Michele Munz
Of the Post-Dispatch
Two people in charge of a local AIDS agency have been fired because
they used public funds to pay a gay-porn movie star to appear at an event
promoting safe sex.
The eight-member board of Blacks Assisting Blacks Against AIDS voted
unanimously Friday to fire its director, Erise Williams Jr., and senior
director, James Green.
The two had hired porn star Edgar Gaines, whose film name is Bobby Blake,
to speak at an event July 20 at Williams' downtown loft. Gaines was paid
$500 from a federal anti-syphilis grant, the agency says.
Gaines appeared at the agency-sponsored event wearing a towel and boots.
Two former employees of the group also claim Gaines was nude during part
of his appearance and allowed some of the two dozen guests to fondle him
sexually.
"We felt that even with (Gaines) being at the event with just a towel
and boots on was totally inappropriate and something we don't condone,"
said Donnell Smith, a lawyer and vice chairman of the agency's board. Smith
said for that reason "and other personnel matters I don't want to get into,"
we terminated Williams' employment.
Smith said the board is still investigating whether guests under the
age of 18 attended the safe-sex event, and whether the movie actor stripped
and had sexual contact with guests.
"Based on people we've spoken with, we don't believe there's much merit
to those claims," he said.
Green was fired because he was in charge of the grant that was used
to pay Gaines, Smith said.
Williams could not be reached Tuesday. But when the allegations first
surfaced, Williams said he hired Gaines because "Bobby Blake" is well-known
among gay men and would attract a large audience. He said his agency must
use unconventional methods to get the message of safer sex to a hard-to-reach
audience.
Williams has been the director for most of the agency's 13-year existence.
Green served on the board before getting hired as a staff member five or
six years ago, Smith said.
The movie actor's dress at the event also prompted the St. Louis Health
Department to cancel the remainder of its $96,000 grant to the agency,
which amounts to about $6,000, said Mark Pasewark, attorney for the agency.
The grant was intended to fight syphilis.
The grant is the smaller of two the agency receives through the city
from the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency
gets a total of about $1.6 million in government assistance.
Reporter Michele
Munz
