Men Who Sleep With Men

Years ago HIV-infected women usually contracted the disease through drug use. But these days one of the main methods of infection is heterosexual sex. In some instances, women are having sex with men infected through drug use. But researchers say that, more female infection than is generally suspected has come through the "bridge" population of men who also have sex with men.

It's hard to quantify this population, but a survey by the CDC found that nearly a quarter of black HIV-positive men who had sex with men consider themselves heterosexual. Because these men don't consider themselves gay, AIDS prevention messages and programs often elude them. It is with this concern that health care workers are now using the phrase "men who have sex with men" (MSM), designed to make men more open to information about safe sex and HIV testing. Shame and stigma lead MSM to carry on elaborate double lives. "These men live in a racist society and a homophobic black community," according to Ron Simmons, Ph.D., executive director of Us Helping Us, People Into Living Inc. an AIDS community outreach group in Washington, D.C.

Julie Posey's story is not uncommon. She went to San Francisco to become a fashion merchandiser in the mid-1980s. She soon met and fell in love with Bax; the two married and had three children. Posey discovered Bax was having sex with men; then he tested HIV-positive. Bax died of AIDS in 1999. Though Posey and her children are fortunately HIV-negative, she said, "In the end I felt stupid. There was this truck coming at me the whole time. Why didn't I get out of the way?"

Brenda Wade, Ph.D., a San Francisco therapist, said, "You have to take your time and you have to ask questions. . . . The issue is can you have a committed, monogamous relationship? Can it deepen and grow?" Though this topic is jarring, there isn't cause for panic. "Tell sisters not to accuse every man in their life of being on the DL [down low]," says Hence J.L. King, author of Secrets: Life on the Down Low due out next spring. "And those who are aren't sexual predators either. They're brothers mired in stigma and denial. More hate won't make the situation better, but working to make your community and your heart more open and accepting will," the reporter wrote.

Back to other CDC news for October 15, 2001

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