Gay disease

The term gay disease or gay plague refers to the concept of a disease afflicting or caused by homosexuals, or to homosexuality itself, and is most often linked to the venereal disease AIDS. Historically, the term has been used by doctors, particularly in the 1970s, but there is no evidence that a gay-specific disease is even possible. The term is currently used predominantly by religious objectors to homosexuality, and may be considered homophobic hate speech.

Table of contents

1 AIDS as gay disease
2 The concept of gay disease in general
3 See also

AIDS as gay disease

The initial cases of AIDS in Western society were predominantly among gay men. The eruption of previously rare cancers and auto-immune disorders led doctors and reporters to informally call the previously unidentified syndrome the "gay disease" or gay cancer. The Centers for Disease Control classified the disease as GRID (gay-related immune deficiency), until 1982.

As AIDS is introduced into different parts of the world, the initial primary vectors are generally gay men, intravenous drug users, and the sexually promiscuous (such as prostitutes). In societies where such behavior generally deemed immoral (see homosexuality and morality, homosexuality and religion), this has strongly affected the medical response to treatment of the disease, generally in the form of a slow and begrudging effort to treat patients and take steps to halt the spread of AIDS.

A telling example of the slow response of governments to AIDS is that President Ronald Reagan avoided saying the word AIDS in public until 1987, likely because of societal anti-gay prejudice and his own squeamishness.

At the outset of the 21st century, the nations of Russia and China have been criticized by the international medical community for their slow response to AIDS, and their lack of action to change the general misconception of the population that the disease is restricted to gays, drug users, and prostitutes.

The concept of gay disease in general

Various attempts have been made to define gay-only or gay-specific diseases, particularly during the 1970s. Gay bowel syndrome was a term first used in 1976, prior to the discovery of AIDS, to describe a series of parasitic disorders caused by oral/anal contact and allegedly related to gay male sexual activity. The term was abandonend by the medical community in the 1980s, dismissed as the result of ill-informed bigotry. The medical problems attributed to gay bowel syndrome were neither specific to homosexuals nor confined to the bowel, and fail to meet the medical definition of a syndrome. Despite this, the term continues to see widespread use from certain elements in the anti-gay lobby.

Similarly, a 2003 cluster of cases of MRSA-related skin infection found in gay men, schools, and prisons was initially labeled in press reports as a gay disease. In fact, there is no correlation between sexual orientation and MRSA infection or colonization.

The term gay disease in reference to AIDS is mostly used by religious objectors to homosexuality, who feel that homosexuals are deserving of punishment or divine retribution. The term is also used by other homosexual objectors, particularly individuals and groups within the wider medical community who see it as evidence that the "gay lifestyle" is inherently unhealthy or dangerous. It can also be a form of homophobic hate speech.