A World Plagued By Virus or Hatred?

The HIV/AIDS Pandemic and COVID-19

Vanessa Ellia, Print Staff Writer

September 09, 2021

Trigger Warning: This article discusses various matters like homophobia, racism, and the different methods this discrimination is carried out including physical abuse, and may be upsetting for some readers. Please read with caution. To better inform yourself of that are discussed in this article, please take the time to visit these websites and join the fight in making the world a better place: https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/ , https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth-resources.htm.

Homophobia followed the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the increasing stigma surrounding the LGBTQ+ community played a major role in defining how they were perceived and how HIV was perceived as well. With the rise of Anti-Asian violence and racism during the current COVID-19 pandemic, it becomes clear that pandemics and other global affairs are often gateways for discrimination. Just as HIV was often associated with the LGBT community and fuelled the fire of hatred towards it, our current pandemic has been used to further Anti-Asian hate. In a world plagued by animosity, it is not surprising that humanity will use every excuse it can to justify their hard hearts.

HIV has always been very closely linked with negative attitudes towards queer people, and gay men have often been singled out and blamed for causing the virus. HIV has been used a method of targeting queer people: it has even been referred to as the ‘gay plague.’ It was a major motivator in criminalizing same-sex acts and instilling a ban on queer people donating to blood banks since the virus was manipulated to make queer individuals seem uncivilized and unclean. As a result, the LGBT community was demonized and homophobia has continued to serve as a major barrier to ending the global AIDS pandemic. Furthermore, the poor social circumstances of homophobia this disease created only served to increase the vulnerability of the LGBT community. Instead of receiving treatment for cases, education and resources to equip them with knowledge on how to prevent the spread of HIV, members of the LGBT community were often shunned and pushed aside. They received nowhere near the level of support that heterosexual individuals did, thus increasing their risk of  getting the virus. Consequently, the disease has never been completely contained.

Despite the growing visibility and acceptance of the LGBT community in recent years, queer people today still face the widespread rejection of their identities, and this has only exacerbated the threat of a virus that has yet to be cured. Research has shown that people who engage in same-sex relations may exhibit less health-seeking behaviours and have greater levels of depression, anxiety and substance misuse due to the stigma they face everyday. Even today, the threat of HIV continues: it is the fourth-leading cause of death in the world, and there are approximately 38,000 new infections globally every year. The continuing role homophobia plays in this disease says a lot about how global affairs can be manipulated to isolate certain groups and pursue a hateful agenda.

Fast forward to today: since the outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, people of Asian descent all around the world have been targets of derogatory language and violence that are very clearly linked to the pandemic. On May 8, 2020, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres revealed that the pandemic has continued to unleash a ‘tsunami of xenophobia’ that has created another virus: one of hatred. In the UK, Asian people have been punched in the face, taunted and accused of spreading coronavirus. Two Chinese women were physically attacked and cussed at while told to ‘go back to China’ in Australia, and a Burmese family in Texas was attacked by a man with a knife. Discrimination stemming from the spread of COVID-19 has not been limited to Asians, nor these places alone. In India and Sri Lanka, many COVID-19 related cases of islamophobia have been reported, and in Myanmar, ultra-nationalist leaders have used the pandemic to justify threats and hate speech against Muslims. Even Chinese authorities in Guangdong have begun a campaign to forcibly test Africans for COVID-19 and remove them from their homes, restaurants and other public places without any valid reasons beyond suspicion of the virus.

Much like the HIV pandemic and homophobia, research has shown that experiencing racial discrimination is strongly correlated with negative mental and physical health and can lead to increased stress, anxiety and depression. Studies have also shown that symptoms such as these play a major role in negatively impacting the immune system as well, as the three most common physical symptoms associated with adverse mental health were headache, cough and sore throat: all symptoms of COVID-19. Besides the physical and mental impacts, homophobia has also served to increase the barriers visible minorities like Asian people face, such as access to health services due to the sudden change in economic security to groups already faced with lower income rates in societies where they are marginalized, therefore putting them at a higher risk of catching the virus. 

Just as HIV has yet to be cured, COVID-19 is still very much present and active. The misuse of narratives about viruses like HIV being a disease that impacts queer individuals alone and COVID-19 coming strictly from specific racial groups have been extensively promoted in media and political campaigns. They have worked to affect every aspect of humanity including social life, health, and education, and influenced how we view each other and the thoughts ingrained in our minds. HIV created and promoted a narrative than same-sex relations were dangerous and unhealthy in how they could lead to the spread of the disease, and COVID-19 has promoted false information of the virus originating from people of Asian descent. Both these narratives have spurred an uprising in negative views of the groups in question like the LGBTQ+ community and Asians. In comparing these two pandemics, it is clear that disease has been used as an excuse for the justification of discrimination towards certain people, and the role of the media and politicians are in no way making matters any easier.

These two pandemics can tell us a lot about our past and present and emphasize the worst parts of our world. They also make us wonder what the biggest killer of our society and people truly is: viruses, or just blatant, unreserved, and inexcusable hatred for one another? How can we ever tackle one without recognizing the significance of the other?