HIV Stigma, Prejudice, and Discrimination

From his HIV diagnosis in 1985 until his death in April of 2009, Cass Mann was one of the world's longest-term HIV-positive survivors. He founded Positively Healthy, the UK's only HIV/AIDS charity staffed exclusively by openly gay men, which provided HIV services including education, support, and peer counselling. These videos now archive his wisdom and insight for future generations. He feels that ironically, it is often other gay men who most stigmatize gay men. They associate the gay identity with an AIDS identity, and they want to dissociate themselves from it. He experiences the deepest discrimination from people in the gay community who want nothing to do with an HIV positive person. Many HIV positive gay men don't want to go to clubs because visible side effects of antiretroviral drugs like lipodystrophy (muscle wasting), lipoatrophy (facial wasting) and the "buffalo hump" (irregular fat deposits in the body) cause them to be singled out and ridiculed. He feels that a lot of the stigmatization is due to the person's fear of the possibility that they too may become HIV positive. As a result, HIV positive gay men often don't go to lit venues; they go to dark rooms, back rooms, or parks instead. Cass is concerned that whereas heterosexuals meet anywhere and everywhere, gay men primarily meet in venues where alcohol and drugs are used, and wonders why that's the case. For more information about HIV/AIDS, visit http://www.AIDSvideos.org/. This video is freely downloadable from http://www.archive.org/details/HivStigma . [Do you want to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS? Are you fluent in a language other than English? Then volunteer to translate our videos into other languages! Click http://AIDSvideos.org/translate.shtml to to learn how you can help!!! © Copyright 2008-2011 Global Lifeworks. All rights reserved. This work is licensed to be used for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.]

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• HIV
• AIDS
• stigma
• lipodystrophy
• lipoatrophy
• club
• dark
• back
• room
• park
• alcohol
• drugs
• discrimination
• cass
• mann
• positively

[alexapollo22]

Alex Chiu's Immortality Rings actually cured lots of HIV cases. This is like the only thing which can wipe out HIV.

[AIDSvideos]

This is Eric; I'm not a doctor. Except for a single person whose HIV went into "functional remission" after a bone marrow transplant from a donor who had a mutation providing resistance to HIV (a procedure that carries a 30% risk of death and therefore can't be used as a general treatment for those who don't need a marrow transplant for other reasons), there's no well documented case of anyone being cured of HIV by any means. Many false claims, but no documented evidence.

[PhilipRochester]

Cass magnificently articulates the difficult and hidden truths which need to be stated. I, as an HIV-positive gay man, have experienced more HIV stigma and discrimination from other gay men than from any other members of human society. These HIV-negative gay men treat me as if I was a piranha in their goldfish bowl and a ghost at their banquet. They are unconcerned with hearing my story and accepting my determination that no other gay man ever again joins the HIV club of which I am a member.

[globehunter2]

HIV sadly is another form of discrimination used to hurt or stigmatize a person especially in the gay community. Fear is the fuel that feeds Hate! also hating the disease so much until they condemn the victim with out reason or compassion. Being Gay for most homosexual men is how they look? how attractive and sexually active determinds their value. This places a small window into their humanity` simply reducing them to pieces of Meat" which is in no way honorable. Aids kills anybody.

[javier2215042]

what you say is very true

[sydneygayboi]

R.I.P Cass Mann.

a great teacher has left this world.

[cylon21921]

I had a patient that was HIV possitive and when I went into his room he was balled up in a fetal possition in his bed with the covers pulled over his head. HE never rang the call bell and never asked for any help.- That was my wake up call- I was so hurt for him

[Starsky5000]

I'm so sorry. I was surprised. I actually thought it was the oppositive. Thanx for correcting that.

[sydneygayboi]

WOW ...very true, many gay men who live in the "scene world" ie bars and clubs every weekend..are vile bitches with no hearts. They all suffer from the "peter pan complex" with everything and i mean everything is about how one looks....its sad but sooooo true!!

[dannyjam]

A wise and seasoned old queen that is. I take his words very seriously.

[guppy478]

Please watch Cass's videos - all of them - and, while you're at it, look up the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt on the web and think about all the lost lives and lost opportunities it represents. Tell your friends about them, and talk to one another about the issues Cass raises. Discrimination is vile - it has to end.