Why are gay men more at risk for HIV? - Greater Than HIV

Contents:

• NATNAL GAY MEN’S HIV/AIDS AWARENS DAY 2021
• HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• DISCRIMATN AND HOMOPHOBIA FUEL THE HIV EPIMIC GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• WHY ARE GAY MEN MORE AT RISK FOR HIV?
• 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 AND THE GAY MUNY: THE DOCTOR'S ROLE UNSELLG
• HIV-RELATED STIGMA WH MUNI OF GAY MEN: A LERATURE REVIEW

NATNAL GAY MEN’S HIV/AIDS AWARENS DAY 2021

September 27 is Natnal Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awarens Day (NGMHAAD), a day to regnize the disproportnate impact of HIV on Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men (MSM), and to raise awarens about the importance of expandg accs to HIV ttg, preventn, screeng, and treatment servic. Gay and Bisexual Men face multiple HIV preventn challeng, such as racism, discrimatn, homophobia, and stigma, that put them at higher risk for HIV and prevent them om accsg qualy health re that allows them to be aware of their stat and take steps to improve their health. In addn to racial dispari, many Gay and Bisexual Men experience challeng achievg and matag viral supprsn due to disproportnate levels of homelsns, stigma, and a lack of mental health and culturally petent re that may prevent them om accsg treatment and necsary meditns.

HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

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). 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. 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.

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 lymphogranuloma 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). 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).

DISCRIMATN AND HOMOPHOBIA FUEL THE HIV EPIMIC GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

(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. Posive attus toward one’s sexual inty have been shown to be protective agast risky sexual behavrs (Rosar, Hunter, Maguen, Gwadz, & Smh, 2001), while elevated rat of ternalized homophobia have been lked to exacerbated sexual risk takg and other health risks.

(2008) monstrated that among 465 HIV-posive men, ternalized homophobia was associated wh unprotected receptive anal terurse wh partners who were HIV-negative or of unknown HIV stat and was also associated wh poorer adherence to antiretroviral therapy. For gay and bisexual men of lor, the effects of sexual orientatn discrimatn on HIV risk may be nfound and exacerbated by other powerful stctural factors, cludg racism, lack of accs to enomic means, and poverty (Williams, Wyatt, Rell, Peterson, & Asuan-O’Brien, 2004).

Yet is a likely hypothis that those who have accs to and navigate environments where there are high levels of gay prence are also likely to be exposed to HIV preventn msagg through publitns and advertisements, as well as through teractns wh other gay men social venu. For those young gay men of lor who are socenomilly disadvantaged, accs to gayrelated health rourc may be more limed bee their neighborhoods of rince tend to be outsi the exclive cy center, where many gay cultural, health, and social tablishments tend to be loted (Halkis, Moeller, & Sinolfi, 2009a, 2009b). Taken together, the extant lerature suggts that the perpetuatn of the HIV epimic gay and bisexual men is not directed solely by person-level behavrs but is fluenced by a range of ntextual factors, rooted cultural, historil, and polil stctur this untry.

WHY ARE GAY MEN MORE AT RISK FOR HIV?

Fally, for preventive efforts to be meangful and effective, such approach mt unrstand the liv of gay and bisexual men, support velopment of strong and healthy inti, and help the creatn of strong muni which we will not only be red for but also able to take re of ourselv and support each other. But now, thanks to Rsell T Davi’s movg five-part Channel 4 drama seri, It’s a S, we are all able to look at a vivid, troublg and yet ultimately upliftg picture of those dark and adly younger dienc, may be shockg to learn jt how exclud and hidn the gay muny was om mastream life. Then beme known as “Grid” – gay-related immune ficiency – before acquired immunoficiency syndrome was fally ed (Aids) spread to the UK, a muny that was jt begng to fd s public voice and nfince was hered back to the shadows by a homophobic prs mpaign.

Terms like the “gay plague” were wily ed and the belief was fostered that the disease uld be transmted by any kd of gay muny was held spicn by all sectors of society, cludg the health service where, aga as Davi shows, Aids patients were often placed harsh ndns of isolatn.

As wh the current panmic, many people died lonely aths, only the se of HIV there was no medil reason for their as bleak as the perd was, also gave birth to an upsurge gay activism and support groups that helped transform the posn of the gay muny this, four people who were at the foreont of the stggl brought so powerfully to life It’s a S, tell their stori their own Whaker, the -founr of the Terence Higgs Tst. This was a time when nobody was out as gay the police and very few were out as gay the health profsn, bee got you to all kds of there were thoands of people who got stuck all over the untry tryg to help out, lots of them lbians, lots of them other gay men, who were terrified but ntually faced their fear to provi sential Bton, send om right, who worked for many years as a nurse wh HIV patients. Sce early victims were predomantly gay men, the stigma attached to homosexualy the medil, erng, law enforcement and eccliastil stutns beme a barrier to unrstandg, preventn, and out of doctoral study the mid-1980s, I was part of the first generatn of mental health provirs to rpond to the epimic the San Francis Bay Area Northern California.

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

Her Highns Sheikha Mozah exhorted the atten om around the world to not stop at talk but, stead, m themselv to actn agast both the sndalo lack of accs to dimentary tn for over one hundred ln school-age children worldwi, as well as the tolerable equi of genr, class, and enomic stature which impair the attament of basic years ago, the gay muny was effective tg var social and profsnal muni bee, beg highly ted, privileged, and entled, was unaaid to speak the tth and go head-to-head wh powerful sectors that were perceived as obstctg accs to rmatn, rearch, treatment, and fundg. One, the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer (LGBTQ) Prints Higher Edutn is newly formed and "advanc effective learship the realm of post-sendary tn, supports profsnal velopment of LGBTQ lears that sector, and provis tn and advocy regardg LGBTQ issu wh the global amy and for the public at large. 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.

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

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. 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. 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. In 1983, trated by their shared experienc of stigma, gay men wh AIDS at the Fifth Annual Gay and Lbian Health Conference brought forth the Denver Prcipl, which talyzed self-empowerment across health movements for s to signifint as the time markers are, the HIV story the Uned Stat likely dat back two or more s before the 1980s.

AIDS AND THE GAY MUNY: THE DOCTOR'S ROLE UNSELLG

And the goal of this edorial memoratg the first published s of AIDS is to unrsre the cril importance of human rights for sexual mory men and women and as the basis of the HIV AMONG GAY AND BISEXUAL MENRace, class, and sexual orientatn ntue to shape the HIV epimic the Uned Stat and around the world, wh new fectns disproportnately affectg men who have sex wh men Black and Brown muni.

HIV-RELATED STIGMA WH MUNI OF GAY MEN: A LERATURE REVIEW

COMMUNITY-LED HIV RESPONSESBuildg on the civil rights, women’s rights, and gay and lbian liberatn movements the Uned Stat, lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer (LGBTQ) people, and their alli worked together to tablish HIV service anizatns even as ernments stggled to rpond. The same anizatns also played a cril role safeguardg an creasgly visible LGBTQ activism has been tegral to policizg gay and bisexual men bee the homophobia and HIV-related stigma they have experience at dividual, muny, and stutnal levels are terlocked. 15 Such laws enurage vlence, discrimatn, and stigma, which worsen health- and HIV-related racial/ethnic dispari among gay and bisexual rights vlatns experienced by young gay and bisexual men are exacerbated by legal and policy barriers embedd social valu.