Fri 22 Feb 2008 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
9AM: A young Wellington man in his late teens appears to be the person who triggered public allegations that one of the NZ AIDS Foundation's Safe Sex Poster Boys has been engaging in unsafe sex since signing up to help front the NZAF's current safe sex campaign. A Wellington man, known to GayNZ.com and connected to both the teenager and Andy Boreham who has claimed publicly to have evidence of the Poster Boy's unsafe sexual activities, says the 'poster boy' and the teenager were in a short-lived relationship which became monogamous from the Christmas holiday period until it broke up several weeks later. The Wellington man admits there is no hard evidence of unsafe sex having taken place, and doubts if it can ever be definitively proven. "It's really a 'he says/he says' situation, and the 'poster boy' is not likely to admit to having unsafe sex," says the man, who wishes to remain unnamed as he believes his closeness to the teenager would too easily identify the teen, who he advises is over the legal age of consent. Film maker, designer and event manager Boreham, who claimed to have 'evidence' of unsafe sex having occurred, now admits that he is basing his statement on what the teenager said occurred sexually and also on what the teen says was advice he was given to "don't go spreading that around" when he took his concerns to a person associated with the AIDS Foundation. It appears that the person who allegedly gave that advice may not be a direct employee of the Foundation. Both Boreham and the Wellington man say they have no reason to disbelieve the teenager's claims. It is not yet known if the teenager received any personal counseling, or HIV or STD testing after allegedly raising the matter. Despite the Foundation's confirmation yesterday that it has launched an investigation into the matter, the Wellington man says he, Boreham and the teenager are concerned that the NZAF has tried to "brush the matter under the carpet." He admits that he and Boreham have been active in passing word of the unsafe sex allegations around the Wellington and Auckland gay communities. He says he also mentioned the matter to two NZAF staffers during Auckland's Big Gay Out two weeks ago, though says it was only an oblique reference "which may have got lost amongst the flow of conversation." The NZAF has not said when it actually launched its investigation but two senior staffers are understood to be in Wellington today looking into the matter. The allegations are casting a pall over what is one of the NZAF's major safe sex promotion initiatives for 2008 and, as no specific poster boys' names have been revealed, a cloud of suspicion currently hovers above all four Wellington-based men who volunteered for the campaign. A suggestion voiced by the Wellington man that there might be yet another Wellington-based Poster Boy who has been engaging in unsafe sex has yet to be elaborated on. "The thing that aggravates me is that this guy [the 'poster boy'] is on promotional material and making appearances saying that safe sex is important, but we believe he does not practise what he preaches. What message does that send out to gay men," he asks. The Wellington man says he believes the NZAF should now halt the Safe Sex Poster Boys campaign until the matter is resolved. He questions why it was launched at the Big Gay Out when he believes the NZAF must have already known of the allegations. "They need to talk to the guys at the centre of this and, if the allegations are proven, pull them out of the campaign, " he says. Other than its brief public statement posted in the GayNZ.com Forum yesterday acknowledging concern about the matter and confirming an investigation was in hand, the Foundation has declined to comment further until it has had time to delve into the matter more fully.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Friday, 22nd February 2008 - 8:53am