Have you ever heard of the HIM (Health Initiative for Men) Society?
Founded as a grassroots organization focused on gay men’s health, HIM entered into a formal contract with Vancouver Coastal Health in 2009 to deliver health-promotion services.
Today, it says it provides health-based programs and services for gay, bisexual and queer men and gender-diverse people. Over the past seven years, according to HIM’s CRA filings, the organization has received more than $8.7 million from provincial and federal government sources.
So, what exactly are taxpayers helping fund?
For one, HIM hosts something called the “HIMBO Jock Tea Dance,” where attendees are invited to show up in jockstraps and “lube up” their thighs for the event.
Culture Guard, a political advocacy organization that says it works to protect traditional family values and ways of life, first put HIM on my radar. Culture Guard sent a public accountability letter to Premier David Eby, asking why his government continues to provide substantial public funding to a registered charity involved in events like the “HIMBO Jock Tea Dance.”
Let me show you some of what Culture Guard highlighted, using screenshots from HIM’s own website.
For example, there is their “QUEERLY DESIGNED & LOCALLY MADE” merchandise. HIM’s website describes it as the “horny lovechild” of HIM. And then there is their “Collab,” inviting adult-content creators to sit down together and build community.
HIM describes some of these activities through the lens of HIV prevention. On its own website, the organization says: “Connectedness is HIV prevention,” and “Dancing together is HIV prevention.” It has continued to receive substantial public funding through provincial health authorities, such as Vancouver Coastal Health, Interior Health, and Fraser Health, as well as from the federal government.
Like Culture Guard’s letter to Premier Eby, I too have reached out to clarify whether your tax dollars have actually gone to preventing disease or to funding sexually charged jockstrap dance parties and adult content communities for the gay and queer men in BC.
I have not yet heard back at this time.
Hellbound and Down 