At a meeting this week in West Hollywood, a hub for Los Angeles’ LGBTQ community, actor Matt Ford received a standing ovation as he spoke openly about the “excruciating” symptoms he had endured when he contracted the disease — an experience he has also shared online. What pushed Ford to speak out was the urgent need to warn others about the disease in the days leading up to West Hollywood’s major LGBTQ Pride celebrations. While monkeypox has not so far been labeled a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and can infect anyone, the group currently most affected is men who have sex with men. “And right now it’s about the queer community.”ADVERTISEMENT‘Blame’While the notion of monkeypox affecting mainly the LGBTQ community raises fear of homophobia and stigmatization, it has also prompted anger that the US government is not taking the disease seriously enough. On Thursday, San Francisco and New York state declared public health emergencies in order to bolster efforts to control the spread of monkeypox.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer July 30, 2022 17:17 UTC