In late May, Conde Nast’s LGBT site them.us went out of its way to steer a nascent viral scourge known as monkeypox away from the main demographic that was catching it: gay men.
The piece was headlined: “Monkey pox virus is affecting queer men, but it has nothing to do with being queer,” stating that “while a large proportion of those infected in [the] the current global outbreak identify as gay or bisexual men… there is no correlation between identity and disease.
“Blaming the gay community or gay behavior,” he concluded, “is not good public health.”
Last week, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a full-scale global emergency as the disease has spread rapidly in just three months. By the end of May, 100 people had the virus; there are now more than 18,000 cases worldwide, with nearly 4,000 in the US alone, according to the CDC. New York State also says monkeypox is an “imminent threat.”
It is true that gay men are not “responsible”‘ for the monkey pox outbreak. Like HIV or COVID-19, viruses cannot target specific communities. But the first cases of monkeypox were almost all contracted at large-scale “circuit parties” across Europe, which are frequented almost exclusively by gay men. This is not stigma, it is simply a fact.
Also fact: sex was not the main mode of transmission, but close physical contact. Monkey pox is spread through skin-to-skin contact, the kind of close physical contact that occurs at parties where groups of men, often half-dressed, dance in close proximity. (Unsurprisingly, circuit parties were also super-spreading events for COVID-19.)
The unwillingness of the “woke” media and nervous health authorities to make this link clear is a shame. Their political correctness likely helped spread the disease.
Headlines like this one from Conde Nast’s LGBT site them.us worked overtime to keep monkey pox away from gay men, even though they were the main risk group from the start of the outbreak.
Although most of the cases in May were already connected to gay men’s social sites, most of the media not only refused to acknowledge this, but said that doing so would encourage discrimination.
“Charities warn against stigmatizing gay and bisexual groups amid outbreak,” The Independent stated. “Monkey pox could usher in a new wave of homophobia,” mused Slate. “Blaming gay men for monkey pox will hurt everyone,” announced Scientific America.
Even the UN weighed in on the possible monkeypox blame game, stating in a May 22 statement that the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was concerned “that some reports and media comments were reinforcing homophobic and racist stereotypes.”
A close-up of the monkeypox virus, which has now infected nearly 20,000 people worldwide, including 4,700 cases in the United States. Although rarely fatal, the disease causes fever and painful lesions. Shutterstock
Few things are more predictable than progressives blaming an ill public on racism and homophobia, but the monkeypox outbreak takes this to new levels of confusion. As with other “woke” obsessions, such as gun violence or the transgender debate, the insistence on putting politics above data and science has led to confused messages and very few solutions.
Now, ironically, LGBT leaders are singing a different tune. As hundreds of cases sweep through New York City and other metropolises, with virtually all detected in gay men, not only is monkey pox suddenly a “queer” disease, but community leaders are criticizing the local health departments for not adequately treating the LGBT community. California state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Matt Haney described the federal government’s response this month as “public health failure.”
Even the lack of sufficient monkeypox vaccines, along with a botched vaccination rollout in the U.S., was due to, you guessed it, “homophobia,” according to a Los Angeles Times headline last week, along with with a “collective indifference that derives”. of the disease that largely affects LGBTQ communities.”
Unlike many sexually transmitted infections, monkeypox is spread through skin-to-skin contact, which initially helped speed its spread. Chaotic messaging and poorly managed vaccination programs have only made matters worse. Shutterstock
As a gay man of a certain age, this sounds all too familiar. Nearly four decades ago, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, doctors and LGBT community leaders like Larry Kramer urged gay men to adopt safer sex practices once it became clear that HIV was contracted through sexual contact. Some did, but many others refused, citing the shame and stigma that could come from being singled out as a minority population. While the US government waited too long to sound the alarm, even though thousands died, the reluctance of some gay men to accept the facts of the spread of the virus also allowed the plague to grow faster .
Although monkeypox is not usually fatal (it causes an unsightly rash and fever), it has a lot in common with AIDS: political correctness may have accelerated its status as a global health emergency. When a communicable disease emerges, people deserve to know the facts: how does it spread and who is most likely to get it? Running away from the truth helps no one.
dkaufman@nypost.com