Part 3: A community divided

The task of those who seek to encourage and offer social support has become more difficult as the majority of social institutions, and the state have established, over time, stronger and more pervasive modes of communication. The intricacies of gay identity have been articulated largely by forces outside of the gay movement, with the inevitable result that GSOs and ASOs have occupied less space in the consciousness of gay men. Additionally, I hypothesize that men who are HIV-positive are engaging in fewer sexual contacts than men who are HIV-negative, and consequently lessening their attendance at venues where cruising is the main event. Financially and structurally, I shall demonstrate the disparity between GSOs and ASOs, and suggest that there is a natural intersection wherein the two SMOs could, and ought to cooperate, especially in the areas of fund-raising, joint program development, recruitment and political lobbying. However, their ideological bases appear to be sufficiently different to preclude such affiliations. These disparate ideologies are amplified by the mass media, and are consequently internalized by the members of the gay community. In the longer term, the divisiveness that manifests itself in the proliferation of numerous collectivities within the gay movement will contribute to the further isolation of gays from each other, and thwart any future attempts at coalition building, which could obviate the continued existence of a gay movement. Some writers suggest that the gay movement is going through a phase in an inevitable process of paradigm shifting, and in the end, the community will come back together-stronger and more unified than it was previously. However, if this is a phase it is clear that the gay movement is in the 'dark before the dawn' initial phase of this paradigmatic shift, and subsequent phases are by no means guaranteed. As AIDS spreads beyond marginalized groups, and infiltrates the social majority, it is possible that much of the discrimination that has positioned gay men as 'other' will be abandoned in favour of a more enlightened, pluralistic conviction of the humanity of gays as full-fledged members of a mosaic-type community structure. On the other hand, it is also possible that as AIDS spreads into mainstream Western communities, gays will be further vilified and scapegoated as the perpetrators of this deadly disease. Preventative action is required to offset this possibility-preventative action can be affected by building a strong and unified gay community ready to withstand the onslaught of the mainstream enmity. This action would frame AIDS and gayness such that this type of situation would not come about. What is required is a new mode of co-operation among ASOs and GSOs, a model which firstly puts the gay house in order, and is then suitably structured to be more inclusive of all gay men's needs, and positioned to assist in the second wave of HIV infection-the general public.