AUDIO: LGBTQ activists fight stigma around monkeypox

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: Monkeypox Stigma.
  • Runtime: 2:19.
  • By Geraldine Torrellas.
  • Downloadable audio here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download)

HOST INTRO
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS STILL NOT OVER, AND NOW MONKEYPOX IS ON THE RISE. OVER 26,000 CASES OF MONKEYPOX HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN THE U-S., AND NEARLY 480 OF THOSE ARE HERE IN ARIZONA.

MOST CASES SO FAR ARE IN MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH OTHER MEN. THAT HAS SOME WORRIED ABOUT A RETURN TO THE KIND OF FEAR-MONGERING SEEN AT THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER EPIDEMIC … 40 YEARS AGO.

HEALTH REPORTER GERALDINE TOR-REL-LAS SPOKE WITH ADVOCATES IN THE L-G-B-T-Q COMMUNITY ABOUT THEIR CONCERNS OF INTOLERANCE AND BIAS.

REPORTER
THE STIGMA SURROUNDING THE AIDS CRISIS IN THE 80’S AND 90’S MADE FOR A DARK TIME WITHIN THE L-G-B-T-Q COMMUNITY… BUT IT WAS ALSO A POWERFUL MOMENT OF MASS MOBILIZATION TO FIGHT DISCRIMINATION.

SOME WANTED TO FORCE THOSE WITH AIDS TO QUARANTINE OR EVEN CARRY AROUND AN ID CARD.

WITH THE RISE OF MONKEYPOX … SOME, LIKE JEREMY HELFGOT (helph-get) WITH PHOENIX PRIDE, SEE ECHOS OF AN UGLY PAST.

“I think the most important thing that we are seeing with this is that history has a tendency to repeat itself… even when that history was unfounded in the first place.”

HE SAYS HE WORRIES THAT LIKE H-I-V AND AIDS, MONKEYPOX IS PERCEIVED BY THE PUBLIC AS A QUOTE ‘GAY DISEASE’.

THE MONKEYPOX VIRUS IS SPREAD THROUGH DIRECT CONTACT WITH AN INFECTIOUS RASH, SCABS OR BODY FLUIDS. MOST PEOPLE RECOVER IN A MATTER OF WEEKS, WITHOUT THE NEED FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT.

DATA SHOWS THE MAJORITY OF CASES TO DATE ARE AMONG MEN WHO HAD SEX OR CLOSE INTIMATE CONTACT WITH OTHER MEN.

“The fact that a particular outbreak occurred prevalently in one community at its start doesn’t mean that it occurred because of that community, doesn’t mean that it quote on quote came from that community, and certainly doesn’t mean that it is limited to that community.”

THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION ISSUED A GUIDE TO HELP REDUCE STIGMA AROUND MONKEYPOX.

SUGGESTIONS INCLUDE STRESSING THAT MONKEYPOX CAN BE ACQUIRED REGARDLESS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY.

“Whether you are a cis, heterosexual female or you identify as queer.. It’s skin-to-skin, we all have skin so, like, let’s protect everybody and get vaccinated when you can.”

THAT’S CASEY SIMON, DIRECTOR OF HEALTH OPERATIONS AT THE SOUTHWEST CENTER. SIMON’S GROUP HELD A VIRTUAL TOWN HALL LAST MONTH TO TALK ABOUT STIGMA, HOW TO IDENTIFY SYMPTOMS AND WHEN AND WHERE TO GET VACCINATED.

THE SOUTHWEST CENTER AND PHOENIX PRIDE ARE PART OF A COMMUNITY-WIDE EFFORT TO GIVE OUT VACCINES. SIMON SAYS MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE HAVE BEEN COMING IN FOR THE SHOTS.

“To see yesterday that a different demographic was already coming in and getting vaccinated kind of shows me that maybe our acknowledgement of us not learning anything early on and how we’ve all been taking a lot of time to talk about the stigma again and, like, let’s not repeat what we did last time, I think is at least something that’s impacting how we’re responding to this.”

HOST Outro
THAT’S GERALDINE TORELLAS REPORTING. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MONKEYPOX AND GET INFORMATION ABOUT VACCINATIONS, VISIT THE ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES WEBSITE AT A-Z-D-H-S-DOT-GOV.