Hannah Jones/Winonan
Last week, in conjunction with National GLBT Health Awareness Week, a representative from the SEMCAC Family
Planning Clinic came to Winona State University to get students talking about sex, specifically within the GLBT community.
The program, “Get Talking Goes GLBTA,” featured an informal presentation on reproductive health for GLBT partners, and the highlight of the evening, a condom bar.
Bins upon bins of brightly-colored condoms were lined up down a row of tables, almost like a buffet line for safe-sex. The participants went down the rows with paper bags after the presentation, grabbing handfuls as they went, and sharing experiences with the various brands. Trojan Fire and Ice condoms, it was determined, were just about as pleasant as the name would suggest—that is to say, not at all. A few participants laughed together over some cringe-worthy stories.
This kind of conversation has been in the works a long time. Public Health Major Ashley Ouradnik and her group have been working on the issue of sexual health awareness in the GLBT community for their program planning class since last semester, when they sent students an online needs assessment survey to find the gaps in their knowledge, or the lacks in their past healthcare experiences.
Ouradnik and her group discovered that more knowledge and communication were needed on both sides of the sexual health issue: on the students’ side, and the clinicians’ side. With their results in hand, they set out to create a training program for clinicians, and this educational program for students on campus.
The presentation stressed the importance of full disclosure between a patient and a health professional.
“The lines of communication need to be open,” Ouradnik said. “[Clinicians] all intend to know their patients, but GLBT topics sometimes get overlooked.”
With her group, Ouradnik contacted Rainbow Health Initiatives, a Minneapolis-based health awareness group focused on GLBT issues, and brought them to Winona’s family planning clinic for a training session.
Chrissy Feine, RN, a representative from SEMCAC, worked in tandem with Ouradnik and Rainbow Health Initiatives to make this program a reality.
“It not only makes them available,” she said, gesturing to the vibrant array of condoms, “it makes them less scary.”
The slide presentation during the talk was disarmingly informal, breaking down all of the nervous walls that come up when it comes to topics like sex.
Feine said that this program would serve as a springboard for not only students but also the clinic itself to have these conversations, to increase awareness and eventually to learn more.
The program, she said, had the potential to spread to other chapters and inspire other programs, eventually changing attitudes and awareness about sexual health in the GLBT community.
With changing marriage laws becoming the subject of heated debate nationwide, GLBT issues are becoming more and more visible. Conversations about marriage, equal rights, love and relationships have blossomed into conversations about safety, intimacy and health, and SEMCAC and Ouradnik’s program planning group want them to keep talking. It is only after the silence is broken, after these conversations take place without guardedness or secrecy, that these topics can finally achieve what has long been due: respect, acceptance, normalcy.
In the meantime, two table’s worth of free condoms is usually enough to get just about anyone talking. One participant picked up a condom and examined it, uttering a short, resigned bark of a laugh. The wrapper, she pointed out, was labeled “Male Condom.” Someone commented, sarcastically, that it was unlikely then that she would ever get any use out of that condom. A few surrounding participants rolled their eyes and initiated a discussion about manufacturers changing the labels on these products to be more inclusive.
These steps, after all, are small. The gathering of students itself was not that big; Ouradnik had hoped for more. Even so, it was a start, and she had to admit that the presentation went pretty well. The participants seemed to think so. They left the program with paper sacs full of “male” condoms, but more importantly, they left with plenty to talk about.
The SEMCAC Family Planning Clinic is located on 76 West Third St.
Contact Hannah at [email protected]
