Writings

Gay Men Confronting Upswings in Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and HIV:
Where Do We Go From Here?

By Eric Rofes

The time is right for a gay male leader—in New York, in San Francisco, or any place in the nation—to summon up the courage, stand tall, and boldly speak the truth that gay men as a class supposedly need to hear: any queer man who has unprotected sex these days is responsible for fueling epidemics of syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV; all HIV+ men who penetrate tricks without disclosing their HIV status are doing something unethical, even evil; this generation of queer men is literally fucking itself to an early death and should look to no one for sympathy or support—not older gays, not lesbians, not liberal straights, and certainly not government-funded social services.

Why are the voices of gay male leadership silent? How come no one’s emerged to boldly speak truth to power? What forces have colluded to silence visionary leaders who would sacrifice popularity and political correctness for the benefit of preserving the health and saving the lives of thousands and thousands of queer men?

These are the questions being asked by people who believe that pointing the finger at these transgressors of safe-sex norms and identifying them as irresponsible and unethical vectors of disease, is a useful public health strategy. They look at rising rates of STD’s and upswings in rates of new HIV infections, and say: why have no voices been raised? Where is the type of leadership that successfully motivated men in numbers with no historical precedent, to use condoms in the 1980s? What’s become of that daring queer leadership that catalyzed ACT-UP chapters and brought the nation’s medical establishment and health bureaucracies to their knees? Where is a gay male leadership that knows the difference between morality and immorality, social responsibility and self-centered irresponsibility, right and wrong?

The truth is, whoever steps forward to play this role will receive his share of rewards—from journalists, the public health establishment, and that portion of the gay community that hungers for a visionary hero unafraid to condemn bad behavior within our ranks. He’ll be praised for his bravery at taking on the condemnation of those outlaw queers who are alternately considered misguided, self-loathing, and hell-bent on continuously recycling through decimation for the sake of a nostalgic notion of sexual freedom.”

And what results can we expect from this hero’s courageous efforts? If he spoke out on the editorial pages of the New York Times and at press conferences at the National Institutes of Health, would he successfully catalyze a shift in the sexual practices of gay men throughout the nation? If the leaders of every gay health clinic and every AIDS organization in America collectively took out full-page ads in the gay press proclaiming “Gay Men Are Fueling Sexually Transmitted Epidemics Today. Practice Safe Sex Every Time!” do we expect to see a dramatic shift in sexual norms and a decline in cases of syphilis? If someone organized Elton John, George Michael, XXXX, XXXX, and the Pet Shop Boys to produce a “We Are the World” type of song, titled “We Always Play Safe!” would we see a halt to new HIV transmissions?

Despite the escalating civil war inside gay men’s communities about sex, health, and HIV, all of us who share a commitment to the health and wellness of gay men are likely to share certain general beliefs. We are concerned about increasing rates of syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV among gay and bisexual men. We want to see fewer sexually transmitted infections, less HIV, and increased health and mortality rates among queer men of all colors, generations, and locations. We believe it is wrong for people who know they have HIV or any sexually transmitted disease to expose others to infection.

We are also united behind one stark reality: none of us truly knows what to do. None of us can explain with any confidence how to swiftly and dramatically turn around these ominous trends--not those who advocate for a return to forecasts of disaster and crisis rhetoric, not those who argue for information campaigns and free condom distribution, not those who endorse the public damning of barebackers and the shunning of newly infected people.

Almost a decade ago, some of us argued from diverse political perspectives, that it was time to open up a public conversation about ways to influence the trajectory of gay men’s sexual health over a large expanse of time. Some of us believed that, absent such a discussion, we would continue to cycle willy-nilly through periods of upswings and downturns of sexually transmitted disease trends and ultimately do little to improve community health and wellness. Condemned by some as needless fear-mongering and others as promoting the “social engineering of gay men’s sex,” this conversation was quickly stifled.

Today, it’s time to initiate this conversation, however frightening and problematic. The leadership we truly need on gay men’s health would bring together the best researchers, most visionary thinkers, and most compassionate advocates and tackle this profound challenge.

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Eric Rofes is a long-time activist on gay men’s health issues and a professor of education at Humboldt State University in California. He is the author of nine books, including Dry Bones Breathe: Gay Men Creating Post-AIDS Identities and Cultures (Haworth, 1998), where he first proposed creating a long-term plan for eliminating HIV from the gay male population. He can be reached at gmhs3@aol.com.

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