Communities, citizens, and the perceived importance of AIDS-related services in West Hollywood, California.

Successful strategies for prevention and treatment of human immuneodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the developed world are commonly described in terms of community mobilisation and involvement. While a broadly defined 'gay community' has been regarded as central in mobilising responses to HIV and AIDS, other kinds of communities are also relevant, including place-based communities of citizens constituted by their shared residential location, and interest or affinity-based communities of individuals constituted by their relationship to AIDS (e.g. as HIV-positive, as care-giver, as activist). These overlapping communities are identified in West Hollywood, a city with a relatively large gay and lesbian population, and with high rates of HIV infection and AIDS. Results are presented from a 1993 survey of city residents (N=832), comparing perceptions of the relative importance of HIV and AIDS services. How does the perception of the importance of these services vary among individuals defined in terms of their potential membership of these three communities? The findings show that although household HIV-status and gay self-identity were positively associated with relatively high ratings of importance for HIV and AIDS services, there was a strong consensus among all residents that AIDS was the top issue of concern for West Hollywood as a whole. In short, AIDS had emerged as a central issue for citizens of West Hollywood even though the majority of residents were not self-identified members of a gay community nor part of a narrowly-defined community of interest comprising households with a HIV-positive member.