Is HIV A Gay Disease?

By Keith Boykin, in sexuality
Friday, October 6 2006, 12:00PM

Is HIV a gay disease?A new ad campaign out of Los Angeles claims that HIV is a "gay disease." But the sponsors of the ad are not some right-wing anti-gay group. Instead, it's the LA Gay and Lesbian Community Center. Their purpose is not to stigmatize the disease or to stigmatize gay people. Instead, they hope the ad campaign (photographed by Duane Cramer) will prompt more gays and lesbians to "own" the epidemic and take responsibility for stopping it.

I'm not convinced this is a good strategy. Although it's certainly provocative to argue that AIDS is a gay disease, it's not entirely true. Worldwide, most cases of HIV are spread from heterosexual contact, not homosexual sex. Here in the U.S., however, gay men do make up a disproportionate share of HIV/AIDS cases, far more so than in Africa or the Caribbean, for example. But there's something about the message of the ad that doesn't seem to explain the complexity of the epidemic.

When AIDS Was Not A Gay Disease

There was a time in the 80s and 90s when many gay activists went out of their way to disassociate AIDS from the gay community. The fear was that the public would demonize gays as the cause of the epidemic and the government wouldn't take the issue seriously enough to do something about it.

Today as the epidemic has become more black and brown and poor, the fear is that the gay community itself won't pay as much attention because it doesn't affect the stereotypically white gay majority as much as it once did. And as the disease has become more manageable with the introduction of new drug treatments, fewer people of means are dying of the disease and more gay men are starting to see HIV as a manageable illness.

The Politics of Language and AIDS

AIDS politics has always been fraught with political correctness that makes it exceedingly difficult to tell the truth. On the one hand, AIDS is and has always been a disease that disproportionately affects the gay community in the U.S.. But on the other hand, you're not supposed to say that because it supposedly sends the wrong message about gay people.

On the one hand, AIDS disproportionately affects black people worldwide. But on the other hand, you're not supposed to say that for fear that it stigmatizes all blacks as disease carriers.

On the one hand, new drug treatments have made AIDS a more manageable disease for many Americans. On the other hand, you're not supposed to say that either because it communicates a message that the epidemic is under control.

Messaging has never been simple when it comes to HIV/AIDS awareness. Some AIDS activists want to show that AIDS is not a death sentence, so pharmaceutical companies have developed ads that show active, "healthy looking" people who are depicted as living with the disease. But those same ads are criticized by other AIDS activists because they don't dramatize the difficulty of living with HIV/AIDS.

The new ads will definitely get attention, and maybe that's the purpose. But with a subject as sensitive and nuanced as this, sometimes a provocative ad doesn't do justice to the complex issues involved. Yes, AIDS can be seen as a gay disease, but it's far more complicated than that.

Comments (20) reveal

Comments conceal

BLK_Ph.D
October 6 2006, 12:50PM

What in the hell!!!! I personally think that this ad sends a very negative message about the gay community. I can understand wanting the gay community to take more responsiblity, but saying this HIV/AIDS is a gay disease is what just these ignorant bigots want our society to think. I think that this is set-back for all of the activism that has been undertaken to get society to understand this disease, and to send a message like this, in a society that will believe a lie before the truth, is detrimental. People that already dislike gays will judge them in a manner that if they are gay, they gotta have HIV. As educated as those people that created that ad are, I know they could've created something a lil' bit better than that!

Rockinrob
October 6 2006, 1:11PM

ABSOLUTELY WRONG!

I've done corporate communications (advertising/marketing/PR) for the past 17 years. Although I get where they're going, they took the wrong path to get there.

In an attempt to create dialogue, the goal was accomplished...just the wrong type of dialogue. I would be very surprised to see that the results of the focus group study substantiates such a campaign, but it appears that they didn't use one. A major advertising primary research faux pas on their behalf.

This campaign should fail miserably with the AAF (American Advertising Federation) and its target market.

PEACE

KC
October 6 2006, 1:16PM

I cannot belive my eyes when I read that- talk about turning back the clock, to go as far as turning back progress. Educated fools would be more like it. Ignorance is a hell of a thing, but I know the creative minds could have come up with a better idea than what the ad reads. As the adage goes : "If you think education is expensive try ignorance."

C. Baptiste-Williams
October 6 2006, 1:38PM

If a non gay oriented organization would have come up with this campaign... people would be up in arms immediately. The LA Gay and Lesbian Community Center are doing much more harm than good.

BLK_Ph.D
October 6 2006, 2:26PM

Are we being punked...is this a joke! Like KC said, educated fools could be the only ones to proscribe a remedy such as this…Are these people Republicans? I just can’t believe that a gay organization would hang themselves as they have done. This all we need during this critical political season is for those conservative Republicans to get more ammo to fuel their anti-gay messages. From the ad, gays are leading the demise of American society….

patrick
October 6 2006, 3:03PM

I like this ad. I think its a good kick in the pants for us, it is 100% true.

PhillyPhile
October 6 2006, 4:43PM

I like this add. I think it would be more effective it there were a series of ads saying:
AIDS is a white disease
AIDS is a black woman disease
AIDS is a urban disease
AIDS is a preventable disease

Each of the ads could be posted where it would reach it’s intended audience. The ad does not say that AIDS is just a gay disease, but it is in fact a gay disease among other things.

BLK_Ph.D
October 6 2006, 4:54PM

PhillyPhile: I can understand the implication, but the question remains how much of the general public will understand that implication?

Shawn
October 6 2006, 6:49PM

Like some of us, I too think that this PSA is not the appropriate way to get their message across. It surely has its positives and negatives. It does catch an audience's attention but the message itself is not a good one. They could have used different wording to get the same message across without the controversy. Maybe they deliberately wrote the message that way to start a “BUZZ.” Like Rockinrob, I am also in the communications field, and do agree that they made a big mistake in not conducting research, focus groups. I'm currently working on my masters and I'm taking a course on focus groups. It's just amazing to see the true science behind focus groups. They can make a big difference in a campaign.

rocknyc
October 6 2006, 7:12PM

Talk about stereotyping. This ad clearly confirms to the public that gays are solely responsible for this disease.
In a time where there is becoming more acceptance of alternative life styles, this comes and really pushes negates any and all progress that has made over the years.

cmoney
October 6 2006, 8:05PM

This is INSANITY! After all of the efforts to get people who do not identify as gay to get HIV tested and take responsibility for their health, these nuts come out and chase them all away from the clinic by reminding them that they might have a "gay disease"! Whoever came up with this has no clue about the Black community's attitudes about HIV and should be fired.

Kenneth Winfrey[TypeKey Profile Page]
October 6 2006, 9:48PM

Click the first link in this article to see the online materials.

It contains a Flash presentation and the text beneath which reads:

"OK, diseases don't have sexual orientations, but in Los Angeles more than 75% of those living with HIV/AIDS are gay or bisexual men of all races and ethnicities. We know that HIV isn't just a gay disease, but in L.A. it's gay and bi men who have borne the brunt of it. The death and suffering have been monumental and we have been forever changed by it. We are grateful to those outside our community who have come to our assistance-who have supported us and fought for us. But HIV has been, and continues to be, out disease. And it continues after 25 years because we haven't stopped it."

The focus group (if you will) is (perhaps) part of the online material. At the end of the presentation see the link to a blog where people can talk more about how you feel about the ad.

Actually, I think it does well to counter the new denial on the rise among gay folks...

Nigel
October 6 2006, 9:51PM

This is very mis-guided. Someone in area should contact this orginization and arrange a meeting to understand why they choose this form of PSA and how they could have gotten the same effect without adding more stigma to an already stigmatized disease.

Absolutelee
October 7 2006, 12:47AM

Social marketing to gay men has become a huge issue lately causing much debate about how to do it well. I agree with Keith in that it is quite difficult to create a social marketing campaign that is going to be palatable to everyone and not offend someone.

I don't know that I agree with the message of this campaign. It would be more palatable for me if it took the angle Phillyphile suggested, because in reality AIDS is not just a gay disease. It's increasingly a Black, Brown and low SES disease that needs to be owned by all of us, not just gay men.

I just wrote about another offensive ad done out in Cali last year. You can view my article at:
http://lees-space.blogspot.com/

I like the subtext of the poster, but not everyone will take the time to read the small print. If focus groups were not done prior to fielding this media, then indeed it wasn't done correctly and there are serious flaws with the ad agency's ability to say the campaign was based on a scientific methodology as they should be

theeunuch
October 7 2006, 5:13PM

I THINK THE WRONG MESSAGE IS BEING SENT.
WHEN AIDS FIRST CAME ON THE SCENE, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS SAID IT WAS A DISEASE PRIMARILY FOUND IN GAY WHITE MEN. SO THE REST OF US LET OUR GUARD DOWN PROBABLY. THAT WAS IN THE EARLY 1980S.
TODAY, WOMEN (DISPROPORTIONATLEY BLACK WOMEN) CHILDREN AND OTHERS ARE AMONG THOSE WHO ARE HIT BY HIV/AIDS. MY HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WAS A STRAIGHT WHITE MALE. IN THE LATE 80'S HE HAD A BLOOD TRANSFUSION AFTER A CAR ACCIDENT AND CONTRACTED HIV. HE IS DEAD NOW.
THIS DISEASE IS DEVASTATING NOW MATTER WHO GETS IT.

Kenneth Winfrey[TypeKey Profile Page]
October 7 2006, 8:34PM

I think that those who will learn have learned that HIV is not about sexual orientation.

The inference of "exclusivity" is easier when we know that it had been believed to be a gay disease (or when we know that a few ignorant folks still think so) and when there is a stigma associated with it. For example, how would we react if we saw the following:

Diabetes is a Black disease.

...and aren't Black people in denial about risks for diabetes as well?

I think that there are too many gay/SGL/LBTQI folk who think that the crisis is over in our community, or that we are no longer at greater risk.

Furthermore, I just cannot believe that this sign (alone) will encourage anyone to just dismiss all of prevention in heterosexual communities that has been done since those early days of ignorance...

One thing is for sure, the ad worked at least in part because it got y'all talking!

HARMONICA SUNBEAM
October 8 2006, 8:53AM

AS A GAY MAN LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE THEY ARE TRYING TO CONVEY BUT I ALSO FEEL THE MESSAGE WILL BE INTEPRETED IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MANNER FOR NON-GAY INDIVIDUALS WHO ALREADY JUDGE US IN REGARDS TO OUR LIFESTYLE.

joseph
October 8 2006, 6:07PM

good job on CNN keith lets back folks in the corner and mke them talk about it unfortunatly this billboard does not do this.

Andy in Seattle
October 8 2006, 9:40PM

Is this campaign inflammatory? Yes. For those who think it is too much so, I challenge them to present an effective way to get gay men to slow or stop the epidemic, a deadly disease that has been around for over 25 years and continues to be well publicized. How many gay men DON'T know condoms stop the spread of the virus? What's causing the spread to continue? Lack of awareness? Or complacency? An AIDS prevention campaign has to identify and tackle the real problem. If complacency is at fault, then what's going to shake us up?

Critics of this campaign need to propose an effective alternative that will curb the spread of the illness. Back in the day (and yes I came out as a gay man at 16 yrs old the same year the epidemic was first coming out) what slowed the illness for a while was sheer terror of the KS lesions and the lack of treatment or cure. In the comfy 21st century of HIV-drug ads with sexy mountain climbers and political apathy, what is the solution now?

Rockinrob
October 9 2006, 10:38AM

@ Andy in Seattle:

While I respect your opinion, please re-read posts by myself and Absolutelee.

An answer, and possibly multiple answers, to positioning this advertisement is in the homework (primary research, focus groups, etc.). I truly question if they did their homework. And again, I'd like to see the results of the research completed prior to the launch. Surely the data that they have justifies a campaign of this nature (but based on the comments on this site alone, I seriously doubt it).

And like I stated earlier, they've created dialogue, but, in my opinion, not the right type. I'm going out on a limb and saying that their goal was not to inflame, but you've got more people pissed than excited about the ads. As a result, a failed campaign....regardless of how many people it reaches.

The solutions for marketing this campaign lie within the research. PEACE.