A new national HIV education campaign for gay men developed by the AFAO-NAPWA Education team (ANET) is being launched on 1 December.

The Fear Less Live More campaign is comprised of an interactive website, facebook page, video and posters.

Fear Less Live More encourages gay men to communicate more openly about HIV in sexual settings. The campaign focuses on the following areas: acknowledging fears about HIV; communicating about HIV status; choosing casual sex partners; negotiating serodiscordant relationships; and overcoming fear of rejection.

Recent research among gay men in Australia has found that HIV-related stigma and discrimination is most commonly experienced in the area of sex and relationships.

There is also a very high expectation within the gay community that HIV-positive men will disclose their HIV status before having sex.

A significant proportion of HIV-negative men say that they avoid HIV-positive men as sexual partners, altogether.

However, the extent of HIV disclosure among gay men is relatively low and knowledge of HIV status is often based on assumptions and expectations rather than communication.