Monkey pox (Monkeypox), a rare viral infectious disease, has been raging since May 7, 2022. Although this virus is rarely fatal, the wave of homophobia it is rekindling is worrying. Focus on the phenomenon.
Monkey pox: the LGBTQI+ community is massively affected
Monkeypox is a viral illness that often manifests as fever and rash. Affected individuals may also experience severe headaches, muscle and back pain, and intense fatigue.
Since the identification of a first patient a little over 3 months ago, close to 43,000 cases have been identified. However, if the WHO sounded the alarm on July 23 by classifying theepidemic “public health emergency of international concern”he also specifies that he considers monkeypox as a moderate risk. So don’t panic.
A figure nevertheless challenges specialists. Apart from the African continent, “99% of the cases identified are men” indicated on July 20, 2022, Dr. Rosamund Lewis, WHO’s leading expert on monkeypox. More surprising, 98% of them are “men who have sex with menespecially those with multiple partners.
Doctors are still struggling to explain precisely the phenomenon. This overrepresentation of LGBTQI+ men would be due to the mode of transmission of the disease. To contract monkeypox, one must have been in relatively prolonged contact with the bodily fluids, blood or skin lesions of an infected individual. Thereby, sex seems like a perfect proliferation setting.
A finding that gives rise to excessive and unjustified stigma
Although the LGBTQI+ community is mainly affected by this epidemic, the disease of course has nothing directly to do with sexual orientation sick people. It is mostly up to their way of life and sociability. Nevertheless, it does not take more to inflame the spirits and give rise to a new stigmatization of non-heterosexual people.
In interview for West France, Terrence Khatchadourian, General Secretary of STOP Homophobiadetails these (micro-)aggressions:
“We receive many testimonials of homophobia on the Telegram application, where we have a group with more than 160 members. A couple found an insulting letter on their car. They tell us it’s our fault, that we’re abominations… For them, we’re dirty. »
And this homophobia does not stop on social networks or in the street. On August 4, the Deputy LR Aurélien Pradé is accused of homophobia by Sandrine Rousseau after declaring, while her colleague addressed the National Assembly the unjustified “shame” felt by the LGBTQI+ population, that it was above all “a shame for the monkeys”.
Discriminations that echo the 1980s and 1990s
This ambient stigma is reminiscent of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. Already HIV was a problem for the homosexual community which suffered discrimination and exclusion.
To be fair: the fact of considering at the time the Like as a disease of homosexuals, affecting in fact only them, has finally lowered the guard of heterosexual people. Results, the disease has spread at leisure among the general population.
It is therefore up to us not to repeat the mistakes of the past and not to mix things up. While the LGBTQI+ community is currently more heavily affected by monkeypox, it is not the only vulnerable population.