Is AIDS a Homosexual Disease?

Do gays behave oddly? Are they responsible for the spread of AIDS? Get the facts below as we unearth more myths about homosexuality.

Homosexuals have certain quirks. False. Like all people, homosexuals have their own share of quirks. However, the peculiar condition of some homosexuals is not unique to this particular pattern of behavior. It also appears in other groups of people. The fact that certain homosexuals exhibit one trait may be incidental and have no relationship at all to the very nature of homosexuality.

For instance, two studies showed that many homosexual men and women are left-handed. Does this mean that all lefties have homosexual tendencies? To say so is like saying that all handsome men and women will end up as movie stars and that all slim individuals will become fashion models. This is preposterous. As Dr. Sandra F. Witelson, professor of psychiatry at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said in Medical Aspects of Sexuality:

"We have recently shown a higher prevalence of left-handedness in homosexual men and women than in the general population. Similar results were found independently in a study of homosexual men in Great Britain. However, sexual orientation cannot be predicted by hand preference. There are more left-handed people in the population (about 30 percent) than homosexuals (about 5 percent), indicating that most left-handers are not homosexual. Furthermore, some homosexuals are right-handed. In addition, left-handedness may not be obvious by casual observation, since it is measured not only by the hand used in writing but also by hand preference in other manual tasks."

One interesting quirk that heterosexuals can learn from homosexuals, however, is honesty in the field of sexual communication. Dr. Joel W. Wells of the University of Northern Iowa said that gay men and women appear to be more open when it comes to sex. Such openness means they are more likely to get more satisfaction in a relationship.

Wells interviewed 120 university students - 60 straight men and women, and 60 gay men and women - and was surprised about the honesty in which gays communicated their sexual desires to their partners - an important factor in the enjoyment of sex.

"When it comes to sexual communication, gays may have an advantage over straights. Wells found that gay men and lesbians talked with their intimate partners about sexual activity more often than did heterosexual men and women, and they were also significantly more likely to agree on which words are erotic - and to use them with a lover. Wells believes that heterosexual couples could enhance their sexual relationship by learning to share the language they consider erotic or arousing," said the editors of Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality.

AIDS is a homosexual disease. False. Although AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was first discovered in the homosexual community, anyone can get the disease regardless of his or her sexual preference. The high-risk groups include sexually active people with multiple partners, those who use non-sterile hypodermic needles, infants born to mothers with the AIDS virus, and infected blood transfusions. So don't be fooled into thinking that just because you aren't homosexual, you won't get AIDS. In fact, the World Health Organization said that the vast majority of people with AIDS worldwide got the disease from heterosexual - not homosexual - intercourse.

"AIDS is not a disease only of homosexuals. AIDS is found in heterosexual people as well. AIDS is not a black or white disease. AIDS is not just a male disease. AIDS is found in women; it is found in children. The risk of infection increases according to the number of sexual partners one has, male or female. The more partners you have, the greater the risk of being infected with the AIDS virus," according to the US Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. (Next: Causes of homosexuality.)