Who Do You Trust?

“I can’t believe he lied to me!”

Recently, even in the PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) Facts Forum, a participant remarked that one of his tricks lied to him about being on PrEP. “How can this happen?,” he pondered — it does all the time.

Two years ago on the online site Manhunt, I was contacted by an HIV- guy even though my profile said “HIV+ only.” Dialogue ensued that he was really HIV+, and he explained why he lied: “You know how cruel people can be.”

David Fawcett reports from a recent conference that: “Of all the many obstacles to prevention and treatment worldwide, stigma remains the most challenging.”

In spite of this reality, the AIDS Health Foundation’s (AHF) just launched a very stigmatizing and paranoia-based campaign: “Trust Him?”

It is a lot easier for gay men to have sex then talk about it. Online hookup sites make it very easy with stats, HIV-status and pictures to find your man in a few clicks.

Unfortunately for safer sex advocates, their message may come too late.

We still react when individuals show up that do not match their online profiles in appearance or HIV status, but yet we continue to trust the information presented.

Does this environment encourage a discussion about HIV?

Online I can read the HIV status of a potential hookup. Guys, we do this all the time to sero-sort for HIV- or HIV+ and even ‘HIV- on-PrEP.’ How does this fit into the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recent HIV prevention campaign: “START TALKING. STOP HIV”? I suggest this is yet another campaign dreamed up by individuals with good intentions, but isolated from the reality of today’s gay life.

Scroll to Top

During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below