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BEBASHI AND AGOURON PHARMACEUTICALS TO SPONSOR HIV/AIDS ACTIVISTS J.L. KING AND RENEE HARTFORD IN CONTROVERSIAL "HOUSE ON FIRE" PRESENTATION
Women's Health Fair Scheduled For Same Day

Philadelphia, PA-February 1, 2002-BEBASHI (Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues), one of Philadelphia's oldest and largest HIV/AIDS service agencies, has partnered with Agouron Pharmaceuticals to present "House On Fire," a controversial presentation by J.L. King and Renee Hartford that examines the largely secret lives of African American MSMs (men who have sex with men).

The presentation, scheduled for Saturday, February 16th, will include free confidential HIV screenings and a woman's health fair with information on maternal health, cancer, hypertension, sexual abuse, diabetes, domestic violence, sexually transmitted diseases and drug abuse. The day's activities will be held at Small Auditorium in the Bonnell Building on the main campus of Community College of Philadelphia. Hours are 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

"House on Fire" is a candid, first-hand presentation about how high-risk behaviors of both MSMs and their girlfriends or wives can impact individuals, families, and whole communities. Also known as "brothers on the down low", MSMs were not always identified as a specific segment of the population. Even now the size of the community can only be estimated, due largely to the fact that MSMs identify themselves as heterosexual and exclusively date or marry women, despite their sexual activity with men.

King and Hartford are HIV/AIDS/STD prevention and risk-reduction educators who have been featured nationally in both televised and print news media. "House on Fire" emphasizes the unique health hazards posed by MSMs in the African-American community, in which frank or explicit discussion about homosexuality, STDs and HIV/AIDS is often taboo.

King, a consultant for several national health and educational institutions, has spent five years gathering sexual histories of African-American MSMs and engages his audience with this information during "House on Fire." Hartford speaks passionately from the perspective of the ex-wife of a "brother on the down low." "Sharing a few pages of my 20-plus year relationship-and seeing that my face looks like any other woman's face- brings home for many women that they can be put at risk for or infected with HIV/AIDS," says Hartford, who is also Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania HIV Prevention Community Planning Committee.

King and Hartdford will be featured in a February 2002 segment on ABC-TV's "20/20" titled "Life on the Down Low." King's work has also been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, Essence Magazine, and television networks BET and PBS.

Community College of Philadelphia's main campus is located at 1700 Spring Garden Street and is fully accessible to the handicapped. The school's parking garage is on 17th Street, next to the Winnet Building. Those traveling on SEPTA's Broad Street Line should exit at the Spring Garden Station and walk three blocks west. CCP is also on the routes of SEPTA buses #43, #33, #2 and C.