# Gays = 80% of serious STDs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178 "2001-02-20T04:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flawdlogic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@flawdlogic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flawdlogic)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/1 "2001-02-20T04:27:32Z")
A [letter to the editor](http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1423210&BRD=1078&PAG=461&dept_id=151026&rfi=6) of my local paper recently included the following: “Health studies as reported in American Legion Magazine show that gays account for 80 percent of all serious sexually transmitted diseases while accounting for less than 2 percent of the total American population.” I tried to find this in the [American Legion Mag](http://www.legion.org/pubs/current/index.htm) without success. Seems extremely fishy to me… Can anyone offer cites to refutations? flawdlogic. ---
**Author:** ![flawdlogic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@flawdlogic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flawdlogic)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/2 "2001-02-20T04:35:52Z")
Looks like I screwed up my first post… Take 2: A [letter to the editor](http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1423210&BRD=1078&PAG=461&dept_id=151026&rfi=6) local paper recently included the following: “Health studies as reported in American Legion Magazine show that gays account for 80 percent of all serious sexually transmitted diseases while accounting for less than 2 percent of the total American population.” I tried to find this in the [American Legion Mag](http://www.legion.org/pubs/current/index.htm) without success. Seems extremely fishy to me… Can anyone offer cites to refutations? flawdlogic. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/3 "2001-02-20T05:06:03Z")
[This link](http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/disease_info.htm#GenInfo) from the CDC may prove useful. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/4 "2001-02-20T06:16:47Z")
A handy rule of thumb: if a newspaper says that gay people account for 80% of _anything_ except for fucking people of the same sex (and making fabulous dinners), ask for a cite. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/5 "2001-02-21T02:19:33Z")
Magic Johnson is the only heterosexual I’ve ever heard of who got HIV. If anyone else can think of someone, let us know! ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/6 "2001-02-21T03:11:49Z")
I do hope you’re kidding DaveRaver. Please tell me that was a bad joke. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/7 "2001-02-21T03:23:30Z")
I’m not anti-gay, I’m just asking if anyone knows a heterosexual (non-drug-user) who has HIV. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/8 "2001-02-21T03:41:43Z")
I don’t think to say that the STD rate in gay men is higher than the norm is a rap. I think it is true. I don’t know of any gay man that hasn’t had at least one STD. I don’t think Magic got it from sex either. I think eventually it will come out he used drugs. (just a theory we can’t prove) Gay men are more sexually promiscous(sp?) then straight men. Why? Cause they can get it. All things that derive from sex good or bad increase as you have more of it. I can name you 10 people off the top of my head that don’t use condoms (gay men) Though this sounds like a slam it does no good to deny something that is true ( I don’t know about 80% but it must be high). It’s kind of like saying Women have 100% of the abortions in America. Yeah so what? It’s true? Big deal. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/9 "2001-02-21T03:53:08Z")
DaveRaver: If you’d bothered to follow the link I posted you would have found this: > [@](#): > > Researchers estimate that men who have sex with men (MSM) still account for 42 percent of new HIV infections annually in the United States and for 60 percent of all new HIV infections among men. From [Trends in STDs in the United States 2000 by the CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstddisease_info.htm#GenInfo) It really doesn’t take much to figure out that the other 40 percent of new HIV infections among men must be either heterosexual men or celibate men. Your statements imply that the number of infections among heterosexual men is one. Care to back that up? In fact, you can find the tables on HIV/AIDS infection from the CDC here: [From the CDC’s Division on HIV/AIDS Prevention](http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1201.htm) ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/10 "2001-02-21T04:11:39Z")
Wevets sez: “It really doesn’t take much to figure out that the other 40 percent of new HIV infections among men must be either heterosexual men or celibate men. Your statements imply that the number of infections among heterosexual men is one. Care to back that up?” I didn’t imply that at all. You inferred it. I was only saying that Magic J. is the only heterosexual that I PERSONALLY know of who is HIV+. Anyway, that handy CDC link you provided shows that at least 51% of men with HIV are homosexual (including the 6% who also inject drugs). 7% report contracting through heterosexual contact. I hope that helps the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/11 "2001-02-21T04:15:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DaveRaver \* > \*\*I’m not anti-gay, I’m just asking if anyone knows a heterosexual (non-drug-user) who has HIV. \*\* Ryan White was a young man who contracted HIV from a transfusion. Arthur Ashe(tennis player) died of a HIV related illness, his HIV contracted from a transfusion during a heart surgery Elizabeth Glaser, wife of Paul Glaser(of Starsky and Hutch fame) died of a HIV related illness as did her daughter ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/12 "2001-02-21T04:15:32Z")
Here’s the link I got that from, BTW: [http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1201/table10.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1201/table10.htm) ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/13 "2001-02-21T04:19:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by DaveRaver \* > > \*\*I’m not anti-gay, I’m just asking if anyone knows a heterosexual (non-drug-user) who has HIV. \*\* > > Ryan White was a young man who contracted HIV from a transfusion. > > Arthur Ashe(tennis player) died of a HIV related illness, his HIV contracted from a transfusion during a heart surgery > > Elizabeth Glaser, wife of Paul Glaser(of Starsky and Hutch fame) died of a HIV related illness as did her daughter > > \*\* OK, but what about a man who got it by sexual transmission from a woman? ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/14 "2001-02-21T04:25:37Z")
How many famous gays can you name who recieved HIV from sexual contact with another man? Are you really that odd? ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/15 "2001-02-21T04:27:08Z")
> [@](#): > > OK, but what about a man who got it by sexual transmission from a woman? The rapper Eazy E? He might have contracted it by IV drug use, but he was a “busy” guy. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/16 "2001-02-21T04:27:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Markxxx \* > \*\*I don’t think to say that the STD rate in gay men is higher than the norm is a rap. I think it is true. I don’t know of any gay man that hasn’t had at least one STD. Well, you’ve met one now. I’ve never had an STD, and I’ve been far from an angel, but I do use condoms. Don’t generalize… it leads to inaccuracy. > [@](#): > > Gay men are more sexually promiscous(sp?) then straight men. Why? Cause they can get it. > > All things that derive from sex good or bad increase as you have more of it. > > I can name you 10 people off the top of my head that don’t use condoms (gay men) And I can name a score of gay men who DO use condoms. We are not more promiscuous. That is a fallacy, and you put it up as a fact without any support. Cite or get off the pot. From: [http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/health/010598he.htm](http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/health/010598he.htm) \*\* Attacks on sexual promiscuity may therefore not only endanger the health of gay men but also engender a sense of shame and loss of self-esteem. We had come a long way to accepting that sex is one of life’s great joys, but the current attacks on sexual promiscuity - even by those who claim to be concerned only with AIDS prevention - may in today’s conservative climate undermine this acceptance. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/17 "2001-02-21T04:34:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DaveRaver \* > [OK, but what about a man who got it by sexual transmission from a woman? \*\* From: [http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1102/table23.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1102/table23.htm) In 1999 there were 31,889 caucasian, black, and hispanic men who were infected with HIV, contracted from heterosexual sex. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/18 "2001-02-21T04:43:59Z")
Dave’s not, perhaps, terribly eloquent, but I suspect the point he’s really getting at is that the risk level of an exclusively heterosexual, non-IV-drug using American (or, indeed, Western) male is pretty damn close to zero. And he’s right, which isn’t fair but them’s the breaks. IANAD but I follow HIV pretty closely as a participant in a vaccine study. Fundamentally, HIV in general, and the clave of HIV predominant in North America and Europe in particular, seems to transmit more easily male to female than vice versa. Part of the difference may lie in the etiology of various strains (clave E, predominant in Thailand, has been shown to invect vaginal and foreskin mucosa especially effectively), and part of the difference may result from different health practices and conditions in the West - especially the absence of untreated other STDs, such as herpes, and, in the United States, the universality of circumcision (one cite claimed 35 studies supported the view that circumcision reduces transmission risk, possibly by to a substantial degree). Of course, the risk isn’t quite zero. Things happen. And the imbalance of risk is something of a public health nightmare, because now men have even less reason to be willing to put up with condoms. Of course, men can still get other STDs that transmit much more easily than the (relatively) delicate HIV, but these problems tend to be easily treated. Even more unfair, a disease like chlamydia is much more likely to exhibit symptoms in men, which means they’ll get treated, than in women, and the consequences of untreated chlamydia in women are much direr (chiefly pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to tubal/ectopic pregancy and/or sterility). ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/19 "2001-02-21T04:45:31Z")
Here is the sad list of famous AIDS victims: [http://uhavax.hartford.edu/~healthpro/aids/famous.html](http://uhavax.hartford.edu/~healthpro/aids/famous.html) ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178/20 "2001-02-21T04:58:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by DaveRaver \* > > [OK, but what about a man who got it by sexual transmission from a woman? \*\* > > From: [http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1102/table23.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1102/table23.htm) > > In 1999 there were 31,889 caucasian, black, and hispanic men who were infected with HIV, contracted from heterosexual sex. \*\* Which is fine, as far as it goes, but 32,000 transmissions over the course of a twenty-year epidemic (just to make it clear to everyone - the number Hastur cites is cumulative) ain’t that much risk, particularly if you drop the 10,000 or so who were sexual partners of IV drug users. And the oh-my-god-I-didn’t-know-she-was-on-smack line, being reserved for public service announcements, doesn’t pass the snicker test. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-80-of-serious-stds/55178.md?page=2)