How has the AIDs epidemic affected male homosexual behavior?
A major difficulty with the promiscuity associated with male homosexuality has been the high rate of venereal disease. The emergence of the AIDs virus in the early 1980’s marked the arrival of a sexually transmitted disease that was fatal. The response of the gay community to this threat was impressive. There is no doubt that “safer sex” practices combined with the fear of AIDS had a profound and salutary effect on the health of homosexual men in general. The incidence of new cases of HIV, hepatitis B virus, gonorrhea, and syphilis, all other sexually-transmitted diseases, and AIDS decreased dramatically in the gay community. This was due to an increased use of condoms, more care in choosing partners, decreased promiscuity, and a decrease in the sex practices that were particularly high risk. The result is that the homosexual share of California AIDS cases has dropped substantially in the past decade and the CDC estimates that the majority of new HIV infections in the United States are
