Very few sexually active gay and bisexual men use prophylactic drug to prevent HIV transmission, study finds

Medical Xpress
by Jennifer Mcnulty
September 12, 2018

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ

Only 4 percent of sexually active gay and bisexual men in the United States use Truvada, a highly effective medication used to prevent the transmission of HIV, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind study.

Led by Psychology Professor Phillip Hammack, the study, "HIV Testing and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Use, Familiarity, and Attitudes among Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States: A National Probability Sample of Three Birth Cohorts," was published Sept. 7 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Truvada is a once-a-day prescription medication used to reduce the risk of HIV infection; it is the only FDA-approved form of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for those at high risk of HIV/AIDS.

"The extremely low rate of PrEP use, while not surprising given barriers to access in various parts of the country, is disappointing," said Hammack.

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New Study Finds Only 4% of HIV-negative Gay/Bi Men are Using PrEP in the US

Out
by Zachary Zane
September 11, 2018

A mere 4% of gay and bisexual men reported using Truvada as PrEP in a new study, recently published in PLOS ONE.

Led by Psychology Professor Phillip Hammack of the University of California Santa Cruz, the study examined HIV testing and use, familiarity, and attitudes toward pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among HIV-negative gay and bisexual men in the United States.

Truvada is a daily pill that reduces the likelihood of acquiring HIV by almost 100%. Currently, it is the only FDA-approved form of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for those at high risk of HIV/AIDS.

“The extremely low rate of PrEP use, while not surprising given barriers to access in various parts of the country, is disappointing,” said Hammack.

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One in four young gay men have never been tested for HIV

Windy City Times
by Williams Institute
September 11, 2018

The Williams Institute—Only 4% of sexually active gay and bisexual men in the U.S. use Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and 25% of young sexually active gay and bisexual men have never been tested for HIV.

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that only 4% of sexually active gay and bisexual men in the United States use Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regards as a highly effective tool to prevent the transmission of HIV.

In addition, researchers found that most sexually active gay and bisexual men aged 18-25 are not tested for HIV annually, as recommended by the CDC, and 25% of young men have never been tested.

"Our findings suggest that health education efforts are not adequately reaching sizable groups of men at risk for HIV infection," said the study's principal investigator Ilan H. Meyer, Distinguished Senior Public Policy Scholar at the Williams Institute. "It is alarming that high-risk populations of men who are sexually active with same-sex partners are not being tested or taking advantage of treatment advances to prevent the spread of HIV."

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The Challenge of Measuring the U.S. LGBT Population

Gallup
by Dr. Frank Newpoer
May 25, 2018

Why is it important that we measure the number of people in the U.S. who identify as LGBT? And what are the challenges involved in measuring this population? Dr. Gary Gates, one of the nation's most renowned experts on the geography and demography of the LGBT population and coauthor of The Gay & Lesbian Atlas, joins the podcast to explain the significance of these measures and to discuss the changes Gallup has seen over hundreds of thousands of interviews since 2012. Later, Gallup's Chief Methodologist Stephanie Marken describes in-depth how Gallup has partnered with UCLA to tackle the unique challenge of measuring the transgender population.

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Thousands of teens will undergo 'conversion therapy' in near future, study estimates

NBC News
by Julie Moreau
January 26, 2018

Tens of thousands of LGBTQ youth currently between the ages of 13 and 17 will undergo gay "conversion therapy" from a licensed health care professional, religious adviser or spiritual leader before they turn 18, according to a new report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

The study's estimates are based on the Generations survey, a national probability study of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, and the U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest survey devoted to understanding the lives and experiences of transgender people.

Conversion therapy is a medically defunct practice that aims to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Currently, talk therapy is the most commonly used therapy technique, the report notes, but some practitioners have also combined this with "aversion treatments," such as induced vomiting or electric shocks, the study explains.

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OutCasting Episode 40: Minority stress — a conversation with Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D.

MFPG
by OutCaster Sarah
September 1, 2017

Everyone has stresses in their lives.  But when you're a member of a minority, things get worse.  The ordinary stresses can strike more frequently, and there are new stresses resulting from discrimination.  And if you're LGBTQ, the stigma and prejudice may be inflicted by your own family and friends.  You can internalize negative stereotypes.  You can feel forced to the soul-deadening concealment of your identity.  You may come to expect rejection.  You are at greater risk of bullying and physical violence.  And for people who are LGBTQ who are also members of other minorities, things can get worse still.  It can add up to a toxic mix particularly for vulnerable LGBTQ youth, leading to depression, desperation, and suicidal tendencies.

On this edition, OutCaster Sarah talks with Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D., Williams Distinguished Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law.  Through a number of frequently cited papers, Dr. Meyer has developed a model of minority stress for examining the factors that can cause health disparities between LGBTQ people and straight, cisgender people.

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What happens when gay people are told that homosexuality is a sin

Think Progress
by Zack Ford
June 24, 2016

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, Christian conservatives known to be anti-LGBT expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, suggesting that radical Islam was wholesale to blame for the attack. Many avoided mentioning that LGBT people were the victims  —  at least until a few days later, when they began reminding everybody what they truly think about gay people.

“Yes, we can oppose gay marriage and still oppose the slaughter of gays,” Steve Pauwels insisted at BarbWire.

“Yes, Christians do believe homosexual actions are sinful. But we also believe that mass shootings are sinful, and lying is sinful, and gossip is sinful, and so are laziness, torture, theft, rape, dishonesty, abuse,” Mary Tillotson argued at The Federalist. “As a Catholic, I go to confession about once a month to repent, seek mercy, and renew my own commitment to rid myself of sinful behavior. We all sin.”

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The myth of the violent, self-hating gay homophobe

Science of Us
by Cari Romm
June 16, 2016

In the three days since 29-year-old security guard Omar Mateen killed 49 people at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, reports have begun to emerge that the shooter may have been gay himself. The FBI is now investigatingwhether he had accounts on Grindr or other gay dating apps, and whether he patronized Pulse in the past, as some have claimed.

Several news outlets, meanwhile, have reported on the possibility that Mateen was driven to violence by his own self-hatred. (“It’s far too early to be definitive,” one law-enforcement official told Reuters, “but we have to consider at least the possibility that he might have sought martyrdom partly to gain absolution for what he believed were his grave sins.”) It’s a notion that one study, at least, seems to support: A buzzy piece of research from 2012 has suggested that homophobia is often the result of a person reacting to their own same-sex attraction. “In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves,” one of the study co-authors said in a statement at the time, “and they are turning this internal conflict outward.”

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Did internalised homophobia spark Orlando nightclub attack?

BBC News, Washington
by Jasmine Taylor-Coleman
June 15, 2016

Reports that Orlando gunman Omar Mateen had been a regular at the gay nightclub he attacked and used gay dating apps have led to speculation that he was motivated by internalised homophobia. But what is it, and could it have anything to do with the worst shooting in recent US history?

Investigators are still trying to establish what led a 29-year-old security guard from Florida to murder 49 people and injure dozens more as they partied in popular gay nightclub Pulse.

They are examining indications Mateen was inspired by radical Islamism, following revelations that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and the FBI had investigated him twice previously for terror links.

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T Q&A with Jack Simons

Tucson Weekly
by Natalia Navarro
February 25, 2016

Jack Simons is a researcher involved in the Tucson branch of the federally funded Generations Study, a long term investigation into the experiences of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual. Simons and collegues have interviewed more than 50 Tucsonans and they are looking for more. Similar interviews are being conducted by Generations Study researchers in San Francisco, New York, and Austin, Texas. Simons also works as a school counselor at Esperero Canyon Middle School.

Why does the Generations Study wish to conduct interviews?

The interviews are really to illuminate what's going to be found in a nationwide quantitative survey, to bring life to those questions. The qualitative views of these interviews have been really important because they will give voice to quantitative research which is sometimes limited.

 As we know, as people grow and develop, especially non-dominant groups of people, they have stories that are very personal and very unique in regards to how they wrestled and developed and persevered to become who they are.

What kind of things do you focus on in an interview?

We are looking at the areas of sexual orientation and sexual identity development, stress, coping strategies, the intersections of identities with regard to communities people are involved in. The last major area that is being studied is healthcare access and experience with medical care as well as mental health care. That's kind of the broad paintbrush of everything.

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Unique study compares health of LGB age groups

The Bay Area Reporter
by Matthew S. Bajko
October 21, 2015

A unique study enrolling participants in the Bay Area is comparing the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in three distinct age groups.

Researchers involved in the project say it is the first to take a historical approach to examining how different generations of LGBT people have been impacted by both discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and the advancement of rights won by the LGBT community during their lifetimes.

"No study has been done like this before," said Phillip L. Hammack, an associate professor and vice chair of the Department of Psychology at UC Santa Cruz who is one of the Generations study's seven investigators. "The vast majority of research on LGBT people doesn't take a historical perspective. What I mean is, for example, most research out there focuses on people's experience in the moment."

For the full article click here