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Gay Men's Health Collaborative (GMHC) hoped to become a
driving force in providing resources and services to Northern Virginia’s
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, thus filling the void
left by the closure this summer of another organization that once provided
those services. Based in Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., GMHC
provides intervention and prevention services as well as hosting and supporting
social opportunities. According to James Leslie, an HIV-health educator and gay
men's health coordinator at Inova Fairfax Hospital, social opportunities for
LGBT people outside of bars was sparse, especially for gay, bisexual, and
transgender (GBT) men, whose rates of HIV infection were high.
GMHC’s dual approach would facilitate programs that focused
on HIV prevention and health as well as building self-esteem and support their
mental and emotional well-being. It will hold bi-weekly HIV and STD testing on
the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at several Northern Virginia
locations. Social events, meant to provide GBT men an opportunity to make
friends and build support systems, would focus on no-alcohol activities,
including bowling, movie and game nights, and a visit to a local waterpark.
"We want to have a space for people outside the city that's not a
bar," said Leslie.
A grant from the Virginia Department of Health and private
donations will fund GMHC's activities; Leslie hoped the Department of Health
would renew the grant as long as he could show the need for such prevention and
support services.
