The Men Who Want AIDS

[newmoanyuh]

The Men Who Want AIDS—and How It Improved Their Lives

Excerpts:

After years of homelessness and a day-to-day existence, Fortner, now 28, was faced with the tantalizing prospect of a place to sleep, regular meals, and more thorough New York City services provided to people who reach a certain stage of the disease. First he would have to meet their diagnosis requirements; then he would receive help.

“I didn’t know about the services,” he says. “I didn’t know that once you have AIDS you’re entitled to all this other stuff.”

That silver lining was a surprise to Fortner. And while it might seem counterintuitive, contracting the virus has made life easier for other young homeless men in New York City, who in return for developing full-blown AIDS gain a roof over their heads and basic services.

This cruel paradox — having to get really sick in order to enjoy a better, more comfortable life — has not gone unnoticed. “I have experienced people [who are] grateful that they have HIV,” says Sage Rivera, a research associate at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who has worked with hundreds of LGBT youth. “It’s sort of like a sigh of relief or an extra boost,” he says. “There are a whole bunch of different names for HIV within the [LGBT] community: ‘the monster,’ ‘the kitty,’ ‘the scratch,’ ‘the gift that keeps on giving.’ So people say, ‘I have the kitty — so now I can get my place. Now I can get hooked up; I can get my food stamps, I can get this, I can get that.’

“Other people say, ‘I do not know what I would have done without the monster.’ I can think of five boys, automatically, who’ve told me this.”

And it’s not just those who already have AIDS who view it as a lifeline; some young men who test negative aspire to contract the disease as a way out of trouble. Rivera knows at least one man who planned to have unprotected sex on purpose, an attitude he sums up thus: “My life is not getting better. I need a helping hand, and it seems like the only way I can get a helping hand is by getting sick.”

For Fortner, the phenomenon of young men deliberately contracting HIV is dispiriting but not surprising. “When you’re on the streets every day — winter, summer, spring, and fall — and you find a way to have an apartment of your own, it looks better,” he says. His own experience is instructive: Once his AIDS was diagnosed, he was astonished at how much easier it was to live in New York City. “Right now the rent for my apartment is $1,150, but because I’m on the program I only pay $217, which leaves me with about $400 a month,” he says. “That’s still a struggle, but I feel gifted, because one way or another I pull through.”

To be eligible for the services provided by New York City’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration, commonly referred to as HASA, people must be diagnosed with AIDS or have HIV with certain other specified medical conditions, says Dr. Robert Grossberg, medical director of the Montefiore AIDS clinic in the Bronx. Those eligible for HASA services get a living plan, housing assistance, financial aid, and free medical care. Exactly what each person gets is determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on factors like their income level.

The housing assistance consists of immediate temporary placement in an SRO (single room occupancy) building, which has individual and two-person rooms with shared kitchens and bathrooms, until a permanent apartment is found. Once a permanent apartment is found, HASA covers the rent but residents pay for their own utilities, such as electricity and gas.

James Bolas, of the Empire State Coalition, acknowledges that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has done more for homeless youth in New York City than former mayor Rudy Giuliani did, but says it’s not good enough. “Homeless adolescents are then going to become homeless adults and become a burden on the medical system, the mental health system, the detention system, and the correctional system,” he says. “They don’t understand that if you can catch and serve effectively from the beginning, you prevent it from taxing society on the end.”

The equation is simple, Bolas says: Homeless LGBT youth need the things that anyone needs to live. “To have transportation, to not worry about where their next meal is going to come from,” he says. “To have the skills to learn a trade, to earn money. To be able to socialize with people safely and not have to be looking over their shoulders.” But the most important thing, according to Bolas, is “to have a place where they can sleep and where their door locks.”

 

[the nomad]

I remember watching a video on something about this, I believe the trend is called "gift givers", people who give HIV/AIDS as a gift to those who willingly want to be infected.

EDIT: Found the video.

 

[currensy]

More women for me to smash. 

You're 1st on the list. 

 

[championboyz7]

Dude. Wow

 

[RIP sleazyy]

We live in a society where people willingly contract HIV just to live.

Let that sink in.

 

[squatchnt]

Most people just forge documents to gain entry to the program as opposed to willingly contracting the disease. The roofs the city provides are usually in run down SRO hotels and apartments in generally bad neighborhoods. I mean it's beats sleeping in the street but all that glitters isn't gold.

 

[the nomad]

We live in a society where people willingly contract HIV just to live.

Let that sink in.

 

[mangudai954]

We live in a society where people willingly contract HIV just to live.

Let that sink in.

Right.

 

[degenerate423]

Pretty disgusting that this is even an option

.  How do you even know the people getting infected are going to be responsible and not pass it along to others?

 

[hennessy]

 

[fantastic4our]

We live in a society where people willingly contract HIV just to live.

Let that sink in.

The land of opportunity

 

[SC kid]

View media item 539030

 

[elpablo21]

The **** did I just read?

 

[bilboshmangins]

only the Nomad can make sense of this!

 

[the nomad]

Guys might want to check out "House of Numbers" on Netflix, the film will change your perception on how much do we really know about HIV/AIDS? 

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/House_of_Numbers/70125403?locale=en-US

 

[hebgbz]

The fuu..

 

[boris]

How much does antiretroviral treatment help once you already have AIDS?

 

[marco23]

 guys would really rather have HIV than be homeless.

You can make a home out of a dumpster and be set for life

 

[jthagreat]

Thats absolutely crazy

 

[User 37837]

Very confused I am

 

[x Buddha Bless x]

Doubt I'll ever be that desperate.

 

[qualmes]

Not enough stonefaces in the world for what I just read

 

[ruxxx]

:x Flush my health COMPLETELY down the toilet for shelter?

No thanks.

 

[water]

   

   

 

[gllahone84]

I remember watching a video on something about this, I believe the trend is called "gift givers", people who give HIV/AIDS as a gift to those who willingly want to be infected.

EDIT: Found the video.

The gift that keeps on giving.