to help foster an atmosphere where people will not be afraid to declare their status for fear of ostracism.”

Of course, an event like this is by its very nature riddled, fraught, indeed, land-mined, with serious social and political overtones: Serosorting, bug chasers, questions of mental and public health, latex barriers, alleged "safer sex"—and it's quite likely that many HIV negative folks will avoid the event for fear of misunderstandings arising about their own sero-status. So why are two straight HIV-less young women staging this event, how do they intend to overcome these obstacles...and why now?

“(People) are trying to politicize our agenda. They are simply over thinking it. We are essentially and ONLY trying to throw an open minded, progressive party that says, "Fuck You" to the shame/blame that leads to so much unhappiness and desperation surrounding those who are already infected.”

The first Positive happens tomorrow, Friday, October 30th, 10pm at Re-Bar (1114 Howell). $5 at the door. Barbarella and Problematic spinning. For boys, for girls!

Comments (2) RSS

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I knew a (gay, male, HIV negative) friend of a friend who used to DJ for poz parties in Dallas at least a decade ago. With Seattle's politics and social scene being what they are, I'm sort of surprised this is a new thing here.

While I agree that there are potential pitfalls, both political and health-related, I can also think of all sorts of good reasons why HIV+ folks might want their own club night. Bug-chasing concerns aside—aren't there people with creepy motives everywhere, all the time?—I can imagine that this sort of event could really take the edge off meeting new people, if the burden of HIV disclosure is lifted to begin with.

Posted by translinguistic other on October 29, 2009 at 12:01 PM

This is a pretty patronizing article towards the poz community. The very heading is very poz-phobic, and I find it offensive on multiple levels. How is an event like this "fraught, and indeed land-mined"? It sounds like the kind of event where folks who have the disease, and who are sick of feeling ashamed of their status, can get together with other folks who have the disease and are sick of feeling ashamed of their status. The downfall to running anti-AIDS campaigns is that it creates folks like you, Adrian, who are rightly afraid of getting the disease, but also weirdly hyper-critical of those who've been infected. Why do these folks even need to defend their party to you? Why is that your angle? Seems POSITIVELY narrow minded. And the heading? Waayy too flippant.

Posted by I'm HIV Positive You Got the Angle Wrong Here on October 29, 2009 at 11:58 PM