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Zachary Quinto on younger gays and HIV
Zachary Quinto thinks too many people are forgetting the painful legacy of AIDS which was a death sentence for so many gay men in the 80s and 90s.
‘I think there’s a tremendous sense of complacency in the LGBT community,’ the Star Trek actor tells Out Magazine which has named him Artist of the Year.
He is alarmed by the rising number of HIV infections in adolescents and thinks others should be too.
‘AIDS has lost the edge of horror it possessed when it swept through the world in the ’80s,’ says Quinto, 37. ‘Today’s generation sees it more as something to live with and something to be much less fearful of. And that comes with a sense of, dare I say, laziness.’
And he thinks does not think PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis) will lead to people becoming more responsible. PrEP is a pill people who do not have HIV – but who are at substantial risk – can prevent becoming infected by taking a pill every day.
‘We need to be really vigilant and open about the fact that these drugs are not to be taken to increase our ability to have recreational sex,’ Quinto says.
‘There’s an incredible underlying irresponsibility to that way of thinking…and we don’t yet know enough about this vein of medication to see where it’ll take us down the line.’
Comments
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Lexxvs says:
Totally agree with him and even if I hope that a cure is found as soon as possible, it is a good reminder for everyone that HIV is a serious issue even if people in general and the LGBT community seem to have a bout of amnesia. The cure could be in 5 years (because you know, even if they discover it right now, there are still certain safety health protocols to follow) or decades away, so people has to be reminded. Also monogamy is not a vaccine (mistakes happens, people cheat or don’t reveal their pasts, etcetera) and not everybody is as conscious as to check himself as to (if shxt happens) arrive at a treatment in good health, making their chances with the current medicine more difficult. Hope more gay public figures would insist on this, not to stigmatize but to keep healthy preventive practices going, there are more resources to prevent the disease than before (even if some of them are polemic).