STDs Growing Among Homosexuals
by Ed Vitagliano
March 8, 2004
(AgapePress) - Several alarming studies reveal that rates of AIDS and syphilis are all escalating within the homosexual community, stumping public health officials who have been trying to promote "safe sex" for almost 20 years.
For AIDS -- the deadliest of the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) -- the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that cases among homosexual and bisexual men jumped 17% over the last three years.
However, infection rates for syphilis among homosexual men in the nation's large cities are also rising; and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association warned in December that more than 50% of homosexual and bisexual men are susceptible to contracting hepatitis A and hepatitis B through various forms of sexual contact.
Explanations for the increases invariably arrive at the same starting place: an increasing number of homosexual men are abandoning "safe sex" practices. Some homosexuals are no longer as fearful of AIDS because of new drug cocktails that prolong lives after infection. Still others say they are simply tired of using condoms.
The Internet also appears to be providing an easy conduit through which homosexual men can meet with each other for casual sex. In fact, several recent studies have linked the Internet to the explosion of syphilis cases among homosexual men in San Francisco. While 13% of homosexual men infected with syphilis in 2000 said they had met sex partners online, in 2003 the number had increased to 44% of the total.
Of course, the Internet's ability to serve as a meeting place for casual sex partners exists because homosexual men often gravitate to big cities in the first place -- where they can quickly hook up. According to Gay.com, researchers in San Francisco found that the customary places for homosexual men to find sex partners were the Internet (33%), bars (21%), bathhouses (13%), sex clubs (13%), and adult bookstores (6%).
It should not be surprising, then, that large urban areas appear to be the breeding grounds for STDs. According to the National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC), more than half of AIDS cases in the U.S. are located in the 15 largest cities. Alarmingly, the NYAC data showed that more than 10% of young homosexual men in major cities were already infected with AIDS.
Ed Vitagliano, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is news editor for AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. This article appeared in the March 2004 issue.
