In an unprecedented study, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that one-half of black, gay/bisexual Americans and one-quarter of Hispanic, gay/bisexual Americans will contract HIV in their lifetimes.
Previous studies have not been broken down by race, and the findings are yet another sobering reminder of the uphill fight to eradicate the virus.
Since 2005, the lifetime risk of contraction for all Americans regardless of race has fallen from 1 in 78 to 1 in 99, but the decline does not equally affect all communities. According to the CDC’s findings, gay, bisexual, black and Hispanic people will continue to be affected at much higher rates.
Setting aside sexual orientation, 1 in 20 black men and 1 in 48 black women are projected to receive a positive HIV diagnosis in their lifetimes. For Hispanic Americans, the numbers reported are 1 in 48 for men, and 1 in 227 for women.
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Related: Daily HIV Meds Could Be Replaced By Bimonthly Injections
And while white Americans have the lowest statistical odds — an overall lifetime risk of less than one percent — for white gay/bisexual men the numbers jump to a staggering 1 in 11.
Looking at gay/bisexual men regardless of race, the odds raise even more to 1 in 6. For black gay men, the rate goes to nearly half.
The CDC points to stigma surrounding poverty and systemic barriers to healthcare among the black and Hispanic communities that in part account for the increased risks among the groups.
The numbers are based on HIV diagnoses and death rates collected from 2009 to 2013, and work on the assumption that transmission rates remain the same.
Related: Six Pioneering Gay Writers Who Helped Bring HIV/AIDS To The American Forefront
But the CDC is quick to note that while the numbers don’t look good, they aren’t “a foregone conclusion.”
“These estimates are a sobering reminder that gay and bisexual men face an unacceptably high risk for HIV—and of the urgent need for action,” said Dr. Eugene McCray, director of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. “If we work to ensure that every American has access to the prevention tools we know work, we can avoid the outcomes projected in this study.”
The CDC’s current arsenal against new contractions is focused on testing, condom use, proper treatment for those who are diagnosed as positive and PrEP, the daily medication shown to curb risk by upwards of 90%.
Head here for more info on PrEP, including information on how to access the drug with limited or no healthcare.
Xzamilio
Wrap that shit up!!! Yeah, it’s not 100 percent effective, but it’s still better than nothing… save the creampies for dessert and the snowballs for winter time.
Chris
What I find so frustrating is that most messages about personal responsibility for engaging in safer-sex practices gets derided as sex-negative or as shaming. As a result, messages that show the long term effects of HIV infection and the side effects of meds are not used. There has to be a better way of communicating the seriousness of these projections to the people who have been placed in the most at-risk positions in our society.
Bauhaus
Medicaid expansion could have an enormously positive impact on getting out the message about safer sex. Medicaid pays for PrEP, which could have the potential to drastically cut the rate of new infection. Of course, it’s been a battle with almost all Republicans to accept Medicaid expansion under the ACA.
Billy Budd
It is simple: use condoms, then you don’t get HIV. Why cant people learn? Why?
Stefano
@Xzamilio: yep ! You are right. I was in Wilton Manors in january, i met a black guy and he wanted to fuck me ‘raw’; i said : NO ! Half an hour later, i saw him walk away with another guy. Sad.
The Tower of Power
@Chris: The problem is two-fold:
1) the state of sexual health education in the USA is dismal. I remember getting two weeks of it each in grade 8 and grade 9, and that was it. There is clear evidence linking lower rates of STD and unplanned pregnancy to countries with the best sexual health education. Japan comes to mind. Not only do they have a very low unplanned pregnancy rate, STDs there are much less common than they are here.
2) a lot of gay men in America have a mindset of wanting to screw anything that moves (or at least has defined abs). I made a decision in August 2010 after an unsatisfying summer fling to not have intimate relations with any guys who refuse to let me live with them, or refuse to put a ring on it. And I’ve stuck to it. Not only has this decision kept me disease-free, it has kept me from being treated like a toy.
It never ceases to amaze me of how low a standard many hetero women and gay men hold their sexual partners to. But hey, if you are into guys who have drug/alcohol problems and have a track record of commitment-phobia is what you want, go for it.
The Tower of Power
@Billy Budd: Drugs and alcohol abuse often lead to poor sexual decisions.
Also, American sex ed is not very good.
Paco
Don’t put all of your eggs into the PrEP basket until more drugs are approved. There are strains out there that have become immune to Truvada. It’s only a matter of time before some barebacker turns up infected while on PrEP because he slept with someone that had a resistant strain.
Keep wearing the condoms guys. With all the open “relationship” mentality in our community, can you be absolutely sure your partner is always playing safe? I’ve had friends that got STIs because their boyfriends got lazy with the protection when screwing around. Lucky for them those infections were curable. Let’s get real. The more you have sex with random strangers who also have sex with a lot of random strangers and so on, dramatically increases your chances of catching something. At least keep your sex sober and protected.
The Tower of Power
@Paco: Beyoncé famously sings if you like it you should put a ring on it. That’s become my dating mindset.
XzamiIio
@Stefano: Yeah we’re basically apes.
Paco
@The Tower of Power: A ring isn’t going to protect you from an irresponsible partner. Just put a condom on it.
The Tower of Power
@Paco: I agree, I was saying fear of commitment has a lot to do with the spread of diseases. And the lack of sexual education.
Alistair Wiseman
Get real, CDC.
There are several reasons for HIV transmission in the U.S., but “poverty” isn’t one of them.
Spike
When you got a community in denial and down-low being the norm, and nobody wearing condoms, doesn’t seem all to surprising. Half gay blacks get HIV and 100% of str8 blacks got 4+ baby mamas.
Brian
The CDC comes across as race-obsessed and homophobic in the way it issues these identity-based statements on HIV risk. Fact is, you do NOT get HIV because of your identifiable skin color or sexual orientation. In other words, identity has nothing to do with the risk of catching HIV.
It’s as if the CDC is trying to outdo the K-K-K in issuing prejudicial statements about people of color and gays.
By the way, how does the CDC obtain its figures? For example, the CDC would need to know the total number of men who partake of same-sex activity before being able to form a percentage figure. Fact is, most men hide their same-sex activity. The CDC’s figures are thus wildly exaggerated and nonsensical.
Brian
Here’s a very important question to ask the CDC: does it benefit financially from the sale of pharmaceutical drugs such as PrEP? If so, it has no credibility as an organization.
Be very, very careful of the CDC. It seems to be pushing an agenda these days to do with pharmaceutical drug use. It is also using identity politics and – in my opinion – patently false figures to foment fear. Do NOT fall for its propaganda.
The Tower of Power
@Brian: The CDC report does not say you get diseases based on race or sexual orientation.
It says there is a CORRELATION between these groups and HIV.
You are confusing causation and correlation.
Stefano
@XzamiIio: Yep Homo Sapiens (hominidea or great apes) !
Stefano
@The Tower of Power: that’s not the only thing he confuses. Mouhahaha
Spike
@Brian: It’s called statistics based on facts and the CDC uses the best information available to them as provided by they health care industry.
NateOcean
It would be nice if such a sloppily written article as this one, would at least supply a link to the CDC’s actual data and report.
Why do reporters insist on paragraph after paragraph of wordy descriptions, when a concise table of numbers and brief commentary would suffice?
Brian
@Spike: @The Tower of Power:There is no correlation between skin color and illnesses that have nothing do with skin color – absolutely none.
There is a correlation between behavior and sexually transmitted illnesses, I’ll grant you that.
Brian
Has anybody ever bothered to examine the composition of the board of the CDC? Who is actually on it? Are they employees of Big Pharma? Think about about. Are they scientists who receive funding from Big Pharma? Think about it.
If the board of the CDC is stacked with representatives or scientists who benefit financially from the sale of PrEP and other drugs, then it puts the entire credibility of the CDC into question.
Be very wary of how the CDC manipulates the conversation with the use of questionable statistics, too.
The Tower of Power
@Brian: Yes, there is. Correlation means there is a relationship between being black and a higher HIV rate. It does not mean that being black is the cause of HIV.
There is also a correlation between being white and drunk driving. Whites are more likely to engage in drunk driving.
No one ever said being white is the cause of drunk driving.
This is biology 101.
DonW
@Spike: “When you got a community in denial and down-low being the norm, and nobody wearing condoms, doesn’t seem all to surprising. Half gay blacks get HIV and 100% of str8 blacks got 4+ baby mamas.”
Could you fit any more demeaning stereotypes into your comment? Do you have any factual basis for your claims?
Black man actually use condoms at a *higher* rate than white men on average. The reasons for the high infection rate may include a smaller, tighter-knit group of sex partners — in part because black men have less access to the larger white gay male community.
There is also a biological factor: a genetic variation in people of African descent called the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC), which protects against malaria but makes people about 40% more susceptible to HIV infection.
Please educate yourself before you make blanket statements accusing people of being irresponsible.
Sources:
http://www.hivplusmag.com/research/2014/02/07/whats-really-behind-high-hiv-rates-black-gay-men
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716121355.htm
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Brian: Yeah I agree with you Brain (im shocked); it does have to do with behavior and protection more than anything else. Also I think what is implicit here is “culture” – If gay men sleep around, unprotected, then its no surprise of the figures being released.
It bothers me that men are always being presented as apes or dogs, willing, are, or given the opportunity, will sleep with anything that moves. It’s as if its a given that men, especially gay men, will cheat or sleep around – I find that logic, culture, expectation, to be demeaning and insulting to say the least.
I get opportunities to have casual sex all the time through work, and I don’t go for it – it could be because I’m from a part of Canada that is a little bit more conservative than other parts, and im looking for commitment rather than simply sleeping around – If this is projected through our culture, plus the culture of protection, we all will be better off.
Bauhaus
@Xzamilio:
Even though I agree with your first comment, that message alone doesn’t seem to be working, so the issue has to tackled from every angle and with every tool in the shed. Condoms, PrEp, HIV testing and treatment, and sex education.
DonW
Of course we should keep urging people to use condoms — they’re a good and cheap protection strategy. But just shouting louder doesn’t change the fact that some guys simply won’t use them. Only a minority use them every single time. After 30 years of condom messaging, we still have roughly the same number of new HIV cases year after year. That should be telling us it’s time for additional approaches. It’s the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result.
It’s exciting that there are new prevention tools in addition to encouraging condom use — like getting more HIV+ people on medication so they’re unlikely to pass on the virus; and PrEP for those who are at high risk because they are already not consistently using condoms.
There’s a reason why the FDA, CDC, World Health Organization, White House National AIDS Strategy and city and state HIV programs are all recommending PrEP. (And no, it’s not because they’re all being bought off by Big Pharma).
By the way, @Paco, the threat of “resistant strains” is highly exaggerated, and any such risk is far outweighed by the number of infections being prevented.
https://www.facebook.com/PrEPFactsFAQ/posts/836746119775917
Brian
The key word to HIV and AIDS is BEHAVIOR. It’s got nothing to do with skin color. It’s got nothing to do with sexual orientation. It’s got nothing to do with being male.
Chosen behavior is the key to understanding the spread of sexually transmitted illnesses.
If black men behave in a way that puts them at greater risk, it’s because they’ve chosen it. The risk has got NOTHING to do with their skin color, sexual orientation or the fact that they are male. Repeat, NOTHING.
Tackle
@Brian: I agree with what you are saying, and you are making some great points. These race based stats coming from the CDC does NOT surprise me at all. This organization is no friend to Black people. Many do not know the CDC’s r@cist history. For 15yrs,( 1957-1972) the CDC took over, and had direct oversight of the Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in Black men. And when this unethical study was reviled, the CDC defended the study, and wanted it to continue. Even reaching out through the media to garner support. I see they still haven’t changed…
Brian
@DonW: You are incredibly simplistic.
The White House National AIDS Strategy is a politically motivated body that engages in identity politics. Politics should be kept out of illnesses.
HIV doesn’t care about politics. And politics should frankly stay out of HIV.
Oh, and don’t discount the presence of drugs firm representatives on the board of the CDC.
Paco
@DonW: here is some new info to consider. http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20160129/resistance-to-hiv-drug-growing-study-finds
Brian
@Tackle: Thanks for your comments.
Race-based stats are anti-black, period.
The only time I would support the use of race-based stats is if a particular illness was due to race. As far as I know, there is no illness on the planet that is caused by race. Same with sexual orientation.
Creamsicle
@Brian: Sickle cell anemia would like to have a word with you.
Creamsicle
I’m curious to know if these statistics have similar correlations to Hepatitis. I imagine that the same barriers that keep minority communities from getting tested regularly and being treated sooner would exist for that virus as well.
DonW
@Paco: I’m aware of that research — it’s not relevant to PrEP. It refers to Tenofovir, a single HIV drug. Truvada consists of two drugs, tenofovir and emtricitabine, precisely to avoid the risk of resistance to one. (While researchers have tested the possibility of using tenofovir alone as PrEP in some other countries, in the US only Truvada is approved as PrEP.)
Hypothetically, resistance to both drugs could develop, but it is highly unlikely. A mutation that creates resistance to one drug tends to result in the virus becoming less virulent, i.e., more difficult to pass to others.
The most important factor is taking the medication daily. In all the trials of PrEP, there is no case where anyone has gotten HIV whose blood levels show they were taking the meds as prescribed. It’s actually quite forgiving — you can miss up to 3 doses a week and it’s still effective. Unlike condoms, where all it takes is one slip-up in a moment of passion and you can get infected.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/09/04/in-new-study-hiv-prevention-pill-truvada-is-startlingly-100-percent-effective/
Paco
@DonW: my point was that, as far as the resistance issue is concerned, more study needs to be done before people decide to toss their condoms aside and only use PrEP. The article you linked to wasn’t about a study to determine if virus resistant to Truvada could be passed on to others making PrEP ineffective. Please link to a study researching that. I would like to read it.
DonW
@Paco: Here you go. http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/01/13/infdis.jiu678.full.pdf+html
That’s a scientific journal article — more briefly summarized in a Q&A by one of the authors, Dr. Bob Grant (professor at UCSF and one of the leading researchers behind PrEP) at: http://www.robertmgrant.org/project/3-drug-prep/
DonW
@DonW: P.S.: I don’t encourage people to “decide to toss their condoms aside and only use PrEP.” I do, however, acknowledge the reality that a great many men are already not using condoms consistently and are unlikely to do so no matter how loudly we shout at them. They are exactly the ones for whom PrEP is ideally suited.
Brian
You can’t trust the scientific drug-pushers on the issue of PrEP. You’ve got to understand that these scientists are funded by the same companies that make money through the promotion and sale of PrEP. A credible scientist should have no links at all to a pharmaceutical company.
One of the downfalls of modern scientists is their dependence on the money of pharmaceutical companies to fund their research. For these scientists, it’s the difference between having a job and not having a job. They’re not about to bite the hand that feeds them.
Brian
I would go so far as to say that PrEP is dangerous to one’s health.
Paco
@DonW: Thankyou, but the only take away from that was that more study is needed to determine if resistance is a threat as more people throw caution to the wind and only use PrEP without condoms.. That seemed to be about benefit vs. risk right now.
Xzamilio
@Stefano and @Bauhaus
That is a troll.
DonW
@Paco: Where are you getting that takeaway? I’d say the takeaway is that whatever the theoretical risk of resistance, the benefits in terms of avoided infections far outweighs them. Every person who gets HIV will be taking HIV meds (more drugs than PrEP contains) for the rest of their life — far more opportunities for resistance, complications and side effects, and any number of other bad outcomes that PrEP opponents are always darkly warning of.
The final sentence in the article makes this clear: “Fomenting fear of drug resistance is also misguided if it distracts us from fear of HIV itself, by far the greater threat to human health.”
Now it’s your turn: please show the published research that people are “throwing caution to the wind and only using PrEP without condoms,” and that proves those people were using condoms consistently before PrEP encouraged them to throw them away.
My point is this: yes, it would be great if everyone was already using condoms. But they aren’t — otherwise we wouldn’t be having 40-50k new infections every year. PrEP has been extremely well tested compared to most new medical interventions brought to the market. If you take it, it works.
Sure, “more study” is fine — they’re continuing to do it. But it’s not an excuse to hold up availability of PrEP. Every year of delay means more people getting HIV unnecessarily.
DonW
@Brian: “I would go so far as to say that PrEP is dangerous to one’s health.”
And I would go so far as to say you subscribe to a lot of paranoid conspiracy theories about “drug company reps.” The members of the CDC board are openly published: http://www.cdc.gov/oid/bsc/roster.html
Brian
The sad thing is that many gay-identifying men like to party and be promiscuous. It’s because they’re men. Men have high sex drives. Put men together and the sex drive is amplified. Even straight-identifying men can turn to men in such all-male, sexualized environments.
However, you’ve got to remember that promiscuity is a choice. You can also choose to avoid promiscuity – it’s a choice that you can make to avoid catching STD’s.
Brian
@DonW: As I thought, the CDC members are a mixture of scientists and medical doctors. Now, I want to know if any of their research activities have been funded by pharmaceutical companies.
If so, I don’t have any faith in their statements.
DonW
@Paco: It sounds like you’re interested in a genuine, educated discussion about PrEP. I’d encourage you to check out the PrEP Facts Facebook group. With more than 13,000 members, including PrEP researchers, healthcare providers, users — and, yes, skeptics — it’s a good cross-section of current thought about PrEP.
It’s a closed group — your other Facebook friends will not see your activity. You can post any questions/comments you like, but they don’t appear on your timeline and only other group members see them:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PrEPFacts/
Paco
@DonW: woah! Now hold on. I am not advocating holding up the promotion of PrEP as a real breakthrough and preventative against infection. Human behavior and “cultural” attitudes about sexual activity still need to factor in to the discussion and research. I can only hope that those in our community that refuse to moderate their behavior and solely rely on PrEP as their protection, don’t end up paying the price of shortsightedness. I hope PrEP does end up being the silver bullet we have all hoped for. Time will tell.
Paco
@DonW: Thanks. Checking it out.
DonW
@Brian: “As I thought, the CDC members are a mixture of scientists and medical doctors.” No, you thought they included drug company reps. They don’t, so you are shifting your argument.
The role of pharma company spending in today’s research environment is of course controversial, but it is a fact of life, just like money in politics. If you are going to distrust every medical doctor and scientist, who else is left to work on medical science issues? Preachers?
Bauhaus
@Xzamilio:
Huh?
Hussain-TheCanadian
Soooooooo……………why the high rate among African American men/Hispanics? Is it because of promiscuity or drug use?
Xzamilio
@Bauhaus: The Xzamilio that posted the “Apes” comment is a troll account… I don’t know who that is, but it’s someone using my username and picture, hence why I changed my profile pic. But since my account links directly to my blog, it’s not that hard to figure out who’s who.
Bauhaus
@Xzamilio:
Got it! Thanks for the heads up.
Stefano
@Xzamilio: OK thank you !
Tackle
@Hussain-TheCanadian: No. White gays are more promiscuous and do more drug use on average. The CDC deliberately over sample Blacks. They gather info and conduct surveys in lower social economic communities, with government funded clinics and hospitals, where Blacks and Hispanics tend to live. In many cases, Black who are 12.9% of the US populating, are often times, 60-70% of the study subjects, or the majority who are being studied…
Me2
I’m not sure that I believe these stats, as a matter of fact, I’m 100% sure that I DON’T!!
First, how does the CDC even have an accurate count of all black gay men? If so, how? I thought they said most minority men don’t visit the doctor and do not know their hiv status.
Second, the CDC has been known to be wrong in the past. Here is just are a few examples of the CDC’s exaggerated figures, misinformation, and fear tactics:
http://projectaccept.org/can-cdc-wrong/
http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2014/01/15/the-cdc-dangerous-lies-scare-tactics-for-the-enrichment-of-big-pharma/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/cdc-study-on-sexual-violence-in-the-us-overstates-the-problem/2012/01/25/gIQAHRKPWQ_story.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/01/how-to-keep-ebola-from-spreading-to-other-u-s-cities.html
Stefano
I found this on the web :
https://www.blackaids.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=677:condom-use-higher-among-blacks-than-other-groups-but-not-enough-to-beat-hiv&catid=53:news-2010&Itemid=120
Kangol
@DonW: Wow, I’d never heard of this. Thanks for posting it.
Bob LaBlah
What we are dealing with is a situation where the prevention is worth far more than a cure. The print this b/s stereotyping the black community knowing the black community is not going to as this question: how is it possible for a drug to be able to reduce ones viral load to undetectable but no CURE has been discovered yet?
Hasn’t a study been done by now that shows the cost of those drugs are out of the reach of the majority of whites gays as well as blacks and hispanics and the government had no other choice but to help those infected? HIV is a man-made disease. I have no proof to back it up but I am going to my grave believing that. The people whom were hit the hardest is what makes me believe it (gays, blacks, the homeless and poor people). Another Tuskegee experiment that got out of hand.
TheFinalWord
@Brian: You are sad and self loathing. Just like many of the young men in the aforementioned article who do not value their life enough to protect themselves.
Masc Pride
Yikes! So can we finally stop claiming “No Blacks” in profiles is r cist?
Kevin Wotipka
@Brian: No, you get HIV because of what you do (or don’t do).
surreal33
AIDS is NOT a foregone conclusion nor is it destiny that can’t be changed!!
You can be sexually active and NOT contract sexually transmitted diseases!
Reading between the lines of CDC, gay society, gay media, is pathetic narrative that AIDS is an unavoidable fact of life.
I refuse to be a victim when we weapons at are disposal: CONDOMS, HOME HIV TESTS (THE BEST $50 YOU WILL EVER SPEND) LAB DNA TESTS.
Franklin
@Spike: Stop…. Just stop…@Alistair Wiseman: If you can’t afford meds your viral load will not be controled, which means greater chance of passing the virus on to someone else. That is just one instance of poverty affecting the rates of infection.@Masc Pride: Really? Why am I not surprised at some of the comments on this article.
Alistair Wiseman
@Franklin:
Stop making excuses. People need to take responsibility and ownership of their lives. People do not need meds to prevent them from contracting HIV.
Do liberals ever stop playing the victim?
Bob LaBlah
@Franklin: The drugs are high but every state in the union and its territories have government sponsored programs to help pay for the drugs. No one who enters a hospital any where in the U.S. with HIV leaves without consulting a social worker who at that point will help with housing and get the patient enrolled in the state welfare agency if required. HIV is raining dollars from heaven depending on what side of the fence you are on.
As I said earlier I don’t understand how it possible Truvada can be taken by a person who is not infected to prevent them from getting the virus but there is nothing to rid the infected person of the virus. The only way it makes sense is if it is looked at money wise. The prevention meds are raking in tens of BILLIONS of dollars so why put the cure out there and spoil the profits?
Bob LaBlah
@Alistair Wiseman: “People do not need meds to prevent them from contracting HIV.”
Are you sure about that? Truvada is suppose to be able to do just that and many regulars on this thread have said they use it. I hope Mrs. Drysdale’s very haughty granddaughter comes along and confirms that. She has said several times that she takes PreP and it works.
XzamiIio
@Masc Pride: Kill yourself.
Tackle
@Me2: Thanks for posting those links. I don’t believe the CDC’s stats either. However, unlike you, I don’t believe they are making innocent mistakes. I believe this is deliberate intent. When you are the so-called premier “disease control & prevention agency,” with access to the best scientist,mathematicians,statisticians,behavioral scientist and doctors, these stats and projections are no mistakes… And people have been so condition to believe anything negative about Blacks, that they will not ask or question anything that portrays blacks in a negative light. Such as,
* How can a condition that started off in the US being 99 percent gay White men, now have the majority being projected to be the majority of gay Black men, when this same CDC tells us that Black gay men are more likely to use condoms, have fewer sexual partners, less likely to engage in drug and alcohol use that their White gay counterparts? And also keep in mind, most gay White men, are having sex with other gay White men. And to top it off, If Blacks are 12.9 of the overall US population, and Whites 73 percent of the US population,But when broken down to the LGBTQ communities, Blacks being somewhere around 7-10, and Black men alone being around 3.5 percent of the LGBTQ community, and gay White men being around 30-percent, it’s easy to see that these numbers and projections are deliberately distorted.
Brian
The CDC’s figures are distortions of the truth. You don’t have to have a math degree to understand that the statement “50% of black gay men will get HIV” is pure baloney.
One wonders as to how the CDC works out the percentages. Whom does the CDC classify as “gay”? Is it by self-identity? We all know that very few men identify as gay – in fact, the number of men who identify as gay is much less than the number of men who engage in male-male sexual activity. If the CDC is relying on self-identity, it is the reason why the percentages are so inflated and thus totally inaccurate.
One of the consequences of the CDC issuing identity-based statistics is that it demonizes those identities. It makes it seem as if the identity is to blame for the illness. Thus, black, gay and male become negative terms associated with illness.
We all know that black, gay and male are not the cause of illnesses such as AIDS and nor are they correlated to illnesses such as AIDS.
QJ201
@Alistair Wiseman: Incorrect. Moron. You’re on the internet. Google it.
Masc Pride
@Franklin: It could be a legit health concern. This report basically says black MSM are a health hazard. It mentions poor access to health care, which means their viral loads are probably sky high.
@XzamiIio: I’d say the same to you, but with these numbers, AIDS will most likely take care of that for you. Zing!
Xzamilio
@Masc Pride: Oooh, burn!! You zinged a fellow troll account. Fucking moron.
Seriously, Queerty? You’re just gonna let this troll keep posting as me?
Tony Johnston
I don’t think the CDC is out to tarnish the reputations of gay black and Latino men. I understand some in here feel very criticized and judged, even by the gay community, so a report like this can seem like yet another reason to disparage. However, I think we should take this as a call to action and not as more criticism. Acknowledging the problem is the first step in solving it!
I’m still very leery about all the encouragement to get on PrEP. Those medications are toxic even if you do not have the virus. Websites for the drugs very clearly warn that long-term effects are unknown. I also feel the gay community is being used like lab rats. We might just be trading in HIV for cancer. Hopefully time will prove the animal experiments were different from the human experiment currently running.
Blackceo
Oh dear. Log onto Queerty and am quickly reinforced as to why I took a break from this place.
@Alistair Wiseman:
“Get real, CDC. There are several reasons for HIV transmission in the U.S., but “poverty” isn’t one of them.”
—————————————
If you think poverty doesn’t play a role in this then I suggest you take a Social Welfare Policy in America class. Of course poverty plays a role. Is it the lone contributor? Of course not. But to suggest it doesn’t play a role is ignorant.
These statistics are sobering but it is of epidemic rates among the Black community. Folks best wrap it up. As for the PrEP stuff, I agree with those who are not trusting of it. Even if I wasn’t in a committed relationship for years I wouldn’t use it. Condoms did me well through all the slutacious behavior for which I engaged and while they aren’t 100%, if I am ever single again I’m gonna go right back to that tried and true method.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Masc Pride: I don’t know about you but if Trevor Noah knocks on my door, we are going out on a date.
Besides……..forgive the question but……you’re not into black men?
Brian
@Blackceo: Poverty is a circumstance of life, not a cause of disease. It may make you more vulnerable especially if you can’t afford medical care.
Tackle
@Tony Johnston: Well Black men are doing just as you suggest in your post. They have accepted the “call to action”, by “acknowledging that there is a problem.” The result,and straight from the CDC’s mouth, and that is, “Black gay men are more likely to use condoms. More likely to get tested. Have fewer sexual partners. And less likely to use/abuse drugs & alcohol, than their White counterparts”.And as the numbers stand at the moment, the majority of HIV/AIDS cases in the US, are among gay White men. It seems that as a whole, gay Black men are going beyond the call of duty. So with ALL this that gay Black men are doing, how can the CDC project that in the coming years, 50% of gay Black men will become HIV positive?? That absolutely does not make any sense…
Paco
And surprise, surprise… PrEP failure due to a drug resistant strain is already here. That didn’t take long. Expecting a pill to protect you while being a cum dump is just so stupid.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/02/gay-man-adhering-to-daily-truvada-contracts-drug-resistant-hiv/
Franklin
@Bob LaBlah: I don’t know if you may not be aware of this, but not every state has those programs, and the ones that do have waiting lists a mile long. So, yes. Money can affect the kind of care you are receiving with HIV.
Blackceo
@Brian:
Thats what I’m talking about. No access to educational resources. No money to buy condoms or living so far away from any clinic that offers free condoms. No poverty is not the cause of the transmission of the disease, but SES factors play a role. There will always be exceptions to the rule but you can find patterns in the data.
Tony Johnston
@Tackle: More likely to use condoms and get tested yet poverty and poor access to healthcare are cited as issues? The info you’re using is reliant upon people telling the truth. If we had accepted the call to action back in 2009 when the rates saw an almost 50% increase, they would not be reporting that 1 in 2 GBMs will test positive now. Your conspiracy theories will keep people in denial. You should be far more concerned with what’s going on in the GBM community than you are concerned about what other people may think of this report.
Tackle
@Tony Johnston: What proof can you offer that the individuals were NOT telling the truth? And what/how much research, studying and reading have you done on the CDC, and how they arrive at their numbers? Can you tell us how the CDC works out their percentages to come to the conclusion that half of gay Black men will become HIV positive, since you believe them? And let me also ask, since AIDS started out as a disease that affected 99% gay White men, in NY, SFS, and CA: which are not majority Black and gay. And since most White gay men tend to have sex with each other. And as the CDC tells us, Black gay men are more likely to use condoms than other groups. Have fewer sexual partners than gay White men. Less drug and alcohol use also, Then tell us how is it even possible that the rates of HIV will go up , if a group is doing less?? It’s foolish for people to speak to things were they have done no research or reading on. Just accepting, without asking any questions. And anyone can check and see the history of the CDC and how they participated in the Tuskegee experiment. And agency involved in something that terrible and corrupt would have no problem lying that 1 in 2 GBM will eventually test positive for HIV…
DonW
@Paco: No, it’s not a surprise that a single infection has happened, among more than 40,000 people taking PrEP. It’s still a pretty damn good record. No one ever estimated the effectiveness of PrEP at more than 99%. Few medications/vaccines are anywhere near 100% effective. Condoms are not 100% effective.
What’s not often reported is that every year multiple thousands of infections that otherwise would have happened are NOT happening, because people are on PrEP. It’s contributing to the first decline in HIV rates in years.
Not everyone who uses PrEP is a “cum dump.” I thought we were having an intelligent conversation the other day and willing to learn from each other, and now you resort to insults and stereotypes. That’s disappointing.
lisa_jackson
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