Monkeypox Is Not A ‘Gay Disease’
Misinformation about monkeypox could have damaging consequences.
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As monkeypox continues to spread across the U.S. and abroad, an increasing amount of misinformation about the disease is spreading along with it. Monkeypox is a viral disease transmitted through close physical contact with someone infected with the virus. This can include skin-to-skin contact and direct contact with bodily fluids, respiratory droplets, and even contaminated clothing and linens. Once someone is infected, it can take 1 to 2 weeks for symptoms to appear, which can include fever, rash, lesions, and flu-like symptoms.
While the majority of confirmed cases during the current outbreak have been among cisgender gay and bisexual men, monkeypox can affect anyone, regardless of gender, sex, or sexual orientation. Despite this fact, however, messaging from the media and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have almost exclusively focused on queer men, to the detriment of both straight people and the LGBTQ community, according to public health officials. Even the World Health Organization (WHO), which just declared monkeypox a global health emergency on Saturday, is largely focusing its efforts to eradicate the spread of the virus on men who have sex with other men.
Many doctors and public health experts agree that gay and bisexual men should certainly take the threat of monkeypox seriously, but so should everyone else. “This is not a gay disease,” Dr. Ken Mayer, the medical research director of the HIV/AIDS research center the Fenway Institute, told The Boston Globe. Although the origin of the current outbreak is still unknown, the first suspected cases of the strain have been traced back to parties and Pride celebrations attended by queer men in Antwerp, Belgium and the Canary Islands in Spain.
Even though monkeypox can be transmitted through sexual contact, it is not a sexually transmitted infection (STI), nor is it a disease that is exclusive to gay men. “It’s the social network phenomenon,” Mayer said. “It’s who you’re having contact with, not anything about the specific behavior.” It’s also about who is getting tested. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently revealed…
