JVN Points to Institutional Homophobia for Monkeypox Spread

"Queer Eye" personal grooming guru Jonathan Van Ness slammed the sluggish response from government as the monkeypox outbreak grew, citing "homophobia and transphobia" as factors.

Van Ness aired their thoughts in an essay for Time Magazine, recalling that just before the first confirmed cases in the U.S., they had interviewed author Steven Thrasher about Thrasher's book "The Viral Underclass," which examines "how different classes of people bear an unfair burden of the cost of viruses" and the role of social structures in viral outbreaks.

The book's topic has a direct bearing on the monkeypox outbreak, Van Ness suggested, writing, "When an outbreak affects mainly men who have sex with men, some portion of our elected legislators will have no incentive to act. They think it will not touch their constituents, which is obviously messed up because people's lives are at stake, and there are queer people in all 50 states."

The podcaster and hair stylist stated, "Watching the government's botched response to monkeypox has been surreal, and in many ways, I believe it's been fueled by homophobia and transphobia."

Van Ness also pointed to the health care disparities and wealth gap that many in the LGBTQ+ community experience firsthand.

"I'm really lucky that I'm in a place in my life where I'm housed, have money, and have access to protection," the celebrity hairdresser wrote. "But I'm really concerned about the queer community and the people who are going to be asked to isolate for three weeks at a time because they tested positive – the people who are going through excruciating pain and don't have what I have."

Again, Van Ness turned their attention to our elected leaders.

"When the government was concerned that the auto industry was going to fall into crisis, they gave them billions of dollars. When they were terrified that the airlines were going to fall into a crisis, they gave them billions of dollars."

Van Ness related the situation to the previous administration's bungled COVID response and the inevitable comparisons to how the government had failed to take action as AIDS became a health crisis in the 1980s. One of their stand-up comedy jokes, Van Ness said, was that "it's so funny watching straight people be shocked with the government response during COVID-19, because we're like, 'Honey, this is Tuesday. You thought the government was going to come help you?' We're used to this sort of inaction."

"Monkeypox is like: same day, different virus," the reality star added.

Van Ness, who has been open about living with HIV, appealed to their fans to take direct, personal action and contact their elected representatives.

"I want our elected officials to think about these already marginalized people and come up with a plan," the "Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness" host wrote, before going on to decry how "there's so much stigma and so many barriers around access to care."

"This isn't just a monkeypox story," Van Ness added. "This is a story of how we consistently fail people on the margins."