Posted on 01/20/2005 8:25:39 PM PST by Graybeard58
Bug chasers and gift givers probably can't hurt you. But they're trying to kill each other.
You've probably heard of neither. And you probably couldn't fathom their taste in an astoundingly risky sexual behavior.
Bug chasers are HIV-negative gay men hoping to contract the virus. Gift givers are HIV-positive homosexuals who enjoy obliging bug chasers.
It's no urban myth. They're real - and they're here.
You might think such a thing possible in San Francisco and New York. But bug chasers and gift givers practice their lethal thrill-seeking locally.
"We have bathhouses in Chicago and we have adult bookstores in Peoria. There are people in these places searching for infection," says Alan Grebner, president of the board of directors of the John Keets Foundation.
The Canton-based AIDS-awareness group announced earlier this month that it soon will disband. They've had an increasingly tough time soliciting help and funds.
Still, Grebner and other members plan to keep speaking out about AIDS and HIV. One of Grebner's pet peeves is the commonplace - yet erroneous - belief among young gays that newer drugs practically halt the threat of HIV.
"People (say), 'Oh, goody. We have a cure,' " Grebner says.
Grebner, 38, knows first-hand that the treatments aren't foolproof. HIV-positive himself, the licensed therapist has grown too sick to work. His liver and spleen have severely swelled under his regimen of drugs.
"They're toxic," he says. "It's not a pleasant thing."
Yet to some gays, slick pharmaceutical ads suggest HIV is easily controllable. That mindset has helped spark a surge of bug chasers and gift givers.
But there are other, insidious reasons behind the phenomenon, as explained two years ago in an extensive piece in Rolling Stone magazine.
Rather than fear the virus, bug chasers take control of their fate and welcome HIV. Other gays feel lost, bereft of community, and think HIV will give them a sense of brotherhood among other positives.
And some bug chasers just see the thrill of the hunt of the most extreme sex possible. One told Rolling Stone that contracting HIV would be "the most erotic thing I can imagine."
Meanwhile, gift givers are happy to expand their ranks. To Rolling Stone, one gay man explained the fun of infecting a partner: "I'm murdering him in a sense, killing him slowly, and that's ... exciting to me."
Web sites and chat rooms help these seekers find each other. To a small extent, that might be happening in Peoria, Grebner says.
"I bet some of it's going on online, because people are hooking up (unprotected) all the time," he says. "It's rampant."
But in Peoria, the quest is quieter, with little of the brazen flamboyance of big cities.
"They're not going to say (in Peoria) at 2 a.m., 'Hey, I'm looking for a bug chaser,' " Grebner says.
How prevalent is this dicey pursuit? Nationally, Rolling Stone blamed 10,000 new infections a year on bug chasing. Gay advocates later criticized that number as too high, calling bug chasers a small fringe element among homosexuals.
Grebner says he's unsure of the numbers in Peoria: "It's such a small percentage of the gay community."
He pauses, then adds, "It's gotta be, I hope."
PHIL LUCIANO is a columnist with the Journal Star. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, 686-3155 or (800) 225-5757, Ext. 3155.
No, I take whatever stances I have, whether the chips fall.
and attempt to combine the person with the activity further implying one must love or accept homosexual activity?
How can you separate the person from the activity? Can you separate a Christian from his/her Churchgoing behavior, or his/her prayer? That's a fundamental part of their identity. Likewise, to separate a mother from her activity of raising children or a husband from his activity of making love to his wife. What we do is not separate from who we are, it is who we are.
???... LOL -maybe you can't separate the action from the individual --hence, one must either choose to condemn all homosexuals -even those that choose to remain chaste OR accept all homosexuals -even those that prey on children? ---Better yet maybe all deviant urges are 'natural' and must be accepted?
Interesting concept -a liberal homosexual activist concept...
"They were so pathetic. I felt terribly sorry for them."
Don't waste your energy. They neither seek nor welcome your sympathy.
"It was like they didn't belong anywhere, and getting sick would bring them into a community or something."
It is for them a part of the homosexual("gay") identity.(Thereby putting the lie to the claim that "AIDS is not a gay illness.")
"They would get some attention and be cared about."
Not by you. Only by their fellow disease vectors.
Sorry, but these organisms live in a different world than normal people. You don't have a clue about them. I have a glimmer only because I have worked with them off and on for years...
"It has nothing to do with drug company advertising."
Your comment is dead on. Well put.
Rolling Stone stands by their story, despite what their detractors have to say. And the Acting Up video supports the Rolling Stone article. If you actually read the articles with a critical mindset you might see things that you apparently don't see.
How can you not?
You're kidding, right? You accept what Cabaj says without questioning it because it confirms your prejudices, and then you tell me I'm not being open-minded? I mean, you know what a critical mindset is, right? If someone says something, you doubt it, evenespecially if you want to believe it.
What did I put in your mouth, anyway?
No, I'm not kidding. And you keep missing the point. Cabaj was biased in favor of homosexuality and made an observation about what he saw occurring in the homosexual community. Deal with it.
I suspect you are right, I really don't know much about them. I just felt sorry for the ones I saw interviewed. There must be some hope for them, though. Many do come out of that lifestyle, by the grace of God.
I think the ones who get to the bug-chaser stage are essentially beyond redemption. Perhaps I should have more faith, but I think there are some boundaries which, once crossed, cannot be revisited. There are Rubicons in life, as in war.
I admire your sensitivities however!
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