King County Will Take Condom Grant

An $80,000 AIDS-prevention grant that would pay for the distribution of condoms to prostitutes won acceptance Monday by a 7-6 vote of the Metropolitan King County Council.

Republicans on the council had attempted to block the U.S. Conference of Mayors award to the Seattle-King County Public Health Department on the grounds that it did little to encourage women to get out of the illegal and risky profession.

The debate, often emotional, contrasted the peril of AIDS No. 1 killer of men and women between 25 and 44 years old in King County - with the victimization of prostitutes. The name of state Sen. Cal Anderson, who died of AIDS complications Aug. 4, was invoked at least three times during arguments.

Health Department statistics show that the most rapid increase in the rate of HIV infection within the county is now among women. Also, department data show the estimated 400 prostitutes in the county are 20 times more likely to be HIV positive than anyone else.

“Every 13 minutes a person in the nation gets AIDS,” Democrat Councilman Larry Gossett said. “If we can help reduce this down to 10 or 12 … we must take this step.”

“Everyone in this room is in agreement that we must be very aggressive in battling Aids,” said Councilman Chris Vance, a Republican. “But this is bad public policy.”

The program would hire former prostitutes to distribute condoms and teach safe sex to those active in the profession. This AIDS safeguard is similar in approach to the department’s distribution of clean needles to drug addicts as a means of preventing the spread of the same virus.

The $80,000 is immediately available, according to deputy county health director Sharon Stewart Johnson. The distribution of condoms is expected to begin in September or October.

The health department predicts that every month 16 customers of prostitutes in the county are infected with the AIDS virus.