"gay, bisexual, black and Hispanic people will continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic"
Do you worry about HIV as much as you should? Numbers are decreasing and PrEP is a great thing, right? Overall numbers may be decreasing, but as they always say, treat every gun as if it were loaded.
The CDC recently released new numbers as to whom is being infected the most. Some demographics are fairing better than others.
Half of gay and bisexual black men and a quarter of gay and bisexual Hispanic men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes, the Centers for Disease Control announced in a first-of-its-kind study on Tuesday.
While the lifetime risk of a positive HIV diagnosis has fallen from 1 in 78 Americans overall in 2005 to 1 in 99 today, the decline has not been distributed equally among the U.S. population. For the foreseeable future, the CDC estimates that gay, bisexual, black and Hispanic people will continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic. The new study is the first time that the CDC has estimated lifetime HIV risk based on race.
Overall, the CDC projected that one in 64 men and one in 227 women in the United States will be diagnosed with HIV at current rates. For black and Hispanic people, however, that risk increases dramatically.
Regardless of sexual orientation, one in 20 black men and one in 48 black women will be diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in their lifetimes, according to the CDC. For Hispanic men and women, the risks are one in 48 and one in 227, respectively.
White people have the lowest chance of an HIV diagnosis, with an overall lifetime risk of less than one percent. Gay and bisexual white men still have a lifetime risk of one in 11, though.
…
“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.”
For Hispanic people living in the United States, the CDC has already outlined an array of factors behind the alarming rate of new infections: a high prevalence of HIV, poverty and lack of health insurance coverage, “machismo” that can encourage men to engage in risky sexual behavior as a show of strength, and reluctance to access prevention services for fear of revealing one’s immigration status.
In South Florida, for example, an already high prevalence of HIV has combined with low awareness of the virus and social stigma to produce the highest rate of new infections in the U.S., driven largely by new infections among young Hispanic men.
For black people, CDC resources show, prevention challenges are similar: poverty, stigma, barriers to health care access, and too few people knowing their status. Risk in black communities is especially high, the CDC notes, because “African Americans tend to have sex with partners of the same race/ethnicity mean[ing] that [they] face a greater risk of HIV infection with each new sexual encounter.” – thedailybeast.com
Not too good news for those of us that are and love, date, and hook up with black and Hispanic men. And that is just it. White men can say that these numbers do not effect us but they do. Even if your profile says no blacks / no Hispanics, does every white guy you sleep with have the same policy? They are also members of our community and we should care.
Head on over to The Daily Beast and read more on this topic where they talk about how this plays out in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and the District of Columbia as well as Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida. "No single area may be worst-hit than Washington, D.C."
you know it is not rocket
you know it is not rocket science to avoid getting HIV. It has never changed how it was spread and was almost eradicated. Now gy porn is going back to bareback and the plague 2.0 is coming
That’s some bullshit. You
That's some bullshit. You mean to tell me that a higher majority of white gay men are non drug users and are fully accepted by their families and don't have a machismo complex? Riiiiiight
I am honestly ashamed to be
I am honestly ashamed to be included in the Gay Community. The majority of us are superficial, self-hating, and racist. We want to be excepted as the social norm, but then we shun those who don't necessarily fit into the boxes that we create. They are considered less than or not worth of love or even sex. If you are aren't a "White Masculine Top" then you aren't right. Can we stop falling in to what other want us to be? We are people not property or a commodity.
Recently, with the #BlackLivesMatter Movement, I have realized that gays of color aren't accepted. When you turn on your tv you may see a gay character which is great, but the majority of them "hyper masculine white males", in other words "Not that gay". That is not a completely true representation of the gay community and why do we measure how gay someone is like it is crucial to our personal survival. I sincerely hate labeling people or even using them to define myself. I am a person who happens to be gay and black, not a gay black person. We are all different we may like, agree, disagree on certain things as a whole, or as an individual.
When it comes to hooking up, i hate hearing "oh sorry i don't date/fuck black guys". I hear that more than anything and i consider it to be racist. If you are letting ones race ultimately influence your decision even after you could've had a great conversation or connect with that person than you are a racist. I completely understand preference, in my eyes preference is based off of characteristics or attributes not the color of someone skin. If you have ever said "I have black friends, so im not racist" to that i can say it doesn't matter what your friends race is you can still be racist.
Preference is not an excuse for the community to be racist.
tht a bit over the top. Dude
tht a bit over the top. Dude if you are a top you need a bottom.
My position is honestly none
My position is honestly none of your business, but I'm happy to know that your reading and that my commentary is striking a chord with you.
Well DUH!! Have all of you
Well DUH!! Have all of you been in hiding since 1980? Of course the Gays get it more!
And you missed the point. Â
And you missed the point.
“Even if your profile says no
"Even if your profile says no blacks / no Hispanics" also means " If you are a blatant racist."
With news like this, it
With news like this, it almost makes me WANT to be racist just to avoid HIV.
Well, try it and see how that
Well, try it and see how that works for you.
I was waiting on this
I was waiting on this ignorance to spring up at some point.
Ok folks… lets not make
Ok folks… lets not make stupid statements like this. Especially when we don't even bother to consider the cultural context and history of stigma within the black community. Racism is not an answer to problems.
"While drug use does increase the risk, the problem is particularly acute for men of color who, for a variety of cultural and practical reasons pose the greatest risks. For black men, the stigma of HIV is pervasive. Many blacks of a certain generation were inculcated, with the help of all-powerful churches, into believing that HIV/AIDS was a white man’s problem. By coming out, many men are still shunned from their families. Plus, there are simply not enough resources for black men to handle the epidemic. Machismo is also widely considered a factor. "
That fact that you are
That fact that you are considering becoming a racist just proves that you were racist to begin with. Back in the '80s and even now some people think that all gay people have HIV/AIDS or are going to become infected. Also with you saying this, it is saying that all black people have or going to be infected. So stop and educate yourself a lot further.