A meeting of Muon Sac Mau (Multi-color), a gay club established in the central province of Khanh Hoa

In Vietnam, discrimination is entrenched against homosexuality, though things are changing with more gay people coming out of the closet and setting up support groups.

H. is gay. “When I was a child, my favorite games were skipping rope and hopscotch,” he says to describe his girlish instincts while growing up.

 

“The more I grew up, the more feminine I became.”

His family, including his parents, was not comfortable with his sexuality.

“Their love for me began to fade. At school, I received no sympathy, but cruel comments from my friends. Since then I have closed my heart and lived in worry, confusion and panic.”

H.’s story could apply to virtually any gay person in Vietnam.

All of them are in urgent need of society’s care, sympathy and safe sex education, experts warn, since in the international community they are categorized as a group at high-risk of contracting the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

 

But the situation in Vietnam is different.

 

Head of Hanoi’s HIV/AIDS Prevention Department, Le Nhan Tuan, says homosexuals have never been regarded as an at-risk group in the country.

In fact, there is very little information about them, with policy makers and the media ignoring them in terms of HIV infection and protection, he says.

“This has kept them in the dark about the risk of HIV infection,” he says.

“There is no data about the spread of HIV among the group, but it’s certain the rate of infection is not low.”

The risk is said to be higher since gay men tend to look for others secretly.

One of the most common mediums is the Internet, where therisk is very high.

A gay man said he used to feel very happy about dating a man 10 years older than him who he met online.

But he found out later that the man had sex with many other men, sometimes with seven different people a week.

 

“Now at 21, I am almost dead since I have HIV,” he says.

Lao Dong newspaper reports, in fact, that 10 percent of all gay men in Hanoi may have HIV or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

In Ho Chi Minh City, according to Tien Phong, the figure could be 9 percent.

Lao Dong’s figures are from a survey of 219 gay men done by Donn J. Colby, a University of Washington scholar from the US in 2001.

It found 77 percent had sex with men in the past 12 months, and 22 percent with both men and women.

Twenty-six percent of them said they never used a condom while having sex with men.

Admittedly the situation could be very different now, but current figures are not available.

 

Sympathy needed

 

Tran Thi Nga, head of the Hanoi-based STDs (sexual transmitted diseases), HIV and AIDS Prevention Center, says in addition to the need for safe sex education, homosexual people also need the community’s care, sympathy and support.

The fact is that most gay people have to live a miserable life due to discrimination and stigma in what is a traditional Asian society, she says.

Those who are open about their sexuality cannot even get an ID card or work for public companies, she says.

Gay support groups like Hai Dang (Lighthouse), Khat Vong Song (Hope to Live) and Bau Troi Xanh (Blue Sky) have been set up in various places around the country.

Their organizers disseminate information about protection from HIV through talks and consultations and through singing, dancing, sports and fashion.

Members have to approach other homosexual people at “hot spots” to talk to them about safe sex, advise them to take health tests and even distribute free condoms and brochures.

Nguyen Son Minh, one of the founders of Khat Vong Song in Hanoi, says, “Our goal is to help homosexual men meet, be self-confident and contribute to society.”

For the members, the clubs could well be a second home where they do not have to hide their true feelings and have the chance to openly share their concerns.

With or without support from other organizations, all these groups are making an effort to raise homosexual people’s awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and to help society understand them better.

Dr. Pham Van Khoat, director of the Vietnamese Community Mobilization Center for HIV/AIDS Control (VICOMC), a project supported by the US’ Pact organization, says: “When we get close to gay people’s spiritual life, we feel moved by their simple desires and dreams. Our society is in need of hearts knowing how to share with others.”

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