Stop AIDS Project

STOP AIDS Project (SAP) was a United States nonprofit organization which worked to prevent transmission of HIV among all gay, bisexual, and trans men in San Francisco, California, through multicultural, community based organising.

Founded by Larry Bye, Sam Puckett and Rob Eichberg in 1985 in response to rising deaths from AIDS, it reached over 30,000 men in 2 years, with many starting to practice safe sex. In 1987 it shut its doors in response to data showing that HIV transmission rates in San Francisco dropped to less than 1%.

Between 1987 and 1990 the STOP AIDS Resource Center shared the experience to help sixteen other communities across the country establish their own HIV prevention programs, an idea sparked by the visit in 1986 of a group of New Zealanders trying to learn from the experience of SAP in San Francisco.

In May 1990 the STOP AIDS Project re-opened its doors in San Francisco due to rising HIV transmission rates in the city. In 2011 the STOP AIDS Project merged with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Internationally recognized as a successful model of grassroots prevention and support, SAP brought diverse gay, bisexual, and trans men together to talk about the challenges and issues posed by HIV and AIDS through neighborhood outreach, for example on busy streets or outside bars and nightclubs; workshops, often held in the living rooms of residents; and community forums. Some programs were designed for specific groups of men, such as Q-Action for men under 25 or Our Love for men of color.

Their work extended beyond education — helping change behavior, create personal commitment to safer sex, build community support for each individual with the vision that "HIV Transmission Can Be Prevented".

SAP attracted public funding. In 1992 the CDC gave a grant which enabled the it to grow its staff. Public support was sometimes controversial as its material was often sexually explicit, which some found offensive. In 2002 the CDC conducted an audit of STOP AIDS Project, in response to allegations of misuse of federal funds and obscene content. They determined that the STOP AIDS Project was in compliance with Federal law and local guidelines and founded on evidence-based, sound prevention science. The records of SAP are held at Stanford University.

Mission
The mission statement of the STOP AIDS Project evolved over its life. It started as: "The mission of the STOP AIDS Project is to prevent HIV Transmission among gay men in San Francisco."  Later it was: "The mission of the STOP AIDS Project is to prevent HIV Transmission among all gay, bisexual and transgender men in San Francisco through collaborative and multicultural, community based organising."