Magnet
Magnet, the clinic now primarily known and referred to by its home at Strut (470 Castro Street), began as a stand-along free sexual health clinic for gay men in 2003. Visionaries Steve Gibson and Michael Siever started the clinic as a new way to address the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men at a small retail storefront on 18th Street in the Castro. Initially, the clinic offered testing for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, plus STI treatment and hepatitis vaccinations.
Every aspect of the clinic and its community programming was designed to be stigma-free, non-shaming, and sex-positive–working hard to upend the belief that sexual health care and services should be hidden or not discussed openly. Even the choice of glass walls, that allowed the community to see into the clinic space, reinforced the idea that taking care of your sexual health was something to be proud of–not hide.
Almost immediately, the clinic proved to be enormously popular–especially with the addition of community events such as art shows and educational programs.
The art show program at Magnet began in 2003, the same year the clinic was established, as a way to showcase art by and featuring Queer men, and later LGBTQ+ artists, and bring new people into the clinic during art gallery opening nights. This tradition continues, more than 20 years later, through art gallery exhibitions and opening nights held at Strut.
In 2007, San Francisco AIDS Foundation merged with Magnet. The standalone storefront clinic continued to operate in the same location for another nine years with the support of SFAF, and the community-focused, sex-positive programming continued to bring in clients.
“The foundation affirmed gay men’s right to sexually satisfying lives and really backed that up by acquiring Magnet,” said Gibson, for an article honoring SFAF’s 40th anniversary in 2022. “Magnet was kind of ‘out there,’ and some of the stuff we did was pretty radical at the time.”
Magnet staff brought a 28-foot long mural from the now-closed Bulldog Bathhouse, loaned by the San Francisco GLBT Historical Society, to display in the clinic.
“We had seven panels of a mural that had been taken down before the bathhouse was destroyed. It was painted with these incredible orgy scenes–I think probably six or seven men that looked like Russian nesting dolls engaged in some fairly explicit sexual acts,” said Gibson.
In 2014, Magnet was one of the first clinics in the world to launch a community PrEP program. The first 20 spots in the program were filled immediately, and less than a year later hundreds of community members had started PrEP through Magnet’s free program.
More than a decade later, the clinic at Strut continues to see around 3,000 PrEP clients every year and has remained a leader in community-based PrEP provision.
In 2016, Magnet relocated to the second floor of the newly-opened Strut “health and wellness center,” where the clinic continues to operate to this day. Now, the clinic’s services are open to people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and provides a variety of trans-focused services.
SFAF’s clinic at Strut is open and has appointments available. Book an appointment or stop by today.