The HIV Time Tunnel Returns

Ugh, an old idea has returned. Some Brooklyn outfit is selling a "safe sex license" so that players can "prove" that they don't have HIV or other STDs. Via Thrillist.

STF promotes responsible uglies-bumping via a Safe Sex License, a clinically backed, wallet-sized photo ID that says "I'm so clean, the condom should wear me". How it works: sign up online, download the clinic verification form, and get tested; mail the results to STF, and they'll send a card w/ your unique member ID and photo . Then simply hand the card to whomever, reveal your secret password and ID, and tell her to dial the card's 1-800 number; she'll then be privy to the dates and results of your last two HIV/AIDS tests, irrefutable proof that you were disease-free on at least two specific occasions in the past.

While we obviously want to encourage any program that could increase testing for HIV, do we really have to go through this again? Time tunnel, time tunnel, time tunnel. HIV tests can only tell that you didn't have HIV in the past. The antibodies tested for can take up to two months to be detectable. A "safe sex license" is meaningless unless you hadn't had sex for at least eight weeks before the test and not since. Some dumb ideas never die.

(Tipped via JMG reader Mike In Boston)