26/08/2024 | Writer: Oğulcan Özgenç
Anti-LGBTI+ platforms claimed that mpox virus was a ‘gay disease’. Speaking to KaosGL.org, Association Prof. Dr. Ahmet Çağkan İnkaya emphasized that the virus cannot be associated with any social group.
The mpox virus which was declared a “public health emergency of international concern”, the highest level of alert in its hierarchy of warnings global emergency”, by the World Health Organization (WHO), was associated with LGBTI+ people in Turkey and in international public opinion. Media organizations and anti-LGBTI+ platforms competing to generate hate speech claimed that the mpox virus was a “gay disease”.
So, what is the mpox virus? Can the virus be associated only with LGBTI+ persons? How can discourses targeting LGBTI+ persons affect access to the right to health?
We talked about all these with Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Çağkan İnkaya.
Inkaya stated that mpox is a viral infection that has long been expected to ‘spread’. Stating that the virus has been spreading rapidly since 2022, Inkaya pointed out that the virus is not only sexually transmitted:
“The virus is transmitted through close contact. The sexual intercourse is only one of the mode of transmission. In other words, mpox is not a disease that is transmitted only via sexual relation. Therefore we should avoid using phrases such as ‘sexually transmitted’. Calling it a ‘sexually transmitted infection’ is the beginning of stigmatizing and discriminatory discourse.”
Stressing that the World Health Organization renamed the virus to ‘mpox’ in response to stigma concern İnkaya said, “We should not lose any individual in society by stigmatizing or marginalizing them. Stigmatizing people with infectious diseases has been a problem for a long time.”
İnkaya stated that the mpox virus cannot be associated with only one group, saying, “Mpox has been spreading since 2022, and children and pregnant women are also infected with this virus.”
Emphasizing that linking a disease to a particular social group can impact access to healthcare, İnkaya added: “There is no need to associate it with any group. Claiming that this virus is only sexually transmitted will negatively affect access to healthcare.”
Yeni Akit, Takvim, Big Family platform and Russia…
LGBTI+ persons are being targeted by anti-LGBTI+ media organizations and platforms, which falsely claim that the mpox virus is a “gay disease.” Outlets such as Yeni Akit, Takvim, and Big Family Platform have propagated this narrative.
On 16 August, Yeni Akit newspaper published a news article claiming that the medical journal The Lancet stated the mpox virus is spread by LGBTI+ individuals. In this article, LGBTI+ people were targeted with the term “deviant.”
Takvim newspaper was another media organization that targeted LGBTI+ persons by associating them with the spread of mpox. The newspaper published headlines such as “Global perversion threatens the world! Monkeypox virus is transmitted by perversion,” and included views from the anti-LGBTI+ Big Family Platform. In the platform’s statement, it was emphasized that the virus is transmitted through sexual contact, and it was claimed that sexual orientation is one of the factors affecting the spread of the virus.
LGBTI+ persons are also targeted internationally through the mpox virus. In recent days, a Russian consumer protection official claimed mpox wouldn’t be a problem for the country because of its “traditional values”, targeting LGBTI+ community:
“Considering the specifics of how mpox is spread, I am absolutely sure that in Russia with its traditional values this disease, which is an epidemic disease, is not something we need to be afraid of.”
TTB prepared a fact sheet regarding the mpox virus
The fact sheet prepared by the Turkish Medical Association conveys accurate information about the virus. In the fact sheet, it was stated that the epidemic began in 2022:
“While the epidemic, which began in 2022, spread with the subtype of the virus defined as ‘clade 2b’, it has been recorded that the ‘clade 1’ subtype, which has a more severe course, has increased since September 2023.”
Within the scope of the fact sheet, it was stated that the Ministry of Health did not provide precise information on the cases in Turkey, and 12 cases have been reported since 2022.
The fact sheet also provides information on the transmission of the disease: It can be transmitted through close physical contact, contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects, from mother to baby and sexual contact.
Click to read the fact sheet in Turkish.
Tags: human rights, health
