London Gays Offer 15% Chance of Sharing HIV
It’s a bit ironic to see British health authorities warn English visitors to South Africa’s World Cup about getting HIV tests when a new report from Terrence Higgins Trust claims 1 in 7 gay Londoners are HIV-positive. Great work everyone!
Good thing my boyfriend just got tested today… results are NEGATIVE! Not that he had anything to worry about, with 1 sexual partner and all…
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Do you read before you post??
Here’s what the article ACTUALLY said:
“This is markedly HIGHER than Health Protection Agency estimates for gay men in London IN GENERAL, and suggests a higher HIV prevalence among men who are regularly out on the scene.”
Which is probably true everywhere.
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Yes, Queerty, this is the sort of misleading interpretation of data we have come to expect from the AFA and other homophobic organization – “1 in 7 gay Londoners has HIV”!
The article actually says that 1 in 7 gay Londoners *who are regularly out on the gay scene* is HIV positive. Rather different! I can’t imagine that the figures would be much different if this study was done in New York or San Francisco.
London’s gay population is one of the biggest in the world – a recent estimate suggested that one in six Londoners is LBGT. London attracts LBGT people from all over the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
Furthermore many HIV positive people from other towns and countries come to live in London so they can receive high quality (and free) treatment from the NHS.
Given this, it is hardly surprising that London has a higher incidence of HIV than other UK cities.
Still the figures are shocking and clearly a lot more needs to be done re education and prevention.
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Fantastic article, Queerty. As a social scientist, could I just point out the following minor problems with your conclusion:
1)Men who regularly frequent clubs and saunas (from which this survey was taken), may not provide a representative sample of the London gay community as a whole. You will end up with invalid statistical data jut as if one was to interview the a fringe of the tea party and extrapolate from the results that most Americans believe Obama is not American.
2)Even assuming that a representative sample of the entire gay community in London produced the 1 in 7 result, to conclude from this that there is a 15% chance of sharing HIV is preposterous, as this figure equates possible exposure with contracting HIV. Read a fu**ing book sometime.
I wonder what your figures would be for HIV rates in New York or San Fransisco if you did a survey of people in bathhouses in those cities. I doubt it would be pretty, seeing as the Queerty staff seem to have about as much knowledge of accounting for variables in statistical data as Sarah Palin.
On the plus side, I suppose we should all be grateful that nearly 48 hours have passed and there is still no article here with the headline:
“In this week’s episode of White Collar, Matt Bomer’s heterosexual character (but gay in real life) has to seduce the lesbian FBI agent (but straight in real life), in order to get out of a tight spot (which he would never do in real life–seeing as how he LOVES tight spots, get it?).”
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Whats the point of this article?