Interview with Sandro Mattioli, health manager at Arcigay Il Cassero.
From Pegaso19 – winter 2009/2010
The social stigma surrounding HIV-positive people has many similarities to homophobia. So how do you explain that gays and lesbians also have prejudices against HIV-positive people?
First of all, gays and lesbians also live in Italy: where the culture of divide and conquer It dominates. As LGBT people, we feel we belong to something different from the rest of society, we create a closed community, which leave out the other, those different from us, including HIV-positive people. The second reason is that the association has never had the political will to develop a concrete multi-year plan to fight HIV. It only acts in a spotty, disorganized manner. There are also encouraging signs, such as Arcigay's participation in the World AIDS Conference in Mexico, its presence in the National AIDS Council, the ICAR Congress. But the lack of planning has led to a lack of understanding between the different identities in our community, and has prevented the idea from spreading that HIV+ homosexual people exist, a bit like what happens to homophobes who ignore gays and their needs.
How does an Italian gay person with HIV experience their sexuality and relationships today?
In Italy, too, as in other countries, there has been a strong demand for relationships between HIV-positive gay men, a strong desire to not have this burden on their shoulders, and to not face the fear of having to come out to others. There is a desire to belong and identify with a subgroup within a subgroup.. You no longer want to be afraid of suffering further discrimination. There are some striking similarities with the path of gay visibility and affirmation in the 70s. In this sense, too, our lack of planning returns. The association is perceived as external, and many HIV+ people no longer have the courage to approach community spaces.
Why do you need to get tested for HIV?
It changes (and for the better!) to know you are HIV+ early, rather than knowing it when you already have AIDS: therapies can be more effective, and you are not exposed to many more diseases… it is necessary to know yourself, get tested and be aware of your serological status.
In your experience as a health manager, you have met many homosexuals who have just discovered they are HIV+…
Yes, alas, especially young people. The 70% in the 20-29 age group, in some cases, even cheerfully unaware, as if it did not concern them, fatalistic, that's how it went now. Most of them are very scared, they are worried about dying. It's disarming. everyone's absolute ignorance about what's happening to him, about what awaits them, about what to ask the infectious disease specialist. There's a boy who told me: but I thought I was "covered" just because I had taken the test only once months before. It is important that the HIV+ person is able to manage his or her condition. I recommend asking clear, even trivial, questions about medical data, take a notebook and write down every doubt that comes to mind.
In the HIV+ gay guide of www.casserosalute.it I thought about the very young and first of all I told them not to panic, you don't have a purple halo marking you, it's always you, look at yourself in the mirror. And write a list of trusted people to whom you can confide your experience to create a safety net.
Overcoming prejudice requires mutual understanding. What can Arcigay do to promote the visibility of HIV+ homosexual people?
An HIV+ person should be considered only a person with a virus, such as the flu. Enough with the hypocrisy, we need greater visibility and a lot of information. Arcigay could stop writing documents full of fine words and leave them unheard. And continue to carry out concrete information initiatives, such as the national conference organized in Bologna in 2008, which aimed to disseminate information provided by major international conferences. Those who participate in these types of events can, in turn, inform those who didn't participate, using simpler and more direct language, throughout the community, and provide tools for understanding and discussion.
We like to promote the idea of conscious sexuality, aware of the behaviors it engages in and the risks associated with sexually transmitted disease prevention. How important is it to overcome widespread sexphobia and speak out to spread effective messages?
It is absolutely necessary, we must provide clear and concise information!
These are the three rules of safer sex, regardless of politicians or Vatican anathemas:
1) never penetrate or be penetrated without a condom,
2) never sperm in mouth,
3) never menstrual blood in mouth.
There Arcigay campaign Sex Symbol It was sexualized, it was a good example to begin a process of talking about bodies, about sex. Since the virus has been around, other countries have been talking explicitly about it, but in Italy there's still too much hypocrisy. This idea is supported by scientific research from more advanced countries than ours: if prevention messages are also conveyed using explicit photographic material (in Italy, porn!) it is demonstrated that the contagion has decreased. But what perception of risk is there unfortunately in Italy, in a country where at an institutional level the condom cannot be mentionedIt's a frightened, prejudiced, and ignorant community. Just think of the Italian male perception of condom rejection as an obstacle to pleasure and a devaluation of masculinity.
What is your idea of mental and physical well-being for LGBT people?
Well-being has to do with feeling good about yourself and others, with acceptance. While anything that has to do with sexophobia, homophobia, and ignorance is not well-being.
Photo: Stefano Bordieri – Let's put our bodies on the line – Pegaso19