Numerous studies and the CDC have shown that HIV-positive men with undetectable viral loads are incapable of transmitting the virus. But gay adult video performer Dante Thick didn’t get the memo because he recently tweeted:
“Ya everyone SHOULD be tested. I don’t want to work with anyone who’s undetectable or detectable. Would be very nice to make this mandatory and also mandatory tests. Idk just sounds smart to me.”
The gay adult video industry blog, Str8UpGayP*rn (link NSFW), explained that Thick wrote his tweet in response to fellow performer Nick Fitt’s tweet mentioning a need to update the adult industry’s FSC PASS STI-testing system so that undetectable performers can “work equally alongside HIV-negative models.”
Related: HIV stigma summed up in one nasty 8-word Grindr message
In response to Thick’s post, several other gay adult performers questioned his opinion, worrying that viewpoints like his just further anti-HIV stigma while ignoring scientific facts. One clever commenter even called Dante “thick.”
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It makes sense why Thick might not know that undetectable equals untransmittable: He’s 25-years-old, sex ed in this country is a non-existent joke and he was partially homeschooled in an ultra-religious conservative home. During his childhood, he moved 26 times in 6 different states and attended 10 different schools and over 80 different churches. That’s enough to keep anyone in the dark about sexual health, even if they are an adult performer.
Thick’s studio, Next Door Studios, responded to the backlash by saying that it decided not to renew Thick’s exclusive contract with the studio after working with him for two years.
However, Thick then posted his own Twitter video saying that he decided to no longer continue working with the studio two weeks before his anti-HIV tweet. He said he wanted to focus on expanding his opportunities in straight, bisexual and transgender adult video scenes.
— Donte Thick (@DonteThick) August 2, 2019
Regardless of whether Thick quit or was let go, it’s noteworthy that his old employer thought it important to stand up for HIV-positive performers when barely a decade ago gay adult studios made a regular habit of quietly removing poz performers from their active rosters.
Thick’s tweet also reminds us of August Ames, a 23-year-old female adult video performer who in December 2017 said she didn’t want to work with gay or bi male performers for fear of contracting HIV. After blowback against her tweet, she killed herself by hanging. Three weeks before her suicide, Ames discussed her struggles with bipolar depression and multiple personality disorder on a podcast.
Cam
Do the studios have insurance coverage if somebody does become infected on one of their shoots? My guess is they don’t because they consider the performers as independent contractors. If the studios get insurance and if one of the performers becomes infected on one of their shoots, then their policy should cover all of their medical regiment for the rest of their life or until there is a cure.
If there is zero chance of infection occurring there should be no problem getting one of these policies. If the insurance companies won’t give a policy that would seem to indicate they consider it too risky.
ohiogreg
I agree with you!
notasjw
Obscure porn performer mouths off his ignorance and naturally Queerty is right on it to exploit it for clicks and to generate yet more “outrage”!
Cam
Typical troll comment. You’re welcome to point out the specifics of what you found wrong about the article. Since you couldn’t do that it’s obvious this was just another of your usual posts.
jaack
If we, the bi & gay community stands by silent to the ignorant and hateful speech, we promote homophobia and the bias against this disease. Being ignorant does not get a pass to science. We can get another performer who isn’t so undereducated as Dante Thick. If he thinks his hate won’t follow him the rest of his life, he is sadly mistaken. Look at David Duke, the clansman, who tried to get elected. His hate followed him and buried him in the election.
Vince
That’s what they’re calling exclusive? Hopefully he has a very large ding dong. The only thing I noticed was those meth mouth looking teeth though. Can you imagine when the director says go in for the kiss guys. Yikes.
At any rate, they have the right to hire whoever they want and this umm performer has the right to leave.
Man About Town
Yeah, I was gonna say, he seriously needs to see a dentist.
funpitt412
It’s his body, he should have the right not to perform with HIV+ people or not. It’s also strange how HIV+ performers quickly quit studios that go all bareback for fear they will have to acknowledge they are in fact positive, even as their only fans accounts show them barebacking with strangers.
Vince
Your statement is just hearsay and needless demonetization of people. Knock it off.
Catholicslutbox
Finally, someone sane.
A few hundred to thousand dollars isn’t worth a lifetime of regret. Do you really think the studio is going to pay for all his medical bills, pills, etc.?
No one should be guilted or forced to have sex with a poz model because not having sex with them is not PC…
Austin Wolf actually returned to porn. CB, unlike how RB, doesn’t care if you’re poz and filming bb as long as the other model is comfortable with it. I remember how he would brag about how he slapped a client for suggesting bareback even though he’d been sexing all of new york bareback for his entire stay. This was before truvada- but he was already poz so…
Brian
A few hundred thousand? I think you have a really distorted view of what porn actors earn. I’d guess that a very small percentage of them even reach $50K over the course of their careers.
just me
Brian, he said a few hundred TO a thousand, less than a thousand per session
thisisnotreal
Give me a break. It’s natural to fear things you don’t understand and if your brain or body or whatever believed there was even a 1% chance that sleeping with someone who is undetectable could infect you as well, then you your brain is gonna convince you not to sleep with said person no matter what other people try to tell you, it’s called self preservation. But also, stop making a federal case out of it every time someone doesn’t want to sleep with someone else regardless of it being a race issue or trans issue or hiv issue etc. I’m in a wheelchair, and you know how many people out there probably wouldn’t want to sleep with me just because of that one fact? Probably tons of people. But I don’t care and other people shouldn’t either. people don’t have to sleep with me any more than they do anyone else regardless of their situation. No one is EVER under obligation to sleep with anyone else that they don’t want to, so this whole “you need to fvck me so I don’t feel so victimized” needs to stop.
Kangol2
You do realize there’s a difference between a scenario in which you approach someone, whether in person or on a dating app, seeking sex and they reject you, for whatever reason, and a scenario in which it’s constitutive of your job that you have sex with people that your employer asks you to have sex with, right?
I get your rant about not wanting to feel pressure to have sex you feel the need to reject based on their race, gender, serostatus, etc., but if it literally is part of your job description to have sex with someone on camera to get paid and the terms under which you’re working are spelled out by your contract and your employer, we’re talking about something quite different than your personal preferences and issues.
Raphael
He is absolutely right! It’s his body, and he can choose who he has sex with, especially because while most studies show that it’s unlikely, no one can say with 100% certainty that “undetectable equals untransmittable”.
frankcar1965
Who says he has to have sex with anyone? It’s a free country. No one is forcing him.
ShiningSex
BUT THAT QUEEN NEEDS TO NOT BE IGNORANT ABOUT FACTS.
heath0043
You can test as undetectable at one test then can be just the opposite 2 weeks later. How often are these porn people tested. Being undetectable is not a lifetime guarantee.
ohiogreg
I agree with you, Raphael. How many years of proof do they have of this? I want condoms no matter what.
frankcar1965
I hope he gets HIV maybe the condom will break if he even uses them.
Nevermind that he looks like a crackhead.
dales
Your comment says more about you than the topic.
Chrisk
Yeah, look at his pics from just a few year ago. This reminds me of the faces of meth campaign.
iMarty
Backlash for being safe and healthy?
I don’t understand it… It’s his body.
If he’s not comfortable having sex with HIV POSITIVE people then he shouldn’t be forced or shamed into submission.
It’s simple – if you have HIV you have HIV.
If you don’t have HIV then you don’t have it.
But do not proclaim ‘undetectable’ is equivalent to ‘negative.’
It is not and that’s why two different words are used (undetectable) vs. (negative).
There’s a change an undetectable person will transmit the disease vs. the 0% chance of two negative people having sex contracting the non-existent virus from one another.
Grow up people and always be safe. Nothing is certain and precaution is super important. Hells bells all the people who weren’t cautious and got the disease should have been more like this Dante Thick dude.
Chrisk
If you combine undetectable with Prep which they’re also required to do then it would be impossible to transmit. Then again maybe you’re the type the avoids people even if they represent a .01% possibility so nothing will ever convince you even though you’ll have better odds dying in a plane crash.
Brian
Medical tests can have errors or false results. People can lie about test results or whether someone has been tested. Companies cut safety corners all the time. The odds are not as small às you think.
Dymension
The official word is that if a person is undetectable it doesn’t mean they can’t transmit. If they are doing bareback then yes, he should have the right to avoid having sex with anyone with HIV. Period.
swellster
actually the official word is that if a person is undetectable it DOES mean they can’t transmit. Undetectable=Untransmittable. If he doesn’t want to sleep with a poz person that’s his prerogative, but don’t continue to spout untruths as facts.
ShiningSex
WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT BAREBACKING? OTHER ARTICLES ON THIS STORY DID NOT MENTION HE WAS BEING FORCED TO PERFORM BAREBACK.
dales
There is no guarantee that any porn actor who says he is undetectable is in fact undetectable. People lie all the time about their HIV status, whether they have a partner, whether they are a Top, …. He should assume everyone is poz and can transmit, and then protect himself accordingly. Condom or Truvada or no sex.
MDhotpoz
Yes if you are having sex “outside of marriage” and you aren’t assuming everyone is POZ (Taught that YEARS AGO)….THEN YOU ARE DOING SAFER SEX WRONG! Get educated you all act like it is 1987 and fear ruled …it is 2019
ShiningSex
HE’S JUST IGNORANT TO FACTS. PLUS, HE’S NOT CUTE, SO WHO CARES.
ShiningSex
HE’S GOING TO SEE ABOUT DOING STRAIGHT PORN? GROSS.
WHY DO QUEENS DO THAT? AND DON’T TELL ME HE’S BI OR GAY FOR PAY BECAUSE THAT’S TOTAL B.S.
GAY FOR PAY IS A MYTH.
whateverokok
Gay for pay is a myth. That’s why it LITERALLY exists out there in the real world. grow. up.
ShiningSex
ALSO BEING SCREENED IS NOT 100% PROTECTION. DUH!
RandomGuy
He has the right to have or not have sex with whomever he chooses.
Chrisk
Absolutely but so does the studio in who and what they hire.
Brian
I guess the concept of “your body, your choice” only applies to women?
If this were a straight porn actor who was refusing to do a scene with a woman because he learned she was pregnant, the same people who are fine with this would be appalled.
This is the type of thing that can easily be reasonably accommodated. And it’s a dangerous road for the porn companies to go down. It is an employment law lawsuit just waiting to happen.
Chrisk
Yes it absolutely can be accommodated. He can suck it up and perform or look elsewhere. The company doesn’t want condoms because no one would watch it.
Brian
And I’m sure the company has other guys in their stable who would be fine with doing the scene. Nobody should have to “suck up” exposing themselves to a communicable sexuality transmitted disease as a condition of employment.
Brian
Only on Queerty should a person’s racial opinions be a more important factor in sex than a person’s HIV status.
Kangol2
You’re projecting again.
Brian
Literally 3 articles before this one is an article titled “If your date is racist, please don’t f*** him”. This article clearly sides against the performer refusing to do the scene with the HIV positive guy. So where exactly is the projection?
ClarkAlan
Why do porn performers often times have greasy matted-down hair?
Hdtex
Low self-esteem
nitejonboy
Bad conditioner ? Hair Spray build up ? Incest chromosome damage ?
djmcgamester
I’m not sure why he should have to perform with HIV+ performers. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve dated HIV+ guys and it hasn’t been a big deal. I know both of those guys were undetectable and with one of them I wasn’t always safe. However, it was MY choice. I don’t know why that guy doesn’t deserve the same option.
Chrisk
I didn’t realize he had a gun to his head.
Hdtex
Ironically he’s all over Xtube getting barbacked so his HIV concerns are a little late, and a little moot. Dumbass.
Chrisk
Apparently he just doesn’t like it when he knows there hiv positive. Usual grindr attitude.
truthseeker
Sometimes reading the comments on here make me feel there is no hope for society anymore
Cam
We often feel that way about most of your comments, since you are usually defending anti-LGBTQ bigots.
truthseeker
@Cam
Last I remember it was you who defended the anti-LGBT bigots any time their politics align with yours. For example, you’ve defended Joy Reed when she was exposed as posting anti-gay blog posts about people then blamed it on time traveling Russians
You side with party over ideology 100% of the time then accuse those you don’t like of doing that you are guilty of
Kangol2
So I looked up the main post about Joy Reid on Queerty. As it turns out, Cam didn’t post anything to it, so “Truthseeker” is lying again. And “truthseeker” didn’t post anything to it either, unless, as we know, it was under yet another screenname.
Posters did include Kieran, DCGuy, mhoffman, Vince, CastleSF, o.codone, Roan, NateOcean, etc. And yours truly, who wrote, among other things critical of Joy Reid:
I like her on-air presence and find her to be one of the better progressive TV show hosts, but if she posted homophobic remarks she should own up to them and apologize. Fully. No half-apologies, no claims of being hacked (if it isn’t true), just say, “Look, I have had issues with gay people in the past, and I am working through them now.” She has been a strong ally of LGBTQ people and equality in recent years, so should be able to understand why her past posts–beyond the “Miss Charlie Crist” one–were hurtful and harmful. She’s got it in her to do self-correct, and she should.
So tell us, “truthseeker,” which screenname were you posting under? Kaiser von Scheiss? And you can also check, but DCGuy and Cam have posted at the same time going back years. So they’re not the same person. Who are you?
Brian
Cam is DCGuy. Queerty banned that account so he came back as Cam.
Kangol2
@Brian, doing a Queerty search, I came across an old post in which both were posting at the same time. They didn’t look like they were saying the same thing either. Let me see if I can remember what the topic was, but they were both on Queerty a while back. No “truthseeker” though.
Brian
I wouldn’t put it past him to be posting under two screennames in two different browsers. The guy is clearly a mental case. But they’re definitely both him, and he’s been called out on it several times and not denied it.
Brian
And I’m sure truthseeker is one of those who has had to change screennames a few times himself. That seems to happen with all of the agenda pushing accounts.
truthseeker
@Kangol2
Cam is DCguy as Brian has stated. “Cam” didn’t post it but his DCguy screen name did. Plus there have been many back-and-forths in the comment section in stories not about Joy Reid where he refuses to condemn her and uses his typical lines.
Cam and DCguy posted at the same times because if you look back, the original account was Cam, then he made a 2nd one called DCguy and stopped posting as Cam. They then must’ve banned the DCguy account so he started using his existing Cam account again rather than making a new one. It’s obvious they are the same person, they write the same one liners (i.e “Oh sweetie, it’s another anti-LGBTQ account….”)
@Brian / Kangol2
This is my only Queerty account. I believe I may have commented here in the past many many years ago but can’t remember what that screen name was. I came here again recently when seeing some click-bait headline on social media that made me feel I had to say something
ParisHiltonsBadEye
Remember that ‘Gay Cancer’ back in the 80’s? Well, those chickens are coming back to roost.
nitejonboy
Ok, first off he’s not a slave, so homophobic or not, it’s his choice who he works with just like it’s the studios choice to hire him or not….secondly, check his teeth and that face, he’s uglier than homemade sin, so who’s gonna watch him anyway ? It’s probably for the best. So obviously a meth mouth or Mountain Dew Mouth, look that one up if you’ve never heard of it.