Chill the F out!

Community-opinion Opinion

Contributor
February 28, 2013

That’s right people, the Victorian AIDS Council/ Gay Men’s Health Centre (VAC/GMHC) is going to ChillOut and we are taking sexy packs, or as we really call them safe sex packs. Every year VAC/GMHC joins thousands of GLBTI community members both from Melbourne and regional Victoria to celebrate ChillOut, Daylesford’s largest GLBTI community event. We do this not purely out of love for cowboy outfits (although this should not be underestimated), but because we want to give you, the community, as many opportunities as possible to engage with us.

So what’s in a safe sex pack? Well for those who don’t know, our safe sex packs come with a standard sized condom, a sachet of water based lube and a small card which promotes one of our sexual health campaigns. We also have ladies safe sex packs which contain a dental dam and gloves in addition to the condom and lube. That way when you lock eyes with some spunk across the sea of flannel, you can chill, we got you covered… well we’ll provide the condoms, you can cover it yourselves.

Of course we also give away lots of other goodies and this year is no exception. At Midsumma Carnival in January, we distributed 1500 showbags which contained a range of promotional giveaways as well as brochures and information. Similarly, we have lots to give away for ChillOut. Fortunately enough, our showbags are free. This isn’t just because we are very nice, but because we want you to ask us questions about the information contained in the bags.

We run a large number of campaigns and programs throughout the organisation and you may not be aware of exactly what VAC/GMHC offers (often at no cost) to the community. This is your opportunity to see who we are and what we’re about. Whilst the life of a stall holder may seem glamorous, the truth is we get lonely without you to talk to. So we’d love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions about the work we do and what we can offer. We will also be collecting bad cowboy jokes, so if you’ve got em’ hit us up! The best/worst one will get posted to our page.

So if you hadn’t planned on coming to ChillOut we suggest trawling through your friends list for people going and see if you can beg, borrow or bargain for board. Otherwise you may never again get the opportunity to see exactly what you look like in flannel and cowboy boots. Well until next year, where we will once again be there to help you and your boot scootin’ baby get down safely.