HIV/AIDS and Edutn: Lsons om the 1980s and the Gay Male Communy the Uned Stat | Uned Natns

Contents:

• AIDS: STILL A GAY DISEASE AMERI
• HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• DISCRIMATN AND HOMOPHOBIA FUEL THE HIV EPIMIC GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• STD FACTS – WHAT GAY, BISEXUAL AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SEXUALLY TRANSMTED DISEAS
• HIV/AIDS AND EDUTN: LSONS OM THE 1980S AND THE GAY MALE COMMUNY THE UNED STAT
• HIV IS A STORY FIRST WRTEN ON THE BODI OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

AIDS: STILL A GAY DISEASE AMERI

Outsi the Uned Stat, sex between men acunts for as much as 25 percent of all HIV fectns parts of Lat Ameri, wh rat nearly as high Asia, and not as high Ai where HIV much more strongly affects Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) 2010 reported that 77 untri ntue to outlaw same-sex relatns, cludg five that impose the ath penalty on cizens for beg gay (Iran, Mrania, Sdi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen, pl some parts of Nigeria and Somalia). Acrdg to Gee Ayala, executive officer for the Global Fom on MSM and HIV (MSMGF), prentatns addrsg the HIV panmic disproportnate affect on gay and bisexual men around the world acunted for a mcule two percent of the entire program at the Eighteenth Internatnal AIDS Conference (lled AIDS 2010) Vienna. In Augt 2010, Dunn Osborne reported Gay Cy News that New York Cy health partment data dite MSM the cy ntue to have a very high rate of new HIV fectn and efforts to get more HIV-posive men onto treatment may be failg.

He remend a stronger 'HIV preventn nscns' and believ regulatn, ially self-regulatn, is need gay sex also suggted that tnal posters about post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, would let gay men know that a thirty-day urse of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) has been shown to block HIV fectn if begun wh 72 hours of exposure.

"We need our current gay men's health crisis to be out the open, " he wrote, "warts and all, the way was the heyday of Larry Kramer's activism, however nvenient that might seem given our current high-profile battl for equaly. The -founr of GMHC and father of ACT UP, the man who beme the angry voice of a gentle but ightened people the darkt of the plague years, told me his Washgton Square apartment -- a sacred space gay Amerin history -- on a swelterg day July 2010 that he'd recently had "a lot of teractn wh Dr.

HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

She said 's "shockg and outrageo" that Ain-Amerin gay and bisexual men particular are so heavily affected by HIV, and that anizatns the gay muny haven't seemed to re, judgg by the agendas they set and the prri they her way of lookg at thgs is shaped by the fact that a uple of floors below her office, the Center's health clic each month tak re of 2, 500 people wh HIV, and tts another 1, 000 for the vis. Maybe 's the "throwaway" kids -- mostly gay teenage boys, kicked out of or nng away om their hom for beg gay, at high risk for HIV fectn om olr men who promise love or pay them to have unprotected sex -- the center's homels shelter a short elevator ri down om where she works. READ MORE: Panmics That Changed History: A TimeleThe AIDS Epimic Aris Though HIV arrived the Uned Stat around 1970, didn’t e to the public’s attentn until the early 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn (CDC) published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh Pnmocystis pnmonia, which is ed by the normally harmls fung Pnmocystis jirovecii.

Bee the disease appeared to affect mostly homosexual men, officials ially lled gay-related immune ficiency, or the CDC disvered all major rout of the disease’s transmissn—as well as that female partners of AIDS-posive men uld be fected— 1983, the public nsired AIDS a gay disease. The FDA would revise s l 2015 to allow gay men to give blood if they’ve been celibate for a year, though blood banks routely tt blood for the end of 1985, there were more than 20, 000 reported s of AIDS, wh at least one se every regn of the is Developed In 1987, the first antiretroviral meditn for HIV, azidothymide (AZT), beme available. HIV/AIDS the 1990s and 2000s In 1991, the red ribbon beme an ternatnal symbol of AIDS that year, basketball player Magic Johnson announced he had HIV, helpg to further brg awarens to the issue and dispel the stereotype of beg a gay disease.

DISCRIMATN AND HOMOPHOBIA FUEL THE HIV EPIMIC GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Origally intified as a “gay disease” bee gay men were one of the primary groups afflicted, HIV and the syndrome , Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, were unknown 1981 but had bee hoehold terms and the number one threat to public health by the late 1980s. For several years after the Center for Disease Control first realized that the illns croppg up muni around the untry were all the work of the same vis, the Amerin ernment did ltle to addrs the epimic, a failure to act that many attribute to the fact that HIV/AIDS was primarily affectg gay men, traveno dg ers, immigrants and racial activists, medil profsnals, artists and a number of people wh AIDS who went public wh their diagnos spe the stigma surroundg the disease eventually spurred a massive rponse om the U.

” Although the headle would soon be proven false, his report that a number of gay men have been admted to New York Cy tensive re un wh severely promised immune systems is the first article to mentn what soon be known as 5, 1981 – The CDC publish an article scribg five s of a rare lung fectn young, otherwise healthy gay men Los Angel, two of whom have died and three of whom die a short time after.

This article is often ced as the official begng of the AIDS 1981 – An LGBT newspaper San Francis, The Bay Area Reporter, wr about “Gay Men’s Pnmonia” and urg gay men experiencg shortns of breath to see a doctor. The New York Tim article “Rare Cancer Seen 41 Homosexuals” leads to the g of the term “gay ncer” to scribe Kaposi’s 11, 1981 – Wrer and film producer Larry Kramer hosts a fundraiser his New York Cy apartment, at which Dr. &nbsp;</em>May 11 – In an article tled “New Homosexual Disorr Worri Health Officials, ” the New York Tim first publish the phrase Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, or GRID, ntributg to the wispread misnceptn that AIDS only affects gay men.

STD FACTS – WHAT GAY, BISEXUAL AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SEXUALLY TRANSMTED DISEAS

Misnceptns around the study (and a misreadg of Patient O”) give rise to the myth of Patient Zero, a promiscuo or even malic gay man who sgle-handly and knowgly touched off the AIDS panmic the Uned 23 – The Department of Health and Human Servic announc the disvery of a retrovis they ll HTLV-III, the e of AIDS. Food and Dg Admistratn licens the first blood tt for HIV, and blood banks beg screeng the untry’s blood 22 – The Normal Heart, an tobgraphil play about the early days of the crisis by Larry Kramer, opens 25 – Rock Hudson, a legendary actor om the Goln Age of Hollywood whose homosexualy was an open secret the dtry, announc he has AIDS. The book receiv ltle mastream attentn at publitn, but go down history as a watershed moment gay MORE: How AIDS Activists Used ‘Die-Ins’ to Demand Attentn to the Growg Epimic1987Ann E Zelle/Getty ImagThe AIDS Memorial Quilt featured the nam of 1, 920 people who died of AIDS-related illns when was first displayed 1987—the number eventually grew to over 10, 000.

HIV/AIDS AND EDUTN: LSONS OM THE 1980S AND THE GAY MALE COMMUNY THE UNED STAT

First diagnosed six months before the 1988 gam, Louganis had kept his diagnosis and treatment a secret, even after g out as gay MORE: How Greg Louganis' Olympic Divg Accint Forced a Conversatn About AIDS1996The number of AIDS s diagnosed annually the U.

Men who have sex wh men were, and still are, disproportnately impacted by HIV bee transms much more easily through anal sex than through vagal first official ernment report on AIDS me on June 5, 1981, the Morbidy and Mortaly Weekly Report, a ernment bullet on perplexg disease s: “In the perd October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for bpsy-nfirmed Pnmocystis rii pnmonia at 3 different hospals Los Angel, California. ”In a 1983 appearance on NBC's "Today" show, activist and Gay Mens Health Crisis -founr Larry Kramer asked host Jane Pley, "Jane, n you image what mt be like if you had lost 20 of your iends the last 18 months? She lled the group "Save Our Children" and said reprented the rights of the majory of fileOn March 22, 1980, a year before that first MMWR report, evangelil Christian lears livered a petn to Print Jimmy Carter mandg a halt to the advance of gay rights.

HIV IS A STORY FIRST WRTEN ON THE BODI OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

“God’s judgment is gog to fall on Ameri as on other societi that allowed homosexualy to bee a protected way of life, ” Bob Jon III predicted, acrdg to the anti-gay reactn gaed steam across Ameri wh the electn of Moral Majory ally Ronald Reagan, activists found their mands for attentn for a growg medil crisis were ignored. One such group was the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, found New York Cy 1982, which is today the olst HIV/AIDS service anizatn the Men's Health Crisis Smh / NY Daily News via Getty Imag fileBut 1987, activists were still trated by ernment actn as bodi ntued to pile up, and they found the AIDS Coaln To Unleash Power, or ACT UP, New York, their actns and their activist art are legendary for speedg the ernment’s rponse to the AIDS crisis, allowg quicker ttg and treatment of lifavg experimental dgs, and drawg public attentn to the adly impact of homophobic public health polici.

More recently, wh the game-changg breakthroughs the bmedil arena, attentn has shifted to the bmedil preventn strategi, which clu preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for gay, bisexual, and other MSM (Grant et al., 2010) and vagal microbicis for women (Abdool et al., 2010). In rponse to the alarmg health dispari among gay and bisexual men, there has been a ll to broan the preventn lens to exame the fluence of multiple social and ntextual factors fluencg health behavrs (Halkis & Cahill, 2011). Dpe clear evince for the social termants of HIV transmissn and the beneficial effects of stctural terventns (Adimora & Auerbach, 2010), there have been limed efforts targetg the social equali, which place gay and bisexual men at greater risk for the acquisn of HIV disease.

In this article, nsiratn is given to the manner through which discrimatn and homophobia, which may have been heightened bee of the AIDS epimic (Halkis, 1999), perpetuate HIV vulnerabili for gay and bisexual men.

Sce discrimatn based on sexual inty is cril to the ias beg put forth, and sce the HIV preventn needs of gay and bisexual men differ wily om those of non-gay or bisexual MSM (Halkis, 2010b), the foc of this issue of the newsletter is on gay and bisexual men, and not MSM general.

” In the followg years, I wnsed the eptn of the disease, which s early years was given the name GRID (gayrelated immunoficiency disease) bee of s omniprence the gay populatn (Shilts, 2007; Weeks & Almo, 2010). Male populatn 18–44 years of age (Chandra, Mosher, Copen, & Snean, 2011), MSM, primarily gay and bisexual men, acunt for more than 50 percent of all AIDS s and all HIV fectns and 57 percent all new HIV fectns (CDC, 2011b). Dpe creased visibily, acceptance and recent socpolil advanc, gay and bisexual men ntue to live a society that privileg heterosexualy while nigratg nonheterosexual relatnships, behavrs and inti (Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 2009).

Opprsive social stctur and equali affectg gay and bisexual men have been implited perpetuatg not only the HIV epimic but also rat of anal ncer, Hepatis B, human papillomavis (HPV) and lymphogranulma vernrm (LGV) fectns, syphilis, gonorrhea and Hepatis C (Wolski & Fenton, 2011). Exposure to and experienc of homophobia have been implited substance abe, risky sexual behavrs, negative body image, suici attempts, creased strs and limed social support among gay and bisexual men (Halkis, Fischgnd, & Parsons, 2005; Mayer, Bradford, Makadon, Stall, & Goldhammer, 2008; Wolski, Stall, Valdiserri, 2008).

Moreover, experienc wh homophobia have been shown to terfere wh the abily of gay and bisexual men to tablish and mata longterm same-sex relatnships, which protect agast HIV acquisn (Diaz, Ayala, Be, Henne, & Mar, 2001). G., immigrants) who grow up wh people like themselv and who receive the support of their fai, gay and bisexual youth equently have more plited and often abive fay dynamics (D’Augelli, Hershberger, & Pilkgton, 1998; Pilkgton & D’Augelli, 1995). (2009) monstrated that gay and bisexual men wh histori of childhood sexual abe were more likely to report both unprotected anal terurse, to rive fewer benefs om participatn preventn programs, and to be at an overall greater risk for HIV fectn.

Recently our rearch team at the Center for Health Inty, Behavr and Preventn Studi (CHIBPS) at New York Universy documented the risks and rilienci of young gay and bisexual men ag 13–29 a study named Project Dire. In their qualative study of masculy, Phoenix, Frosh, and Pattman (2003) found that boys as young as 11 years of age have found crilly important to prent themselv as mascule orr to avoid beg bullied and labeled as gay. Scientific evince shows that gay men’s doubts about their masculy as well as endorsement of mascule characteristics are associated wh equent risky sexual behavrs, which crease exposure to HIV (Connell, 1995; Diaz, 1998).