With more than 50,000 people expected, this year’s Pride Festival promises to be a real showcase – with multiple stages and group areas, live performances, art displays, and a wide variety of food and frosty beverages – most of them more potent than a milkshake.

Factoring in a slew of private parties, bar and restaurant promotions and other functions, there will certainly be no lack of diversion, ingestion and indigestion – literally and figuratively. If past festivals are any guide, certainly the alcohol will be flowing freely.

And that’s a cause for concern, especially in terms of high-risk drinking and HIV.

The truth is that Pride has evolved into much more than just a weekend festival. It’s really a month-long string of events that celebrate our region’s GLBT community, culture, history and civil rights struggle.

No one doubts that promoters are doing their best to host great events. For years responsible hosts have taken special security precautions and provided alcohol server training for their workers, etc. However, with the extensive number of volunteers, community groups and businesses involved in events attracting thousands of partiers the community can be left open to health and safety issues that slip through the gaps.

Over-service of alcohol appears to be common practice, not the exception, in some San Diego bars. So as businesses gear up for Pride, this is likely to continue, according to risk assessments conducted by public health groups.

Few people would argue that a gay drunk driver kills less effectively than a straight one. Or that alcohol poisoning is less hazardous in a gay bar than at TGI Friday’s. Or that drunkenness doesn’t increase instances of assault or unplanned sexual activity.

We don’t talk about it much, but the prevalence of alcohol certainly puts people at greater risk to transmit or acquire HIV – and not from sharing beer mugs.

You don’t have to be a federal health agency to know that people’s judgment is altered by drugs and alcohol – especially when it comes to sex – as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported.

The use of alcohol and party drugs continues to be prevalent among one of the most at risk populations in the U.S. – men who have sex with men, or MSM – and drugs and alcohol are linked to risk factors for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, according to the CDC.

This is research-speak for “You may wake up in bed with an ugly person after a long night at the bar – only this time the ugly person is an STD or a deadly virus.”

Obviously, this is not just an GLBT phenomenon. Studies show that a history of heavy alcohol use has been linked with a lifetime tendency toward high risk sexual behaviors, among straights and gays, including multiple sex partners, unprotected sex, and sex with high risk partners, such as injection drug users.

And while certainly methamphetamine and club drugs are tied to HIV risks – alcohol remains the most prevalent drug in the U.S. and as such has a huge impact on people’s sexual practices.

In January, a study was released called “Alcohol Use and Risky Sex in New York City” that frames the issue well. It found high rates of people – straights and gays – are having unprotected sex. Gay men who binge drink reported that they tend to have many more sex partners than those who drink moderately or not at all, according to the study.

It also found binge drinkers were 50 percent more likely than casual drinkers – and three times more likely than non-drinkers – to have had two or more sexual partners in the past year. Additionally, the study found drinking cuts the chances – from 86 percent to 65 percent – that a man having receptive anal intercourse would be protected by use of a condom.

Why is this important? At the end of 2006 there were 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States – with one in four of them unaware of their infection.

A recent study of MSM, ages 15 to 22, in seven large cities found 77 percent of those who tested HIV positive mistakenly believed they were not infected, according to the CDC.

Statistics like these are important to keep in mind as we look at not only the Pride events, but the GLBT community’s relationship with alcohol outlets and other venues that cater to our need to express our sexuality, including circuit parties.

They also point to our responsibility to establish consistent venue policies that contribute to a safer, healthy celebration of GLBT culture. To that end, we need to ask ourselves some key questions:

Given the link between alcohol and other drugs and the risk factors of HIV, are we establishing Pride-related venues that are conducive to lives free of drug dependence and HIV?

• Are we working closely enough with our bars and event producers to ensure they are not serving people to the level of intoxication and anyone under 21?

• Are security measures in and around Pride events and local bars sufficient to prevent drug use and other illegal activities?

• Are we working to ensure that venues hosting circuit parties and similar activities are using proven strategies – such as providing free condoms, lubricants and other appropriate safe sex supplies in areas where sexual activities may occur?

• Are we providing enough access to alcohol/drug services and HIV prevention services at all Pride-related events?

In many cases, the answer may be yes. But when it isn’t, we need to have proactive conversation.

Certainly, a lot of progress has been made in HIV prevention in the last 25 years. It’s been made in large part because our community leaders and health officials have tailored their efforts to meet local needs, to mobilize and motivate our population, and to expand the reach of healthy community policies.

As we ramp up for this month’s Pride celebrations, we would do well to keep prevention in mind.

Those interested in constructive dialogue on these matters can send e-mail to: jamesbaker@publicstrategies.org.