Drag queens are cancelling gigs. Gay men are declining to kiss their Grindr hookups. And LGBTQ+ service providers are scrambling to protect their most vulnerable clients.
As the coronavirus spreads across the country, the social dynamics and wellbeing of the queer community has come into flux. Methods meant to cut transmission, like quarantines and social distancing, are already affecting dating lives, nightlife and the day-to-day operation of storied organizations.
At New York’s Callen-Lorde health center, a haven for the city’s LGBTQ+ community, new guidelines are meant to eliminate all nonessential face-to-face meetings in the hopes of preventing sick patients from infecting those with fragile immune systems. “We’re imagining that most people will be able to be assessed by phone,” says Dr. Peter Meacher, the center’s chief medical officer.
At greatest risk, he says, are older clients whose immune systems were scarred from living with HIV before antiretrovirals were widely available. “These are folks that are also more likely to have diabetes or chronic obstructive airways disease, which are both concerns,” says Meacher. He also worries about smokers, which make up a statistically significant portion of HIV positive patients and are one of Coronavirus’s “top targets.” According to the CDC, 9.2 percent of trans people are living with the virus, while gay men make up a majority of new HIV infections.
To reduce the number of trips patients have to make, and therefore reduce their risk of possibly infecting others with compromised immune systems, Meacher is considering new ways to help people manage their own care from home. “We’re thinking of giving people six months of meds when we might usually give them a month at a time,” he says.
Dr. Joshua Khalili, an internal medicine primary care physician and HIV specialist at UCLA, also thinks telemedicine will prove crucial in the coming weeks, but he doesn’t expect it to cause significant interruptions to the medical regimes of his LGBTQ+ patients. "Some trans men use hormone injections, but they inject it on their own every one to two weeks, so besides ensuring they have enough of their medications, it’s not an issue," he says.
He adds that even older patients who are controlling their HIV by adhering to antiretrovirals are at greater risk of developing more severe reactions to the coronavirus than the general population. He worries about patients with heart problems: 40% of those hospitalized with the Coronavirus had cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease, which people with HIV are about 1.5 to two times more likely to develop than those that aren’t living with the virus.
“These are the people I’m telling to avoid big public spaces,” he says, adding, “It’s always better to be safe.”
In other corners of the LGBTQ+ community, the coronavirus has already upended business as usual. Multiple gay men told me they were opting to chat on Grindr rather than meeting up with men who might have the virus. A gay man in L.A. who frequents bath houses said he saw far less cruising during a visit this week, while another in Oakland said he noticed guys were reluctant to kiss on the lips while hooking up.
(To be clear “any type of sex," except the cyber kind, could potentially transmit the virus, according to Khalili.)
On a recent night in West Hollywood, the bars brimmed with crowds dancing, listening to karaoke and ogling go-go dancers. Actress and model Arisce Wanzer was on her way to the Abbey in sky high heels. “Of course the thought [of Coronavirus] crossed my mind,” she said. “If I see someone coughing, I’ll” — she makes a shooing motion with her hand. “But of course I’m out and about because I need to free myself from the hell that is life.” Drag queen Rhea Litre, also spotted on Santa Monica Blvd., said she, too, had second thoughts about coming out. “But, you know, a bitch gotta pay her bills,” she said.
Not every queen is braving the public exposure. Seattle writer and drag performer Chase Burns says he canceled a number of gigs after coming down with what he describes as “a very strange flu.”
Burns, who also serves as digital editor for the alt-weekly The Stranger, was already working on a story about Coronavirus testing kit shortages in his hometown — a serious issue that has affected the city’s ability to combat the virus — when he heard from his doctor that there weren’t any tests available for him either. “The email said not to come in unless I think I have pneumonia,” he says. “It was surreal. It made me think, okay, I guess I have to be my own doctor.”
Now he wonders if drag shows are even appropriate in Seattle while infections continue to surge and the true number of cases is unknown. “I was joking about it over the weekend with a few other queens, and we were talking about having coronavirus when you’re trading one dollar bills with strangers,” he says. “I mean, it’s just a very dirty environment.”
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