At the San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival last summer, Louise Hogarth spoke at a community panel after a screening of her film "THE GIFT." What I learned from that panel is important to share to ADVOCATE readers. Ms. Hogarth acknowledged that the featured "bug chasers" were using crystal meth/speed during their "bug chasing" days. Ms. Hogarth, however, did not feel that this fact was important enough to explore in the film. The fact that "bug chasing" exists, she argued, was a more important topic for public debate than the true stories behind the individuals she featured.
As a result, "THE GIFT" is nothing more then a piece of sensationalist propaganda and should be viewed with a pound of salt. It is not a solid, well-researched documentary. The viewer is not given enough objective information about the “problem” presented to enable him or her to reach any conclusions about the cause, extent and solutions available to that problem. Absent from the film were views of mental health workers, HIV prevention experts, substance abuse counselors etc. If the audience at the Castro Theater was any indication, the views expressed in the film are those of a minority of the gay community.
I volunteer with the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco counseling newly, diagnosed HIV individuals of all ages. By far the single most common thread in all recent infections is impaired judgment and self-esteem issues related to speed and/or alcohol use. This is not to say that this is the only way people are getting infected with HIV in 2004, but it is at the heart of the debate in the recent rise in infections in the gay community. Failure to address this issue in her film is irresponsible.
According to the film, if you are HIV negative and have sex without a condom, you are "sick" and need help. If you are HIV positive and have sex without a condom (regardless of the status of your partner), you are "evil" and need help. Sex is not as simple or as black and white as Ms. Hogarth presents it. The message Ms. Hogarth sends to those without a background in these difficult issues is counter-productive and repressive.
More money, time and energy should be spent on focusing on why many in our community turn to drugs and alcohol to escape their day-to-day existence. Only then can we truly determine whether “bug chasing,” without the influence of drugs or alcohol, is as big an issue as Ms. Hogarth believes it is.