Higher Rates of Substance Abuse in LGBT Community?
In my last post I stated that there is a far higher instance of substance abuse among gays than among heterosexuals. A friend of mine who works in the area of recovery often quotes me a pretty staggering statistic: that the instance of alcoholism and drug addiction is 30% in the gay community while only 3% in the community at large! To me it was a claim that seemed to be borne out by what I could see around me. I pretty much gave up going out on the scene 3 years ago because of the incredibly high drug consumption here in BCN. The last straw came when I was in a club and could smell the pungent and intoxicating whiff of cocaine in the air!
Let me state here that of course it takes somebody who`s used coke to be able to smell it. I was never a habitual user and I haven`t touched any drug (not even poppers, which I never liked anyway) since August 2002.
Anyway, I went googling for some stats today and the stats I found supporting my friend`s claim were all from research done in the late 70s and early 80s. I took issue with Andrew Sullivan in my last post for arguing that gays have shaken off the emotional trauma and the inner conflicts that dogged our modern gay forefathers. But a 2004 report on Social Exclusion and its effects amongst the gay community by the British organisation, Gay Men`s Health Networkwould appear to offer some support for his argument, citing as itdoes recent studies showing that gay men are in fact no more prone to alcohol abuse and addiction than their heterosexual peers. Interestingly, it doesn`t say the same for lesbian women, who, according to this report, are higher consumers of alcohol than their heterosexual counterparts and prone to more mental health problems even when they consume less than straight women!
There still remains, however, the issue of HIV infection. I recently attended a sexual health workshop for gay men and they gave me an interesting stat: for every 1,000 men a het woman sleeps with, 3 of them will be infected with HIV. For every 1,000 men a man sleeps with, 270 of them will be infected with HIV and as many as 50 of them will be unaware of their positive status.
Sullivan stated that in San Francisco HIV infection was down on last year. It would be interesting to know what the figures are countrywide. I know that over here, at least in Spain, infection rates are on the up. When you add to that fact the surely not unrelated rise in popularity of barebacking, and the less frequent but to me much more disturbing subculture of "conversion" ceremonies, can we really be celebrating progress in our community? Or maybe that`s not the right word to use. The gay "community" is a thing of the past, apparently, because we`ve all done such a good job of getting breeders to accept us.
Let me state here that of course it takes somebody who`s used coke to be able to smell it. I was never a habitual user and I haven`t touched any drug (not even poppers, which I never liked anyway) since August 2002.
Anyway, I went googling for some stats today and the stats I found supporting my friend`s claim were all from research done in the late 70s and early 80s. I took issue with Andrew Sullivan in my last post for arguing that gays have shaken off the emotional trauma and the inner conflicts that dogged our modern gay forefathers. But a 2004 report on Social Exclusion and its effects amongst the gay community by the British organisation, Gay Men`s Health Networkwould appear to offer some support for his argument, citing as itdoes recent studies showing that gay men are in fact no more prone to alcohol abuse and addiction than their heterosexual peers. Interestingly, it doesn`t say the same for lesbian women, who, according to this report, are higher consumers of alcohol than their heterosexual counterparts and prone to more mental health problems even when they consume less than straight women!
There still remains, however, the issue of HIV infection. I recently attended a sexual health workshop for gay men and they gave me an interesting stat: for every 1,000 men a het woman sleeps with, 3 of them will be infected with HIV. For every 1,000 men a man sleeps with, 270 of them will be infected with HIV and as many as 50 of them will be unaware of their positive status.
Sullivan stated that in San Francisco HIV infection was down on last year. It would be interesting to know what the figures are countrywide. I know that over here, at least in Spain, infection rates are on the up. When you add to that fact the surely not unrelated rise in popularity of barebacking, and the less frequent but to me much more disturbing subculture of "conversion" ceremonies, can we really be celebrating progress in our community? Or maybe that`s not the right word to use. The gay "community" is a thing of the past, apparently, because we`ve all done such a good job of getting breeders to accept us.
posted by purefunction at 1:45 AM
2 Comments:
I'm straight but some friends are part of the gay scene here in Dublin, so I know what you mean. I think that having broken one significant social taboo in terms of the default sexuality, it may not be a big deal for queers to break other ones, either.
I don't - and never have done - drugs, as a personal point of principle (the criminal networks, as well as the potential dependency and psychological consequences). But I've moved through some very different social circles, and I can say with confidence that this isn't exclusively confined to the LGBT community.
The gay "community" is a thing of the past, apparently, because we`ve all done such a good job of getting breeders to accept us
I'd say that the mainstreaming of gay culture is a good thing. It'll certainly make it less harrowing for a teenager to come out to his or her family and friends.
Thanks for your comment Ewi. I agree that drug use is not confined to the LGBT community (if there is such a community!)but just wonder if it is more prevelent there or not. As for mainstreaming gay culture, I'm all for it. I just question on whose terms it's done and disagree with the idea that things are all rosy for gays today and that gay culture is dead. Actually, I think the morphing and mainstreaming taking place points to a shared human sexuality which is constantly adapting itself.
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