Monkeypox Became A Global Emergency Due To Political Correctness

The article, titled, “Monkey Pox Virus Affects Queer Men, But Has Nothing to Do with Being Queer,” stated that “while a large percentage of those infected in [the] The current global outbreak is identified as gay or bisexual men… there is no correlation between identity and disease. “Blaming the gay community or gay behavior,” he concluded, “is not sound public health.” Last week, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a full-scale global emergency as the disease spread rapidly in just three months. By the end of May, 100 people were reported to have the virus. there are now more than 18,000 cases worldwide, with nearly 4,000 in the U.S. alone, according to the CDC. New York state also now calls monkeypox an “imminent threat.” It is true that gay men are not “responsible” for the monkeypox outbreak. Like HIV or COVID-19, viruses cannot target specific communities. But these early cases of monkeypox were almost all contracted at large-scale “circuit parties” across Europe, frequented almost exclusively by gay men. That’s not a stigma – it’s just a fact. Also fact: sex was not the main mode of transmission, close physical contact was. Monkey pox is spread through skin-to-skin contact — the kind of close physical contact that occurs at parties where groups of men, often half-dressed, dance in close proximity. (Not surprisingly, circuit parties were also super-spreading early COVID events). The reluctance of the “woke” media and nervous health authorities to make this connection clear is a shame. Their political correctness probably helped spread the disease. Headlines like this one from Conde Nast’s LGBT site them.us have been working overtime to steer monkey pox away from gay men — even though they’ve been the main at-risk group since the outbreak began.THEM Although the majority of cases in May were already linked to gay men’s social spaces, most media outlets not only refused to acknowledge this, but said that doing so would encourage discrimination. “Charities warn against stigmatizing gay and bisexual groups amid epidemic,” said The Independent. “Could Monkeypox usher in a new wave of homophobia,” mused Slate. “Blaming homosexuals for monkey pox will hurt everyone,” predicted Scientific America.
Even the United Nations weighed in on the potential monkeypox blame game, saying in a May 22 announcement that the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was concerned “that some media reports and comments were reinforcing homophobic and racist stereotypes”. A close-up of the monkeypox virus, which has now infected nearly 20,000 people worldwide — including 4,700 cases in the US. Although rarely fatal, the disease causes fever and painful lesions. Shutterstock Few things are more predictable than progressives blaming racism and homophobia for a public ill, but the monkeypox outbreak is taking it to baffling new levels. Just as with other “woke” obsessions like gun violence or the transgender debate, the insistence on putting politics above data and science has led to mixed messages—and very few solutions. Now, ironically, LGBT leaders are singing a different tune. As hundreds of cases sweep through New York and other metropolitan areas, almost all traced to gay men, suddenly not only is monkeypox a “queer” disease, community leaders are criticizing local health departments for failing to adequately address the LGBT community . “Public health failure” is how California State Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Matt Haney described the federal government’s response this month. Even the lack of adequate monkeypox vaccines — along with a botched vaccination campaign across the U.S. — was due to, you guessed it, “homophobia,” according to a Los Angeles Times headline last week, along with a “collective indifference stemming from the disease that disproportionately affects LGBTQ communities.” Unlike many sexually transmitted infections, monkeypox is spread through skin-to-skin contact – which helped accelerate its spread in the first place. Chaotic messaging and mismanaged vaccination programs have made matters worse. Shutterstock As a gay man of a certain age, this sounds all too familiar. Nearly four decades ago, during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, doctors and LGBT leaders like Larry Kramer urged gay men to adopt safer sex practices once it became clear that HIV was contracted through sexual contact. Some did, but many others refused, citing the shame and stigma that could come from being labeled as a minority population. While the US government waited too long to sound the alarm, even as thousands died, the reluctance of some gay men to accept the facts of the spread of the virus also allowed the plague to grow faster. Although monkeypox is not usually fatal (it results in an unsightly rash and fever), it has much in common with AIDS: political correctness may have precipitated its status as a global health emergency. When a communicable disease occurs, people deserve to know the facts: How is it spread and who is most likely to get it? Avoiding the truth helps no one. [email protected]