ae606 3/19/96 Summary of the Major Outcomes of The Conference During the lively discussions at the workshops and presentations of speakers, several themes emerged of major importance to Gaylines in their role of educators about safer sex. The following very brief summary captures these major themes. 1. Attitudinal Change Information alone is not sufficient for changing behaviours; neither is fear a useful motivator for affecting behavioral change. The context of the caller's life must be considered, the change reflected upon, and then reinforced. 2. Normative Reconstruction Safer sex must be presented as the acknowledged community norm. The phoneline volunteer as the first contact with the gay community is ideally placed to present the message that gay men have adopted safer sex as a community norm. The message must be marketed aggressively and proactively in a non-threatening manner in every call. Simultaneously, volunteers should "lighten up" and make the safer message fun. 3. Maintain Current Information Gaylines must develop means for accessing current and accurate information. This might involve developing networks and using community AIDS service organizations or public health. Volunteers' skills and knowledge must be continuously upgraded. 4. Language Information must be provided in a manner which is sensitive to the language used by the caller. While most volunteers have developed sophisticated verbal skills because of their telephone experience, skills development must also include learning how to listen for and adjust to the caller's comfort level and knowledge level. 5. Self-esteem is a Major Issue Safer-sex issues are closely related to a sense of self-esteem and self-worth. The hostile attitudes experienced by persons while growing up gay or lesbian constitute a direct assault on self-esteem. In all calls, volunteers must affirm the callers and their identities as gay men or lesbians. Also, in conveying safer-sex information to callers, volunteers must affirm the caller's identity and self-worth. Volunteers should also be sensitive to the relationship between low self-esteem and addictive behaviours that may put the caller at risk. Because AIDS has been used to diminish the self-esteem of gays generally, information must be given in the context of self-care and the worth of the individual. 6. Special Needs of Gay Youth In workshops, presentations, and plenary sessions, the special issues confronting gay and lesbian youth arose, including: lack of support by the community, including the gay community; the negative self-image which gay youth experience as part of their development in a homophobic society; the dependency of youth upon parents, the school system and social agencies which at the same time are not necessarily supportive of their sexuality; the mixed messages concerning sexuality. It is used to sell products and in videos, but accurate and explicit information on safer-sex is suppressed; and as a result of increased visibility of gays and lesbians in the media and society generally, gay and lesbian youth might come out before they or their families are able to successfully cope with this. Gaylines must make special efforts to meet the needs of youth, including active outreach and integration of younger gay men and lesbians in the organization. 7. Issues Around Closeted Callers Volunteers must be sensitive about the special issues confronting the closeted, straight-acting, and often married male caller who seeks gay sex. While this caller is often perceived as having "the best of both worlds," he often in fact experiences alienation from both the gay community and the community of his identity (family, workplace, etc). For the straight-acting married male caller involved in gay sex, volunteers need to recognize that the closet may be a healthy place. Care must be taken by volunteers to avoid imposing their own values on the caller. 8. Clarification of Values Volunteers must be aware that their personal values may clash with the values expressed by the caller. In such cases, the ethical responsibility of volunteers to the caller is of greater importance that to their personal values. In meeting this responsibility, volunteers must know and be able to put aside personal values in order to respect the needs of the caller. When this is problematic, volunteers must recognize their limitations and act accordingly. In effecting ethical responsibility to the caller as a primary objective of Gaylines, policies, procedures and protocols must be in place which provide direction for volunteers experiencing conflict between their personal values and the values expressed by the caller. 9. Sexual Safety Risk of AIDS is part of the global issue of sexual safety. It is not isolated from other sexually-transmitted diseases and personal attacks against gay men and lesbians. In acknowledging the devastating impact of AIDS and other STDs, volunteers must provide good and accurate information to enable callers to protect themselves in many ways. 10. Empathic Listening Volunteers must be well trained in active listening skills in order to realize that questions posed by callers frequently mask major issues for the caller. Methods of assessing the deeper meaning of the callers' questions include using active listening which is interactive, responding with questions instead of answers, and discussing options and choices with callers. 11. Self-Knowledge of Volunteers An effective Gayline volunteer will deal with personal anxiety, be aware of personal self-esteem issues, and follow benchmark techniques and skills in working with callers. Gaylines must furnish occasions for volunteers to discuss and resolve issues arising from their volunteer work and to affirm themselves. 12. Need for an On-Going Network of Gaylines While "...now can we talk about AIDS..." is a useful and productive first step for Gaylines in Canada, it should be followed by regular conferences. Given their important and unique work in promoting health in the widest sense, Gaylines should meet regularly foster communication, share organizational expertise particularly with newer Lines, and increase skills. Synthesis of Workshop Outcomes Workshops convened to examine three types of Gayline callers about AIDS. Each session addressed a variety of training issues identified by Gayline volunteers including: probing and building self-esteem, values clarification around AIDS, ways to overcome blocks with certain callers, strategies for successfully handling callers, listening and rapport skills, and building methods for reinforcing identity of callers. Major problems, issues and solutions were developed for each of the workshop scenarios on three levels: Counselling, support, and providing safer sex information in an affirming manner. Safer Sex and the Young Gay Male Caller This workshop explored the issues Gayline volunteers confront when a young male caller discloses that he believes he might be gay. Safer Sex and the Married Male Caller This workshop explored the issues Gayline volunteers confront when a married (or other closeted bisexual) male calls about having or wanting to have sex with men. Safer Sex and the Experimenting Male Caller This workshop explored the issues Gayline volunteers confront when a caller disclosed that he is experimenting or planning to experiment with gay sex.