So, Courtney,
you have had a baby, correct?
- I have had a baby. Yes. - Did you have a gender reveal party?
Absolutely not.
Okay. Well...
all of your dreams are coming true today.
We're about to see what you've got.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
God. Why am I nervous?
Oooh. It's a beautiful...
genital warts.
Kia ora. It's me, James Mustapic.
Your third or fourth favourite queer comedian.
There seems to be a rumour going around
that queer people are all sluts and sexually irresponsible.
While I wouldn't know anything about that
because I'm a good Christian woman,
I do have a theory that queer people are superior
when it comes to sexual health.
Today we're gonna be investigating some of the sexual health lessons
that we can learn from the LGBTTQIA+ communities.
There's a dangerous new trend on the rise —
the youths are obsessed with it — and it's called sex.
But do our young people know their stuff when it comes to STIs?
- It's time to find out. - Let's go.
When's the last time you guys got an STI check-up?
- I never did one. - Me too.
Never.
I don't think I ever had one.
Okay. No. Fair enough.
Well, actually, not fair enough. If you're sexually active,
you should be getting checked every three months.
No. Well, you know, we don't judge here.
We're just two cool dudes.
I think mine was, like, a couple of months ago.
I don't think I've had one.
- Okay. - Yeah.
What do you think is stopping you from getting an STI check?
I've never really had the need to have one
cos I'm always, like, protected.
What would you do if you found out from someone that you had slept with
that they had an STI?
A bit worried.
Like, sort of, embarrassed.
Why do you think that is?
I think there's just a big stigma behind, like, when someone has it.
But I feel like it should be brought up in more conversations. Yeah.
Meet Joe Rich, Chief Executive of the Burnett Foundation,
formerly known as the New Zealand AIDS Foundation.
Queer people are good at sexual health,
because for a lot of us, we were forced to in the ‘80s.
It was life or death, you know, in the AIDS crisis.
We had to learn very quickly how to mobilise,
how to understand what was going on
and change our behaviour to save ourselves.
We, I guess, unshackled, what a lot of people have,
which is a fear of talking about sex publicly.
There's no NZ-based data that compares the sexual health habits
of homos and heteros.
Ashley Bloomfield or someone needs to get on to that pronto.
However, a US survey found that 54% of straight people
never use measures to prevent STIs,
compared to 32% of queer people.
So who's sexually irresponsible now, straight people?
Have you ever had an STI?
I have had an STI. I had chlamydia.
What was your reaction like when you found out you got chlamydia?
I was...
embarrassed.
Did you tell him, 'Hey, maybe you got—'?
- I did. - How did he react?
'Oh, sorry.'
- Oh. - Nah, I don't know.
In the past five years,
there's been some huge progress made in queer sexual health.
In 2021, we saw the lowest rates of HIV diagnoses in 20 years,
and that's a 50% reduction
since 2016.
In 2018, PrEP was publicly funded in Aotearoa.
It's a really effective pill that people who don't have HIV can take
to prevent them from getting it.
And in order to access PrEP,
you have to get a full STI check-up every three months.
So we are far more proactive than you straights.
More people in our community
are engaging in behaviour that protects them
and others in the community from HIV transmission.
So that's condom use, PrEP, higher rates of testing.
So all of those things combined
have had a real noticeable impact on HIV transmission in New Zealand.
- We're gonna play a little game. - Okay, okay.
I'm gonna show you a little photo,
and you're gonna have to work out which one it is.
All right. Round one.
Oh, okay.
I'm feeling like this might be a little button,
so I'm gonna say sex toy.
That is...
not correct. - What?
That is home décor.
Ooh. Salt and pepper shakers, these are.
Anything is a sex toy if you put your mind to it.
Mmm. Nice, salty pussy might be nice.
- We might do a little pop quiz. - Oh, okay.
If you're interested.
It's not too hard.
It's just a lot of fun.
Maybe C, actually.
10%?
30?
I hope C. I hope so.
No, I think 30.
It's actually 50%.
Whoa.
- 50? Wow. - 50%.
So half of people.
I need to get checked.
No shit, mate.
I don't know what that is.
I'm gonna say sex toy.
- Incorrect. - What?!
I don't know why anyone would want—
Oh, unless this is a crystal.
Home décor.
- I'm sorry. - Oh my God.
This is not to be charged in the moonlight. That is a sex toy.
I'm going to say home décor.
- Oh my God. Am I wrong again? - Yeah.
You gotta go with your gut, I reckon.
Even though the queer community has had some great success
in the world of sexual health recently,
there's still a lot of work to be done.
A lot of the focus of sexual health services and programming
has been focussed on gay and bisexual men cos they're just so
disproportionately affected by HIV and other STIs.
We do know for other parts of our queer community,
sexual health is really important for them,
but there are other priorities.
For example, you know,
gender-affirming care for trans and non-binary people.
They tell us that that's often more important
than HIV and STI transmission, because as a population,
they're not as directly affected.
What do you think of these tails?
- It's kind of cute. - Yeah.
Little bunny.
That's, like, oh, cute little sexy bunny.
And then this one looks like just a little fart.
You know, like a cartoon fart.
Kevin Haunui is an academic looking into the sexual well-being
of takatāpui.
Amongst the general population of men that have sex with men,
you know, the trends are really good,
but there are some differences if we start to look at Māori and takatāpui.
If Maori are more likely to present late,
the medication that is available may not be as effective.
Some of the reasons that have been put forward for that
are around trust.
Stigma and discrimination are really a huge factor.
It has been a challenge,
and it's an ongoing challenge to ensure that all takatāpui,
and in fact all New Zealanders,
have access to the same quality of health support.
I think one of the best ways to reach out to takatāpui communities
is to consult with takatāpui communities.
But at the end of the day too, it is about quality of life.
Don't be whakamā about getting in contact with your doctors.
So, Courtney, there's a lot of stigma surrounding STIs,
but I wanna make testing fun,
and I know how much you straights love your gender reveal parties,
so today we're gonna be doing an STI reveal party.
I don't have any STIs, and you didn't test me.
I had a test two months ago, and I didn't have anything, so...
Well...
Too bad.
Are you ready to see what you've got?
It's...
Oh.
Got stuck.
Gonorrhoea!
- Hooray. - Yay.
But the good news doesn't stop there.
Gonorrhoea can be cleared up with antibiotics
via an injection and tablets.
I don't have gonorrhoea.
That's what you think, mate.
On the next episode of Queer Academy...
I think we might have a chance to find some queers around here.
- Maybe. - Can you see any?
- No. - How will we know if we see them?