Jeremy Lambert (R) and Romeo (L) Last year's AGM may have been tough on the board of the AIDS Foundation, but this week's announcement of a new all-time high in HIV infections among MSM has illustrated even more clearly where the Foundation's focus needs to remain. Newly-elected board chair Jeremy Lambert says the latest increase, which saw 89 new infections in 2005, is "extremely worrying". But how much more extremely worrying can it get? Since 2003, we've begun to witness exponential increases in the infection rate, and every six months the AIDS Foundation again tells us that they're either worried, disturbed, worried and disturbed, or extremely worried and disturbed. At this rate, is there a danger that every gay man in the country will have HIV before the Foundation runs out of adverbs? Problem is, either no-one's listening or the message is not sinking in. Lambert says he's alarmed by the number of people that hear about the rise in HIV infections and still think it's news. "That's the distressing part for me," says Lambert. "Since becoming chair, I've been saying at every public event that I've had the opportunity to talk to that it looks like we will see the worst ever year in the history of this epidemic this year, and people are truly shocked. They come to talk to me about it afterwards, and I say last year was the worst ever year before this year. And they say, really? There's almost this perception that it was all bad back in the mid-to-late 80s, and then things got better because of a variety of reasons." Treatments have now made HIV the invisible virus. Previously, sufferers wore their illness on their sleeve with a combination of gaunt appearance, lesions, and premature aging culminating in death. Nowadays, the hell of living with HIV has been internalised, swept under the carpet. "Talk to any man who's living with the virus in New Zealand today, and they wouldn't wish what they're going through upon anyone," Lambert says. "Their lives are seriously compromised, and it's not just the complex regime of drugs that they have to take on a daily basis. It's the feeling that every day they're walking on glass, it's the fact that their food never tastes the same. I'm certainly in no position to be an expert in this area but the life of somebody living with HIV... sure, you can cope, but it's hardly living." In recent days, Lambert has talked about the urgent need to re-energise the community. With regards to the latest leap in infection rates, he's less concerned about a backlash against the gay community from the mainstream than he is about gay men remaining complacent and apathetic about the safe sex message. "I couldn't think of a worse possible result than a 19% increase from the number of MSM in 2004 diagnosed with HIV to now, and if we can't get our communities activated with this sort of alarming and distressing HIV infection result, I really don't know what will activate our communities." Parts of the community were certainly activated last year, thanks to a series of unfortunate events involving the board that would put Lemony Snicket in the shade. Constitutional change proposals that would have mandated a minimum 50% Maori presence on the AIDS Foundation board at any one time opened the door for an acrimonious Treaty debate which pulled the focus of the Foundation's staff way off target. At first, it seemed the board itself was being complacent about the growing discontent, perhaps thinking that it was all some sort of media beat-up. Coming face-to-face with a storm of member opposition at the AGM in November quickly put any thoughts of that nature to bed with a bottle of sleeping pills. Embattled board chair Simon Robb resigned soon after, the second board chair to resign in the space of a few months. Now the dust has settled somewhat. There's a new board chair, a new deputy chair, and two new board members with a third on the way in April, owing to the recent resignation of Te Miha Ua-Cookson. So what's the current board's evaluation of what went on last year? "I think a lot of our members felt frustrated with the goings-on last year, and certainly as part of the board that was put up the initial proposal and recommendation I have to take responsibility for that," says Lambert. "Looking back, there was so much unsettling opinion and comment being made around the proposal that we should have either driven it through or pulled it out. You can't let issues like this drag on, you need to put things into perspective. While our constitution is important to us as an organisation, it's actually the word ‘AIDS' that's in our title, it's the HIV epidemic that we're dealing with, and that must remain our focus at all times." Nevertheless, the community consultation process about the constitution will continue. A working party is currently being established which will be made up of independent community representatives as well as board members. Lambert hopes the whole issue will be resolved by the next AGM. "By the time of the AGM, hopefully people will have been involved in the consultation process so there'll be no surprises about the content of the recommendations," he says. "Also, I'm hoping this AGM will be largely procedural, given that the recommendations should reflect the consultation process. So there hopefully won't be lengthy re-consideration of dialogue that should have already occurred." On the contentious issue of whether the Treaty belongs in the Foundation's constitution at all, Lambert says the jury is out. "Certainly I'm of the view that the Treaty provides a helpful framework as to how Maori work with non-Maori in modern day New Zealand. But at the same time I also accept that it's essentially a document that looks at the relationship between what was, in 1840, Maori and the Crown." He sees the Foundation's Hau Ora Takataapui programme as something that exists regardless of any past or future commitments to the Treaty. "I actually don't know if that programme, necessarily, is a reflection of our organisation's commitment to the treaty," he says, "it's more of a reflection that Maori are New Zealand's second biggest ethnic group, are indigenous, and as such having a specifically targeted programme, which I have to say is extremely effective, is something that we're all very proud of." It's the Hau Ora Takataapui programme which has this year launched the most controversial Foundation campaign in recent years – the Gay Warriors For Safe Sex poster, featuring gay Maori men in traditional dress performing a haka. Dumped Labour MP John Tamihere was not amused. Neither were fellow failed politicians John Banks and Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki, the latter of which proclaimed the Maori used to take gays aside and kill them "in the old days". I read excerpts of the Banks/Tamaki exchange on Radio Pacific to Lambert down the phone; how Banks wondered why the AIDS Foundation didn't encourage Maori to join the Destiny Church, find God and "behave themselves", how "sodomy" can kill, how a "disgusted" caller to Banks show said the Foundation had sullied the image of the Maori warrior by daring to suggest the featured takataapui could be warriors...and so on. Usually quick to respond, these poisonous soundbites from the wasteland of talk radio at first elicit only silence from Lambert. He's not shocked or surprised by the reactions – but the initial silence is telling because the Banks/Tamaki sentiments are a manifestation of everything the Foundation has to fight against. Undoubtedly it also gives Lambert pause for thought because the battle, in this case, is very personal. "Our opponents are people who aren't just satisfied with a heterosexist agenda, they will not be satisfied until every Maori gay man is humiliated, and till we acknowledge that you cannot be Maori and gay," he says thoughtfully. "That's what they're looking for, and I'm not overplaying it – that is the reality. For someone like myself for instance, although I have the support of my mother, when I go back home, the battle is very much on now as to whether or not I will be allowed to speak on the marae. That's a battle I'm determined to win, but I'm very lucky in that I have quite a strong sense of who I am." Lambert is very aware that not everyone else does, and he's bemused and saddened when I tell him that Tamaki told Banks in his interview that he doesn't believe there are any gay Maori in his church. "Well, I know there are," Lambert says. "And that's the sad thing. I know of one individual, who's one of the leaders of his abstinence programmes, who is a man who has sex with other men, who is deeply conflicted about it. I try and counsel and assist him, and assist with trying to mitigate a lot of the damage that people like Brian Tamaki do to our young people. That's just a one off example that I know, I'm sure it's not the only one." Many people will see the latest Banks/Tamaki rant as another sad grab for publicity, and something which should be ignored. Lambert doesn't fall into this camp. "It's comments like that which really justify why we have a specific programme for Maori," he says. "I live in a bit of a liberal silo, so every time I hear comments like that I just wonder how somebody in the 21st century can be saying those sorts of things. But it's a poignant reminder that our lives as urban middle-class dwellers are quite removed from some of the desperate circumstances in which people live in New Zealand, and upon which organisations like Destiny Church prey." The pressures on teenage Maori to confirm to a stereotype of maleness within your culture, says Lambert, are immense. "There isn't a community that they can go to and hide. We can't just change the fact that our ethnicity is Maori, so running away from family is so much more difficult, because every time we look in the mirror, we see where we've come from. And that's the battle we're fighting." "They can't be happy," Banks said of the gay warriors poster. "When I look at the sad faces of all these Maori warriors on this homosexual ad, they, can't, they can't be happy getting around behaving in this way, can they?" he asked Tamaki during his interview. Only minutes earlier, he'd rained abuse on the men in the poster, saying "I've never seen so many dead beat losers in one photograph in all my life." "Happy may not be a term I would use either, particularly when I'm confronted with such diabolical remarks," Lambert responds. "There are times when I think, is this something that I would wish upon anybody? But when I'm standing up for other Maori who have had the courage to put themselves out there so publicly, I'm proud. I may not be happy at the time, but I'm never not proud of who I am, the fact that I'm Maori, the fact that I am gay – I stand there proudly. So I don't know exactly what John Banks link into my happy-o-meter is, but I'd say it's not a relevant emotion to be monitoring. When he looks in that poster, he may not see a lot of smiles, but he should be fairly intimidated by the pride of those people that are in there." However, since his appointment, no-one in the gay community appears to be intimidated by Lambert. "I don't know whether people are just being nice to me," he laughs, "but certainly I've been overwhelmed and humbled by the wishes of good luck that I've received since taking over the chair. It's that sense of support that I'm hoping would return to our work at the Foundation, and more importantly, that feeling of support back within our communities." Lambert is full of enthusiasm for the board's two newest members, Cameron Law and Grant Robertson. Robertson has international experience with the HIV epidemic through his work with the UN in Washington, and currently works as a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's office. "He brings with him an important understanding of government process, which will be extremely invaluable in our advocacy for better access to HIV medicines," says Lambert. "Cameron is a lawyer with Chapman Tripp, and he has experience in govt as well. He brings with him the experience of having led what is probably one of our community's biggest successes since the passing of the Human Rights Act, the civil unions campaign." Bridges have also been rebuilt with Foundation staff. "The major topic of discussion for almost two meetings last year was the Treaty. When it was such a divisive issue, and those feeling the most compromised were staff, how could you possibly have a healthy dialogue with them?" Lambert says. "It's only when you put things into perspective, when you get back on track and you focus on the things that are really important... the epidemic is what brings us together. It's the epidemic and our fear of the damage it could do to our gay communities in New Zealand, that is our focus. We're working together." Chris Banks - 16th March 2006