World
CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Equal Entertainment LLC.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
We need your help
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Local and worldwide governments consider e-mail STD notification program
Â
Â
An e-mail notification program launched by the San Francisco health department last year that allows gay men to alert their sex partners that they may have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease is drawing attention from local governments around the country--and even some foreign nations that are considering adopting the service, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Called InSPOT (Internet Notification Service for Partners or Tricks), the San Francisco program allows gay men to send "e-cards" to up to six e-mail addresses at a time that warn recipients who may want to be screened for STDs. The e-mails can be signed or sent anonymously. The program allows users, rather than health department staff, to alert other gay men that they may have been exposed to one of eight STDs--chlamydia, crabs-scabies, gonorrhea, hepatitis A, molluscum contagiosum, nongonoccochal urethritis, shigella, or syphilis. HIV is not included in the e-mail alert program.
Philadelphia's health department and the city's Mazzoni Center, a gay health clinic, announced this month that they are working together to launch the service in the region. The Indiana health department also plans to create a local version of the program. Officials in Florida, Maryland, New York State--as well as in Romania and British Columbia, Canada--also are considering launching the service.
San Francisco health officials say the service is particularly useful for gay men who meet sex partners on the Internet. Because many gay men diagnosed with an STD have only e-mail addresses or screen names as a way to get in touch with their sex partners, the service is particularly useful in reaching these online contacts, officials say. Recipients of InSPOT e-mails are given information about STD screenings, locations of STD testing centers in the city, locations of gay-friendly clinics, and detailed information about STD prevention, detection, and treatment.
For more information about San Francisco's InSPOT program go online to www.inspot.org.
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Watch Now: Pride Today
Latest Stories
Billie Jean King: Listen to transgender athletes
July 07 2025 8:49 PM
California defies Trump, won't ban trans athletes from school sports
July 07 2025 8:18 PM
Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ Texans find joy and hope at Drag University
July 07 2025 4:10 PM
Indiana church stands by sermons calling for the government to execute LGBTQ+ people
July 07 2025 3:10 PM
Idaho Attorney General tells schools to ban 'Everyone is Welcome Here' signs
July 07 2025 1:11 PM
David Archuleta on loving sexy crop tops & the skin he's in
July 07 2025 12:32 PM
The 50th Invasion of the Pines: See pics of queer joy & drag
July 07 2025 12:23 PM