Simon Hincks works for the Immune Development Trust, an institution that helps people with HIV and cancer. He is a medical doctor. After he found out that he was HIV+, he studied Complementary and Alternative Medicine techniques. He believes that such techniques can heal diseases considered to be hopeless by the allopathic medicine.
Simon Hincks visited Romania last month. He came to our office, and told us a lot of things about his activity and the things he believes in…
 

Adrian Newell Paun: What made you decide to get involved in the Gay and Lesbian movement and become active in the life of the g/l and HIV community?
Simon Hincks: I am not sure that I would say that I was “active” in the Lesbian and gay and HIV Community, although, perhaps I am beginning to be involved in the HIV community more and more. I was given an HIV +Ve antibody diagnosis in 1994. By this time I had only been “out” for 4 years. In this time I had not been politically active but had spent a lot of time on the gay scene in London. Following the diagnosis, I had what I can only describe as a rebirth and I had a very intense period of 4 weeks, where I was in contact with the magic and wonder of life. I attended a hospital clinic about three times and this was my first real experience of being a patient. I am trained as a medical doctor and had qualified in 1998. I realised through my experience as a patient that I as an individual, in my role as a doctor - had never really considered things from a patients’ point of view. To say I was horrified by the way I was treated was an understatement! I realised a few things at the clinic:
1. I subjectively felt well
2. I was being monitored, having bloods taken etc so the Doctors could decide when I was getting sick. This would not be based on how I felt but on the results of the blood tests.
3. There was an expectation by the staff at the clinic that I would eventually get sick and die.
I realised that if I was to carry on attending the clinic I would fall into the belief of the Doctors and I would eventually get sick. I therefore decided to leave the clinic and pursue things myself. My first stop was the Immune Development Trust (www.idt.org.uk) a charity that provides Complementary and Alternative Medicine to people with HIV and Cancer, which is where I am working now. I had six sessions of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I was so impressed with the profound impact that it had on me that I then went on to study it and I am now a Master Practitioner.
I used NLP over the next five years to work on myself at a mental level. Having studied as a Doctor I had many conventional beliefs, which were very hard to shake off, and I found NLP very useful with this. I also experimented with other holistic approaches including acupuncture, Cranio-saccral therapy and most significantly spiritual healing, which I am now also trained in.
One of the most useful beliefs that I have realised through my work on myself is that “The map is not the territory”. This basically means that any description of reality is only that a description, it is not reality itself and no one person can claim that they know reality because we all arrive at our own answers through our own experiences and these are never the same. This is particularly important in the context of HIV/AIDS where the conventional model is accepted by most people as being reality rather than just a description based on the perspectives of those scientists that study it.
I guess over this time I was trying to find my own answers and develop my own model of approach to HIV/AIDS. In the last six months, I am now 6 years post diagnosis; I am beginning to talk about my personal perspective. I was invited to the Ukraine last September and gave a 5-day talk on “Holistic Approaches to health” to an HIV self-help group there. I was amazed by the reception that I had and I think that this is partly die to the fact that people in Eastern Europe are much more open to new ideas, and that there is no money available for orthodox medication. In England it is almost impossible to find anyone that will listen to what I say. People find my ideas challenging and some have got very aggressive towards me when I have attempted to speak. There is very little opportunity to put my ideas across in the gay/HIV media, the one exception being Continuum Magazine, an HIV Dissident publication. (http://www.continuum.org). I think that Lesbians and Gays have much to offer everyone because of the often-difficult paths our lives lead. “Coming out” is one step whereby we decide to go against the expectations of the general population.  It is something we decide for ourselves. In my experience though this is the only step that a lot of Lesbians and Gays take and they then moan about how victimised they are! This is a pity, they have not learnt from their own experience of self-determination and how empowering that can be. The same holds true for HIV/AIDS where people tend to go along unquestioningly with what the medical profession dictates. My own path now is not purely based on HIV/AIDS issues or Lesbian and Gay issues. I am much more interested in empowering individuals regardless of race/gender/sexuality so that they can express themselves to the best of their ability. I think however that it is easier to do this with people who are Lesbian/gay or HIV because they are very great challenges for an individual and this in some way makes people potentially more empowered.

A N P: Few of the reasons cited by the Romanian politicians in not being in favour of eliminating article 200 from the Penal Code is: that it will increase male prostitution, spread HIV infection in the general population and affect negatively the birth rate. These are reasons used also by British politicians who are still in favour of incriminating same sex relations. Are these concerns true or partly true?
S.H.: It is well known that prostitution is regarded as “the oldest profession in the world”. Many cultures in the world have tried and failed to suppress it. Any culture that seeks to suppress free sexual expression of its people will end up with more problems than it solves. This includes prostitution, sexual abuse and paedophilia. This is because the message conveyed is that sex is somehow bad. It is well recorded that cultures where there is freedom of sexual expression, for example Native Americans, there was almost no incidence of sexual abuse of any form. In Romania’s case if the government are concerned about male prostitution then they can legislate for that separately. Your government could make same sex relations legal without at the same time making male prostitution legal (although as an individual I see no problem with this). This statement is obviously nonsense and inspired only by homophobia.
With regards to HIV, if you adopt the orthodox model, if same sex relations are legalised then there is less reason for people to hide their behaviour and it would be easier to teach them “Safer sex information”.
Finally with regards to negatively affecting the birth rate where is the evidence for this?
I think none of these statements hold any truth in them and they are purely being put forward as a desperate attempt to justify discrimination. As such they are not really worthy of any consideration.

A N P: The western Gay and Lesbian movement has more than a 100 years. In Romania the first organisation defending the rights of Gays and Lesbians was founded in 1996. We are quite at the beginning in comparison to the British g/l emancipation movement, and those from other Western European and US and Canada. What should we adopt from your experience and should we avoid in addressing publicly the needs and issues faced by our small but active g/l community?
S H.: I think the most important thing is to have clear goals of where you want to go and to work towards those in a positive way. I think to often here we have stood up and complained about being victims of our circumstances. Everyone in life has challenges regardless of race, sexuality and cultural background. It is not helpful to compare yourself to others. As Gays and Lesbians we are lucky because we have an opportunity through coming out to see that the culture/tribe that we grew up in does not have all the answers and at some stage we all have to really examine that culture and the beliefs we are bought up with and reject them to move forward and grow as individuals.
Work together with all people, aim not to become separatist and ghettoised and don’t limit yourselves to working on issues of sexuality. As gays and lesbians I believe we have unique abilities, that put to good use, can bring healing to the wider community. The name of your organisation is one of the most inspiring I have come across in the gay and lesbian community. Acceptance of others and ourselves is one of the most important truths in life and if everyone could just do that most of the problems in the world would disappear overnight. It is important to realise that we must first accept ourselves. As a new movement in Romania if you focus inward to yourselves as the first step I am sure you will find that the external problems and difficulties will melt away on their own.
I have come to a time in my life eight years after coming out, that I need to turn my back on the gay scene here in England. I realise that for me it is not a healthy place to be and that in order to overcome my addictions to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sex, materialism and co-dependency, all of which are very prevalent in western gay society, I need to distance myself for the time being. It is important to remember that before HIV the average life expectancy for gay men in England was only 40/45. I do not think that since HIV the community or the individuals within it have moved forward much in addressing the core issues of why so many of us live very addictive destructive lifestyles. My own personal conclusion is that the community still feels very victimised and we have not wholeheartedly taken on board that we have to be responsible for ourselves and not seek to blame externally.
 
A N P.: Some say that the most important thing in the life of a gay or lesbian person in to “Come Out”. How necessary is this process of disclosing one’s sexual orientation in order for that person to be able to move on in life and not be dragged back by this issue?
S H.: This I think comes down to honouring and respecting yourself, a basic fundamental to life. However I do not agree that this is the most important thing in the life of a gay/lesbian. It is only a first step towards coming back to yourself, or beginning your true path in life. I think in the west all too many people make this one step and then do nothing for the rest of their lives. We must continually make similar steps if we are to discover our own true nature and develop our unique abilities.

A N P.: The churches in Romania are the most vocal opponents against the decriminalisation of same sex relations. The MP’s in many occasions cite the position of the church and the “national traditions” in refusing to eliminate article 200 from the Penal Code. Was the Anglican Church and or the other churches in Britain have such an evident homophobic public position during the public debates leading to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in UK?
S H.: Yes the Anglican and Catholic churches have been quite vociferously homophobic during these debates. I am always surprised at the sway they still have when less than 6% of the UK population goes to church regularly (the lowest in Europe

A N P.: What do you personally wish to us, Romanian gays and lesbians and what do want to warn us against?
S H.: Everything that we want and need in life comes from within ourselves. Support each other in releasing your individual past wounds and traumas and prioritise this over trying to influence the external world. Your experience as Romanians is unique and in confronting and releasing the past both individually and collectively will empower you to levels, that at this time, you can only dream of. Then you will truly be able to create what you seek both in your own country and in the wider world. You are not more or less than any other country or people and you need to find your unique path. We live in a world of great change. In such a time we must truly let go of the past otherwise we will rip ourselves apart. Expect the best you deserve it!

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