A.i.d.s

[TroubledRyan]

Can someone smart enlighten me on how aids came from gay people.
Cus in books and people say aid's originated from gay people.
But sex is sex,so why is it just gay people that could have started it?!

[NickT]

I don't see how any disease can be pinned to a group of people. Would it have made a difference if so-called "patient 0" was straight? No!

Although, the guy who originally wrote about Patient 0 eventually recanted those claims. It's now assumed that it started from Haiti or something.

[frostreaver]

What kind of books are those? Its nonsense. As far as I know it originated from monkeys in Africa and somehow got transmitted to humans.

[TroubledRyan]

yes,thats what I thought,but see,i'am in phycology classes,and the book said that aids stated with "homosexuals"
which got me lil angry.
but i also thought it started when some guy fucked a monkey then went to his wife...still groose

[frostreaver]

Maybe it says it was first detected in America in homosexuals. I think it is a widely known fact the virus originated from monkeys.

[-Michael-]

^ Urban legend.

A poacher.
Missing his wife and in need of release.
Fucked a monkey.
He go aids.
His wife got aids.
Their kids had aids.
Kids were sluts
The 80's happened

The story differs
but both statements are false.

The only reason people relate aids to gay people is the fact we have a higher risk
(men that is)

Anal sex has a higher risk of passing it.
That's it

[Lexington]

I don't have any recent research, so I'm going on what I recall from back in the day. Those who have new info, please let me know.

The syndrome, as it was called, was originally found in homosexual men. It wasn't know what it was or what caused it, and it was given the early moniker GRIDS - which stood for "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome". For the first couple years (not sure how many), it was found only in gay men. But then heterosexual cases began to be discovered, at which point the name was switched to AIDS, for Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Around this time, it was discovered to be a sexually-transmitted disease, and the actual HIV virus was isolated and shown to be the cause of AIDS.

I remember learning that they had managed to track down who they thought was the original carrier of HIV, whom they nicknamed "Patient Zero". If memory serves, he was a homosexual flight attendant, and apparently, his "sexcapades" enabled him to spread the virus to a vast area over a relatively short period of time. I also seem to recall the belief that he had contracted the disease via a sexual encounter with a monkey, but I don't recall if that was actual research or just "street talk". Again, from what I've heard, researchers told him that he had this disease and that he was spreading it, to which his response was something along the lines of "So?"

Mind you, this was back in the early 80s. "Safe sex" meant "waiting until your parents were gone". STDs were pretty common amongst gay men, but since it usually meant "get a shot of penicillin", many didn't bother with anything beyond that. AIDS was pretty much considered "a gay man's disease" all through the 80s and into the 90s. I recall hearing a joke in the 80s that "GAY" actually just stood for "Got AIDS yet?" It took famous cases like Ryan White's to help show that it wasn't just a gay disease.

KB might have some more recent research.

Lex

[Just Adam]

Originally Posted by -Michael-

^ Urban legend.

A poacher.
Missing his wife and in need of release.
Fucked a monkey.
He go aids.
His wife got aids.
Their kids had aids.
Kids were sluts
The 80's happened

The story differs
but both statements are false.

The only reason people relate aids to gay people is the fact we have a higher risk
(men that is)

Anal sex has a higher risk of passing it.
That's it

i thought it was the 60's oh well... ill fail that test too

it wasnt sex with monkeys, monkey hunters must have either swallowed blood (on accident or on purpose, i know fishermen eat the raw heart of the first tuna they catch), or had cuts on themselves and exchanged blood with monkeys.

gays did not start AIDS, it's just more easily spread through the gay community because anal sex, though i would imagine rumors of gays starting it would have been from anti-gay agendas or from common stereotypes.

[Astaroth]

It's also important to point out that no one really "starts" a virus. It's hard to say where AIDS really originated because the "Patient Zero" obviously also contracted it from somewhere else. He didn't just make it suddenly appear in his body. Some scientists believe that it may have been a rapid mutation of another auto-immune virus that over the course of a few lifetimes managed to become what we see today. This is bolstered by the fact that the virus mutates every few years already in response to medications and is definitely capable of doing so previously for self-preservation.

So, while it was the gay male population that first suffered the initial outbreak from the virus, they weren't the cause of it any more than those first few people in Mexico were the cause of H1N1. The reason it became linked to the gay population was that the LGBT community was extremely insular during the 80s and 90s. Being shunned as a minority and only having sex with others in their close-knit communities, the disease was naturally confined to those in intimate contact with the first carriers. It can only be transmitted through blood, semen, vagina fluid, and breast milk. Gay men were rarely if ever in contact with the latter two, so it took a while for the first cases to show up in the female population as a result. By the time it was infecting the general population as a whole, several years of stigma had already built up the myth that it was a gay-only disease. It's not and it never was. It was just tragically confined to the gay population because the forms of transmission required very intimate fluid exchanges that generally only take place during sex, and since they almost never had sexual contact with women, it took a long time to migrate to both sexes and therefore into heterosexuality as a whole.

The fact that sex was unsafe back in the 80s contributed to the rapid spread is true, but that has no actual correlation to its gay roots. Both gay and straight couples were unsafe in the 80s. The LGBT population learned the lessons of safe sex at a terrible price, and we have embraced the use of condoms now as a safeguard. But a lot of people like the ones that are telling you that it's a gay-only disease are in for a shock if they plan to practice unsafe sex and expect to always walk away without HIV just because they are straight.

[TroubledRyan]

"blood, semen"So,then if you were to have sex,and,like just pull out befor anything like that happened,you are safe from aids?!(for guys of course,not sexiest,but we dont have vaginal fluids or breast milk )

also,thank you everyone,this info was very very helpful and interesting

[frostreaver]

Originally Posted by TroubledRyan

"blood, semen"So,then if you were to have sex,and,like just pull out befor anything like that happened,you are safe from aids?!(for guys of course,not sexiest,but we dont have vaginal fluids or breast milk )

also,thank you everyone,this info was very very helpful and interesting

Its still not safe as pre-cum can still contain the virus.

[Schu]

Are you fucking joking???

Wear a condom unless you're with someone that has been tested and is not having unprotected sex with anyone else, or at least anyone else that hasn't had the same deal (tested and not sleeping with randoms unprotected).

[Astaroth]

Pre-ejaculate and ejaculation are not the only forms of transmission for a gay couple too. Otherwise it would only be possible for "tops" to transmit it to "bottoms." Anal sex also carries a risk of blood transmission, however. If the bottom isn't lubricated well, penetration can often result in slight tears in the rectum that bleed slightly. It may not even be a noticeable amount, but all that's required are some blood cells in a single droplet. The other problem is that men who have unsafe sex often contract other less-threatening STDs and STIs that can open sores along the genitals and rectum to allow for very easy transmission.

Moral of the story: don't risk it. Sex is fine with a condom. If lack of sensation is a problem, force yourself to masturbate with a condom on until you get accustomed to it.

[TroubledRyan]

Originally Posted by Schu

Are you fucking joking???

Wear a condom unless you're with someone that has been tested and is not having unprotected sex with anyone else, or at least anyone else that hasn't had the same deal (tested and not sleeping with randoms unprotected).

Jeez I was just curious,I know condems are the best way to go lol,they are just annoying

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Lexington

I don't have any recent research, so I'm going on what I recall from back in the day. Those who have new info, please let me know.

The syndrome, as it was called, was originally found in homosexual men. It wasn't know what it was or what caused it, and it was given the early moniker GRIDS - which stood for "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome". For the first couple years (not sure how many), it was found only in gay men. But then heterosexual cases began to be discovered, at which point the name was switched to AIDS, for Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Around this time, it was discovered to be a sexually-transmitted disease, and the actual HIV virus was isolated and shown to be the cause of AIDS.

I remember learning that they had managed to track down who they thought was the original carrier of HIV, whom they nicknamed "Patient Zero". If memory serves, he was a homosexual flight attendant, and apparently, his "sexcapades" enabled him to spread the virus to a vast area over a relatively short period of time. I also seem to recall the belief that he had contracted the disease via a sexual encounter with a monkey, but I don't recall if that was actual research or just "street talk". Again, from what I've heard, researchers told him that he had this disease and that he was spreading it, to which his response was something along the lines of "So?"

Mind you, this was back in the early 80s. "Safe sex" meant "waiting until your parents were gone". STDs were pretty common amongst gay men, but since it usually meant "get a shot of penicillin", many didn't bother with anything beyond that. AIDS was pretty much considered "a gay man's disease" all through the 80s and into the 90s. I recall hearing a joke in the 80s that "GAY" actually just stood for "Got AIDS yet?" It took famous cases like Ryan White's to help show that it wasn't just a gay disease.

KB might have some more recent research.

Lex

I'm really really really sorry to be pedantic but AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome not Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

I actually just started a book on the subject called And the Band Played On. I'm not very far into it as I just started it today, but so far I've learned that AIDS was spread so quickly through the gay population largely because at the time, gay culture was still forming and there was massive amounts of promiscuity, especially in areas of high gay population like San Francisco. So no, AIDS did not "come from" gay people, but that's where it got a lot of momentum when it first got spread around. It originated somewhere in tropical Africa and was somehow transferred to enough people to start an epidemic.

[Schu]

Originally Posted by TroubledRyan

Jeez I was just curious,I know condems are the best way to go lol,they are just annoying

I apologise for being crude, but take that as a measure of how shocked I was that at the idea of someone considering pulling out to be even a remotely safe option.

Not only is there pre-ejaculate, as others have mentioned, but people that are just about to have an orgasm are not really in the most rational state. I wouldn't trust myself to pull out at the right time, even ignoring the other issues.

Condoms aren't just the best way to go, they are the only way to go with people the STD status of whom you can't be sure. I mean, unless you're trying to get an STD.

[TroubledRyan]

lol,i gess,but I know how annoying they are,nd ya,I gess it would be hard 2 stop ,but overall was jsut curioud

[Chip]

Originally Posted by Drizzt DoUrden

I actually just started a book on the subject called And the Band Played On. I'm not very far into it as I just started it today, but so far I've learned that AIDS was spread so quickly through the gay population largely because at the time, gay culture was still forming and there was massive amounts of promiscuity, especially in areas of high gay population like San Francisco. So no, AIDS did not "come from" gay people, but that's where it got a lot of momentum when it first got spread around. It originated somewhere in tropical Africa and was somehow transferred to enough people to start an epidemic.

Really glad to see you're reading that book. It is an excellent, well researched, and very well written book. Randy Shilts, who wrote it, eventually died form AIDS, as did most of the early people who documented, worked hard to gain treatment options for, and otherwise pushed to get this disease in the public eye so that people suffering could get the attention it deserves.

I think everyone, but particularly every gay man, should read And The Band Played On, both because it's an excellent description of the history of the epidemic, as well as a good explanation of how politics and ego can and does get in the way of scientific discovery and research.

The saddest part for me, as I've said on other threads, is that people who are coming of age in the current generation have no concept of what it's like to see people suffer from AIDS, and as a result, people are becoming really irresponsible about practicing safer sex and taking other appropriate precautions to keep themselves safe and healthy. A lot of people like Randy Shilts and Michael Callen and many more died after working hard to make life better and safer for the next generation through their efforts. I feel like we all owe it to their memories to think about this and be responsible in our actions.