GLASA Encourages Students to Keep it Safe

Everyday, 25,000 people ages 15-24 will contract an STD. According to the Ohio Department of Health, nearly 3000 people died in Cuyahoga County during 2008 as a result of AIDS and complications due to the disease.

Students in CSU's Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Alliance (GLASA), in conjunction with Planned Parenthood, hosted a Safer Sex Fest last week to promote the use of condoms, female condoms and dental dams to help stop the transfer of STDs and STIs within the CSU community. This event took place as a part of National Condom Week.

Safer Sex Fest included the distribution of nearly 1000 condoms to CSU students. In addition to this, GLASA members volunteering at the table asked students to do condom demonstrations, confirming whether or not students properly knew how to apply one. When condoms were applied improperly, volunteers would instruct people on how to correctly apply them.

"When people are having sex, we want them to be doing it safely whether they're using male condoms, female condoms, or using a dental dam," said Mark Szabo, a sophomore electrical engineering major and volunteer. "We also want to teach them how to properly put on a condom. Some people think they know how to do it, but when they come to the table, they show us the incorrect method. We show them the correct method."

Volunteers also demonstrated the proper way to insert a female condom as well as the proper way to use a dental dam. A female condom is a polyurethane condom inserted into the vagina and held in place by an elastic ring. A dental dam is a sheet of latex used to protect those performing oral sex on a female.

The program did not go down without a hitch. Some members of the CSU community reacted adversely to the marketing scheme of the table, including an inflatable penis, and various volunteers who dressed in a penis costume.

"We used these methods to tone down the seriousness of the issue and to ensure that we got people's attention," Szabo said to an individual, questioning the validity of the group's methods. "People are scared to talk about sex. We wanted to bring the subject out in the open, to make it more fun and less taboo."

On Friday, volunteers ran out of condoms, choosing to tear the table down earlier than the planned 3 p.m. ending time. However, this was seen as a positive issue as members were happy to know that they had distributed so many safer-sex materials.

In addition to the free condoms and information on how to correctly use them, the table included information on Planned Parenthood, birth control and abstinence were also available to students.

"The most fun part [of Safer Sex Fest] has been teaching people how to use condoms, and educating them more on HIV and STDs, all of that, because a lot of them don't know. They don't understand that herpes are forever, are that a lot of STDs are as impacting as they are," said Nicholas Valencic, a sophomore occupational therapy major and volunteer. "They laugh and shrug it off, but it's really fun to see them go 'Wow! I didn't know that!' and walk away more educated."

For more information on safer sex or STD testing, contact Planned Parenthood at 216-661-0400.