Project for HIV and AIDS Care and Education (PHACE) West was Scottish HIV and AIDS awareness organisation that was active in the West of Scotland between 1995 and 2006.

History

PHACE West was founded in November 1994 by

Ken Cowan Kenneth Andrew Cowan (born December 19, 1974) is a Canadian church and concert organist who currently serves as professor of organ at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Biography A native of Thorold, Ontario, he ...

following changes in the Scottish HIV voluntary sector, and the following year attracted funding from four West of Scotland health boards. There was a widespread perception of an East Coast bias in the management of the predominant Scottish AIDS organisation

Scottish AIDS Monitor Scottish AIDS Monitor (SAM) was a Scottish HIV and AIDS awareness organisation that was active between 1983 and 1996. History In 1983, after becoming aware of the spread of an illness affecting gay men in the United States, Derek Ogg set up Sco ...

, and inadequate West Coast services. A number of SAM staff joined PHACE West, including its director Maureen Moore (AIDS activist). The new organisation had a high-profile launch party in May 1995 at Glasgow's Tunnel nightclub, featuring a performance by

Dannii Minogue Danielle Jane Minogue () is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. She initially gained recognition for her appearances on the television show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988) and for her role as Emma Jackson on th ...

. In 2000 it expanded by opening an Aberdeen office, and becoming a national organisation, PHACE Scotland. In 2006 the organisation became part of the

Terrence Higgins Trust Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...

, as its parent organisation PHACE Scotland completed a merger with the UK's longest established HIV charity, allowing THT Scotland to provide services in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Argyll, Ayrshire Arran, Lanarkshire, Grampian and Highland

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, ...

board areas.

Activities

PHACE West provided a welfare rights service, Buddy Support Service and Night Owl crisis line, counselling, and condoms by post for people in rural areas. They ran the HAVEN, a drop in space at

Ruchill Hospital Ruchill Hospital was a fever hospital in the Ruchill area of Glasgow, Scotland. The hospital was closed in 1998 and was sold to Scottish Enterprise in July 1999. It was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow. __TOC__ History In 1891 when the boundaries ...

. They also produced publications and websites on safer sex aimed at gay men, distributed condoms in LGBT venues, and ran the youth group Bi-G-Les for under-25s.

Prosecution under Section 28

In May 2000,

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of the S ...

halted funding to LGBT groups as local resident Sheena Strain (with the backing of the

Christian Institute The Christian Institute (CI) is a pressure group operating in the United Kingdom, promoting a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, founded on a belief in Biblical inerrancy. The CI is a registered charity. The group does not report numbers of staf ...

) took them to the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

, objecting to her

council tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge The Community C ...

being used for what she viewed as the promotion of homosexuality, in contravention of

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

. In particular she objected to the funding of PHACE West for producing and distributing a safe sex guide 'Gay Sex Now', which she considered pornographic. The Christian Institute's publication "The Case for Keeping Section 28" (dating from January 2000) shows that PHACE West was one of a number of publicly funded organisations supporting LGBT people that they intended to target. In July of the same year, Mrs Sheen dropped the case, having reached agreement that the council would send a covering letter to grant recipients stating "You will not spend these monies for the purpose of promoting homosexuality nor shall they be used for the publication of any material which promotes homosexuality." The council had been intending to defend using the argument that PHACE West's principal activity was preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, so was not promoting homosexuality. In the meantime the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

had passed the

Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 The Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 (asp 7) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which established that the Scottish Ministers had to issue a code of conduct for councillors, and put in place mechanisms for dealing with ...

, which repealed the law. Subsequently, funding was restored to the LGBT organisations affected.

References

{{HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS activism LGBT organisations in Scotland HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom HIV/AIDS prevention organizations HIV/AIDS organizations