HIV rates in Illinois are up by 50 percent since 2004, with half of new infections occurring among those under 25 years old. But many Chicago students report that they aren't being taught about HIV, said Paula Gilovich, education director of About Face Theatre.

Young people were central players is creating a new, LGBT-inclusive program on HIV prevention and sex education which combines a theatrical performance, a video, and a curriculum for classroom instruction.

"Condom Sense: A Real Life Education" will get a public viewing on Friday, February 20 at 6 p.m. at the Howard Brown Health Center, 4025 N. Sheridan. The event features About Face's play "Fast Forward," BeyondMedia's video "HIV: Hey, It's Viral!" and a panel discussion.

The play has been touring schools around the city and state, accompanied by a sexual health educator to answer questions. The entire program is under consideration for use by Chicago Public Schools.

CPS has a comprehensive sex education policy, but its application is left up to individual teachers, with widely varying results, said Joseph Hollendoner of Howard Brown's Broadway Youth Center. Too often "students are exposed to education that is misleading or incomplete," he said. "Sometimes it's just, HIV is this terrible disease and you're going to get it if you're sexually active."

In extended workshops in the summer of 2007, young people related "bizarre and strange and often hilarious stories about sex education," Gilovich said. "That's when the play really took off." They also told of "incident after incident of homophobia -- from administrators, from teachers, from fellow students," she said.

Participants concluded the two issues are related, Gilovich said. HIV often isn't discussed because it's considered a gay phenomenon. And the abstinence-oriented instruction which some teachers provide isn't applicable to gays and lesbians, who are legally excluded from marrying.

Gilovich recalls one girl telling of a class where she pointed out that she couldn't wait till marriage, because she wanted to marry a woman and couldn't. The teacher was "completely flustered" and responded, "We don't discuss that kind of thing in this class," she said.

"We interviewed a lot of teachers" and many said "they didn't get sex education and feel ill equipped to deal with it," Gilovich said. Illinois hasn't standardized sex ed, she said -- and unlike many other states, Illinois continues to accept federal abstinence-only funds, which effectively bar discussion of condoms.

The program's lesson plans, developed by Howard Brown Health Center's experts, are intended as a "tool to empower teachers to change the way they address HIV," said Hollendoner. Students "need to be receiving information that's medically accurate" in ways that are accepting and affirming, rather than fear-based or moralistic. And if it's going be effective at preventing HIV, education has to address the full range of human sexuality, he said.

He also hopes the program will help change the culture of many school communities, where too often LGBT youth don't feel accepted or safe.

The video aims at accessibility, using animation to depict HIV transmission and prevention, and featuring young activists, community advocates, and young people living with HIV and AIDs, "so it's not just adults talking down to kids," said Joanne Archibald of BeyondMedia Education.

The play is the ice-breaker, with young people enacting the real-life stories of young people, by turns humorous and moving. It addresses "the sex education crisis in America," including some of the conundrums faced by teachers, as well as bullying and other problems confronted by sexual minorities among student populations.

In one of its true stories, which came out during the workshops, a group of girls go on a field trip to a skating rink; in the bathroom there's a condom dispenser. They've never seen condoms, and they each purchase one. For that offense, the entire group is suspended.

Fast forward to the days before graduation, and the group is going through their yearbook. They start noting the students who have become pregnant and count 50, out of a class with 400 girls. A few months later, one of the group reveals that she is HIV positive.

"It's just bizarre that we're 25 years into this pandemic, and millions of people have died, and infection rates are going up, and youth just aren't getting proper information because we don't know how to talk about it," Gilovich said. "And it's so easy to protect yourself."

To celebrate National Condom Month and the upcoming release of Condom Sense: A Real Life Education, as well as promote the use of condoms, Beyondmedia Education, About Face Youth Theatre and Howard Brown Health Center have outfitted the North Halsted Street pylons in giant condoms!

Condom Sense: A Real Life Education
Multi-Disciplinary Sex-Ed Program Spearheaded by HIV-Positive Youth

CHICAGO - Half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. occur among people ages 25 and younger, but no national platform currently educates young people on preventing the virus. To address this issue, community leaders Howard Brown Health Center, Beyondmedia Education and About Face Theatre joined forces to produce Condom Sense: A Real Life Education. This innovative sex-ed program was created in collaboration with Chicago youth living with HIV.

With the generous support of a MAC AIDS Fund Youth HIV Prevention Grant, Howard Brown Health Center, Beyondmedia and About Face Theatre will bring Condom Sense: A Real Life Education into high school classrooms and beyond. The curriculum aims to change the conversation about AIDS through theater, media, sexual health workshops and demonstrations.

About Face Theater created Fast Forward, a play that tackles the sex education crisis in America. Fast Forward aims to awaken audiences to the truth about young people's lives. It is based on the true stories of the ensemble and the greater LGBTQ community, and explores the contemporary realities of identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. "Currently, no LGBTQ youth-focused sex education exists in the United States," says Paula Gilovich, Education Programs Director of About Face Theatre. "Nothing can change if we don't address the issues. I don't want youth to get HIV. That's why we wrote this play; to ensure this is the last generation living with HIV."

Beyondmedia contributed the video HIV: Hey, It's Viral!. "The film examines how HIV is transmitted and prevented, addressing risk reduction, safer sex practices, the importance of testing, and the idea that anyone can get HIV. It's all spun with a quirky fun soundtrack and original animations to reach young viewers." says Salome Chasnoff, Executive Director of Beyondmedia Education. "Until now, school sex education has followed a top-down model, marginalizing the voices of those who are most affected. This video demonstrates how hungry young people are for honest communication in the classroom."

Howard Brown Health Center, one of the nation's leading LGBTQ health organizations, wrote a lesson plan to accompany the play and video to bring the topics addressed into the classroom. "After $1 billion was spent on the ‘abstinence-only-until marriage' curriculum, no federal funding exists for a comprehensive sex education," said Joseph Hollendoner, Director of Howard Brown's Broadway Youth Center. "Statistics like these must spur a new dialogue to combat the spread of HIV and expand the definition of sex education in schools."