It's the homo-negativity, stupid!

via Sydney Star Observer, by Harley Dennett

An interview with Dr Judith Auerbach, vice president of science and public policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Here is a snip.

Higher rates of depression and alcohol and substance abuse among adult gay men have consistently been linked to HIV acquisition risk, Auerbach said.

“It’s all connected to being gay in a homo-negative culture. The background of gay men’s lives can have an ultimately very complicated pathway to acquisition and transmission of HIV.

“Everything from child sexual abuse, to being bullied in school, to other ways you could define homo-negativity, the ways dominant culture is negative to homosexuality and is played out by bullies, has a relationship to adult behaviours that lead to HIV risk.”

African American gay men have even higher HIV rates. Auerbach said that had a lot to do with their social position, driven in part by the homophobic black church culture, and also their low visibility in so-called gay refuge destinations like San Francisco’s Castro district.

“[Same-sex] marriage is not necessarily protective,” she said. “Most transfers continue to happen between main partners, not the other partnerships. All people tend to use condoms with their non-main partnerships.”

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