Darren Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 26/98) - Here is a deal few swinging singles could refuse.

If you were out on the town Friday night chances are you were offered free condoms.

AIDS Yellowknife volunteers, all seven of them, were passing out condoms at Yellowknife's bars.

This was the second time the organization has toured the bars distributing condoms this year. The last time was in July when volunteers went to nine Yellowknife bars offering condoms.

Elmer Bagares, outreach worker for AIDS Yellowknife, said no one is forced to take the condoms. He said, however, that the bar hop is a way of making condoms more accessible to people who might be reluctant or unable to buy them.

Bagares said Yellowknife is a small city and some people are reluctant to buy condoms in drugstores.

"People know a lot of other people and word gets around," Bagares said.

"If you buy them and you are a woman, some people think you're a slut. With guys they think you are trying to put another notch on your bedpost."

Statistics show that plenty of work needs to be done to raise awareness of AIDS in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories -- especially among older teenagers.

Although the number of HIV/AIDS cases reported in the NWT since 1987 is only 30, the rate of teenagers having sexual intercourse is higher than the Canadian average.

Forty-two per cent of those in Grade 9 in the NWT reported having sexual intercourse compared with 25 per cent in Canada. Similarly, 64 per cent of Grade 11 students in the NWT reported having sex.

It was 47 per cent in the rest of Canada.

Naomi Griffore was one of the volunteers who was out Friday night. She said the need to promote safe sex is important in a city like Yellowknife.

"The social circle in this city is small," said Griffore. "So we've all pretty much slept with one another indirectly. It's easy to see how it (AIDS) could be easily transmitted."

Both Griffore and Bagares said most people responded well to the condom giveaway. Griffore added that she feels the condom bar hop idea is worthwhile.

"I think it's a good step in making people think twice," said Griffore.

"And that is probably the best you are going to do."