However you see the issues raised by the wide-ranging consultation document, we urge you to get involved and make your voice heard RIGHT NOW! We should start by admitting that this is somewhat past the time for the gay media's voice to be heard on the subject of the review of the constitution of the NZ AIDS Foundation. You may recall the NZAF Trust Board debacle of late last year, when the whole organisation, board, executives, staff and supporting membership, looked set to self-destruct after a series of strange board decisions, bad PR, lack of consultation, emotional outbursts and just plain bad governance. After a brutal Annual General Meeting following which several board members evaporated and the board was told by staff and membership alike to “get its act together” the board reformed and started to address the issues which could have scuppered the Foundation. Tomorrow, belatedly, GayNZ.com will publish an interview conducted some time ago with Board Chair Jeremy Lambert about the lessons learned and the progress made. Today we start publishing the first in a daily series of comment pieces on the options emerging from the constitutional review the board is conducting to address the issues raised last year. Why this sudden flurry of information about the review? It is to our shame that the dates for the public meetings in Auckland, Hamilton Wellington and Christchurch have snuck up on us. They start this Monday, and are a chance for those most affected by the HIV epidemic (we'll get back to “those most affected” in a moment) to have their say. True, there is the opportunity to make written submissions, and the closing date for those is August 25, but this coming Monday and Tuesday and the following Monday and Tuesday (see dates, locations, etc. below) anyone can turn up and have their say and address their concerns. There are many options up for discussion in the discussion document distributed by the board some weeks ago (see link below) but three come to mind as being worth editorial highlighting here, given that GayNZ.com is committed to the best possible HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives and support programmes for gay men in New Zealand. And, make no mistake, gay men are by far the most affected group. Simplistically put, around 85% of newly-identified locally-contracted infections occur amongst men who have sex with men. The remainder are shared between iv drug users (mercifully rare), straight folk contracting it in New Zealand (almost as rare) and people with existing infections arriving to live in NZ . There is a blowout in HIV infections sweeping through men who have sex with men in New Zealand and many of them are proving increasingly hard to reach and educate and support. We're in serious trouble with HIV again. An option put up by the board is that either the Foundation should remain focussed on men who have sex with men or be opened up to offering a range of HIV services for a wider variety of affected groups. GayNZ. com believes that the Foundation's focus must at all costs remain on men who have sex with men. It's where its existing expertise lies, and any real or perceived broadening of focus implies less focus on us and our hard to reach - and harder to convince - brothers. Our message to the NZAF Board: Keep your eye on the gay ball and don't start dallying with empire-building concepts of expansion and diversification. “Those most affected” by HIV and AIDS in New Zealand are still gay and bisexual men. Another issue is the Treaty of Waitangi. How should its intent affect the NZAF? Frankly, only obliquely. If the NZAF's goal is to stop the epidemic of HIV amongst men who have sex with men, that includes all men who have sex with men. Equally. According to need. Regardless of race, colour, culture, location or any other sub-grouping. No ideological premises need be injected into the foundation document of the Foundation. Effective, timely monitoring of those being newly-infected will tell which subgroups need greater attention and an energetic, focussed and well-resourced NZAF can address that. Maori people and the Maori culture have a special place in New Zealand's collective heart and shared experience, but need, not race, must be the deciding factor in the Foundation's governance, strategies and delivery. The only other issue of many raised by the constitutional review which we will address here is the tricky Catch-22 situation of NZAF staff being able to be members of the Foundation and therefore influencing the Board - which is, in effect, their employer. From time to time this might be an awkward situation but, frankly, there is no alternative. New Zealand is a small country with a limited pool of informed, intelligent, intuitive and passionate people willing to put time and effort into helping to save the lives of those at risk of contracting HIV in our communities. Not surprisingly, some of those people have been able to put their money where their mouth is and have gone to work within the Foundation, greatly strengthening it. Some of those folk were also the most effective voices at the explosive AGM last year that turned the Foundation Board away from its destructive path. To force those committed people to chose between being voting members or staff, but not both, would immeasurably weaken both the staff and the membership. GayNZ.com's message to the board is: live with it. This coming week the first part of this public consultation gets underway. There are only a few days to get your thoughts in order and commit to being part of the process of saving the lives of your fellow men who have sex with men. However you see the issues above, and others contained within the wide-ranging consultation document, we urge you to get involved and make your voice heard. - Jay Bennie NZ AIDS Foundation Constitution Review meetings: AUCKLAND 6:30 pm on Monday 7 August Freemans Bay Community Hall, The Function Room, 52 Hepburn Street, Freemans Bay HAMILTON 6:30 pm on Tuesday 8 August Houchens House, 83 Houchens Road (off Ohaupo Road), Glenview WELLINGTON 6:30 pm on Tuesday 15 August Mercure Hotel, Webb Conference Room, 355 Willis Street CHRISTCHURCH 6:30 pm on Monday 14 August Kingsgate Hotel Autolodge, 72 Papanui Road, Merivale Jay Bennie - 2nd August 2006