It doesn’t, in general, affect gay people more; everyone is susceptible to HIV. The idea that it specifically targets gay people is, indeed, a myth.
But it first cropped up in the gay community and, since gay people – generally – aren’t having sex with non-gay people, it spread in the gay community first and affected that community first.
It’s more about the material, historical events playing out in that particular order than anything specific to gay people.
I think it’s that HIV is most transmittable to the receptive partner in anal sex. Since (some) gay men switch they can contract it bottoming and transmit it to a subsequent partner when topping.
It doesn’t, in general, affect gay people more; everyone is susceptible to HIV. The idea that it specifically targets gay people is, indeed, a myth.
But it first cropped up in the gay community and, since gay people – generally – aren’t having sex with non-gay people, it spread in the gay community first and affected that community first.
It’s more about the material, historical events playing out in that particular order than anything specific to gay people.
I think it’s that HIV is most transmittable to the receptive partner in anal sex. Since (some) gay men switch they can contract it bottoming and transmit it to a subsequent partner when topping.
Gay men had lots of unprotected anal sex with frequently changing partners, both of which raise the risk of getting HIV substantially.
Gay people also weren’t using condoms at the time, unlike straight people trying to avoid pregnancy