Battle Lines Drawn Against AIDS in S.F. : Epidemic Worsening Despite Massive Efforts by City, Private Groups

It used to be when David wanted to pick up a sexual partner, he’d cruise the crowded Moby Dick club in the Castro District or try a wild night in the orgy atmosphere of a bathhouse.

Now, with six close friends dead of AIDS, he’s changed his promiscuous ways and chooses to fantasize with other homosexuals via a fast-growing “sex phone” exchange.

The night life, however, hasn’t slowed down significantly in San Francisco’s gay neighborhoods. Orphan Andy’s 24-hour coffee shop is still busy after the bars close, and Buzzby’s blaring music still packs them in on Polk Street.

But, only three of 11 bathhouses remain open under the scrutiny of new city Health Department rules that ban sexual liaisons in the facilities.

Network of Volunteers

And a network of volunteers now pops in and out of gay bars, restaurants and businesses daily, leaving AIDS literature and information that quickly disappears, often into the back pockets of patrons who will read the material only when they’re alone.

In San Francisco, the battle lines are drawn in the war against the epidemic. The city has budgeted about $10 million in 1985 to sponsor AIDS-related community programs and to fund special clinics.

At the nonprofit San Francisco Foundation, about 400 volunteers assist in services ranging from food drives for needy victims to visiting sex clubs with information on how to lower the risk of contracting or spreading the AIDS virus.

Another program, the Shanti Project, provides free counseling and emotional support for victims and their families and has low-cost, long-term housing for people displaced or rejected from their households. A separate hospice program deals with the terminally ill.

Half of Victims Died

In San Francisco’s population of approximately 70,000 male homosexuals, 994, or one in 72, had been diagnosed as having AIDS as of mid-February. Since the first case was diagnosed in 1981, more than half of the victims have died.

Also in February, a Catholic nun and an 80-year-old great grandmother died in San Francisco as a result of transfusions of blood contaminated with the AIDS virus. Symptoms of the disease have been reported among some heterosexual inmates of California’s prison system.

Individuals have responded to the crisis in different ways.

David, a gay businessman, said he has tried several alternatives to direct sexual contact--including paying $25 for 10 hours of phone sex.

“The talk is cheap and hot, and it’s safe,” he said.

He was prompted to alter his life style, he said, after watching six friends, ages 35 to 45, deteriorate and die of AIDS.

‘You Never Know’

“Being gay, every time you have sex with someone the fear of AIDS exists,” he said. “I think of myself as someone who escaped, but you never know.”

To slow the spread of the virus--believed transmitted by bodily fluids entering the blood stream through ruptures or cuts--a major educational campaign has been launched to promote safer, low-risk sex among homosexuals.

“The AIDS epidemic is not going away; in fact it’s getting worse,” said Les Pappas, who works with gay businesses and their employees on safer sex programs. “If we don’t adopt preventive measures, this epidemic will change our community in a way that is too devastating to talk about.”

Pappas organized one group, called “Bartenders Against AIDS,” because he said their opinions and leadership are respected by patrons, leading to a consciousness-raising attitude toward safer sex within the community.

He also organized a Valentine’s Day “condom giveaway” where volunteers dressed up in heart-shaped condom costumes and gave away thousands of the contraceptives. “It was real successful,” Pappas said.

Bathhouse Controversy

One controversy that arose in the paranoia over AIDS was whether the city should close the gay bathhouses where patrons having sexual activity with several partners were considered to be in the AIDS high-risk category.

Rick Graham, a patron at the Ritch Street Baths, said there is now an emphasis on educating people to use condoms and to avoid certain high-risk sexual practices.

“In a time of behavioral change, it’s important for people to feel what they’re doing has a positive effect on the epidemic,” Graham said. “There are different degrees of responsibility and one of them is not getting into a period of being sex-negative.

“A big part of the gay self-identification has been the sexual act to a large degree,” he said.

A controversial plan by health officials to send city detectives into bathhouses to monitor gay activities was voted down Feb. 6 by the San Francisco Health Commission. Attorney John Wahl, who argued in opposition to the plan, said it amounted to “secret police” tactics.

‘Consenting Adults’

Vice Crimes Lt. Dennis Martell said UPI he doesn’t think the bathhouse issue is a police matter.

“It’s just consenting adults engaging in sexual activity,” Martell said. “There’s no prostitution involved as far as we know.

“AIDS is a problem for concern, but it’s not in our jurisdiction--that’s handled by the health department.”

One male prostitute, interviewed anonymously, said most people who pay for sex aren’t the ones who frequent bars. “They don’t easily pick up people and aren’t as likely to be carriers of the AIDS virus,” he said.

The young, muscular man said he had become a “call guy” because the money was good--$75 an hour--and he had difficulty getting other work. Although careful, he admitted that sometimes precautions are thrown to the wind.

“I don’t walk around carrying a bag full of protective devices,” he said.

Positive Results

Holly Smith, spokeswoman for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said that so far the educational program run by the foundation has shown positive results. The incidence of rectal gonorrhea among gay men have dramatically decreased and the rate of increase in AIDS cases has slowed, she said.

Dr. David Werderger, director of the Department of Public Health, recently reported also that the rate of other sexually transmitted diseases in gay men has declined as well.

“We know we’ve made a tremendous difference,” said Smith of the programs run by the foundation. “But, there’s still a long way to go.”