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Nairobi, despite limited opportunities for overt public and visible displays of same-sex desire, nonetheless has become a site of queer livability tied, as I argue here, to forms of "queer ambivalence." While the legal framework and wider social discrimination against queers in the country is well documented and often indicates a refusal towards queer desire, ethnographic fieldwork among queer communities in Nairobi reveals diverse lived experiences and inventive uses of urban space. This paper speculates how Nairobi's queer residents enable an animation of spaces in which they occupy in ways that not only allow for, help perpetuate, and relate to forms of ambivalence but also offers an alternative reading of "queer visibilities" in a city where legal protection is absent, social discrimination is very severe, and safety is often at best transient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes to how gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) connect with each other and with their communities have implications for HIV prevention. Social engagement with gay men (defined as having friends who are gay men and spending time with them) has been associated with HIV related outcomes over time among Australian GBM. Using data collected in national, repeated, cross-sectional surveys of GBM between 1998 and 2020 (N = 161,117), analyses of trends in the prevalence of gay social engagement (GSE) in Australia were conducted using linear regression. To assess changing associations with GSE at different time points in the HIV epidemic, three cross-sectional analyses were conducted on factors associated with high and low GSE in 1999/2000, 2009/2010, and 2019/2020 using bivariate and multivariable logistic regression. GSE (scored from 0 to 7) declined among all participants from 4.76 in 1998 to 4.04 in 2020 (p < 0.001) with a steeper decline among GBM aged under 25 years from 4.63 in 1998 to 3.40 in 2020 (p < 0.001). In all timepoints, high GSE was associated with older age, being university educated, full time employment, identifying as gay, recent HIV testing, and PrEP uptake. While mostly associated with protective behaviors, high GSE was also associated with some practices that may put GBM at risk of HIV infection such as drug-enhanced sex and group sex in the most recent timepoint. Changing levels of GSE have implications for health promotion among GBM, particularly how to engage GBM less connected to gay social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dating between Deaf gay men who are American Sign Language (ASL) users and hearing gay men who use spoken language has historically been a challenge, creating a binary in Deaf-hearing relationships. The dating game has been revolutionized by the creation of geo-social networking (GSN) apps, where people communicate through the medium of written English and digital photographs. Furthermore, GSN apps have created a network for meeting other men who identify as Deaf and gay, as well as revealing the existence of a sexual fetish for Deaf partners. The main research question driving this investigation is: What are the impacts of gay GSN apps upon the dating and mating rituals of Deaf gay men in the United States? Using Grounded Theory Methodology, findings indicate that GSN apps have lifted previously-encountered communication barriers between Deaf and hearing men, creating a causeway for communication that gives rise to increased comfort, but leads to an increase in rejection based on being Deaf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of work has demonstrated the importance of marital status for health, yet the vast majority of this work has studied heterosexual marriages and relationships. To understand the role of marital status in shaping health among heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual men and women, we examine data from a probability-based sample of adults living in 40 U.S. states for selected years between 2011-2015. We test two physical health outcomes-poor-to-fair self-rated health and cardiovascular disease-and present predicted probabilities and pairwise comparisons from logistic regression models before and after adjustment for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and depression. Overall, findings reveal some important similarities and differences in the relationships between marital status and health by sexual orientation and gender. First, the health benefits of marriage extend to sexual minority adults, relative to adults who are either formerly or never married. Among heterosexual adults, adjusted models also highlight the healthy status of never-married adults. Second, the health benefits associated with intimate relationships appear less dependent on legal marriage among sexual minorities than among heterosexual adults. Third, we document a persistent health disadvantage for bisexual adults compared with heterosexual adults, particularly among women who are formerly married, indicating some elevated health vulnerability among selected sexual minority women. Fourth, associations between sexual orientation and health are more similar across marital status groups for men than women. Altogether, these findings add much needed nuance to our understanding of the association between marital status and health in an era of increasing diversity in adult relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of non-consensual sex in older adult men and women across Europe, and to find out what variables predict such experiences in different European countries. Data were collected using probability samples from populations, aged 60–75 years, in Norway (N = 1271), Denmark (N = 1045), Belgium (N = 991), and Portugal (N = 509), using postal questionnaires. Around 5% of men included in the study, in all of the countries, reported non-consensual sexual experiences. Non-consensual sexual experiences were higher in gay/bisexual men when compared against heterosexual men. Partnered men had a lower likelihood of childhood non-consensual sex than those without partners. Compared against men with primary education, those who had undergone tertiary education had a lower likelihood of having experienced adult non-consensual sex. For women, rates of reporting non-consensual sex before and after the age of 18 years were lowest in Portugal (2% and 6%, respectively) and highest in Norway (9% and 11%, respectively). Compared with women with no religious affiliations, protestant women showed a lower likelihood of having experienced childhood non-consensual sex. In comparison to Norwegian women, Belgian and Portuguese women were observed to have had a lower likelihood of having experienced childhood non-consensual sex. Compared to women who were non-partnered, had no religious affiliation, or had primary education, women who were partnered, Roman Catholic, and had higher education showed a lower likelihood of having experienced non-consensual sex in adulthood. Experience of non-consensual sex correlated significantly, albeit weakly, with greater levels of both anxiety and depression, decreased subjective well-being, lower perceived intimacy with one's partner, and higher feelings of loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinions toward gay marriage, also known as same-sex marriage, have become dramatically more favorable in the last 20 years. Given the more accepting attitudes of younger Americans, generational replacement is one widely noted engine of change. However, the pace of shifts in public attitudes has been too rapid for this to be the sole explanation. Identifying other causes of increasing support has been difficult due to reliance on cross-sectional associations. Using nationally representative panel data from 2008 to 2016, we test three potential explanations for changes in public attitudes toward gay marriage. Our findings suggest that increased interpersonal contact with gays and lesbians, declining religiosity, and increasing levels of education in the U.S. all contributed to the rise in public support for same-sex marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual minorities are exposed to various gay-related and general stressors that increase risk of mental and physical health problems. Yet, less attention has been paid to positive factors such as ameliorative coping strategies and social supports that reduce risk of mental health difficulties in this population. The current study sought to address this gap by examining the association between gay community connectedness and internalizing symptoms (i.e., general psychological distress, anxiety, and depression) in a sample of 147 self-identified gay men living in the greater New York City area, as well as the conditions under which gay community connectedness is associated with better mental health. Data were collected between 2013 and 2014. Findings indicated that gay community connectedness was associated with lower levels of internalizing symptoms among gay men, consistent with minority stress theory and other work examining the benefits of community coping resources. This association was strongest for non-White gay men, those whose gay identity was more central to their overall identity, and those with higher levels of femininity. These findings underscore the need to consider multiple aspects of gay men's identity (e.g., race/ethnicity, centrality, femininity) in order to fully understand the factors associated with mental health outcomes in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the racial or ethnic partner preferences among Australian gay and bisexual men (GBM) as part of a large study of sexual preferences among GBM, to identify whether racial bias was a factor in how GBM expressed their partner preferences. We surveyed 1853 Australian GBM about their partner preferences and preferred sex practices. We used logistic regression to identify whether factors such as age, gay social engagement, or men's own ethnicity or race were associated with ethnic and racial partner preferences. Mean age was 34.8 years. Ethnic or racial background included: white or "Caucasian" (86.6%), Australian Aboriginal (2.7%), and Asian (6.6%). Mean attraction scores were highest for "Caucasian" men, and lowest for Aboriginal and Asian men. Under half (41.6%) were attracted to all racial or ethnic types; 7.7% were only attracted to "Caucasian" men. Being older and lower homonegativity scores were independently associated with finding all ethnic and racial types attractive. Being attracted only to "Caucasian" men was associated with younger age. Mental health was not associated with ethnic or racial partner preferences. Although men more commonly found most racial or ethnic types attractive, racial biases in partner selection were more evident among younger men, and among those who were less comfortable with their own sexuality. Addressing anti-gay stigma and broader exposure to gay community subcultures may be as important in countering racial bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problematic use of psychoactive substances has adverse consequences for people’s lives and requires on-going investigation of experiences of onset, course and resolution in order to better inform theoretical understanding, particularly with regard to the use of club drugs and novel psychoactive substances. In turn, this may influence treatment approaches. GHB/GBL, frequently termed ‘G’, is one such substance, with problematic use resulting in increased presentations at A&E departments and at substance dependence clinics across Europe. The aim of the present study was to explore problematic G use as experienced by people who had presented for treatment, in Ireland, using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). IPA was selected in recognition of the lack of previous research on the experience of problematic use of G and in the context of an evolving understanding of what constitutes problematic substance use. A purposive and homogenous sample of seven people, five gay males and two straight females, who had presented for treatment for ‘G’ substance use disorder to a community-based drug team, participated in semi-structured interviews. Three superordinate themes reflecting the participants chronological development of problematic ‘G’ use and early recovery were fully developed and presented—(1) early use: “I was part of that gang that took G”; (2) daily use: “It’s like insidious; it just weaves into your everyday life”; and (3) early recovery: “my priorities are changing”. This study supports the interactive role of community, self-identity, personal vulnerability and substance effects in the development, maintenance and recovery from problematic G use. Findings are discussed in the context of gay community health, the role of chemsex in problematic substance use and the need for public health providers to engage with novel psychoactive substance use and the health and well-being effects of chemsex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minority stress process of internalized homophobia (IH) has been associated with a range of adverse health outcomes among gay and bisexual men (GBM). However, evidence is mixed regarding the effect of IH on drug use, suggesting the potential role of multiple mediated pathways. Researchers have linked depression, sexual anxiety, and gay community attachment with IH. Depression, sexual anxiety, and gay community attachment have also been linked with drug use and drug-related problems suggesting potential mediating roles. A U.S. national sample of 1071 HIV-negative GBM completed at-home surveys, including measures of sociodemographic characteristics, IH, depression, sexual anxiety, gay community attachment, and drug use and associated problems. Adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, depression mediated the association between IH and recent drug use. IH was positively associated with depression, and depression was positively associated with recent drug use. Gay community attachment partially mediated drug-related problems. IH had a positive direct association with drug-related problems and a negative direct association with gay community attachment. Gay community attachment had a positive association with drug-related problems. IH was positively associated with sexual anxiety, but sexual anxiety was not associated with either drug outcome. Efforts to reduce IH among HIV-negative GBM are likely to have a positive impact on mental health problems, as well as reduce risk for drug use and drug-related problems. Gay communities could provide the social support necessary for reducing IH; however, emphasis on community level interventions that address factors that increase risk for drug-related problems remains important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong gay identity among white men who have sex with men (MSM) has been associated with decreased HIV risk, but data for black and Latino MSM (BLMSM) are inconclusive. We examined gay identity and HIV risk among BLMSM to inform social and structural HIV intervention strategies. BLMSM were administered a computerized survey as part of an HIV research study during 2011–2012 conducted in New York City. We used a brief scale of Gay Identity Questionnaire. After data analysis, Stage I (not fully accepting) and Stage II (fully accepting) gay identity were determined based on participant responses. We used logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between gay identity with HIV risk and social determinant factors. Among 111 self-identified BLMSM (median age = 32 years, 68.4% with some college or higher education), 34.2% reported receptive anal sex without condoms in the previous three months. Gay Identity Questionnaire Scale assessment indicated that 22 (19.8%) were Stage I, and 85 (76.6%) were Stage II in this BLMSM sample. Stage II gay identity was more likely seen among BLMSM with high involvement in the gay community (aOR 3.2; CI 1.00, 10.26) and less likely among BLMSM who exchanged sex for food or shelter (aOR 0.15; CI 0.02, 0.98). Fully accepting gay identity may be protective for BLMSM as it relates to transactional sex; these factors warrant further research and consideration as part of HIV prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explored the social experiences and HIV-related sexual practices of 30 young gay and bisexual men who moved to New York City in the past 3 years from other countries or elsewhere in the United States. For many migrants, a key basis of vulnerability to HIV was their engagement with New York City's unfamiliar sexual culture. Many recent arrivals migrated from places with small gay communities and low HIV prevalence, and some came with a practice of limited condom use. Participants described encountering an abundance of sexual opportunity in New York City, accessible to even the newest arrivals through internet sex sites. Some migrants expressed surprise that few men they met were interested in dating or establishing trust before having sex. Although frequent HIV testing was common, HIV status, testing history, and condom use were seldom discussed with sex partners for some men even with new partners or before sex without condoms. International and in-country migrants who are beginning to navigate New York City's gay sexual culture may be more vulnerable to HIV infection than established residents if they are inexperienced in encountering vast sexual opportunity, are less practiced in local norms of sexual communication, or if their lack of economic resources or social connections encourages them to have sex for money or shelter. This article suggests HIV prevention interventions for urban migrants and other men who have sex with men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preferences for anal sex roles (top/bottom) are an important aspect of gay male identity, but scholars have only recently begun to explore the factors that covary with these preferences. Here, we argue that the gendered nature of both racial stereotypes (i.e., Black men are masculine, Asian men are feminine) and sexual role stereotypes (i.e., tops are masculine, bottoms are feminine) link the categories Asian/bottom and the categories Black/top. We provide empirical evidence for these claims at three levels of analysis: At the cultural level based upon gay men's stereotypic beliefs about others (Study 1), at the interpersonal level based upon gay men's perceptions of others' sexual role preferences (Study 2), and at the intrapersonal level based upon racially diverse men's self-reported sexual roles on a public hookup website (Study 3). These studies offer the first systematic evidence of linkages between race categories and sexual roles in gay male communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevailing wisdom is that increased visibility of gay men and lesbians reduces levels of sexual prejudice, but less is known about who is more likely to ally with the gay community and how interaction with the gay community influences attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Using data from 873 heterosexual college students in the US, we examine how alliance with the gay community, a typology which combines measures of personal contact and community contact, relates to attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. Membership in each alliance category differed by gender, race/ethnicity, size of place, traditional gender role and authoritarian attitudes, religiosity, and political conservatism. Approximately one-third of the sample are allies of the gay community with both personal contact and community contact and lower levels of sexual prejudice. By contrast, another 30 % of the sample has no contact (personal or community) and higher levels of sexual prejudice toward the gay community. We conclude that more complex models of heterosexual contact with gay community are more useful than dichotomous models for understanding differences in attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the well documented cases of racism toward gay Asian men in the gay community in the United States, there is currently little research examining how gay Asian men manage the stigmatized statuses of race. In this article, we examine stigma management strategies employed by gay Asian men and explore how gay Asian men engage in both individual-level and group-level stigma management strategies in an attempt to maintain their self-esteem in light of racism and to directly address the stigma of race by reconceptualizing what it means to be both gay and Asian within the larger gay community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bear community exists as a subculture in reaction to the larger gay community. It rejects the normative idealized male beauty revered by mainstream gay men. While qualitative data document such self-identifiers as masculine-acting gay men who weigh more and have more body hair, there has to date been no quantitative analysis of this group's characteristics. In response, we conducted two large-scale studies of gay men identifying as Bears ( n = 469) to survey their self-reported physical, behavioral, and psychological traits. Our studies indicated that Bears were more likely to be hairier, heavier, and shorter than mainstream gay men. They reported wanting partners who were hairier and heavier. They were less likely to reject sexual partners and the partners they did reject were more likely to be young or weigh too little (i.e., were not bearish). Bears were more likely than mainstream gay men to enact diverse sexual behaviors (e.g., fisting, voyeurism) and were comparatively more masculine. Bears had lower self-esteem but were no less (or more) hypermasculine than non-Bears. We concluded that Bears are intensely sexual. We speculate that Bears are viewed as less attractive than what is traditionally considered to be attractive. The partners they can attract may be limited and, in response to this limitation, they may be particularly attuned to seek out partners who will not reject them. This condition may produce the low self-esteem exhibited and may explain how the Bear culture developed to ensure that even the heaviest, hairiest, and/or shortest individual can partner. Future analyses of the community's health are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female-to-male (FTM) transgender persons are often assumed to have been lesbian in sexual orientation prior to transition and to have maintained a primary attraction for women after transition. However, limited research and anecdotal information from clinicians who work with FTM have indicated that many identify as gay men post-transition. This article described the results of a qualitative study that employed interviews with 17 FTM in order to understand their experience of transition and sexual orientation. Of the 17 participants, seven identified as lesbian prior to transition, three as heterosexual, and seven as bisexual or queer. After transition, 10 identified as gay men and the remaining seven identified as bisexual or queer. Four patterns of sexual behavior emerged from the data and were described and discussed. These patterns were named steadfast, aligned, shifted, and fluid. These findings bring additional options to the belief that there are two distinct types of transgender: a homosexual subtype and a nonhomosexual subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on an essay by Friedman and Rossi regarding dialectical theory and the study of HIV/AIDS. He says that the essay is a timely and interesting reminder of the need of seeing diseases, bodies, and their social contextualization whole. Yet, he believes that a specific dialectical "correctness," an evasion of certain political messiness of the HIV/AIDS politics, is what holds them back. He cites the need to approach the so-called "gay community" in the U.S. more dialectically.

While much has been written concerning the effect of the post-apartheid transition upon gay communities in predominantly more affluent parts of South Africa, little is still known about how this transition affected black African residents in the former townships. This article therefore examines the impact that the political transition had on groups in the former townships through an exploration that highlights first the way it helped create delineated sexual binary relationships. It will then go on to explore how the social expression of these binary relationships has a unique geography within the former townships which in turn also allows us to see how an historically very Westerncentric term of identification ‘gay’ has been appropriated in unique ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this lyrical essay, I attempt to unravel the complexity behind new modes of HIV prevention and the rise of segregation among people of different antibody status in queer communities. In particular, I question the ease with which disclosure of HIV status is equated with safe sex. Because disclosure often reproduces the power dynamics of confession, I try to imagine an ethics of reciprocity in bearing witness. The essay is perforated by poetic fragments, the way all bodies are perforated, infected or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although reported cases of HIV/AIDS among gay Asian Pacific Islander (API) American men and API men who have sex with men (MSM) are still relatively low, current research findings indicate that incidences of unsafe sexual activity may be higher for this group than for any other group. Among the explanations offered to explain the levels of increasing unsafe sex among gay API men have been sexual norms found in Asian cultures, the lack of culturally relevant and/or linguistically appropriate intervention material, lack of integration into the mainstream gay community, and internalized homophobia. What are often ignored in these analyses are the contextual norms in which sexual behavior for gay API men occur. In this article, I develop the argument that racism within the gay community leads to socially and contextually prescribed sexual roles for gay API men that may also contribute to the practice of unsafe sex among this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay men occupy a strange position in masculinity research and men's studies: neither truly inside nor entirely outside its domains. Right from the start of men's studies, there are accounts of gay men offering an example of their successful dealings with emotionality and with aspects of relating to women. In the most vexed areas of sexual politics at present, the gay intelligentsia is also at loggerheads with sections of the women's movement. Contemporary gay life at times looks remarkably different from those domestic concerns that preoccupy heterosexual social relations. Gay communities are offering a solution to that painful difficulty but the gay option is now definitely available to most homosexual active men. Masculine heterosexuality is already problematized negatively in analyses of rape. There has been a determined effort by men to resist the notion, given credence during the HIV epidemic, that here has been a return to relationships, to meaningful sex, to sex with emotion. Gay men are themselves involved in producing a distanced relationship between gay and straight men, particularly on issues of masculinity. Gay sex has been scrutinized until every nook, cranny, and proclivity has been documented and catalogued.

Organizations, like individuals, can be discreditable and potentially stigmatized. This can affect both the members of the organization and its operation. This study examines how workers in an AIDS service organization in Ontario, Canada, manage its public image as a way of dealing with the stigma which surrounds much of their work. Using data from in-depth interviews with staff members and volunteers, the study describes worker concerns about the appearance of being too closely associated with the local gay and lesbian community and documents some of the strategies they employed to manage the organization's public image. The paper concludes with a discussion of the relationship between organizational impression management and viability in the context of the stigma and uncertainty which surmunds the HW epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers observation on the trend of advertising to homosexuals in the U.S. In 1991, Columbia House Co. began its campaign in the gay press because readers of selected papers tend to be upscale and cutting edge. Advertising are also selling briskly at Genre national gay lifestyle magazine which is entirely glossy and does not accept personal or phone-sex advertisements. Among the big advertisers were Atlantic Records and publisher Prentice-Hall. Some of the corporate awareness of homosexuals has come from business moves within the gay community, such as issuing gay-oriented credit cards.

This article reports that the British Dental Association (BDA) has formally endorsed and adopted anti-discrimination guidance published by the Gay and Lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists. The guidance offers advice on best practice and support for employers and employees on how to avoid discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual doctors and dentists.