With more than 38,000 cases reported in over 90 countries worldwide as of August 16, monkeypox has rapidly become a global health emergency. The viral disease can be spread in a variety of ways, including through the sharing of bodily fluids or touching contaminated items or surfaces. A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July found 98 percent of the 528 cases recorded in 16 countries between April and June were gay or bisexual men, and 95 percent of the people with infection were thought to have caught the disease through sexual activity.
This disproportion has caused misunderstanding that the virus could only be sexually transmitted — it is not — or that only men who have sex with men are at risk.
Disinformation narratives that perpetuate harmful stereotypes against gay and bisexual men are now emerging. Most recently, a report that an Italian greyhound owned by a gay cohabiting couple in France had contracted monkeypox (the first possible case of human-to-dog monkeypox infection) led to unfounded insinuations of gay men participating in bestiality. Twitter comments by right-wing figures Tim Pool and Andy Ngo, each followed by more than a million users , sparked suggestions the couple to be charged with animal abuse.
These echo a narrative that circulated earlier this year alleging that children were contracting monkeypox after being abused by LGBT people. A Daily Mail article titled 'US records first two CHILD monkeypox cases: California toddler and an infant in D.C. were likely infected by 'household contacts' and both had contact with gay or bisexual men, CDC chief says' prompted calls for investigations and arrests. The claim, bolstered by figures with a large social media following such as US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have further stigmatised gay or bisexual men.
LGBT community members have warned that these narratives could lead to real-world harm, especially given comparisons between early measures (or a perceived lack thereof) during this monkeypox outbreak and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, which was also once rumoured to be a ‘gay disease’.
This article was featured in our Newsletter of 19 August – you can read it in full here.
Stevie Zhang, CMT Researcher