Oh, the Humanity
Homophobia—multiplied nineteen times
by Jim Pickett
So, as it turns out, efforts (and the lack thereof) to eradicate HIV across the globe are systematically ignoring, denying, under-serving, and failing gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM).
While this was not exactly a surprise on a planet where 86 countries continue to criminalize LGBTs in any number of human rights-crushing ways, to fully comprehend the broad, wide-reaching neglect of gay/MSM in the global AIDS pandemic is nevertheless a shock and awe to the soul. I was delighted that this issue emerged as a key, defining theme of the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008), held in Mexico City August 3–8.
The AIDS 2006 conference in Toronto had frustrated me with the paucity of discussion and energy around gay/MSM topics. While AIDS 2008 featured gay/MSM issues prominently, my emotions were yet again set to frustration, and rage, as the extent of the neglect was revealed in countless plenaries, sessions, symposia, and press conferences.
| Fifty-six countries pretend as if they have no gay men or MSM. |
Structural homophobia is not only as American as apple pie—it has the flavors and spices from every corner of the developed and developing world. Gay men and other men who have sex with men who identify in all sorts of marvelous ways are routinely dehumanized and disempowered all over. Now here is something almost every nation on the planet can agree on.
On the second day of the conference, amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, released a report titled “MSM, HIV, and the Road to Universal Access—How Far Have We Come?” “MSM continue to have little or no access to HIV services of any kind and as a result are plagued by high rates of infection,” the report begins. “In an unfolding tragedy of epic proportions, the numbers tell the story. Globally, MSM are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population.”
Based on data from 128 countries submitted to UNAIDS, the report found that 44% of countries failed to provide any data on MSM and despite a unanimous commitment from all United Nations member countries to monitor HIV among high-risk groups, 71% of countries said they did not have any information on the percentage of MSM contacted by HIV prevention groups. Although data were scarce, the study found MSM were 33 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population in Latin America, 18 times more likely in Asia, and at least four times more likely in Africa. The report also stated that Benin, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, and Thailand are the countries with the highest reported HIV prevalence rates among MSM.
So, gay men/MSM are at enormously high risk and are bearing the brunt of the epidemic in places all over the world—from North to South—and is it turns out, less than 1% of the $669 million reported in global prevention spending from 2006 targeted men who have sex with men, according to UNAIDS.
One. Percent. Nineteen times.
So, there are tons of countries who report that theirs is a heterosexual epidemic—but don’t reports stats for gay/MSM. Forty-four percent of 128 (see above) is 56, by the way. Fifty-six countries pretend as if they have no gay men or MSM. And as long as we are doing the math here, 91 countries don’t have any idea if any gay men or MSM are even contacted by prevention groups.
While I was delighted to see the conference giving so much attention to the epidemic among gay/MSM—finally—I was concurrently horrified to fully comprehend the depth and the breadth of just how negligent governments and foundations and service providers and advocates are, and the extent of their/our complicity in the unnecessary suffering and deaths of so many human beings.
For me, one of the highlights of the conference was actually a pre-conference titled, “The Invisible Men: Gay Men and Other MSM [Men Who Have Sex With Men] in the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic.” Something like 80 countries were represented, and it was an honor and a privilege for me to present on behalf of the International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) with other IRMA members from Nigeria, Malaysia, and Peru.
Unfortunately, due to a travel fiasco, I missed one of the most important sessions of the pre-conference—the onein which outgoing UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot talked about gay men, MSM, and rampant homophobia. With thanks to TheBody.com, I was able to read his whole speech. I excerpt it here.
“There’s a terrible under-funding of programs for MSM, and yet this is the population where the epidemic is in most countries,” Piot stated.
We must envision a day
when we are reflexively empathetic to gay men. |
“There’s something that, as a straight man, I really have a hard time understanding, and that is this obsessive homophobia that I find, and which tells me that there’s something going on in the heads of people that must mean that they are having a major problem with their own sexuality. There may be other explanations, but this is my opinion, and I have been everywhere in the world and have met people like that, including in the UN system. But it is totally absurd, and it’s also cruel. I think that the title of this meeting is only too apt. I’m really more and more convinced that homophobia is one of the top five obstacles to really stopping this epidemic. That’s where I think we need to probably have a more scientific, businesslike approach to how we tackle this. There are some really fantastic programs, and here, I would really like to pay tribute to Jorge Saavedra (who came out at the conference, incidentally) and the Mexican government for supporting him with its anti-homophobia campaign, and the whole of the activist groups. But there are not too many countries where this is happening, and yet there are so many places where these programs are needed.”
“In a growing number of countries,” Piot continued, “we may be reaching a tipping point where working with MSM becomes really possible, and where we can see results. That didn’t happen by coincidence. It’s proof that some of our joint advocacy and insistence are bearing fruit.”
So, while things are indeed really bad for our brothers around the world who are gay and or have sex with men, perhaps Piot is right in that we have reached a global tipping point and we can begin to do what is required for gay men, MSM, and all humans—beyond the safe focus on politically palatable populations, the folks for whom we are reflexively empathetic.
We must envision a day when we are reflexively empathetic to gay men. We must envision a day when we care about gay men on their own terms, as human beings in their own right. We must envision a day when we seek resources on behalf of gay men, upfront, unapologetic, and transparent.
It will take all of us to hold the feet of every single stakeholder and leader to the fire. It will take all of us to dismantle the laws that criminalize the existence LGBTs. It will take all of us to ensure that the programs and the dollars follow the science, and not some warped, hateful ideology.
Now let’s get to work.
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