Is AIDS a "gay disease"?

The comments were made last Friday at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's (NGLTF) national conference in Detroit by Executive Director Matt Foreman.

"Folks, with 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi (sexual), we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease," Foreman told his audience. "We have to own that and face up to that."

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, 70 percent of all cases of HIV occur among men who have sex with other men (MSMs), people who are bisexual (e.g., who have sex with both men and women, or those who inject illegal drugs with infected needles (previously used by MSMs).

Link to full story:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?P...

It is not a Gay disease. The fact is that the walls of the intestincts are very permeable and it is very easy for Gay men to be infected if you have unprotected anal sex.
The fact is nowadays many a young Gay man tends to ignore the risk of HIV, thinking a cure will soon be found and thus accept to have bareback sex with all the risks thereof. The mutilplicity of partners and unsafe sexual practices tremendously increase the risk of infection for Gay men.

AIDS is becoming a Gay disease possibly because we Gay men are more prone to practice unsafe sex in the recent times.

It is to be noted that Gay men in faithful long term partnership do not show any higher percentage of infected persons that heterosexuals couples.

no. anyone can get it. from sex, blood, needles, etc.

There are plenty of women that catch AIDS, he should not have labeled it a "gay disease".

i saw that but i totally disagree...they say statistics dont lie but ppl who are bi or gay dont always hav sex with one another

If it was truly a "Gay Disease" then I'd have it, my partner would have it, and all my gay friends would have it.


... which we don't.

Well AIDS could be a gayt disease or it could just be from people sleeping with alot of different people with out knowing what they had or if they had anything first so it's not entirely a gay disease but people being gay does have a part in AIDS.

This is so 80's!
Did I go back in time?

It's definitely not a "Gay disease" The only reason why some people consider it to be a gay disease is because it's more likely for a person to get it through anal sex and that's how gay men have sex.

It is spread more easily through anal sex so that could of course be affiliated with homosexuality (anal tissue breaks making it prone to infection) but I think bi-sexual men who sleep with other men and don't tell their wives are probably a bigger percent...

Im sorry if this offends you but the gay thing....Its a theory of how it started...Its not any ones disease...it belongs whoever has it.
There is also a theory that it started in monkeys but nobody really knows

I will never buy into the propaganda that AIDS is a gay disease. I personally think that Mr. Foreman was very irresponsible with his comments.
Furthermore, when is the last time the NGLTF or Mr. Foreman went door to door to examine who is or who isn't gay? There are also many people living with this disease, that seek no treatment...or even testing. What about them? I'm sure there are many heterosexuals in the world that have HIV or AIDS and simply don't get tested. What about those numbers? Without ALL of the information, it's hard to make up statistics that will hold water.

aids is not a gay disease..........it's come from exchanging infected bodily fluids

Hell no !!!!!!

Please tell me this is NOT your true question....... You already have a somewhat sense of smartness as the quotes from Matt........ Move on dear.....


Bubba

It is a disease that has plagued the gay community. It is a disease that snuck up on the gay community and decimated it. It is a disease that the gay community must acknowledge and be smart about.

It is NOT a gay disease. Disease does not have a sexual orientation.

No really.

Talk about double-talk... The quote says "70 percent of people in this country living with HIV [are] gay or bi(sexual)"
but the source (CDC) actually says the 70% includes those who inject illegal drugs with infected needles.
So, I ask you, what percentage of the "70%" are actually drug addicts? Also, what percentage of the "bisexuals" consider themselves "straight" but like to fool around with guys?
After you remove both of those groups, what is the ACTUAL percentage of gays with HIV?

It's like stating that 90% left-handed persons have blue eyes, and then sourcing it to a study that found that 90% of left-handed people either had blue eyes or wore blue contacts or claimed that they their green eyes were actually blue.

I'm sure that the percentage of gays with HIV is still high, but that also doesn't take into account how many of the people with HIV are new cases and how many of them have been living with HIV for years. From what I've read, HIV is on the decline in gays and on the rise in heterosexuals.

And let's turn it around... 30% of all Americans with HIV are straight and don't illegally use needles. That's nearly one-third of all cases.

Well, I agree that "70% of the people in this country living with HIV are gay or bi". And I agree that HIV/AIDS is NOT a gay disease.
BUT I think we can all agree that Matt Foreman's comments certainly stirred up a lot of sh*t...he's got a lot of people thinking and talking about HIV/AIDS and that's a good thing!

Its not a gay disease anyone can get it, but unfortunately due to the large amount of risky unprotected sex that occurres in the gay lifestyle it is a serious problem in the community. Young groups that did not live through the 70's and 80's are unfamilure with the serious ramifications and did not witness the large number of deaths as a result of unprotected sex. A huge push to promote safe sex during that time dropped the number of cases tremendously. Unfortunately there is a younger group that has not witnessed the serverity of AIDS and they also have this false sence that the desease is controlable when it is not. AIDS is now back on a rise and it not getting better

No, of course not.

Nope. You can get STDs from a straight person too.