Last Wednesday (7/23), Project CRYSP and LifeLube teamed up with the Feast of Fools, Sidetrack, the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Substance Use and Abuse* and four PHENOMENAL speakers to put on a community forum addressing our relationship to alcohol - with a wide ranging discussion from how to avoid a hangover, to how to tell when your use may be slipping to abuse, to our collective responsibility to care for ourselves and one another. About 80 folks joined us for a really great conversation - perhaps the first of its kind, but definitely not the last.Click here for the Feast of Fools podcast. Download it and listen while you work out, work it, work your voodoo, or just work.
Enjoy LifeLube's photo set from the evening.
Enjoy the Feast of Fools' photo set (some of which are featured in this post - thanks Rick and Fausto.)
*For more info on the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Substance Use and Abuse, contact co-chairs Simone Koehlinger or Jim Pickett. The Task Force meets the third Wednesday of every month at the Chicago Department of Public Health (333 South State, 2nd floor), from 4:30pm to 6:00pm, and is open to all. You are welcome to join us at any time. The group also operates a listserv with over 100 members to share the latest in research, news and local events of interest.
Another great forum but I really hope the conversation will continue out in the community...an important topic that we don't reflect on enough!
ReplyDeleteHere is an article from the July 30 Windy City Times on the forum.
ReplyDelete-------------
Alcohol forum focuses on bars, choices
by Amy Wooten
2008-07-30
Many members of the Chicago LGBT community recently gathered at one of the nation's most popular gay bars to discuss whether or not the community can have a healthy relationship with alcohol.
The forum about the LGBT community and alcohol, “Let's Take a Glass Together,” was held July 23 at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted. The event was sponsored by Project CRYSP, the Chicago Task Force on Substance Use and Abuse, Lifelube and Sidetrack, and was moderated by the Feast of Fools podcast. Researcher David McKirnan, Howard Brown's Lisa Rivitz and two local bartenders were the featured speakers.
The discussion began with whether the community's relationship to alcohol has changed over the decades. Both McKirnan and Rivitz agreed that even though the community still drinks, that relationship has changed.
McKirnan, who has been researching the LGBT community and its substance use for about 25 years, said that years ago, a forum on the topic would never have occurred.
“It just wouldn't happen,” he said, adding that there has been a “cultural shift” over the years when it comes to discussing such issues out in the open in the community.
One of the reasons, McKirnan said, is because the LGBT demographic is more out in the open.
Read more story below....
In addition, LGBT people have far more choices than they used to. There was a time when bars were all the community had. Now, the local community has several organizations, coffeehouses and even the Center on Halsted.
When he first started researching, McKirnan said, a “huge proportion” of gay men reported coming out for the first time in a gay bar setting. Now, the community has choices, so that is changing.
Rivitz agreed that the culture has shifted. However, the reasons LGBT people may abuse alcohol remain the same. Those that come to Howard Brown Health Center for help, for example, may have issues with socializing and coming out.
Over the years, gays have been portrayed as excessive drinkers. However, research shows that gay and straight men in the 20-and-under age group look relatively the same. However, straight men's drinking behaviors tend to decrease with age, while gay men remain steady in their drinking patterns as they get older.
“If you ignore age, gays drink more, but what's really going on is gay men don't flatten out like straight men do” when it comes to their drinking,” McKirnan said.
Those at the discussion agreed that drinking at an older age is more normative in the LGBT community. Possible reasons include straight men typically having more familial obligations than gay men as they age.
“There's much more permission and it's more normative for gay men to be out on the scene at an older age,” McKirnan said.
Among the questions asked during the audience participation portions of the evening was the difference between alcohol use and abuse.
Rivitz said that it really depends on the person. She said there are people who drink heavily and even frequently who aren't considered alcoholics because they aren't dependent. For most, its simply part of the “social experience.”
Some indications that a individual's drinking behavior may be problematic include problems at work, relationship issues as a result of drinking, etc.
Rivitz offered a piece of advice: “Can you look at yourself in the mirror and say you were in control the whole time the next day?”
McKirnan also said that a person's motivations for drinking are an important factor. If you are drinking with the strong anticipation that it will solve certain problems in your life, you might want to reevaluate your relationship with alcohol.
During the discussion, the relation of alcohol to other problems in the community, such as crystal meth use, was mentioned. McKirnan, who researches the use of multiple substances in the community, said that going after “big-ticket problems,” such as meth, blinds the community to other issues that maybe have been accepted as normative, such as drinking heavily.
The decision to hold the forum in a local gay bar was a slightly controversial one. When one audience member brought up the issue, the panel participants agreed that they felt it was a healthful choice.
McKirnan added that bars are an important part of the LGBT community, and will remain so. They help support organizations and sponsor community events, as do alcoholic beverage companies.
Two local bartenders from Sidetrack and Minibar also participated in the forum. Both discussed the relationships they have with customers ( even those who are problem drinkers ) , characterizing them as rich and caring. They also shared the training bartenders receive in order to identify overdrinking and other issues, as well as how their own relationships to alcohol have changed since becoming bartenders.