Leadership Team Voices: Stephen

Rates of HIV+ Gay Youth are Rising

By Stephen Boatwright, Member of the IPN Leadership Team and Board of Directors

Three long decades ago it became apparent in the medical community that men who have sex with men were falling victim to a cancer common among elderly people of Mediterranean heritage, causing word to spread rapidly that there was a ‘gay cancer.’ Once medical science confirmed that the syndrome manifests itself in other ways, it acquired the name “Gay Related Immune Deficiency” or GRID. It had not yet been confirmed that HIV/AIDS is spread through many more ways than unprotected anal sex, so this epidemic largely fueled homophobia and added heavy stigma to the LGBT community as whole.  

Thirty years later, according to the CDC new infections have stabilized to about 50,000 every year. However these rates are rapidly increasing among gay and bisexual men age 14-24. Collectively men who have sex with men (MSM) make up only 2% of the HIV+ population in the U.S., but MSM made up roughly 60% of new infections in 2009. Did we think the AIDS epidemic of the 80s was over?

If you feel like you’ve been exposed to HIV or you feel like you might be in the future—there are options for you called PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis), and newer method called PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis). After someone has been exposed to HIV, there is a 72 hour window period in which PEP medications can be prescribed. When taken orally for 30 consecutive days, PEP can decrease the likelihood of one contracting HIV by 90%. PrEP medications however are meant for individuals who are worried that they might be exposed to HIV in the future. Ethically, one might ask why an individual would put them self at risk of contracting HIV, or why these individuals should be helped at all. For individuals who are meth dependent however, PrEP medications would make a world of difference in terms of safer injections. Likewise, PrEP would greatly benefit individuals with ‘poz’ (HIV+) fetishes.

PEP and PrEP isn’t enough though, as gay and bisexual men we have a responsibility to protect our own health, our partners health, and thereby the health of our community. Work getting tested every 3-6 months into your health regiment, or destigmatize it by going with a friend as part of a lunch date. Embrace open and honest disclosure about knowing your own HIV status as well as your partners. We have the power to stop HIV in its tracks!

Stephen Boatwright is a student at Des Moines Area Community College and a long-time member of the Iowa Pride Network. Stephen started the first Middle School GSA in Iowa when he was in eighth grade and has been a youth leader ever since. In his free time, Stephen makes art and interns with the AIDS Project.