Booklets providing help and advice to gay men in London

Booklets covering a range of important health related subjects for gay men in London can be downloaded from this website.

Printed copies of most of the booklets featured on this page can be picked up free from the health information racks in gay bars and clubs around London.

Click on one of the following topics to view the booklets available:

The Black gay community
Condoms
Coming out
Cruising
Drugs
General sexual health
HIV & AIDS
HIV positive gay men (and STIs)
HIV prevention
Organisations that provide help and support
Relationships

The Black gay community

In The Family

A celebration of the achievements of the men and women who have helped to build the Black gay community. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

In The Family 2

The sequel to 'In The Family' (see booklet above). Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Safe

'Safe' includes all the usual general sexual health advice and information, but also aims to acknowledge the attitudes, beliefs and traditions that stop Black gay men from enjoying good sexual health in its broader sense.

This booklet seeks to encourage Black gay and bisexual men to access the support available within the gay community, focussing specifically on Black-specific services, workshops, courses and community groups.

Condoms - Everything a gay man needs to know

Comprehensive advice for gay men on all aspects of using condoms to prevent infection with HIV, including information about all the different sorts of condoms and lubricant available, where to buy them cheaply and where to get them for free. Plus detailed advice on how to use condoms properly and avoid them slipping off or splitting. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Condoms - a pocket map

A pocket map showing where to get FREE condoms and where to buy condoms in London. Click on the image to view or download a PDF (approximately 124KB).

Coming Out

'Coming Out' is packed with information and advice for men who are just coming out onto the gay scene and becoming homosexually active. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Cruising

Cruising Safely

'Cruising Safely' gives advice to gay and bisexual men on personal and sexual safety in open-air cruising areas. Aimed at all men who go cruising but also suitable for young inexperienced men.

This booklet offers advice on the law, sexual assertiveness, personal safety and sexual health. There are also extensive listings of sexual health advice and support services, as well as support services for men who witness or suffer homophobic violence and harassment, sexual assault or rape. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Drugs

Wasted

'Wasted' Wasted is full of facts and information about drugs and alcohol. The booklet explores the reasons why gay men use drugs and alcohol and gives practical advice on how to cut down. It also explains which drugs don't mix and how to avoid having unsafe sex when you're using drugs and alcohol. There is a special section about how drugs interact with different HIV medications.

A Little Bit Wasted

'Wasted' A mini version of the booklet 'Wasted'. A gay man's guide to the risks of using drugs.

Gay Life in London

Gay London: Sexual health information for gay men in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian

'Gay London' gives advice about sexual health and HIV and about how to access the services in sexual health clinics in London for gay men whose first languange is French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German or Russian.

About 600 of the gay men who test HIV-positive in England and Wales every year are men who were born outside the UK, who have come to live, study and work here from all over Europe as well as Australasia, Africa and North and South America. Every year hundreds of gay men also contract other sexually transmitted infections - like gonorrhoea, syphilis, herpes and hepatitis. So if you have moved to the UK from abroad, as well as sorting out the basics of life, like a home, a job, education and friends, don't forget that one of the most important things you need to take care of is your health. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

GMFA's guide to gay sports clubs and social groups

'The Guide' has been written to encourage you to try something a bit different from visiting the usual round of bars, clubs and websites: to go outward bound with the Gay Outdoor Club, to take up a ball-game or a physical activity, from yoga to scuba, rowing to walking, or to share your interest in sci-fi, classic cars or politics. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

General Sexual Health

Cruising for sex - sexual health for men who have lots of sexual partners

'Cruising for Sex' offers gay men in London an outline of new research and offers specially tailored advice on sexually transmitted infections and HIV. It includes new advice on Hepatitis C and viral load, and repeats recent advice that there is a low but very real risk of HIV transmission through oral sex. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Unfortunately printed copies of this booklet are now out of stock.

Good Sexual Health

'Good 'Good Sexual Health' aims to provide you with all the essential information you need to stay in good sexual health. It describes in detail the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – from crabs to warts, via gonorrhoea, hepatitis and syphilis - which affect gay men. It shows how STIs get into your body and it gives tips on avoiding them.

Mini Good Sexual Health

'Good Sexual Health' is a pocket guide to sexually transmitted infections. The booklet also offers a guide to making an appointment at a sexual health clinic and includes details of clinics in London which run sessions specifically for gay men.

It is divided into sections, focusing on different regions of the male anatomy - the mouth, the glands, the pubes, the penis, the balls and the bum. Each section explains in simple language the symptoms of the most common STIs. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Safe

HIV & AIDS

AIDS - a gay man's guide

'AIDS: a gay man's guide' is an easy to read introduction to the illnesses caused by HIV/AIDS and anti-HIV treatment drugs.

Double Trouble

'Double Trouble' is a leaflet to accompany the GMFA advertising campaign from Winter 2005.

It provides advice for HIV positive men about the extra pressure which STIs, including different strains of HIV can put on their health.

HIV - a gay man's guide

'HIV: a gay man's guide' is a beautifully illustrated question-and-answer-style booklet about the workings and the impact of HIV, the virus which can cause AIDS, including a discussion of how the virus invades immune cells and replicates, how it can pass from one person to another and the damage it causes. Plus advice on all aspects of sexual transmission of HIV and advice for gay men thinking about taking an HIV test. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Reasons To Be Tested

'Reasons To Be Tested' is a mini booklet that explains why it's a good idea to take a test and know your HIV status. It explains how, if you are HIV-positive, your best chance of living a long and healthy life lies in knowing your status. Once diagnosed, you will be able to get the medical, practical and emotional help that you need.

10 things you need to know about HIV

'10 things you need to know about HIV' is a credit card sized set of flash cards with 10 essential pieces of information you need to know about HIV. Click on the image to view or download a PDF (approximately 179KB).

HIV Positive gay men (and STIs)

A-Z of STIs

'A-Z of STIs' contains information, which as a gay man with HIV, you should find useful to keep a check on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).

HIV Prevention

Keep it up - a gay man's guide to staying HIV negative

'Keep It Up' offers comprehensive advice to gay men who get a negative HIV test result about what the test result means and does not mean, and how to ensure that they stay HIV-negative.

According to recent studies by the Public Health Laboratory Service, almost 20% of gay men in the UK who take an HIV test and get a negative result will go on to test HIV-positive within three years. A quarter of those men will go from a negative result to a positive result within just 12 months. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

How Can You Tell?

'How Can You Tell' aims to help you avoid making risky assumptions and make it easier for you to talk about HIV with your sexual partners. For gay men who want answers to questions like: How can I tell if he’s positive or negative? How can you tell him that you’re HIV-positive? Why don’t you tell him you’re HIV-positive? What if he tells you he’s HIV-positive? And if he tells you he’s HIV-negative? Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Organisations that provide help and support

Need Help? …Advice? …Information?

'Need Help?' is a comprehensive credit card sized guide to almost all the telephone helplines, websites, support organisations and free booklets a gay man living in London could possibly need.

The booklet includes contact details for all the London gay youth groups and all the London sexual health clinics and covers sexual health, HIV testing, syphilis, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, support organisations for HIV-positive men, homophobic violence, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse, selling sex, drugs and alcohol, and support services for black and Asian gay and bisexual men. It also advises on where to go to get counselling and to sign up for workshops. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Relationships

Agreements In Relationships

'Agreements In Relationships' is the essential guide for HIV negative and untested gay men in relationships who want to stop using condoms when they have sex with each other.

Relationships

Getting Ready - improving your self-esteem and getting ready for relationships

'Getting Ready' is a self-help workbook for gay and bisexual men want to improve their self-esteem. It is the first of its kind and encourages men to think creatively about how they approach getting into relationships.

With a mix of exercises, information, advice, photographs and cartoons (specially commissioned from renowned gay cartoonist David Shenton), Getting Ready is an informative, accessible, practical and, above all, enjoyable read. Its main emphasis is on helping you boost your self-confidence and self-esteem, improving your chances of getting into a relationship and enjoying it more when you are in one. The workbook also addresses related sexual health issues.

Produced in collaboration between Camden & Islington's Good Sexual Health Team and the Groupwork Programme at PACE (the Project for Advocacy, Counselling and Education). Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

Getting What You Want - in friendships and relationships

'Getting What You Want' was devised as a companion to the workbook 'Getting Ready' and sets out to help gay and bisexual men enhance their friendships and relationships.

Available in a choice of three different covers, it combines advice, self-help exercises, cartoons and stunning images in one beautifully designed, easy-to-read package. The exercises can be completed by men on their own or with friends. Click on the image to open or download a PDF of this booklet.

This is the second in a series of personal development workbooks for gay and bisexual men, produced in collaboration between Camden & Islington's Good Sexual Health Team and the Groupwork Programme at PACE (the Project for Advocacy, Counselling and Education).