U.S. Public Health Crises: Gay Men need not Apply
A thought I never would’ve thought of imagining: a viral disease inordinately affecting gay men being ignored under the watch of a Liberal President and their Health Secretary. Tragically, that is the truth that every gay man in America wakes up facing as Monkeypox begins a slow yet gradual ravaging of the nation’s LGBT community. It was a day like any other the morning of May 27, 2022, when the U.S. recorded its first Monkeypox case. Now less than two months after this harrow date, the amount of infections is a day away to surpassing 3,000, according to current infection rates. The only thing more sobering than the climbing infection rate of a new public health crisis in the midst of a reinvigorated COVID-19 surge: a Liberal’s government’s lack of response.
A government’s inaction on any crisis, especially a public health one, can often represent a message to its people. For gay men in America, Biden and his Health Secretary’s message, like the bodily sores caused by Monkeypox, is a painful one to endure: we don’t care. This administration’s inaction is made even more insulting as its lack of alarm echoes traditional homophobic attitudes towards the health of a population’s gay citizens. This conclusion is all but irrefutable as Monkeypox rips through America’s gay population not less than 50 years following the traumatizing AIDS epidemic that rocked the nation’s LGBT community in the 1980’s. Who knew Liberals would have their very own Reagan, how lucky are we?
According to the most recent Gallup poll conducted in February of this year, 7.1% of Americans identify as LGBT. From that pool of 23,600,000 LGBT citizens, 21% are gay men, or 4,956,084. Now with that number of gay men in mind, the current infection pool of 3,000 seems rather inconsequential, however, a recent CDC estimate has predicted that as many as 1,500,000 gay men are at risk of infection from Monkeypox. That is a jaw-dropping proportion of 30% of an entire nation’s gay male population. These distressing statistics aren’t locked somewhere in a safe with its combination lost among the clouds - it’s out in the open. Despite this, our current government’s Liberal leadership, particularly Biden and Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, have languished in their actions to stem the spread of this painful, infectious disease. I can’t believe i’m endorsing (this one time) one of Trump’s former nicknames for his opponents, but perhaps he was right..maybe good ole’ Joe is sleepy.
The road for Monkeypox’s continued spread is smooth sailing, as the U.S. Health Department’s protocols guarantees the virus’s cruise control through several barriers for clinicians acquiring treatment for patients suspected of infection. A recent Washington Post article detailed physician’s struggles in administering the essential drug by slugging through mountainous paperwork and assessments, despite swarths of doctor’s learning to diagnose the virus during their time in Medical School. Essentially, current administrative procedures place higher emphasis on thorough diagnoses for a virus that has been around for 70 years than easing roadblocks to putting a stopper in the accelerating virus. I suppose when a viral infection is substantially less likely to disrupt the sex lives of a population’s straight citizens, slow and steady wins the race. Unfortunately for gay men across America, Monkeypox is winning this relay at a sprinting pace.
With this nation’s history of the lethal AIDS endemic, stigmatizing attitudes towards LGBT community health, and a supposed inclusive administration’s current seat in power, every day of sluggish action to stop Monkeypox’s spread is a slap in the face. Reports from numerous state health departments clearly disprove Biden’s administration claim they’re moving with all diligence and haste on this growing endemic. In fact, the hardest hit cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are repeatedly begging the federal government to disperse much needed larger shipments of the Jynneos vaccine to help stem the virus’s spread. What supply these battleground cities do have quickly evaporate within days, some even hours, of opening vaccination sites for their respective LGBT citizens. And so with the painful memory of the 1980’s AIDS crisis and the lessons of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the trajectory of Monkeypox’s spread continues to persist.
The only consolatory, silver lining surrounding this growing viral infection is that it is not the end. We survived millennia of hiding, centuries of religious persecution, the devastating AIDS crisis..we will undoubtedly endure yet another ignored danger to LGBT public health. It’s just a shame that we are ostracized in doing it alone, yet again.
