AIDS activist will unveil "supersafe sex" campaign at Palm Springs White Party

AIDS activist Tyler St. Mark, who 21 years ago created Los Angeles County's first AIDS awareness campaign, is unveiling a "supersafe sex" campaign at the annual White Party, a gay circuit party event held March 26-27 in Palm Springs, Calif. St. Mark, who created the "Mother Cares" HIV prevention campaign in 1984, is launching "Safe Sex Suffragettes" in part as a response to reports of what he calls a "super drug-resistant strain" of HIV recently reported in a New York City man. The new campaign will include four spokescharacters dressed as grannies who will encourage safer sex and distribute condoms to all White Party attendees. "Any 'supervirus' demands super-awareness along with super-safety guidelines," St. Mark states in a press release. He says the message being delivered to gay men at the circuit party event is that "supervirus equals supersafety." "If [the spokescharacters] manage to inspire even a small percentage of people at risk to protect themselves--we've all done our job," he says. White Party organizers expect an estimated 15,000 attendees at the official centerpiece event on March 26, where the "Safe Sex Suffragettes" will make their first appearance.