Gais Positius, an association of and for HIV-positive gays

         Our objective is to offer support and information and improve the quality of life of gays with HIV/Aids, while at the same time campaigning for support and respect from the community in general for those who have to deal with the effects of this illness.

         Since it's set-up in 1986 the 'Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana 'umbrella organisation which campaigns for gay rights as well us helping in the fight against aids

        Because of this the first homosexuals to be diagnosed as HIV-positive got in touch with the organistation to receive help and support .

        In 1989 the first Grand Ball in support of HIV_positive gays was organised as well as the first information and anti-descrimination campaigns related to this section of society .

        The 10th of september 1990 a group of HIV-positive gays set-up a group in the ' Coordinadora' (Gais per la Salut( Gays for Health ) which subsequently changed its name to Stop SIDA ) to, and with the support of the other groups within the ' coordinadora ', contando con el apoyo de las restantes Coordinadora, form the first self-support and information organisation for HIV-positive gays.

That was how it began 12 years ago " 'Gais Positius'," whose original objectives were. respecting the confidentiality, promote the interchange of essential information related to HIV/AIDS, how it is spread, and possible treatments.

        In those first years the inmense majority of homosexuals, as well as society in general, had a very vague notion about the reality of AIDS, which meant that the task was not easy or simple. tema, por sencilla.

        The priority was to give attention to the gays who had been diagnosed HIV-positive in the test of anti-bodies, which tended to rapidly lead to AIDS. The seriousness of the situation, as well as the increasing-number of affected gays meant that it was necessary for the group to expand to offer more and better services.

     'La Coordinadora' y Stop Sida, which had nurtured the group from the beginning, solicited economic help from the public administration which facilitated the publishing of the first quality visual materials ,which gave way to the campaigns “Se between Men”, “You're not alone” and " If you have a friend with AIDS " .

One of the prime efforts to improve visibility and acceptance of HIV-positive people in society in general as well as among gays.   This was acheived, with the help of homosexuals who came out publically as HIV-positive , consolidating with their contribution the possibilty of modifying the message of rejection towards those affected, which at the time was the majority-view.

       

The principle means of reaching this objective were the speeches made every year, from 1989 onwards in the Grand Ball of Solidarity with HIV-positive Gays by members of our association, making observations about the reality of their situation, and that of their family and friends.

        Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana.

Since then it decides its own policies, agreed upon in the General Assemblies and developed by the directive commitee participating actively with other organisations in the fight against aids. . Gais Positius is, since 1998, founding member of Comitè 1r. de Desembre - Plataforma Unitària de ONGs-SIDA de Catalunya.

        En 1994, 1995, 1996 , 1999 y 2002 Gais Positius with the support of Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana and ofthe National Aids Plan of the Ministry of Health organised the l, ll, lll, lV y V National Meetings of Spanish HIV_Positive gay organisations whose main objective was to exchange our experiencies with other groups of Spanish gay organisations.

         In these meetings I we studied and evaluated the different types of organisations evaluaron in the fight against AIDS, and this served to reinforce the idea that the support groups should be tailor-made to the respective users ( gays,women, intraveneous drug-users, families, etc.), to improve the quality of service offered to the user.

        In 1995 The Second Meeting took placein which the problems and circumstances that each group had to face with regard to organising conferences with different experts in medicine, nutrition, pyschological and emotional aspects, as well as legal issues related to HIV-AIDS.

         In 1996 the Third Meeting took place this time exclusively looking at loss and grief. The result was positively-received because we were able to offer experts in this area, very unexplored in the rest of Spain

        El IV Encuentro se realitzó el 1999 y también fue monográfico dado que su finalidad fue extender el “Counselling” o consejo asistido como herramienta de trabajo entre los facilitadores de grupo.

         El ultimo y V Encuentro ha sido el año 2002. En este encuentro se han puesto en común experiencias y programas de trabajo, asi como espectativas y nuevas realidades que estan apareciendo.

        Gais Positius fue la primera asociación de apoyo mutuo de toda España y, de momento, continúa siendo la única asociación gestionada íntegramente por homosexuales afectados por el VIH/SIDA de todo el Estado.

        El Programa per a la Prevenció i per l’assistència de la SIDA del Departament de Sanitat i Seguretat Social de la Generalitat de Catalunya y el Institut Municipal de la Salut de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona han contribuido, desde nuestros inicios, con su apoyo económico y técnico para que pudiésemos consolidarnos como asociación. También obtuvimos, desde su creación, el soporte de la Regidoria de Drets Civils del Ajuntament de Barcelona y en fecha más reciente, el de la Conselleria de Benestar Social de la Generalitat de Catalunya.