Cold case, good cause

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

Roy Weber's 2003 murder remains unsolved. But his death inspired Project Weber, a harm reduction program for male sex workers in Rhode Island

Five years after the murder, Richard Holcomb and James Waterman founded Project Weber, a non-profit organization named to honor a man that they hardly knew. Themselves former prostitutes and recovering addicts, Holcomb and Waterman wanted to protect the state’s population of street-level male sex workers. Armed with a backpack full of supplies donated by AIDS Care Ocean State, they began with basic HIV prevention: passing out condoms, along with clean needles for the IV drug users. They walked the streets at night, visiting the clubs and bookstores where many of the hustlers conducted their business. They also drove hustlers who needed rides to rehab centers and 12-step meetings.

Holcomb and Waterman eventually went to the Rhode Island Department of Health, hoping that the state would be willing to help them minimize the spread of HIV among this high-risk population. In 2009, after a failed first attempt, they were able to secure state money for a needs assessment study focusing on Providence’s street-level male sex workers. (Street-level prostitutes are those who are solicited in public, frequently from cars or inside businesses like strip clubs or adult bookstores, which by their nature can’t discourage loitering.)

Read more: http://providence.thephoenix.com/news/156829-cold-case-good-cause/#ixzz2o8ew8BH5

[Behind the Aegis]

1. I did not know about the gay scene in Providence.

I applied for a position at J&W Univ. but never made the interviews because of weather.

I am glad to see this organization is taking to the streets. Preventing the spread of HIV is important as are the lives of sex workers.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

2. Well, the former mayor/current Congressman is gay....

I can't say I know much about it (the gay scene), but Providence is a very diverse and wonderful city if you can tolerate the weather.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. I had really wanted to go, but 6 feet of snow....hells no!

When a northern airport gets shutdown for snow, that's TOO much snow for this Southern boy. I think it was a nor'easter, but I can't remember, it has been about 8 years. I really wanted to go there because of the proximity to Massachusetts, which would have allowed my partner and I to marry, but it wasn't in the cards.

[libodem]

4. What a marvelous cause

We all need education. Could be 20 years ago now, I was standing in line at a pharmacy. And some (add judgemental and discriminatory description) scummy looking ladies were trying to get a box of insulin type syringes. I felt haughty. I knew what they were up to.

Now, this is how good my dear friend Jeannette was. After I told her I'd seen some junkie types trying to get needles, and thought I'd get agreement, for hatin', she set me straight. She said they ought to be free. She went on to say that there ought to be a big bowl on the counter full of clean syringes st all pharmacies and the Health department.

Dayum, if she wasn't right and changed my snotty bitch attitude for ever!

[Eleanors38]

5. A needle exchange program has operated for some 20 yrs in Austin.

I repaired the van and truck they used at-cost when I was a full-time mechanic. Technically, the program was illegal, but folks looked the other way, thankfully. Most cost-effective means to thwart the spread of HIV. Lines would form when the vehicles showed up at their appointed rounds.

[libodem]

6. Goddess bless you

For your effort. It is a very enlightened endeavor.

[Eleanors38]

7. Thanks. It was the 2 ladies who set it up who deserve praise.

[libodem]

8. Still wonderful work!

Good on your helpers.

[RiffRandell]

9. Thanks, really good article.

I am very familiar with Prov as that's where the clubs were that held all my punk/metal shows.

It's good to see people being helped in several ways rather than incarcerated.