GayNZ.com's observer at the Gathering says the speaker, who identified as a transgender woman and was speaking in a closed session, said that when PNG youths reach puberty the traditional practice is for them to be segregated in a special house in their village where older men initiate them into the ways of manhood. She said the elders frequently take advantage of this situation to have sexual contact with the youths.
However, for those gay youths and men who subsequently seek same sex intimacy any contact is "very underground" and is never acknowledged to family or associates. Any openly, or known, homosexual or transgender person is subject to constant discrimination in Papua New Guinea, the speaker said.
Other speakers today discussed the legal situation in New Zealand regarding when a sexually active HIV positive person must disclose their status, and research into how HIV positive people's perceptions of themselves and their environment changes when they are diagnosed with the virus.
120 people from the Pacific and Australasia are attending the three day Gathering, most being HIV positive and the remainder involved in HIV education, prevention and support.
