Fulton County Leading the Nation with New HIV cases. (living, racism)

[PTC Dad]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I got yelled at and called racist years ago in this board when I pointed out black men are way more likely to have HIV than white men, and that's part of the reason for segregation in Atlanta's gay culture. Now, with the advent of PrEP, every HIV transmission is sadly preventable. And if you really want your mind blown, look up how Gilead gets away with charging $1000 a month for it. They don't even own the patent for it. Do you know who does? The CDC. They just aren't enforcing it. It's a sad state if affairs that we have what is more or less a magic HIV vaccine and not everyone knows about it and fewer people have access to it. Crime against humanity. Can you imagine if this had happened with the polio or small pox vaccine?

What's even more infuriating is PrEP is at least somewhat effective at preventing infection even when only taken within 24 hours of exposure. It SHOULD be available at every pharmacy in America without a prescription just like Plan B for pregnancy, but we're a long way from that, if ever. It's maddening.

A few years ago, the CDC issued a stunning estimate that 50% of gay and bi-sexual black men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime (vs. 1/11 gay white men). Young Black gay males make up almost 40% of new infections. Since Atlanta has one of the largest gay black male populations in the nation, it's not surprising, but sad that the numbers continue to rise. It's definitely a stat that should be decreasing with current therapies and adequate screening.

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/cdc-h...PIKC8ph0wXWOJ/

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/gender/men/index.html

[ATLTJL]

Will black people ever just be allowed to exist without living under a constant microscope?

I really don't think trying to understand how a deadly disease is being transmitted is putting any particular race under a microscope.

It's this exact attitude that is going to keep HIV rates among gay black men high. And if that's they way you want it, fine. But then don't ask, "why don't gay white men want gay black men in their bars?"

[Ocean Flames]

Looks like most people just read the first sentence of the article and ran with it. A article that’s poorly written I might add. It mentions black gay men and transgenders as being most at risk and never addresses it again.

It throws out statistics but again fails to tie it back to its initial statement about gay black men or transgenders.

The article proceeds to talk about how Fulton County is working to curb the epidemic in the county and thus the country, but again doesn’t talk specifically about how it’s targeting the communities preciously specified as being most at risk, but then admits that the approach being used doesn’t have enough data on the results to know if it’s working or not. So the title of the article is BS.

Despite the poor writing, which does make me question the article’s validity, it’s good to see action is being taken to curb HIV infections in general in Fulton County.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by DreamerD

And just to add to this, black people are always under such scrutiny, such study. It gets very tiring. Will black people ever just be allowed to exist without living under a constant microscope?

I think part of the shift in focus is due to the changing nature of HIV occurrence. In the early days the scrutiny was on the white gay community. However, as numbers went down there and began to rise in the black gay community, there was more talk about how the latter group was being affected.

[biscuit_head]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I really don't think trying to understand how a deadly disease is being transmitted is putting any particular race under a microscope.

It's this exact attitude that is going to keep HIV rates among gay black men high. And if that's they way you want it, fine. But then don't ask, "why don't gay white men want gay black men in their bars?"

What does a black gay man going to a predominately white gay bar have to do with a sexually transmitted disease? You could make a stronger point without your faux concern and low key justification of the racism a lot of gay white men have.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

That’s why I am so against the messages that so called “Hip Hop or entertainers portray out of Atlanta. Our culture is over-sexualized, and now we are reaping the seeds of irresponsible passions. Passion is natural, and every human needs affection, but it still requires responsible use. People get to Atlanta, and just go buck wild literally.

Hip hop nor rap have anything to do with this. No one will want to hear it but this is a byproduct of the huge gay population downtown having sex with each other and then having sex with unknowing women. That whole "downlow" nonsense is huge here with dudes sleeping with each other and acting like or somehow convincing themselves that they're not gay and then going on to sleep with women. That is the problem here and has been for years. Let's just call it like it is.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I really don't think trying to understand how a deadly disease is being transmitted is putting any particular race under a microscope.

It's this exact attitude that is going to keep HIV rates among gay black men high. And if that's they way you want it, fine. But then don't ask, "why don't gay white men want gay black men in their bars?"

Originally Posted by arjay57

I think part of the shift in focus is due to the changing nature of HIV occurrence. In the early days the scrutiny was on the white gay community. However, as numbers went down there and began to rise in the black gay community, there was more talk about how the latter group was being affected.

Originally Posted by biscuit_head

What does a black gay man going to a predominately white gay bar have to do with a sexually transmitted disease? You could make a stronger point without your faux concern and low key justification of the racism a lot of gay white men have.

1) It's not just the issue of HIV. There's always so many articles written about how black people this and black people that and almost all the time it's something bad. I would never ask a question like that because the answer is obvious. I've seen the racism against black gay men from white gay men and what's even more disgusting is the fact that when it comes to sex (aggressive, bbc hypersexualization/objectification), all of a sudden black men aren't so horrible to white men. I'm concerned about the issue but we need to face the fact that health care is expensive in the US and until health care is a human right, these things will continue.



2) Arjay, I addressed your comment in number one. I didn't mean to imply it's just the issue of HIV. It's many other topics (first two sentences).

3) Agreed. It has nothing to do with it. Even if the HIV rate among gay black men in Atlanta weren't high, there would still be racism.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by seussie

I understand your frustration, ATLWarrior, though I don't personally see my "culture" in mainstream Hip hop, or any mainstream commodity tied to so-called Black culture. I see this issue as far more than the music: rap's certainly not glorifying homosexual sex and the majority of those with it and contracting it are Black gay males (or DL folk) for lots of reasons: being unaware, poor sex education, adult pedophilia and exploitation of youth. But at the same time, sex isn't fundamentally bad nor is encouraging it but being irresponsible (which includes doing it without being informed or taking advantage of someone) is. I thought that we as an area lowered the contraction rate. . .

Originally Posted by brownhornet

Hip hop nor rap have anything to do with this. No one will want to hear it but this is a byproduct of the huge gay population downtown having sex with each other and then having sex with unknowing women. That whole "downlow" nonsense is huge here with dudes sleeping with each other and acting like or somehow convincing themselves that they're not gay and then going on to sleep with women. That is the problem here and has been for years. Let's just call it like it is.

I agree that black culture shouldn't be linked to hip-hop or any other mainstream commodity. Black people are not one dimensional. I do want to address the comment you made about black gay men and exploitation of youth/sexual assault. I'm not sure if you meant to imply that this issue is something particular to black gay men. HIV contraction is so high mainly because many black gay men aren't using protection. This whole gay men and child abuse talk is something I hear VERY often among religious circles and it is meant to demonize gay men. If you want to discuss pedophilia, I'd start with heterosexual men because they are the main ones engaging in this behavior and you have MANY white heterosexual men sexually assaulting women and GETTING AWAY WITH IT meaning no criminal charge.



2) This whole "down low" talk really does racialize the whole double life thing and it's unnecessary. This is a part of why I said what I said about black people always being under a microscope. Look at how many white heterosexual men out there are fu***ng their secretary, their girlfriend's/wife's best friend, etc., and nobody is talking about how much they are on the "down low." I'm pretty sure many of them are spreading herpes but nobody's going on about that.

[aries4118]

Preach on, DreamerD.


#threadowned

[seussie]

Originally Posted by DreamerD

I agree that black culture shouldn't be linked to hip-hop or any other mainstream commodity. Black people are not one dimensional. I do want to address the comment you made about black gay men and exploitation of youth/sexual assault. I'm not sure if you meant to imply that this issue is something particular to black gay men. HIV contraction is so high mainly because many black gay men aren't using protection. This whole gay men and child abuse talk is something I hear VERY often among religious circles and it is meant to demonize gay men. If you want to discuss pedophilia, I'd start with heterosexual men because they are the main ones engaging in this behavior and you have MANY white heterosexual men sexually assaulting women and GETTING AWAY WITH IT meaning no criminal charge.

But yeah, my point wasn't to suggest pedophilia (young children) was the only reason, especially since I listed many other reasons too— first being unaware and poor sex education. The group with the highest infection rate are young, gay black men— not older. So we need to distinguish age groups, and pedophilia is an important but not as significant element of that. Everyone should be having protected sex, but that doesn't erase how adults will their desires onto youth too. And sex practices among all sexual orientations are trash because of trash sex education practices and exploitation. The church and sex exploitation is a whole other can of worms, that, while important, is best left for another discussion. I am not concerned about double standards right now— just focusing on the target group. The quick and immediate answer to most double standards about how other races are treated differently is discrimination and racism, which is not surprising.

But if we look at that 25-34 age group that's fastest increasing, that means people are contracting as early as 19 in traditional estimations of contraction to 30. That's a wide swath of people who are living perhaps at the height of their sexual lives with misinformation and the slew of other things that come with being a sexual person. Poor condom use is endemic to all orientations having sex, but it is young gay black males hit the hardest (then black women) and a too leisurely or fearful culture to be tested. I imagine we agree on that.

Have you seen this, btw?
AIDS in Atlanta