Publications

How do gay, bisexual and queer men understand the link between their drug and alcohol use and their mental health? Twenty-four interviews with GBM in Toronto reveal deep ambivalence. Participants described substances as therapeutic aids that eased distress, and also as corrosive to wellbeing, drawing a fine line between use that felt self-productive and use that felt self-destructive. Some framed their choices as problematic or unhealthy; others presented themselves as controlled, responsible actors simply doing what a normal gay man would do. The authors connect this ambivalence to polarizing community and scientific binaries around addiction, control and rationality.

Gay men aging with HIV occupy a gap in services, as one participant's remark about no slot existing for them captures. This qualitative Canadian study draws on interviews with 16 gay-identified men living with HIV aged 50 and over, using intersectionality to account for the interlocking forms of marginalization they face. The analysis maps their practical, social, and mental health needs, and considers which services could be designed or adapted in response. The authors also stress the value of specialized training for caring professionals and argue that older gay men living with HIV should help develop and deliver those services.

Undetectable equals untransmittable is now settled science, but everyday understanding lags behind. Researchers conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 25 sexual minority men in Vancouver, including men living with HIV, and analysed the transcripts using grounded theory. Most participants took undetectable to mean low or slim risk of passing on HIV, rather than no risk at all. They described discussing undetectability in person and on sexual networking apps, sometimes confusing it with PrEP. HIV-negative men voiced scientific scepticism and lingering fear about sex with a partner living with HIV, a pattern the authors name untransmittable scepticism, showing stigma endures.