The Power, Pleasure, and Equity Principles is a set of guiding principles focused on improving the sexual health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) in the United States. The principles are designed to be activated in all stakeholder efforts, from sociocultural, behavioral, and biomedical research to program design and delivery at local, state and national levels.

It is our hope that local and state health departments, the CDC, HHS, health care providers, community-based organizations, universities, research organizations, sexual health and rights advocates, and allies will share our journey and endorse Power, Pleasure, and Equity: Principles for supporting the sexual health of gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men. Every endorsement is a commitment to provide sexual health services by, for, and with GBM, that are directly informed by and reflected within by the tenets laid out in this living document. Sign On to Endorse These Principles

The Vision

The sexual health and wellness of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men across the gender spectrum in the United States is prioritized, well-resourced, community-driven, pleasure-centered, intersectional, and founded in equity.

The Principles

1. 1. Recognizing sexual health goes well beyond disease prevention and management, we center pleasure and foster sexual health approaches that are holistic, multidimensional, syndemic-informed, wellness-oriented, free of stigma and shame, and serostatus neutral.
   2. Foundational to our efforts, we embrace equity through program tailoring, differentiated service delivery, and the distribution and/or re-distribution of resources to under-resourced communities who are most impacted by sexual health disparities.
   3. Through a social justice lens, we actively disrupt status quo thinking and advocate vigorously across local, state, and national contexts to dismantle racist, white supremacist, and homophobic ideas, systems, and structures.
   4. Communities provide our direction and guidance, from research through program design, implementation, and continuous quality improvement. We prioritize evidence-informed approaches that exist on the leading edge of innovation and best practice and equally value qualitative and quantitative inputs.
   5. Celebrating the richness of our communities, we honor a wide array of racial/ethnic/cultural identities, socioeconomic statuses, geographies, ages, sexual identities, and gender expressions. We uplift and support every individual in our big, intersectional tent. We practice cultural humility and actively commit to cultural literacy 24/7/365.
   6. We make room at every table in our big tent for new voices and perspectives, providing a robust set of opportunities for emerging talent, including engagement, mentorship, and leadership development. We deeply value the importance of stepping back and making space as we continuously endeavor to improve our multidimensional response to our quest for sexual health and wellness.
   7. As trust is not transactional, we earn and sustain trust worthiness within the communities we serve through daily practice. We prioritize long term community relationships built on consistency, empathy, love, transparency, accountability and shared values and goals.
   8. Our words are as important as our actions. We walk the walk with integrity and purpose, and talk the talk honestly, with humility, empathy, compassion, and cultural literacy.
   9. We understand there are structures, systems, entities and individuals who may find these concepts new and potentially challenging. We strive to inform, educate, and advocate outside our big tent in the most endearing and effective way possible.

Sign On to Endorse These Principles