AIDS ORGANIZATIONS LAUNCH LIFELUBE.ORG ON VALENTINE’S DAY
Website a Project of Sexual Health Xchange for Gay Men

Los Angeles, Calif., February 14, 2007 – On Valentine’s Day, three of the nation’s leading AIDS organizations will launch LifeLube.org, a website that celebrates and promotes gay men’s sexual health. The website is the inaugural project of the Sexual Health Xchange, a national partnership of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, AIDS Foundation of Chicago and AIDS Project Los Angeles.

“Launching the website on Valentine’s Day makes perfect sense since gay sexual health is often reduced to fighting sexually transmitted diseases. We want to send the message to gay men that sexual health is so much more than knowing your HIV status,” said Jim Pickett, policy director of AIDS Foundation of Chicago. “Celebrating our connections and supporting our relationships is what LifeLube.org is all about.”

LifeLube.org provides candid and comprehensive information on sexual health, STD/HIV prevention and care resources, along with explorations of intimacy, communication, spirituality, and other topics of interest to gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM). The site features interactive blogs and surveys, fresh content written by field experts and links to the Internet’s best sites, articles, and resources on gay sexuality. Sexual health events taking place across the country will also be promoted.

“LifeLube fills a gap by offering dynamic and comprehensive sexual health information for gay men across the country,” said Dr. George Ayala, director of education at AIDS Project Los Angeles. “As we move forward, this collaboration will allow us to tap national talent and resources to continue conversations about the sexual health needs of gay men.”

The Sexual Health Xchange (SHX) is a project of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, AIDS Foundation of Chicago and AIDS Project Los Angeles. SHX will develop and promote up-to-date, accessible information about sexual health and new HIV prevention technologies for gay men, while helping to build grassroots networks of gay men and other MSM of color across the country and advocating for policy and research that expands the range of HIV prevention options currently available to them.

“Our organizations have from their inceptions supported gay men and other men who have sex with men in their efforts to end HIV/AIDS, so it makes sense for us to join forces to make the broadest impact that we can,” said Michael Shankle, MPH, Director, MALE Center, a program of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. “This approach addresses all parts of our lives that make us who we are, to erase stigma and to embrace ways for gay men to lead the healthiest, fullest lives possible.”

Along with the ongoing development of health education materials such as LifeLube.org, SHX will pursue community-based sexual health and HIV research, and will engage experts and activists in a “think tank” to address persistent disparities in rates of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, among gay men of color.

About the Sexual Health Exchange

AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC), AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC), and AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), three of the largest and oldest AIDS organizations in the United States, have partnered to launch the Sexual Health Exchange (SHX). SHX’s collaborative mission is to raise public awareness about the sexual health needs of all gay men and other men who have sex with men and to expand the range of sexual health education options available to gay men, especially gay men of color. The name SHX was strategically selected to situate HIV/AIDS within a broader sexual health agenda. SHX embraces a coalition approach as the optimal way to address the cross-cutting social issues underlying persistent health disparities affecting gay men and other men who have sex with men. In this regard, SHX will strive to intensify an exchange of ideas and resources among individuals and allied organizations, and to expand opportunities for grassroots participation in the promotion of gay men’s sexual health as a human rights issue. In doing so, SHX hopes to unite gay men in their desire to have healthy and satisfying sex lives.

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