Mathew Bose

When I first came out it was the beginning of HIV, a lot of people were petrified, there was a lot of information being thrown about and that has really informed the way I have viewed sex ever since. I hear younger guys nowadays who seem less worried because they say that there are drugs that you can take but surely that’s not the point!

When I was younger I just wanted someone to sit me down and tell me the facts because HIV has affected my whole attitude towards sex. Young gay men need to still be aware that HIV has not gone away.

Jake Maskall

HIV has been around for 20 years or so now so information has always been available. I guess the problem can be finding out where that information is. I think the gay community responded really quickly to HIV and we took the time to educate ourselves but I think it can’t just be our responsibility. Education needs to take this on as well.

Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan

JR – I guess my knowledge of sexual health came from the gay press or you could get free condoms from gay health projects.

CM – I don’t know if it is different now but back in the day there was so much information around that if you were out on the scene you just couldn’t get away with unsafe sex. I think the real problem around young people’s understanding of sexual health is the lack of sex education in schools – it really should be part of the curriculum.

JR – In a way it’s denying basic human rights of children and young people, they should be told everything there is to know about sex and sexuality and then they can make informed decisions about what they want to do.

Simon Amstell

My 1st boyfriend was really good about explaining about sexual health and condoms, otherwise at that point I probably could have been talked into anything, but now sexual health is so important. I went for my 1st sexual health check up after I split with my 1st boyfriend even though I had no reason to worry about anything it was still a relief, at least I got it out of the way, it was alright. I guess if you are feeling lonely one day it’s nice to go down to the clinic and get felt up a bit.

Toby Sawyer

I guess my pre conceived ideas about gay men were that they didn’t have long term relationships, that they were all sleazy and that they were all old for some reason! I came out when AIDS was a big issue in the news so there was never any question of not practising safe sex. I think these days that message is not being put across as strongly. Young gay men need to be aware that HIV has not gone away and there is still a major need to protect yourself.

Anthony Crank

I can remember the 1st time I had sex with a man – I was 18, it was great and I will never forget it. I never thought about what I was doing or how to do it just came naturally. As for sexual health – I kinda got clued up about it early on. People used to be really cruel to me and say that I had AIDS and after a while I started to read about it and soaked myself in information.

This was also around the time when celebrities were being quite open and frank about HIV and as I am a bit of a culture nut I soaked what they were saying in as well. That focus does not seem to be around as much anymore. Schools really need to start talking about this more!

James Dreyfus

I came out in the 80’s when AIDS was first rearing its ugly head, there was so much information around and condoms were just part and parcel of sex. I remember the massive government AIDS adverts that were really put out to scare people and I don’t necessarily think they were a bad thing because they did what they needed to do. Obviously things have changed since then but HIV has led to a huge amount of stigma directed at the gay community.