Half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. occur among people ages 25 and younger, but no national platform currently educates young people on preventing the virus. To address this issue, community leaders Howard Brown Health Center, Beyondmedia Education and About Face Theatre joined forces to produce Condom Sense: A Real Life Education. This innovative sex-ed program was created in collaboration with Chicago youth living with HIV.
"HIV: Hey, It's Viral!" is a groundbreaking sex-positive 20-minute video from Beyondmedia Education addressing HIV/AIDS prevention and activism from youth perspectives. The video shows young people what HIV is, how it is transmitted, and how it can be prevented - all spun with a fun soundtrack and entertaining animations to illustrate the science of HIV/AIDS. Focusing on risk reduction, safer sex practices and the importance of testing, the movie stresses the idea that anyone can get HIV, and everyone can help prevent it.
The HIV: Hey It's Viral! DVD includes the 20 minute video, plus extra bonus features that explain in depth the biology of HIV, how to use a condom, how to get tested for HIV, as well as individual personal stories of young people living with HIV. Other features include a workbook for educators, an action guide for activists, educational visual aids and more.
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Beyondmedia Education partnered with youth media producers and the Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation (CESO) and Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to create a multi-media toolkit on issues facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer / Questioning (LGBTQ) youth in Illinois public schools. Can LGBTQ+ Schools=Safe? focuses on sexuality-based discrimination and anti-gay violence of LGBTQ youth in Illinois schools, and shows how to start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).
The project includes a 2-part video/DVD produced by LGBTQ youth, a study guide and an interactive website with information and downloadable art, writing, and audio interviews with queer students. The toolkit equips young people, parents, teachers, individuals, schools and agencies in Illinois to create strategies for change around the health and safety of LGBTQ students as well as provide a forum for youth to connect and express themselves. Video screenings and discussions were held for the Illinois State Board of Education and in community organizations and schools. Youth Program staff Zaida Sanabia, who began working with Beyondmedia on homophobia in schools when she was 15, worked with other LGBTQ students to represent the issues relevant in their own lives, through their own eyes.
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A 17 year-old soccer-playing Latina tries to make a video, "How to Start a Gay-Straight Alliance in Your High School," and runs smack into her principal's homophobia instead. After taking part in the Girls! Action! Media! workshop at Horizons, 16 year old Zaida Sanabia partnered with Beyondmedia to make this sobering and heartfelt documentary on school and family life for queer students.
This Beyondmedia video is currently in distribution locally and internationally, and is used as a training tool on LGBTQ youth, school safety and homophobia. Zaida Sanabia, now Beyondmedia's Outreach Coordinator and the video's producer, conducts an ongoing program of screenings with discussions in high schools, drop-in programs, universities and organizations around the Chicago metropolitan area. "A Fish" has also shown on cable television and at 15 film and video festivals throughout the US and beyond, garnering two first-place awards. Recently Zaida received Chicago Foundation for Women's Ripple Affect award as "a shining example of the triumph of women and girls when given the opportunity."
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