Been out to the bars lately? I’m one of the guys roaming the bar handing you a pack of condoms with the sucker in it. Blow-pops, usually. I know, I know. It’s an obvious metaphor, but a fun one.

Nothing about my job is quite as interesting, quite as crazy, as handing out safer-sex packs at bars. There I am in the snow and cold, rain and heat, trying to find parking within six blocks of the Gay 90s or the Saloon carrying my trusty red bag full of condom packs. I step in puddles, end up stuck in drifts, get verbally assaulted both inside and outside the bars, and stink of smoke for two days after I’m done.

I love it.

How could I not? It’s not like in the past I haven’t spent a lot of time in these very bars. Back in the day I lived in them; they should have charged me rent. Sobriety changed all that for me. Now I’m back in my old stomping-grounds, but this time to do a job I find oh-so-rewarding: helping protect individuals from HIV and STDs.

And it works. Like the time a man here at the Red Door Clinic told me how in the past he seldom if ever used protection. After visiting the clinic, he’s learned what to do. So now when my cohorts or I come around handing out the packs, he grabs them up and holds onto them for when he needs them. Music to my ears!

However, this scenario is only one reason why we go out at night. Our little packs are more than just condoms and, of course, the suckers. Another reason is to give out information. In each pack are cards listing community resources for HIV and STD testing, prevention programs, counseling, crisis intervention, and sexual assault counseling services. Plus the front of the packs advertise the latest in programming from your friends at the HIM Program of the Red Door Clinic.

But another reason we go out, perhaps as good as any other, is community.

Community is what it’s all about. HIV prevention services can’t succeed in isolation. It’s all good and fine talking with men at the clinic; indeed it’s the main part of my job. But to stop the spread of HIV, the entire GLBT community needs to be involved. And for me to be of any help, I need to be out in my community.

Not that bars are the only place to find GLBT community, not at all. But gay bars are more than just a place to buy a beer. I remember a couple years ago attending a fundraiser at the Townhouse. Standing on the elevated part in the back by the pool tables, I had a great vantage point to watch the huge crowd two-step, hoot and holler, and generally have a really good time. Now I’ve been in too many straight bars in my life and in those places I have never seen a crowd having that much fun. Here people come for far more than the drinks; they come for the community.

My cohorts and I want to be out working in our community. That’s why we chose this line of work in the first place. In fact, distributing safer-sex kits makes me feel even more part of my community. Every night I go out I have several people in each bar tell me how thankful they are that I’m there. Does anyone think I get blasé about that? Never. It just keeps me going.

All of this is about prevention. By being there night after night, I am a walking, talking, human reminder to protect one’s self and each other from STDs and HIV. However, making people conscious of safer-sex is not up to just the occasional prevention worker. We can all do it by talking about safety and helping each other out when we are short of supplies or long on intoxication. That’s what members of communities do, they help each other. By working as a community we can prevent the spread of HIV.