The Bareback Brotherhood…stands a beacon. The Bareback Brotherhood is as a social group of men around the globe from all walks of life. We agree on one thing — sex between men without barriers is natural and a legitimate choice. As consenting adults, skin-to-skin intimacy should be a choice that is not demonized or marginalized. The Bareback Brotherhood advocates on behalf of raw sex, knowing that many men engage but hide. The Bareback Brotherhood is a group without judgment and with mutual respect for all, no matter sero-status — positive, negative or unknown. Fuck more. Fear less. Regret nothing.
Queerty states that the news of such a group is disappointing as HIV infections rates continue to increase among gay and bisexual men and points to another website very critical of the Bareback Brotherhood.
When we looked further into the Bareback Brotherhood, we discovered one of the founders is a proud Georgia boy with the Twitter handle, @GAPozAthens .
“HIV+ guy Founding member of #BBBH” states his Twitter profile. And he has his own NSFW Tumblr, too, at dawgman.tumblr.com.
Another founder is from Atlanta and the Bareback Brotherhood website directs you to request him as a friend on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/markbentson. Mark Benston also blogs at the NSFW http://iblastinside.com/ and identifies as a “raw top” and a “skin-to-skin sex advocate.”
We’ve reached out to GAPozAthens via email and if we hear back we’ll update with his responses.
It’s important to note that Thursday, June 27, is National HIV Testing Day and numerous Atlanta and Georgia organizations are providing free HIV testing.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and many other groups say using condoms is the safest way to protect from being infected with HIV as well as being protected from other STDs.
But the truth is many gay men like to have sex without condoms.
Gay blogger Mark King, who is HIV positive, wrote an article in January with the provocative headline, “Your Mother Liked It Bareback.” From King’s piece:
Maybe those who find bareback sex distasteful believe they are being politically correct, that their strident judgments about the sex lives of others are in the service of HIV prevention, that criticizing other gay men for acting like human beings will somehow alter instincts that evolution built over millions of years.
Perhaps this is part of our new gay agenda, to demonstrate to straight society that we’re just as good at shaming gay men as they are, that we’ll gladly be neutered for equal rights and be denied the same pleasures they take for granted, that if they only give us gay marriage we won’t talk about the unprotected butt fucking that will happen on the wedding night.
So-called condom fatigue may account for some of the rise in HIV infections among gay men, but other issues play strong roles, too, including homophobia, stigma, poverty and no access to healthcare.
Georgia is ranked sixth in the nation for AIDS cases through December 2009, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. In 2010, roughly 40,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Georgia with Fulton and DeKalb Counties accounting for the highest HIV infections in the state.
In 2009 in Georgia, there were 1,366 new HIV diagnoses. Of those, 49 percent were among gay men, with blacks accounting for 74 percent, whites 21 percent and Hispanics 5 percent.
• More than 1 million people in the U.S. have HIV but one in five do not know they have it.
• Gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men account for 2 percent of the U.S. population. But in 2010, the latest detailed numbers available, gay and bisexual men accounted for 63 percent of estimated new HIV infections and 78 percent of infections among all newly infected men. Compared with other transmission groups, men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for the largest numbers of new HIV infections in 2010.
• Among all gay and bisexual men, white MSM accounted for 11,400 (or 38 percent) estimated new HIV infections in 2010. The largest number of new infections among white MSM (3,300, or 29 percent) occurred in those aged 25 to 34.
• Among all gay and bisexual men, black/African American gay men accounted for 10,600 (36 percent) estimated new HIV infections in 2010. From 2008 to 2010, new HIV infections increased 22 percent among young (aged 13-24) gay men and 12 percent among gay and bisexual men overall — an increase largely due to a 20 percent increase among young black/African American gay men.
• Among all gay and bisexual men, Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men accounted for 6,700 (22 percent) estimated new HIV infections in 2010. The largest number of new infections among Hispanic/Latino MSM (3,300, or 39 percent) occurred in those aged 25 to 34.
What are your thoughts on the Bareback Brotherhood?
UPDATE Wednesday morning: GAPozAthens responded to our email only to ask us to take down his image, so we did. Benston replied via Twitter by saying, “I don’t trust the media to be honest and unbiased.”