Bay Area Friends (BAF) is a social group for people with genital herpes (HSV1, HSV2) who live in the San Francisco Bay Area. With over 2000 members (on our Yahoo Group), we are the largest Herpes social group in California and one of the largest H groups in the the world. We welcome everyone who is interested in making new friends, sharing fun activities together, and meeting others who share our surprisingly common situation.

BAF has NO DUES, NO officers, NO social directors and NO budget. Instead, we rely on ordinary members LIKE YOU to volunteer to organize events, such as Hikes, Dinners, Brunches, Beach Parties, Happy Hours, Speed-Dating, Camping, Picnics, BBQ's, Holiday Parties, Ski Trips, Bike Rides, Dancing, Ball Games, Movies, Bowling, Wine-Tasting, Museum trips, Concerts, Comedy or Theatre trips, and YOU NAME IT! We encourage all members to plan your own events!

Since herpes does not discriminate and neither do we, we are a very diverse group of people. We welcome people of all ages, all ethnicities, all sexual preferences, all professions, religions,  political affiliations and outside interests, singles, couples, doesn't matter - we're a great big wonderful mix of people and we make the most of it! We're especially welcoming to folks who are new to this situation and new to the group. We’ll make sure to introduce you to other friendly people and make you feel at home.

Bay Area Friends is NOT a dating service and offers no personal ads.  Our mission is to encourage members to organize fun events, so people can meet each other in person and make new friends. Not everyone in BAF is single and looking.  However, many people date people they've met at BAF events, and there have been several marriages as well.  If you would prefer to join an online dating site for people with herpes, there are many lsted at http://www.datingwithherpes.org

Statistics show that @ 20% of adults in the US have the virus for genital herpes, but as many as 90% of them don't even know it.  This is because most people have mild, infrequent, or even NO symptoms. Also, most doctors do NOT test you for herpes when they are testing you for other STDs unless you specifically request a herpes blood test.  For info on getting tested, go to: http://www.bayareafriends.org/herpes-diagnosis/

PRIVACY INFORMATION, PLEASE READ!

This BAF Meetup Group is PRIVATE.  Only people who have genital herpes may join.  Only members can view info about our group events and other content. 

For extra privacy, we recommend joining this group using an anonymous email address that you do not use for other Meetup Groups.  Or else, please make sure to edit your "Profile" Settings to insure that you "HIDE your Group" memberships on your profile.  Otherwise, people in your non-H Meetup groups will see that you are a member of Bay Area Friends, and if they read our description, they will find out that you belong to a herpes social group.  If you want that info to remain private - please edit your "Profile" settings to "Hide Groups." 

Many people also prefer to show just their first name and not their last name.  Other people prefer to use an alias. To make changes to your "name" that other members see, go to your "Account" settings where you can delete your last name or create an alias.

BAF Yahoo Group: If you are not already a member, we encourage you to join the main Bay Area Friends Yahoo Group, where most of our nearly 2000 members currently reside.  Click on the Sponsors link in the left hand Nav Bar of this page. 

Or, if that link doesn't work, try typing it in but remove ALL spaces:

http:// www. health. groups. yahoo . com / group / bayareafriends SF

Please join us!