Free gay & bisexual men's safer sex packs

It’s amazing to think that The Lesbian and Gay Foundation (and Healthy Gay Manchester before it) has been providing gay and bisexual men with free condoms and lube since 1994 across Greater Manchester.

The Free Gay Men’s Safer Sex scheme is widely recognised as one of the largest and most accessible free condom and lube distribution schemes for gay and bisexual men in the UK. The scheme consists of over half a million condoms and sachets of lube distributed throughout the Greater Manchester region every year.

One of the key aims of the Lesbian and Gay Foundation is to reduce the numbers of gay and bisexual men who are picking up and passing on HIV and tackling the spread of sexually transmitted infections. To do this it is essential that men have easy access to the tools they need in order to have the safest sex possible – free condoms, and water-based lube.

Gay men and HIV risk

Many of today’s younger gay and bisexual men have not benefited from the high visibility of earlier sexual health campaigns and some older men have become complacent about their sexual health.

The Health Protection Agency has recently estimated that nearly 4 in 10 of the 7,370 cases of HIV Infection in the last year were in gay men - twice the number of a decade ago. Recent studies also suggest that high numbers of gay men are engaging in unsafe sex. However, the number of new diagnoses overall and within the gay community has fallen slightly year-on-year which can only be as a result of initiatives such as the free condom and lube scheme. However much more needs to be done!