San Francisco Politician Admits He’s a Bareback Bottom Taking Truvada

S.F. Supervisor (it’s like the city council) Scott Wiener has come out publicly to admit that he is on PrEP in an effort to drive more awareness in the local gay community about the anti-HIV drug.

In a personal essay on the HuffPo this week, Wiener (yes, the same one who got made fun of relentlessly by The Daily Show and elsewhere for backing San Francisco’s nudity ban two years ago, and who was subsequently parodied in NakedSword’s Golden Gate 5 as Supervisor Cox, played by Dale Cooper) says that he came to the decision in part because of knowing multiple friends who were taking Truvada and who told him that “their general anxiety level around intimacy has gone down significantly.”

 

 

As an elected official, disclosing this personal health decision was a hard but necessary choice. After all these years, we still see enormous stigma, shame, and judgment around HIV, and around sexuality in general. That is precisely why I decided to be public about my choice: to contribute to a larger dialogue about our community’s health. I have the honor of representing a district that includes the Castro — ground zero for the HIV epidemic. I represent a community that has been profoundly impacted by HIV, with a large number of HIV-positive people — nearly one in four gay men in San Francisco is HIV-positive — and an even larger number of people at risk of becoming positive. As an elected official in this role, I have an obligation to do everything in my power to support those living with HIV, increase public awareness about effective HIV prevention, and reduce stigma and shame.

My journey to PrEP was a long one. I came to terms with myself as a gay man when I was 17 years old in 1987, at the height of the HIV epidemic. Many gay men were getting sick and dying. Like many in my generation, I came of age associating sex with illness and death. That association — with all the fear, anxiety, guilt, and shame that go along with it — is still very real for many of us.

As time has gone by, I’ve seen people become healthier… [but] I regularly meet young men, some barely out of high school, who have the virus.

The New York Times notes that Wiener’s public announcement is an “unusual” one, but San Francisco is kind of unique this way, and the 44-year-old Wiener is one of two openly gay Supervisors currently pushing for greater public access to PrEP in S.F. regardless of individuals’ ability to pay.

Wiener goes on to lay out the arguments for PrEP vs. condoms alone.

People don’t need to continue to get infected, and we know that PrEP has the potential to help stop the epidemic in its tracks by ending new HIV infections. It’s one pill a day, with few side effects for most people.

Condoms remain critically important for HIV-prevention efforts, but they have their limits, as demonstrated by the continuing new infections after 30 years of robust prevention efforts. Only one in six gay men uses condoms consistently and effectively enough to be fully protected from HIV. For those who do use them consistently, condoms offer significant protection but have a failure rate, and condom usage among gay men reduces HIV risk by 76 percent, not 100 percent.

Given the challenges many gay men have with consistent condom use as well as the continued risk of HIV transmission even for those who use condoms, PrEP provides a powerful additional level of protection. It’s not a question of either condoms or PrEP. It’s about both important tools.

Some aren’t sold on PrEP. Skeptics question whether people will adhere to a daily pill, which is a legitimate concern. Protection decreases if usage is inconsistent. This challenge can be overcome with effective education, and drug adherence is a challenge that isn’t unique to PrEP.

Some critics also view PrEP as a license for people to engage in risky behavior and assert that it will cause non-HIV sexually transmitted infections to increase. No study to date has shown that those using PrEP increase risky behavior — such as reducing condom usage compared with before using PrEP — and there is evidence to the contrary. Indeed, this line of thinking — that promoting an effective prevention method will lead to irresponsible behavior — resembles some of the phony arguments used to attack the HPV vaccine by suggesting that getting vaccinated will lead young girls down a path to promiscuity. And, since PrEP users are regularly screened for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, PrEP use will increase opportunities for prompt detection and treatment of STIs.

Anyway, there you go! A committee of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors held a hearing about PrEP today, hoping to be able to fund greater education and public-health programming around the drug for everyone who wants it in San Francisco.

Please, everyone, continue to scream and shout that condoms are our only salvation. New HIV infections rates are unchanged year over year, and it’s not because of bareback porn, or because everyone’s stupid or on drugs. It’s because people don’t like condoms.

[HuffPo]
[NYT]

17 thoughts on “San Francisco Politician Admits He’s <strike>a Bareback Bottom</strike> Taking Truvada”

  1. The Sword routinely mocks gay men: for being effeminate, for being bottoms, for having a lisp, even for trying to protect themselves from being infected with HIV. But don’t you dare saying you have no interest in “men with vaginas”, because they’ll be the first ones to call you a “bigot”.

  2. This is bad press for Truvada. He’s been a largely despised politician in the Castro. Gays in general cannot stand him. He’s arrogant, know-it-all, out of touch and seems to have better connections with developers than actual voters. He can do whatever he wants- his constituents sure don’t care one way or the other.

  3. I wasn’t aware he even mentioned whether he was a top or bottom. I also read the piece on Huffington Post. Again, there was no mention of top or bottom positions. That doesn’t matter anyway. The Headline for this article is childish and uncalled for.

  4. why can’t he be a bareback top…oh wait…the tops have all the power and the bottoms are weak, frail and therefore deserving of childish comments here…but never respect…

  5. Where does either this bit or the HuffPO mention he’s either a bottom or barebacks?

    We all know at least one or more who has contracted HIV. That’s too many!

    I find it fascinating that our segment of “society” constantly degrades, derides and parodies our “own” for taking personal accountability and responsibility to do what we can avoid an incurable disease.

    I’m sure this is another attempt at alas “sarcasm”… Note, if you have to explain a comment as being sarcastic… The only one that got it was you…

    We truly eat our own…

    Amazing…

  6. He’s the big bro/dad type that I love… handsome and smart :) Bravo to him for doing this and making such a great statement about it. I’m still on the fence as to whether or not I should start Prep, and reading something like this helps me to realize that it might be a wise choice.

  7. So, NakedSword…your final sentence actually makes it sound like you’re in support of PrEP Treatment (because people really don’t like condoms) and by extension Scott Wiener’s decision to come out as a Truvada user. Great! We should support both. So I’m confused about why you chose to “bareback bottom” shame him in your headline? Did you think that was funny? It wasn’t. As a matter of fact what it looks like from way back here in the cheap seats is that you’re contributing to the guilt and negative stigma around bottoming and making the choice to go bare while on Truvada. It was a cheap shot for an even cheaper laugh and unfortunate coming from a person/media source within our own community. Snark or no-snark, you know better than that. Tsk tsk.

    1. the gay community and gay press are as vicious and cruel and short sighted as the right wing pundits…this man made a choice to protect himself….does it match EVERYONES choice of course not but it is his…

    1. so if you take PrEP you are a slut…having unprotected sex with strangers taking loads and/or giving them to others (that is a big ASSUMPTION but I suppose anything to be catty and cruel)..what if you take it and use and condom (they do break) as a measure to lessen your chances of infection…I do not understand why this conversation is not happening; if you are a top or a bottom with a stranger or someone that may not know their status this a WIN WIN for you…I am all for PrEP as it is another tool in fighting new infections…we need more than condoms because as data shows the rates of HIV are steadily climbing for a variety of reasons

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