Bay Area Friends (BAF) is a PRIVATE social group for people with genital herpes (HSV-1, HSV-2) who live in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Only our group description is viewable to non-members. With over 2000 members (including our original Yahoo Group members), we are one of the largest Herpes social groups in the USA. We welcome everyone over 18 who is interested in making new friends, sharing fun activities together, and meeting others who share our surprisingly common situation. Bay Area Friends offers a great variety of local, member-organized social events and activities.

Bay Area Friends 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 listed at http://www.datingwithherpes.org

PRIVACY INFORMATION, PLEASE READ!

This BAF Meetup Group is PRIVATE. Only people who have genital herpes (HSV-1, HSV-2) may join. Only approved members can view info about our group events and other content.

For extra privacy, we recommend joining this group using a new, more anonymous email address that you create to use exclusively for H-related online activities including social media sites.. If you decide to use your existing Meetup Profile, please make sure to edit your "Profile" Settings to insure that you "HIDE your Groups" memberships on your profile. Otherwise, people in your non-H Meetup groups may 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."

Joining with Facebook could also reveal your affiliation with our group. Unless you have an H-only Facebook profile (a unique FB profile that you use exclusively for H groups on Facebook), we suggest that you do NOT use Facebook to sign up for this or other H Groups on Meetup.

Many people also prefer to show just their first name but 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.

All members of Bay Area Friends must indicate that they have genital herpes (HSV-1, HSV-2) when they request to join the group and answer a few questions on our membership request form. This information is totally private and only visible to our admins/group members. If you do not indicate that you have genital herpes on the form when you request to join, you will not be approved to join Bay Area Friends. This helps insure privacy for all of our members.

Please join us!

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