Part 1: HIV as'the line in the sand'

There is a growing rift between HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men, which finds expression in social, economic, structural and political divisiveness that, if not resolved, may 'kill' the "gay liberation movement." While disasters generally tend to create organizational solidarity, the AIDS crisis has operated in reverse, spawning a variety of competitive AIDS service organizations, alienating seropositive gays from the mainstream gay community, and in turn disenfranchising seronegative gay men as human and financial resources are redirected toward persons living with HIV and AIDS. Serostatus has become a social marker of societal status, operating in a bimodal discriminatory manner. Seronegative gay men experience discrimination from within the gay community as funding for and services to this sector diminish. Seropositive gay men (and the organizations that provide for some of their needs) have culturally, economically and socially dismissed the socio/psychological needs of seronegative gay men (survivor guilt, safer sex education, etc.) in favour of providing social and resource-based services to seropositive gay men. As the disparities in service and advocacy increase, the social distance between the gay movement and the AIDS movement correspondingly increases. If this trend continues, the social gap will serve further to push HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men into polarized camps, resulting in a wider separation of the gay movement and the AIDS movement. The stigmatization of HIV-positive people will subsequently increase both within and outside the gay movement, and any ability to present a unified Gay Liberation front will correspondingly diminish. Additionally, the emergent notion within and without the gay communities that to be gay is to be HIV-positive will solidify. This will (a) further stigmatize all gay men in the eyes of the non-gay population, and (b) exacerbate the rift between HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men within the gay community, reversing the stigma of HIV such that to be HIV-negative will be a marker of non-gay identity. In short, seropositivity will become the defining element of gayness.     

Heterosexual Marital Intention: Effects of Internalized Homophobia,Homosexual Identity,Perceived Family Support,and Disclosure Among Chinese Gay and Bisexual Men

ABSTRACT

The present study explored the factors that influence the likelihood that 217 Chinese gay/bisexual men will engage in heterosexual marriage, focusing on the Chinese cultural context, in which filial duties to marry, have children, and support one’s parents in their old age are taken seriously. Data on heterosexual marital intention (HMI) were examined in relation to demographics, internalized homophobia, homosexual identity formation (HIF), perceived family support, and disclosure. We estimated a multinomial logistic regression model for HMI. Internalized homophobia was a predictor for HMI. Lower levels of HIF and disclosure were found in gay/bisexual men who have married or who intend to marry; and the more family support gay/bisexual men perceived, the more likely they were to enter heterosexual marriages. The findings could help to better evaluate and comprehend the factors leading to heterosexual marriages involving Chinese gay/bisexual men. The social implications of this research are also discussed.     

Attitudes of Heterosexual Men and Women Toward HIV Negative and Positive Gay Men

Attitudes of Italian heterosexual men and women toward gay men, both HIV positive and negative, are poorly investigated. Italian culture is still extremely conservative and provides limited support to the gay community (e.g., lack of same-sex marriage recognition). Consequently, gay men experience social exclusion and disparities. The present study explores the association between homophobia and closeness with sexual orientation and HIV status. 261 heterosexual Italian men and women were assessed for feelings of closeness and homophobia after reading a vignette where the character was C1: heterosexual and HIV negative; C2: gay and HIV negative; or C3: gay and HIV positive. Experiences of homophobia and closeness varied depending on gender of participant and condition assigned, and higher levels of homophobia were correlated with lower levels of closeness regardless of HIV status. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Exploring the relationship between public opinion and personal attitudes and behavior toward lesbians and gay men: social conformity revisited

This study investigated the relationship between social conformity, gender-role egalitarianism, and personal levels of heterosexism, or prejudice based on same-sex orientation. Mock public opinion polls of a positive or negative nature regarding same-sex orientation were used to study attitudinal and behavioral change of participants and attitude-behavior consistency. The study sample included 194 undergraduate students from a Midwestern university. A correlation existed between participants' traditional gender role beliefs and heterosexism. Participants who viewed the positive public opinion poll demonstrated behavioral support for a lesbian and gay organization, as did participants with positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Findings are analyzed within a social prejudice framework.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Public Opinion and Personal Attitudes and Behavior Toward Lesbians and Gay Men: Social Conformity Revisited

This study investigated the relationship between social conformity, gender-role egalitarianism, and personal levels of heterosexism, or prejudice based on same-sex orientation. Mock public opinion polls of a positive or negative nature regarding same-sex orientation were used to study attitudinal and behavioral change of participants and attitude-behavior consistency. The study sample included 194 undergraduate students from a Midwestern university. A correlation existed between participants' traditional gender role beliefs and heterosexism. Participants who viewed the positive public opinion poll demonstrated behavioral support for a lesbian and gay organization, as did participants with positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Findings are analyzed within a social prejudice framework.     

The mediating effects of attitudes toward homosexuality between secure attachment and disclosure outcomes among gay men

Past research has found that a stronger secure attachment style, developed in childhood, enhances one's ability to acknowledge negative feelings, cope with negative life events, and develop satisfying social relationships. Because an integral part of the "coming out" process for gay men is the ability to seek support from the gay community in order to reevaluate negative beliefs toward homosexuality, a gay man's attachment style may strongly impact this critical stage of his life. Results demonstrated that men who more strongly endorsed a secure attachment style reported more positive attitudes toward their own homosexuality, and that these more positive attitudes could mediate the relation between more secure attachment style, greater levels of self-disclosure regarding their homosexuality, and greater self-esteem. Implications of these data for internalized homophobia, the coming-out process, and effective social functioning are discussed.     

Part 3: A community divided

The task of those who seek to encourage and offer social support has become more difficult as the majority of social institutions, and the state have established, over time, stronger and more pervasive modes of communication. The intricacies of gay identity have been articulated largely by forces outside of the gay movement, with the inevitable result that GSOs and ASOs have occupied less space in the consciousness of gay men. Additionally, I hypothesize that men who are HIV-positive are engaging in fewer sexual contacts than men who are HIV-negative, and consequently lessening their attendance at venues where cruising is the main event. Financially and structurally, I shall demonstrate the disparity between GSOs and ASOs, and suggest that there is a natural intersection wherein the two SMOs could, and ought to cooperate, especially in the areas of fund-raising, joint program development, recruitment and political lobbying. However, their ideological bases appear to be sufficiently different to preclude such affiliations. These disparate ideologies are amplified by the mass media, and are consequently internalized by the members of the gay community. In the longer term, the divisiveness that manifests itself in the proliferation of numerous collectivities within the gay movement will contribute to the further isolation of gays from each other, and thwart any future attempts at coalition building, which could obviate the continued existence of a gay movement. Some writers suggest that the gay movement is going through a phase in an inevitable process of paradigm shifting, and in the end, the community will come back together-stronger and more unified than it was previously. However, if this is a phase it is clear that the gay movement is in the 'dark before the dawn' initial phase of this paradigmatic shift, and subsequent phases are by no means guaranteed. As AIDS spreads beyond marginalized groups, and infiltrates the social majority, it is possible that much of the discrimination that has positioned gay men as 'other' will be abandoned in favour of a more enlightened, pluralistic conviction of the humanity of gays as full-fledged members of a mosaic-type community structure. On the other hand, it is also possible that as AIDS spreads into mainstream Western communities, gays will be further vilified and scapegoated as the perpetrators of this deadly disease. Preventative action is required to offset this possibility-preventative action can be affected by building a strong and unified gay community ready to withstand the onslaught of the mainstream enmity. This action would frame AIDS and gayness such that this type of situation would not come about. What is required is a new mode of co-operation among ASOs and GSOs, a model which firstly puts the gay house in order, and is then suitably structured to be more inclusive of all gay men's needs, and positioned to assist in the second wave of HIV infection-the general public.     

Moving Toward a Holistic Conceptual Framework for Understanding Healthy Aging Among Gay Men

In the last four decades, we have witnessed vast and important transitions in the social, economic, political, and health contexts of the lived experiences of gay men in the United States. This dynamic period, as evidenced most prominently by the transition of the gay rights movement to a civil rights movement, has shifted the exploration of gay men’s health from one focusing primarily on HIV/AIDS into a mainstream consideration of the overall health and wellbeing of gay men. Against this backdrop, aging gay men in the United States constitute a growing population, for whom further investigations of health states and health-related disparities are warranted. In order to advance our understanding of the health and wellbeing of aging gay men, we outline here a multilevel, ecosocial conceptual framework that integrates salient environmental, social, psychosocial, and sociodeomgraphic factors into sets of macro-, meso-, and micro-level constructs that can be applied to comprehensively study health states and health care utilization in older gay men.     

Memoir and performance: social change and self life-writing among men who are gay pornography producers and actors

Identity may be understood both as a life-story, either told or written as memoir or autobiography, and also as a practice such as producing or acting in gay pornographic film, but always within the context of social and historical change. Study of the memoirs of gay men who have been actors and/or producers of gay pornographic films across three generation cohorts provides an opportunity for understanding the interplay of social change and life circumstances in making gay identity. This perspective on identity is illustrated through the study of the memoirs of three men from different cohorts who have produced and acted in gay pornographic films: Wakefield Poole, born in 1936; Scott O'Hara, born in 1961; and Aaron Lawrence, born in 1971. Differences in style and content of both memoir and practice in gay pornographic films reflect changing social expectations regarding men who have sex with men following the emergence of the gay rights movement and the AIDS epidemic.     

Factors associated with 'feeling suicidal': the role of sexual identity

This paper examines factors associated with feeling suicidal in a large sample of urban men in Sydney and Melbourne, aged 18-50, including heterosexual, gay and bisexual men, HIV antibody positive and HIV antibody negative. As in previous research, sexuality (being homosexual or bisexual) was found to be a major predictor of suicidality. The research went some way towards explaining the close relationship between feeling suicidal and sexual orientation. Sexuality interacts with feeling bad in that, once men feel moderately bad/depressed, they are more likely to feel suicidal if they are homosexual or bisexual than if they are heterosexual. In addition, the research found that experience of verbal abuse and physical assault (harassment) increased feeling suicidal for both heterosexual and gay/bisexual men, not just for homosexual men as suggested by previous research, and that social isolation in the form of living alone is a further risk factor. Seeking counseling help and taking sexual risks were also independently associated with feeling suicidal. These actions may result from feeling suicidal rather than the reverse, and their association with feeling suicidal warrants further research. Many of the 46 independent variables examined in the research, including HIV antibody status and closeness to the HIV/ AIDS epidemic, were related to feeling suicidal only through their association with being gay/bisexual. Celibacy and general risk taking were not related to feeling suicidal in this study.     

Defining Life Partnerships: Does Sexual Orientation Matter?

ABSTRACT

This study compared the responses of gay men, lesbians, heterosexual men, and heterosexual women to a number of questions investigating the needs and tensions in life partnerships between two individuals. Overall, the groups had similar attitudes toward life partnerships. Nearly all respondents found great meaning in the idea of life partnership, the pursuits of psychological and physical intimacy and the importance of family and social support, and all three of these categories were actually considered more important than the ability to marry legally. Respondents recognized that having children may encourage commitment to life partnerships, though this was less influential for gay men. A significant percentage of respondents, regarding HIV status, either had no opinion or felt that HIV was not particularly or not at all threatening to life partnerships. Men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, appear to experience similar needs and aspirations regarding life partnerships.     

Remembering gay/lesbian media characters: can Ellen and Will improve attitudes toward homosexuals?

The purpose of the current research was twofold. First, a pilot study was conducted in which participants were asked to recall any memorable gay or lesbian television or film character and complete a survey about their perceptions of the character. Results indicated that over two-thirds of heterosexual participants recalled either Ellen or Will, and evaluative ratings for these characters were generally positive. The second purpose of this research was to examine the priming effects of remembering portrayals of homosexual characters in the media. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to directly assess the effects of thinking about either a positive or negative homosexual character on general heterosexuals' attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Results indicated that those recalling a positive portrayal later showed a more positive attitude toward gay men than those recalling a negative portrayal, and women had a more positive attitude overall than men toward gay men and lesbians. Such findings illustrate the importance of positive role models in entertainment media as potential primes of social attitudes.     

A double epidemic: crystal methamphetamine drug use in relation to HIV transmission among gay men

Emerging research on methamphetamine use among gay men suggests that growth in the use of this drug could present serious problems for HIV/AIDS prevention within the gay community. This article summarizes current studies on the extent, role, and context of methamphetamine use among gay men and its relationship to high risk sexual behaviors related to HIV transmission. Methamphetamine is often used by gay men to initiate, enhance, and prolong sexual encounters. Use of the drug is, therefore, associated with particular environments where sexual contact among gay men is promoted, such as sex clubs and large "circuit" parties. Research with gay and bisexual men indicates that methamphetamine use is strongly associated with risky sexual behaviors that may transmit HIV. This relationship, coupled with emerging evidence that methamphetamine use is on the rise among gay men, suggests that the drug could exacerbate the HIV/AIDS epidemic among this community. The article offers recommendations for further research and suggestions for prevention programs regarding methamphetamine use by gay men.     

Life on the seesaw: a qualitative study of suicide resiliency factors for young gay men

While considerable research has highlighted the factors that increase gay youth suicide risk, there has been much less emphasis on protective factors. Using grounded theory methodology, we explored the suicide resiliency in eight young gay men in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Common themes emerged, including positive social norms and conditions, high levels of support, identification with role models and high self-esteem. These were integrated with "known" risk factors to form the Seesaw Model of Gay Male Suicide. This model demonstrates that the balance between risk and resiliency may be the key to gay suicide. Depending on the balance of these factors, youth might either be resilient, attempt suicide, or teeter somewhere in between. The current findings indicate that gay youth suicide prevention requires efforts to increase resiliency factors for this group.     

Is It Facebook Official? Coming Out and Passing Strategies of Young Adult Gay Men on Social Media

The rapid proliferation of social media, mobile applications, and Internet technologies has shifted a wide variety of social interaction from physical spaces to an online environment. Drawing from 42 semistructured, in-depth interviews with gay college-aged men between the ages of 18 and 27, this article explores these changing patterns of social interaction among gay men. I discuss three strategies of identity management college-aged gay men use to disclose or conceal their sexual identity to others. The first group of men, “Out and Proud,” uses Facebook as a way to celebrate and reaffirm their sexual identity, in addition to actively coming out to others on the social media Web site. The second group, “Out and Discreet,” uses Facebook to indirectly come out to some of their friends while hiding this information from others. The men in the last group I identify, “Facebook Closeted,” actively manage their online profiles to ensure their sexual identity is not exposed. Facebook is both transformative and risky for college-aged gay men, as it represents a new platform for them to come out as gay to friends and family, as well as other areas of their lives where they must actively manage the presentation of their sexual identity.     

Gay men from heterosexual marriages: attitudes,behaviors, childhood experiences,and reasons for marriage

In the current study, the attitudes, behaviors and experiences of 26 gay or bisexual men who were married to a woman are examined. Data are provided on childhood family background and experiences, sexual practices with men, reasons for entering marriage, and the "coming out" process. The frequency of childhood sexual experiences was associated with unsafe sexual practices with other men in adulthood. Attitudes toward lesbians and gay men were more negative now than at the time of marriage. The two most frequent reasons for marriage were that it seemed natural, and a desire for children and family life. The results support the hypothesis that internalised homophobia is a factor that leads men into mixed-orientation marriages. Cognitive consistency theory is used to explain the eventual marriage breakdown.     

How to Be a Healthy Homosexual: HIV Health Promotion and the Social Regulation of Gay Men in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Primary Objective: Health promotion has arisen as the main response to the problem of HIV prevention among gay men. Using the linked concepts of governmentality and health promotion as a neoliberal disciplinary technology, this article argues that health promotion in the time of AIDS has contributed to new forms of social regulation and governance for gay men. Methods and Procedures: This article presents an analysis of data from a study of U.K. HIV health promotion for gay men (interviews with health promoters and analyses of health promotion materials). Conclusions: This analysis of health promotion is helpful in describing an emerging form of governance dependent on incentive rather than censure (censure, pathology and “cure” are how we traditionally describe the use of medical knowledge in the regulation of homosexuality).     

Exploring the physical, mental and social well-being of gay and bisexual men who cruise for sex on a college campus

A mixed methods design was used to collect data from 30 men who were currently, or had a history of, participating in anonymous public sex in college campus venues. Data were analyzed to assess the extent to which participation in these behaviors was associated with both positive and negative outcomes across the areas of physical health, mental health and social well-being. Findings indicated that cruising for sex on a college campus simultaneously presents challenges to, and supports, the health of gay and bisexual men. Recommendations for interfacing with these men by campus and community health providers are given.     

Interpersonal contact experiences with gay men: a qualitative investigation of "fag hags" and gay-supportive heterosexual men

The purpose of this investigation was to understand how "fag hags" and gay-supportive heterosexual men (GSHM) describe the nature and quality of their interpersonal contact experiences with gay men. Eight archival interviews were analyzed using the methodologies outlined in Hill, Thompson, and Williams (1997); i.e., consensual qualitative research. The results yielded suggest that the nature of contact experiences relates to direct contact with gay men in institutional or social settings or via indirect, formative experiences. The possible roles that contact plays in attitudes formation include: (1) normalizing homosexuality, (2) challenging previously held myths and stereotypes, and (3) increasing a person's likelihood of having contact experiences with gay men and developing gay-supportive attitudes. Participants described the quality of the contact as taking place in the context of a friendship that developed between them and a gay male that strengthened after the gay friend came out. Furthermore, the impact of these contact experiences did not change fag hags' sense of morality, but "improved" their attitudes toward gay men. The results from this study have broader social implications in that they contribute to the much-needed discourse, from a qualitative perspective, on the ways in which people form gay-supportive attitudes. Future research should focus on describing the transformational nature of contact between gay men and heterosexuals in order to uncover any processes or stages that heterosexuals go through in developing gay-supportive attitudes.     

Community Cleavages: Gay and Bisexual Men’s Perceptions of Gay and Mainstream Community Acceptance in the Post-AIDS,Post-Rights Era

Changes in gay and bisexual men’s connectedness to the gay community are related to the declining public visibility of HIV/AIDS and greater acceptance for homosexuality and bisexuality in mainstream society. Little work, however, has focused on perceived acceptance for subgroups within the gay community or broader society. Using interviews (n = 20) and a survey (n = 202) of gay and bisexual men in a mid-sized Canadian city, we find perceived hierarchies of acceptance for the various subgroups as well as an age effect wherein middle-aged men perceive the least acceptance for all groups. These differences are linked with the uneven impact of social, political, and institutional changes relevant to gay and bisexual men in Canada.