We’re going to break with the New York Department of Health and keep using the term “monkeypox” despite its “painful and racist history.” As we reported, the Biden administration says what’s “really important” about monkeypox is that “we do not use this moment to propagate homophobic or transphobic messaging.” Some Americans have taken that seriously, such as Andy Slavitt, who tweeted that “the myth that sexual activity is the cause of monkeypox & that reducing it is a valid strategy for managing a disease does not, on its face, make any sense.” That breaks with the CDC’s advice on having sex with monkeypox, which includes masturbating six feet apart.
The East Bay Times reports that the “beloved” San Francisco fetish festival, Dore Alley, is pressing ahead despite anxiety over monkeypox.
Amid a burgeoning monkeypox outbreak that has so far disproportionately affected gay and bisexual men, Bay Area public health officials and organizers of one of the region’s most beloved LGBTQ events are walking a difficult line between preventing the spread of the virus, while fighting the stigma of the virus as a disease limited to the LGBTQ community.
Despite San Francisco officials’ declaration of a public health emergency over the monkeypox virus, organizers of Dore Alley — a live-out-loud leather and fetish festival that’s been a favorite among LGBTQ communities in the Bay Area since the 1980s — said Friday they intend to hold the festival this weekend.
The San Francisco event, which is expected to draw 5,000 people, comes amid deep anxieties across the LGBTQ community over the outbreak, which has proliferated amid a shortage of vaccines.
We wonder if Speaker Nancy Pelosi will attend and encourage everyone else to gather at Dore Alley, as she did with Chinatown right as the Wuhan virus was spreading.
After spending two years telling people they couldn't go to work, send kids to school, visit dying parents in hospitals or go to parks, the Left says we certainly CANNOT expect gay people not to have promiscuous sex festivals in a monkeypox outbreak https://t.co/rSw3BRc8mn
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 1, 2022
Fighting stereotypes of gay men as promiscuous spreaders of serious disease by promoting gay men promiscuously spreading serious disease. Weird move, guys.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 1, 2022
Priorities, man
— Fredy (@_Fredy_T) August 1, 2022
Super spreader!
— Cheri Vallellanes (@CheriVallellan2) August 1, 2022
Seems legit.
— Bud Nilles (@Cuffing) August 1, 2022
Everyone knows they live by two sets of standards – the ones they set for themselves and the ones they set for others. They don't even try to hide it anymore. And no one in the @AP seems to call them on it either.
— Felines Unite Against Communist Bolsheviks! (@Andrea614th) August 1, 2022
15 gays to slow the spread
— name (@jeffgrant10) August 1, 2022
That they put the word “beloved” in front of that headline tells you where their priorities lie
— dawn baker dillard (@DillardDawn) August 1, 2022
There sure are a lot of people calling Ben Shaprio homophobic for even bringing it up.
Related:
‘Absolute science denying clowns’: Andy Slavitt takes on the ‘myth’ that sexual activity is the cause of monkeypox https://t.co/Mh9KfcYgkc
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 27, 2022
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