By Jarun Ontakrai – Shutterstock
By Kaylee Estrada
For more than a year, COVID-19 has been on everyone’s mind; however, people may not know of another health battle that has been playing out at the Texas-Mexico border that has cost many young men their lives.
HIV rates have seen a downward trend in various demographic groups; however, rates of HIV in Hispanic men continue grow. Experts are labeling it a public health crisis, with fingers being pointed at anywhere from religion and Texas sex education, to poverty.
According to a report released by the CDC, 1 in 48 Latino men is at risk of contracting HIV in their lifetime. The same report states “HIV disproportionately affects Latino communities in the United States.”
Noah Hernandez, a twenty-year-old Hispanic male who lives on the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso, first became aware of his positive HIV status in August 2018.
“Now, I am more open about my diagnosis. I feel better about because it can provide education for other people,” Hernandez said. “Where a year ago I was not as comfortable with it.”
Hernandez attributes the public health crisis to the lack of sex education in the Texas public school curriculum.
“In general, them (the Texas education system) not talking about gay sex, just makes it more of a taboo subject as people get older,” Hernandez said.
In the most recent bill covering sex education in Texas, House Bill 2161 passed in 2019 and includes no language relating to the LGBTQ+ community.
Photo by Justin Gonzales.
Hernandez said that while rates are high there are resources available, they are just not utilized to the fullest.
“The resources are there; they are just not advertised because of the stigma.” Hernandez said. “Even my straight friends do not know where to go get tested. It should be as out there as COVID testing sites.”
According to the CDC, 1 in 5 Latino gay and bisexual men are at risk to be infected in their lifetime.
Zamira Sanchez, a junior, political science major at Texas Tech University, identifies as both a lesbian and part of the Latinx community.
“We (the United States) are still dealing with the problem of HIV today,” Sanchez said. “But now that we are seeing that the main issue is within a minority group, it is not given as much attention.”
Sanchez said that there is stigma about being gay in the Hispanic community that is linked to religion.
“It comes from a religious standpoint. A large part of the Hispanic community participates in Catholicism and Christianity,” Sanchez said. “It creates a sense of shame. It is shamed upon to be gay.”
Sanchez said an inclusive sex education curriculum in Texas would help as a preventative measure against the crisis.
Planned Parenthood in El Paso (Photo By Kaylee Estrada)
“I did not receive sex education whatsoever in high school,” she said. “Sex was not normalized, so it gets looked down upon. It was a feeling that there is no body to teach me about it.”
Guadalupe Villalpando is a public health educator in El Paso. She has more than 15 years of experience in the county.
“It is tricky from a public health point of view to treat HIV,” Villalpando said. “Clinics that only treat HIV wouldn’t make any profit, so people may not know that a clinic treats HIV.”
Villalpando said a good rule of thumb is to follow public health outreach at public county hospitals.
“Any county hospital will treat someone without insurance.” She said. “Anyone who is not a citizen can get treatment there.”
For information on how to get tested in Lubbock County, visit the City of Lubbock STD/HIV Clinic or call (806) 775-2933.
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