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mleonhard

The them.us article [0] says:

> but we’ll be praying ... that by next year, LGBTQ+ communities around the globe will have a new reason to celebrate.

This perpetuates the myth that HIV is mainly a problem for gay people. Can we change to another article, such as [1]?

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports Moderna's HIV vaccine research [2].

[0] https://www.them.us/story/hiv-aids-vaccine-human-trials-mode...

[1] https://www.engadget.com/moderna-mrna-hiv-vaccine-trials-225...

[2] https://www.modernatx.com/ecosystem/strategic-collaborators/...

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I don't understand how a fact is a myth?

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-global-aids/men-with-...

There is no shame in it, different diseases and viruses affect different people differently, because of different behaviors. It does not make Gay people worse, or better. It just means the actions they participate in, as a demographic cohort, is more likely to lead to an HIV infection when normalized for factors against another, non Gay, group.

HIV has always been a huge thing in the gay community, and erasing that or trying to shift from that is an odd form of historical rewriting. Anyone who lived in SF during the HIV epidemic remembers this.

Men who have sex with men are vastly more likely to get HIV, but account for a minority of the annual infections globally. [1] Sex workers and customers make up a larger percent of infections. Most HIV infections occur in women opposed to men.

I don't find the language particularly offensive, but I cant imagine them replacing LGBTQ+ in the sentence with sex workers.

Then again, this is a publication for lbtq audiences, not sex workers.

https://www.avert.org/global-hiv-and-aids-statistics

The pie chart in your link seems a bit suspect, there is a lot of overlap with the groups included.

I thought so too and tried to check the sources, which were a mess. I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt and say they are probably in the ballpark

> This perpetuates the myth that HIV is mainly a problem for gay people. Can we change to another article, such as [1]?

But how is that a myth? The US Gov site [0] that is linked in the engadget article literally states that

> HIV continues to have a disproportionate impact on certain populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

Fruther down:

> Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM)b are the population most affected by HIV in the U.S.:

> MSM accounted for 69% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States.

While I agree that the focusing only on LGBTQ+ as a group is not an ideal way to put it, there is no myth in claiming that gay/bisexual men are at the highest risk of getting it.

[0] https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/stat...

This number changes dramatically when you look globally. MSM is about 23% of new infections

https://www.avert.org/global-hiv-and-aids-statistics#footnot...

Because it include subsaharan africa globally. Readership for this site is probably only in United States and here it is mostly gay men

More like it perpetuates the myth that LGBTQ+ is a monolithic group.

HIV is more concerning for Gay men for a variety of reasons. There is nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious. Ask anyone who takes prep.

Your comment perpetuates the myth that gay men as a group are a homogenous whole.

More specifically HIV, it's more of a concern for non-monogamous gay, and bisexual, men who engaging in unprotected anal intercourse.

Indeed, but the numbers from the CDC suggest that "non-monogamous gay, and bisexual, men who engaging in unprotected anal intercourse" are a very large part of the community.

That seems like it's needlessly splitting hairs.

"STDs aren't a problem for humans as a group. They're a concern for people who have sex"

It seems to be an LGBTQ-focused website, so it looks to be doing nothing more than viewing things from the viewpoint of (presumably) its biggest reader base...

It really isn't a myth though [1].

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/cdc-msm...

The source appears to be a queer news source, so that's probably the reason behind the focus. HIV is certainly a major concern for the queer community.

70% of new HIV cases are among homosexual and bisexual men [1]. If we assume that the incidence of homosexuals and bisexuals among men is 5%, that means that homosexuals and bisexuals are 14x more likely to get infected with HIV than the general population, or 44x more likely than a non-homosexual male [2]. While 44x is certainly not "exclusive to", I think it qualifies as "mainly a problem for".

And, it should go without saying, but let's hope this vaccine pans out!

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/msm-content/incidence.html

[2] 14x is compared to the general population 5% of which is comprised by gay and bisexual men. If 70% of HIV positive people belong to a 5% group, and 30% belong to the 95% group, that's (70%/5%)/(30%/95%) = 44x is the relative risk of contracting HIV if you belong to the gay/bisexual group than if you don't belong

https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/cdc-msm...

I'm a gay dude and see nothing wrong with that statement.

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