[hivaids-twg] Vietnamnews readers' opinions on "who care If I am gay" - Y kien doc gia cua Vietnamnews voi "Ai quan tam neu nhu toi la mot nguoi dong tinh

[Quoc C. Nguyen]

http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SAY270209

Your say

(27-02-2009)

Joint effort needed to curb prejudice, encourage men to use social services

Last week we asked if readers think discrimination and stigma are reasons
why only 10 per cent of MSM (men who have sex with men) in Viet Nam use
public health services. We also asked what readers think should be done to
change that. These are some of the answers we received.

Nguyen Chung Tai, Ha Noi HIV carrier

I'm not surprised by these numbers because the real numbers are always more
than those published in reports by the UN or other organisations.

It is understandable that many gay men find it hard to come out, especially
those who are infected with HIV. Other people still keep their conservative
thinking toward gay people, mostly older generations.

Another problem, in my opinion, is the "easy" lifestyle of a great part of
the gay community. Their habit of not being faithful to one partner but
changing partners regularly plays an important role in spreading HIV/AIDS in
the MSM community particularly and in society in general.

How can we change that? I think this depends on both sides. On the one hand,
the gay community should recognise that they need to maintain a healthier
lifestyle. On the other hand, society needs to change their attitude towards
gay people, stop looking at them with disgust.

The Ministry and departments of Health need to create and apply more
practical programmes to promote HIV/AIDS prevention. Current efforst are too
short-term and unrealistic. At the same time, our education system needs to
insert sex education into teaching programmes for secondary school and
above, because our students are no longer as innocent as before living in
the internet era. Schools need to play an important role in teaching
students how to live a healthy and pratical lifestyle and families need to
start talking about sex to their children. Internet is a great school for
the kids, but letting them surf the internet by themselves is dangerous.

Nguyen Thanh My Actionaid Brussels Belgium

In my opinion, gay people, both women and men, rarely use health services
because they are afraid of the discrimination from their families and
society.

There are many people who think homosexuality is a sickness. As a result,
it's very difficult for the homosexuals to lead a normal life.

The more they hide themselves, the less they use social services.

To improve this, I think we need to have a wide and appropriate information
and education programme so that MSM understand their rights and can receive
the necessary information about the social services available to them. This
programme should also target greater public awareness to encourage sympathy
and understanding that will hopefully encourage the gay community to be more
open and more willing to use social services.

As for the health service, it should offer comfortable and sensitive access.
High confidentiality is very important.

Dinh Thai Son, Ha Noi FHI Viet Nam

As a supervisor and manager to HIV prevention activities for the MSM
community in some big cities in Viet Nam, I realise that the greatest
obstacle to encouraging MSM from using health services is discrimination. We
need to focus on educating and training people working in these services
about the mentality and sensitivity of the people they are dealing with.

It takes time to change public opinion, so social administration agencies
should pay more attention to leading people's positive awareness of MSM, as
well as supporting strong projects and programmes working on HIV prevention
and intervention for this group of people.

Tom Miller, California

It would be wise for the Government and society to "bite the bullet" since
this is not "their" problem, it is "our" problem. Excluding the gay
community from our thinking and action excludes people we know and love, and
the sooner we can accept "gayness" as a reality and a legitimate part of our
society and not a threat, the sooner the healing - physical and
psychological - will occur. This is asking many to make a big step since all
their lives the idea of homosexuality has been reinforced as evil. American
writer and social critic Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to prejudice,
bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." The same can be said about getting to know
the gay community.

Joshua Riedel, Ha Noi

In addition to overcoming general discrimination against gays in Ha Noi and
HCM City, it seems to me that a more immediate and feasible issue to
confront and overcome is improving the channels of communication within the
gay community. Even if access to health services is limited in Viet Nam due,
in part, to the general population's discrimination against gay men, the 10
per cent of gay men who do take advantage of the health services offered
should share their information with the other 90 per cent of men who do not
use those services, helping to introduce them to gay-friendly clinics and
doctors. With the assistance and encouragement of others within the gay
community, perhaps men who do not currently think they have access to health
services would come to discover that it is possible to stay healthy and gay
in Viet Nam.

Dr Nick Medland, Viet Nam Chair MSM Subcommittee HIV/AIDS Technical Working
Group

Evidence from around the world, and increasingly from Viet Nam, suggests
that MSM feel stigmatised and discriminated against in daily life and when
coming into contact with services and with other authorities. Many go
through life trying to avoid such contact and actively try to stay hidden.
Reaching out with information, education, support, assistance and health
care is that much more difficult.

We know well how MSM can protect themselves and their partners from HIV
infection: to be well informed about condom use and HIV prevention; to feel
confident and strong enough in their own hearts to want to protect
themselves; to be able to go to a health service in a supportive and safe
environment for an HIV test from time to time; to receive the support and
friendship of their peers.

Viet Nam has been doing amazing work in a short period of time to help
prevent the rapid spread of HIV infection that we have seen in neighbouring
countries. However, this is just a beginning and an enormous amount is yet
to be done. We support and applaud the work of the government in this.

There are a lot of inspiring individuals and groups doing great work in MSM
communities. We need to be open in our support for them. The press and our
leaders need to give the message that we will take care of every member of
our society, that it's OK to be gay. Then, and only then, will we have a
chance to reduce the threat that the HIV epidemic poses to each and every
one of us.

Nathalie Miller, Ha Noi Entrepreneurs du Monde, Country Director

I'm not sure if MSM's lack of access to HIV/AIDS health service is
reflective of homophobia. The driving force of spreading HIV/AIDS in Viet
Nam is intravenous drug use (IDU); although the liaison between HIV/AIDS and
drug use has diminished in recent years in Viet Nam, the link is
irrefutable. The lack of access to HIV/AIDS health services that you noted
with MSM populations is also prevalent among IDU populations who are not, of
course, all men having sex with men - so I would hesitate to argue that the
reason behind this phenomenon is homophobia.

That said, there is definitely ongoing stigma in Viet Nam against gay men -
and perhaps more so against gay women, a group that you didn't include in
your question.

In Viet Nam, where kinship is of utmost importance and pressure lies on
children to continue the family line, discrimination against gay people
might also center around this idea that being gay means a departure from the
"family" as it is normally understood. Yet gay men and women have always
been parents and will continue to be parents, which is important for
Vietnamese people to realise. - VNS

 

 

 

 

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