Big Gay Out hosts Hiv-positive cafe

A pop-up cafe run by people living with and affected by HIV has been launched for the first time in New Zealand.

Thirty volunteers were serving customers at cafe+, at Auckland’s Big Gay Out yesterday.

Thousands were expected to pack Coyle Park in Point Chevalier for the annual event, which is part of the Pride Festival.

A 2018 Colmar Brunton survey showed 42 per cent of New Zealanders were uncomfortable with someone with HIV preparing their food.

One of the volunteers, Charlie Tredway, said the poll results were disheartening as there was no risk of HIV being spread from sharing or preparing food.

Tredway, 33, is the chairman of Body Positive, a peer support organisation for Hiv-positive people. He has been living with HIV for 12 years.

The results of the Colmar Brunton survey were ‘‘a little bit galling’’, he said.

‘‘I know how harmful misconceptions around HIV can be for people who are newly diagnosed but also for the public.

‘‘Times have changed a lot since the 1980s where the perception was we weren’t able to share cutlery or prepare food, or love and experience our lives to the fullest.’’ Food was a way of bringing people together and counteracting stigma, he said.

‘‘It’s a way of communicating and sharing love through food and customer service.’’

The menu will include sandwiches, pizzas and salads.

Jane Bruning, the national coordinator of Positive Women Inc, said stigma and discrimination were still the biggest barriers for people living with HIV.

The organisations decided to launch the eatery at Big Gay Out because it was an event that felt safe and had a friendly atmosphere, she said.

‘‘It’s a place that celebrates diversity and difference.’’

However, they also had plans to take the eatery to other places and events in the future.

The first ever cafe of this kind was started in Toronto, Canada, and the organisations had been planning a local pop-up cafe for a long time, she said.

‘‘It’s a social thing ... having people living with HIV serving food and making the food is trying to break down the stigma.’’

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

The virus attacks the immune system’s infection-fighting CD4 t-cells, making the body more susceptible to infections and particular cancers.

If untreated, the virus progresses to its final stage, known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This can take two to 10 years, and the immune system becomes so weakened that the body can succumb to opportunistic infections such as pneumonia, shingles and skin cancers.

Since the mid-1990s, HIV has been treated with a combination of anti-retroviral drugs, which can suppress the virus in the blood to an extent where it becomes undetectable.

The most common way to contract HIV is through unprotected sexual intercourse. Other risk factors include intravenous drug use, childbirth, breastfeeding and blood donation.

HIV is not spread by shaking hands, hugging and kissing, toilet seats and door knobs, dishes, drinking glasses, food or cigarettes.