Circuit parties: Sexual behaviors and HIV disclosure practices among men who have sex with men at the White Party, Palm Springs, California, 2003

Abstract

The syphilis epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) in major US cities and concomitant increases in high-risk sexual behavior, have raised concerns of increased HIV transmission in this population. Therefore, to provide information for health promotion and disease awareness efforts, we investigated sexual behaviors, partner selection preferences and HIV serostatus disclosure practices of MSM at the White Party in Palm Springs, California. Circuit party attendees reported engaging in unprotected anal sex, however, a high proportion reported disclosing their HIV status. These findings suggest that some gay men are serosorting as a risk reduction strategy or implementing sexual risk reduction strategies to protect themselves and their partners. In our study, HIV-negative men were nine times more likely to report a preference for a seroconcordant sexual partner. The self-protecting attitudes of HIV-negative men in our sample outweighed the partner-protecting attitudes of HIV-positive men. This suggests that prevention interventions focusing on HIV-positive persons are warranted.

Acknowledgments

We thank Jan King, Kerry Kenney and Daniel Brown for their participation in administering the survey and Gail Bolan, who was instrumental in starting the project. We also express our gratitude to Gary Marks, Gordon Mansergh and Alan Greenberg for their helpful comments and suggestions.