The gay ill health sector has spent the last few years stating gay men aren’t the highest risk group for HIV infection. Countless times on TV, radio and in the press they trumpet that heterosexuals are now more at risk of HIV as now around 55% of infections are from straight sex. This is a ridiculous conclusion as gay men make up around 3% of the population as opposed to 94% of the UK population being heterosexual.
Why do they sell this misleading narrative and is it leading to more infections for gay men?
What drives campaigns from the viewpoint of the gay ill health non expert is the idea of “HIV stigma.” Above all else that must be fought against. Protecting yourself from HIV by using a condom is way down on the list of their priorities, if not erased altogether.
From their warped viewpoint condomless gay sex has been “stigmatised” while heterosexual sex without a condom hasn’t. You will see this in their tweets “your mother was a barebacker” (sex without a condom). They seek an “equality of destigmatising”. These unprofessionals in the gay ill health sector, many of them HIV positive, are really hung up that the condomless sex they had, and which caused their own infection with HIV, should not be “stigmatised”. That way theywon’t feel guilt, responsibility or regret. It was just bad luck.
Some heterosexual groups are more at risk due to ignorance and their behaviour
The narrative the gay ill health sector want you to believe is that heterosexual sex is more risky than gay anal sex due to a number of factors. They choose randy old women divorcees, who have gone through the menopause as the “high risk” group for HIV infection now. According to gay ill health non-experts they are having lots of sex with random guys and, due to them being out of the single scene for decades, are ignorant of HIV. They also sell the idea that these women don’t use condoms as they can no longer get pregnant, as well as have spending power to take holidays abroad in “high risk” countries.
Here is a “positive speaker” saying just that and that he “educates” NHS professionals that this is a “fact”. Completely ignoring the truth that that gay men are disproportionately affected. (11 mins in)
Reading their prepaganda you are left with the impression that gay men are at significantly less risk of HIV than previously, in the oh so scary 80s and 90s. Patting themselves on the back the gay ill health non-experts claim that gay men are less at risk now due to being educated on various HIV prevention strategies. However will this result in complacency in the gay community, especially with the gay ill health sector driving down condom use and “destigmatising” condomless sex; selling it as “pleasure and intimacy”.
Statistics don’t lie, and those stats are compiled by the NHS not through dodgy gay ill health surveys! Gay men are STILL the highest risk group for potential HIV infection in the UK. It isn’t homophobic to say so. Or “stigmatising” for the gay community. It’s being honest about the situation. So stay vigilant. You can’t trust any gay man on his HIV status and infectiousness. Take responsibility for your own sexual health and use a condom every time.