“Lib wins ALP praise for research visit to gay sex club”

Mr Atkinson, concerned with rising Victorian HIV rates, acted on a tip-off from a constituent that such venues existed.”Thinking that I was being told an exaggerated version of what was going on, I actually went to the venue. I was horrified,” he said.(source)

Bruce Atkinson clearly deserves the accolades he has been receiving for doing the primary research on this problem; he has seen for himself just why members of the gay community are at such risk of being infected by this horrid disease. The risk increases exponentially with the number of sex partners and the sort of behavior he witnessed, is much more that just “risky”.

“I spent maybe five or 10 minutes in the venue; some of the venue is just a passive recreation area where alcohol is served … but there were sections which were available for sexual encounters and some of those horrified me.”You have 30 or 40 men who were engaged in all sorts of sexual acts and it was dark and they couldn’t possibly tell who they were involved with.”

Mr Atkinson, who represents the Eastern Metropolitan region, said he was not seeking to close down such venues but hoped people would be reminded of the dangers of HIV and other health concerns. “It does concern me when they engage in high-risk behaviours and then return to the community, to wives or partners, be they male or female partners who are not aware.(source)”

For some members of the Gay community the idea that one can have sex often and anonymously is very attractive but this sort of behavior just reinforces ,in the minds of the general public, the idea that homosexuals are shallow pleasure seeking individuals who are not really just seeking relationships which are analogous to heterosexual unions as the calls to recognize gay” marriage” would suggest. In the same way that we would treat with disdain the sort promiscuous behavior between heterosexuals that Atkinson attests to here, we can and should be concerned that it is so prevalent in the Gay community. Sadly I suspect the fear of being labeled “homophobic” has made far to many people reluctant to criticize any aspect of the Gay subculture.