26 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
My friend Alex Garner, who conducts HIV
OutBoise.com | Issue 10.1 | August 2015
other study out of Emory that nearly 70 percent of
awareness and prevention programs across the
all new HIV transmissions for both gay and bi men
country, says this has impacted how gay men now
and transgender women occur in a primary rela-
relate to each other because it’s eliminated a key
tionship. But the Brown researchers are quick to
emotional obstacle to love that gay men have
note: These men and women are willing to go on
had since the late 1980s: fear.
PrEP, not to suddenly ditch condoms once they’re
on PrEP, but to protect themselves because they
Like a lot of guys, Alex used to almost exclusively date other HIV-positive men, but PrEP has
changed that. He told Plus magazine that the possibility of having a real relationship with someone
who is serodiscordant seems much more realistic
now because PrEP is available – and it changes
the relationship too.
Despite Weinstien’s rants, PrEP really doesn’t
seem to be really used by wanton sluts who want
to man-whore about town. (But, if it is, more power
to the users, I say; the LGBT rights movements was
built on sexual liberation, and PrEP is to gay men
in 2015 what birth control was to feminists in 1970,
but I digress.)
In fact, when someone is considering PrEP because their partner has HIV, it’s very often a sign
that they love and want to build a future with that
person, the exact opposite of one-night stands
popular in hookup culture.
Weinstein’s ditching condoms theory seems
inaccurate. At least one study from Brown Univer-
already ditched those condoms long ago.
Today, PrEP is appearing in dating profiles and
on apps like Grindr and Scruff. Even sites aimed at
HIV-positive men, like BarebackRT, report that HIVnegative men are now posting profiles there and
touting that they are on PrEP. For generations of
men and trans women who’ve lived in fear of HIV,
suddenly having a prevention pill is a godsend.
That it’s mired in controversy is no surprise; birth
control was once as well for many of the same
concerns.
But the bottom line is that Truvada as PrEP is one
option, one of the best we have available today.
Like birth control pills, though, it isn’t for everyone.
Soon we’ll have a rectal microbicide, injectable
pre-exposure prophylaxis, vaginal rings, and more.
And when we do, I hope the writers of Looking
get at least a tiny footnote in history for breaking
ground on TV and for having helped destigmatize
PrEP for a generation of LGBT viewers.
sity found that many HIV-negative men in relation-
Diane Anderson-Minshall is editor in chief of Plus
ships already ditch condoms because they want
magazine, the HIV Plus Treatment Guide mobile
more intimacy in their relationship (and they do so
app, and HIVPlusMag.com. This column is a proj-
even when one or both of the guys are having sex
ect of Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, The Body and Q
outside of that relationship).
Syndicate, the LGBT wire service. Visit their websites – hivplusmag.com, positivelyaware.com, poz.
Over half the men in that study said they’d go
on PrEP, which is good because we know from an-
com and thebody.com – for the latest updates on
HIV/AIDS.