Here we go again — with the right wing targeting gay men by claiming we are bringing on a public health crisis. Antigay groups and some newspapers recently seized upon a wildly misinterpreted study about drug-resistant staph infections among some gay men in San Francisco to proclaim a full-blown epidemic. And they’re blaming gay men for a disease that has been around for a long time in the general population and has no particular leaning toward any sexual orientation.
Recently I received an email blast from Matt Barber at Concerned Women for America — the right-wing women’s organization that proclaims it is “concerned with the health and well-being of all God’s children.” The email implored Lambda Legal and other gay organizations to “publicly condemn those specific ‘high-risk behaviors,’ which this study has concluded are responsible for the spread of MRSA among homosexuals.” (MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is the name of the drug-resistant staph infections.)
One big problem: this was not the actual result of the study in question. Moreover the information directly contradicts information released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But once again hate groups have purposefully misinterpreted the data to fuel irrational fear and hatred of gay people. As someone who’s lived through the AIDS epidemic, I take personal offense at their response. And as the head of an organization that has spent decades fighting to eradicate discrimination against people with HIV, I believe we have a responsibility to counter their efforts to demonize our communities.
The study in question by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) found that about 1/6 of 1 percent of gay men in Boston and San Francisco had contracted MRSA — a small percentage, but significant in comparison to the rest of the population. For a long time, MRSA has been commonplace in hospital settings. Several years ago, public health officials noticed an increasing number of MRSA outbreaks outside of hospital settings. Indeed, before the hysteria created by the UCSF report, the Center for Disease Control had published fact sheets regarding how to prevent outbreaks of MRSA in the workplace, in schools and among athletes.
After the UCSF study surfaced, the CDC released a statement explaining the actual facts regarding MRSA. They clarified that the strain of MRSA in the study has been seen before, and that it should be addressed by the simple prevention steps recommended for all MRSA, which include covering wounds, washing hands, not sharing personal items such as towels or clothes, and consulting a doctor promptly if you think you have contracted MRSA.
The CDC’s discussion of the report strikes the proper balance: it explains why attention should be paid to this strain of MRSA, especially among those with weakened immune systems, while explaining that this strain is nothing new and can be prevented in the same way that all MRSA can.
UCSF issued a statement of regret about the potentially misleading information in the report, deploring the “negative targeting of specific populations” that occurred in its wake. This episode taught certain public health officials a lesson that the LGBT and HIV communities knew all too well: The imparting of valuable health information about our communities must be done with care to prevent distortions and targeting by those who oppose us.
At Lambda Legal, we have been fighting prejudice and discrimination against people with HIV for years, and also fighting for fair and appropriate health care services. This year, we added “Health Care Fairness” as a specific priority for our work because we recognize that bigotry hurts us in many ways as we seek care in doctors’ offices and hospitals, or require fertility or other reproductive health care.
We’ve seen this kind of fear mongering before and we know how harmful it can be. Hate has no place in solving a public health problem. Let the public know the facts — and they won’t fall for the bigotry. And we’ll all be healthier for it.