Once upon a time, not so long ago...

In the early 1990’s the epidemiology of HIV in Scotland was clearly indicating that it was gay men who constituted the largest proportion of those receiving a positive diagnosis year after year. 

This was in contrast to the situation in the mid 1980’s when intravenous drug users had been identified as the largest group of people who received a positive diagnosis. 

Activists throughout Britain began, about this time, to call on Health Boards and Local Authorities to target specific resources to gay men’s prevention work. as this was where help was most needed.

In Lothian, which accounted for half of Scotland’s HIV positive people, there was a call for resources to be moved from drug prevention work to gay men’s work. Initially, George Bath, HIV and AIDS co-ordinator in Lothian, suggested that this should be in the region of 10%, but this proposal was reduced, after discussion, to 5% (no transference of funds ever, in fact, took place).

It was at this stage that Roy Kilpatrick, who worked in a drugs project in Edinburgh, began an active interest in developing gay men’s prevention work.  He devised a proposal based on his experience in the drugs field and his knowledge of work in the Netherlands and joined with Lothian Gay Men’s Group to submit this to Lothian Health.

Lothian Gay Men’s Group had been formed by local people as a result of their concern that there were gaps in provision of services for gay men and that Scottish AIDS Monitor (SAM), the main provider at that time, was not filling these gaps.

The approach which had been proposed had consisted of counselling, training and direct work.  Because SAM were already working on the gay scene, funding was only sought for the counselling and training elements in the initial stage.

In 1994 Lothian Health Board invited both Agencies to tender for the contract for the provision of counselling and training, and this was subsequently awarded to Gay Men’s Health.

Gay Men’s Health Ltd. (company number 156826) is a registered Scottish Charity (SCO 23479), which was established in 1995 “to promote good health and well being for gay men in Lothian”.  The Agency is managed by a Board of voluntary Directors  which is elected annually by the membership.  It is a community based voluntary project established to ensure that effective HIV prevention initiatives could be devised and developed and to address gaps in service provision.

GMH takes a holistic approach to the work of health promotion and HIV prevention recognising that mental, emotional and physical health are all important.  The Agency seeks to provide direct services for gay men and also works in partnership with other voluntary and statutory agencies in a variety of settings.

Initially, when the organisation was set up, two services were offered, Care and Support which provided counselling, advocacy and support to vulnerable gay men and Education and Training which provided direct training and educational resources aimed initially at generic service providers.

In 1995, following the closure of SAM, Gay Men’s Health were given the additional responsibility of providing and developing work on the Commercial Gay Scene in Edinburgh.  As well as organising events on the gay scene, this includes the distribution of condoms, lubricant and information to the gay venues.

In line with good practice in Voluntary Sector management, Gay Men’s Health is committed to evaluating its services by regularly reviewing the various aspects of its work.  Following a review of Education and Training in 1997, the Agency decided to change the focus of this service, and to prioritise working directly with gay men using a peer education approach. Thus a Development role was established to facilitate, encourage and support this work.

In 1998 with funding from Healthy Gay Scotland a new part-time post of West Lothian worker was created to develop local support for gay men.  This part of the project also raises awareness outside the city that gay men are a visible and integral part of the community.  By working with West Lothian Council a new partnership to improve equality of opportunity has been developed.

1998 was also a period of increased activity in all areas of work.  A second review (of the Care and Support Service this time) was completed in May and adjustments implemented to improve the quality of that service.  The increased numbers of active volunteers resulted in a range of developments from the publication of a community newsletter and various events on the commercial gay scene. 

By 1999 Gay Men’s Health was well established as a community based sexual health charity for gay and bisexual men with a range of initiatives being organised and run by a large number of active volunteers.

In 2000 Gay Men’s Health, responding to a Needs Assessment conducted by Alan Ross decided to build on its successful work in West Lothian and develop similar initiatives in East and Mid Lothian.  A full time Project Worker was employed to take on this task for one year.

In this year the post Development Worker was reclassified as Community Development Project Worker, and the job description was revised with a greater emphasis being placed on community development.

In order to reflect the changing nature of various areas of work, staff posts were reviewed in 2002. This resulted in several changes in job description and job title within the staff team. The Community Development Project Worker post became Community Development Project Manager, the Commercial Gay Scene Worker was reclassified as the Events and Resources Manager, and the Care and Support Worker post changed to a Counselling and Support Manager. The Manager of Gay Men’s Health’s post became Chief Executive.

Also in 2002, following the publication of the “Testing Barriers” research, which was conducted by Dr Paul Flowers of Glasgow Caledonian University, funded by Healthy Gay Scotland, Gay Men’s Health’s Testing Barriers project was set up and a full time project manager was employed. This project was set up to challenge HIV discrimination, stigma and other barriers that prevent gay and bisexual men from taking an HIV test.

In late 2006, Gay Men’s Health was awarded funding for gay men’s work in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. A second office in Glasgow was opened in April 2007, where four new posts were based: three project managers (“Community Development”, “Testing and Support” and “Events and Resources”) and a part time administrator.