Posted on 04/21/2007 2:00:08 PM PDT by wagglebee
A Melbourne man who fantasised about contracting HIV before actually being infected by the virus has spoken of a gay subculture in which infection is seen as "desirable".
The 20-year-old man, who does not want to be named, told Fairfax newspapers both complacency about the virus and the wish to have unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man he was in love with led him to become infected.
"I wasn't actively seeking it, but maybe there were parts of me, dark corners, that wanted it, that were thinking, 'Let's just do it and get it over and done with and then it won't be an issue'," he said.
The young professional is the first to speak out about "bug chasing", a behaviour in the gay community in which men seek to become infected with HIV.
The phenomenon was highlighted at the recent committal hearing for Melbourne man Michael Neal.
Mr Neal was accused of deliberately spreading the virus.
A HIV-positive man said in court that "bug chasing" was "a big thing out there" and that he had been pursued on the internet by a man wanting the bug.
"I just kept reminding him that it was not glamorous," a witness told the court.
Dawn Wilcock, of Positive Women Victoria, a support group for HIV-positive women, said the reaction showed a need for Melbourne's gay community leaders to stop dismissing claims of the subculture as an urban myth.
"There's a lot of defensive and protective behaviour going on that is not addressing the potential repercussions of this," Ms Wilcock said.
"It's a real problem. We know that 75 per cent of Victorian women infected with HIV are contracting the virus from long-term male partners, so the health campaigns targeting gay men need to target others in the community who would never publicly identify themselves as being gay, too."
The HIV-positive man said some men going to group-sex parties with HIV-positive men might want to "join the club" and have unprotected sex more freely.
"I have had an extremely intoxicated person claim that he wanted it once," he said. "I fobbed him off and he never came asking for it again."
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I'm not going to say a word. Not one word. Nope. Not one. I refuse.
Ok...I mean wow...darn. I can’t think of anything better to say, this article is just out there.
There is something to this. Some gays want the bug so they will be seen as victims and get taken care of.
Pathetic
Or hope to be...
No offense, but Rush mentioned this bug chasing thing many many years ago. I guess you Australians are lucky and didn’t have it hit down there until recently.
If it's "desirable" and not shameful then why did he ask to be unnamed?
Check this out for what Freepers had to say about this a while back:
I’m a Virginian, I’ve never been to Australia.
Well if homosexuals feel a need to have a.i.d.s to be accepted as on of the gang, then maybe we can get a Jack Kavorkian type doctor to help them in their quest.
You’re missing out. I guess. I’ve never been there, either. :p
I saw your location *after* I posted. Oops.
Yes, you will. Either that or you'll explode.:)
Yeah, but they're being sick on our dimes and dollars. "More funding for AIDS!" "More Funding for AIDS!" they demand, and the government forks over more (and more) funding for AIDS -- with our tax dollars.
And we're never thanked, are we? Just scolded about how we are too greedy and "homophobic" b/c we dare raise our voice above a whisper.
yet more proof that the Democrats are a Death Cult.
I know a lot of people who have been to Australia and say that it is wonderful.
I suppose for the same reason those Islamic hatchet men, (so eager to die for allah and get their 72 virgins) always wear a mask or scarf when they're on film or in photos. I mean you think they'd be tickled pink to let everyone know:
And the sickness is pervasive throughout a mainstream media that will NEVER warn about the health risks of the homosexual lifestyle.
We are all browbeaten into acceptance of homsexuality and are never allowed to question it for fear of being branded homophobic.
Meanwhile thousand die from a variety of diseases that are prevalent amongst them.
I'd wager more people die each year from diseases directly attributable to a homosexual lifestyle than are killed in Iraq.
Yeah, and the media has made this a *glamorous* disease. I can’t understand it, but I guess it’s like kids who get obsessed with being vampires and stuff....
susie
Because he realizes just how stupid he really is?
susie
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