4 in 10 transgender women in seven major US cities have HIV: CDC

submitted by Carle from msn.com

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[–]JulienMayfair 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Efforts to control the spread of HIV have run into these same factors for the last 40 years. HIV educators and community activists managed to get the HIV transmission rate WAY down from its peak in the early 1980s, but at a certain point, the rate leveled out and has remained stubbornly flat. Nothing seems to change it, especially in the U.S. South where lack of education is a major factor. So really, none of this is new information. This was "Safer Sex" guidelines from 1987. It's like cigarette smoking or anything else like that. A certain percentage of people will not change their behavior no matter how you try to present the information to them or intervene in other ways. You can talk about the factors that have contributed to making people unreachable, but once that's the case, you can't necessarily do anything about it. You can't force people to listen to you or force them to change their behavior unless you want to implement a total police state.

[–]MarkTwainiac 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Yes, I know. I remember the 80s very well. The point I was trying to make is that the current HIV rates can't be attributed to TIMs doing sex work alone or even primarily, as some on this & other forums keep saying. Black TIMs in the US today, especially in the South & from the South, are at high risk because they engage in a variety of risky behaviors that intertwine. On top of that, they're loathe to get tested, & if/when they do find they are "poz," they are often non-compliant with treatment regimens & lax about taking precautions not to infect others. The usual excuse given is that they can't afford health care, & that the health care system will misgender & mistreat them. But in fact, a great many opportunities have been created to help them get tested & treated, & to get them PrEP as well. Moreover, the new delusion that "transwomen are women" seems to be adding to the resistance... But the upshot is, as you say, like with drugs, booze & gambling, there's always a certain percentage of people who will carry on heedless regardless of what outreach, education & free health care are made available to them.

[–]pacmanla 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Are there many black TIMs in the south? I would guess they're higher in liberal coastal cities (particularly California). Only place I could guess is Atlanta? As a black male, with family in the south, most black trans identified men I meet are in Liberal enclaves not the south.

[–]MarkTwainiac 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

In the US, a lot of black TIMs are gay boys & men born & raised in the South who come from very conservative & homophobic Christian households & communities, often very small towns and rural areas. Those who have the money & wherewithal to leave tend to migrate to urban areas elsewhere in the south, such as in Florida, or to cities in the north like NYC or LA. The Jacksonville & Miami areas in Florida, as well as Dallas and Houston Texas, are just a few of the places in the US South that come to mind that are known to have sizable contingents of black TIMs.

This black TIM's journey from Georgia to NYC shows a typical TIM migration pattern: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/us/kricket-nimmons-transgender-surgery.html