Why is working with crossovers such a big deal?

The concepts are gay crossovers working in the straight porn industry is a very heated subject matter. But I don’t understand why. We are adults, can’t we talk about how we feel like adults? It’s not like people are hating on someone for being gay.

We need to put our feelings aside and talk about FACTS.

Some people will no doubt be butthurt over what I’m about to say but to those people I’m sorry. I have just as much right to my beliefs as you have to yours. The only difference is, my views are based on cold hard facts and scientific data.

I heard someone say this recently and it’s true.

Just because I don’t want to have sex with a gay guy doesn’t make me homophobic. What kind of ridiculous thought process is that?

The reason I don’t support crossovers, and the reason people like August Ames fought for the very same thing, is because the gay and the straight industry are not the same.

• Performers in the straight industry are required to test ever 2 weeks
• Performers in the gay industry do not
• Gay males are at a much higher risk for getting HIV (1 in 6)
• 68% of all HIV cases are among gay and bisexual males

Some people might be quick to say, who cares if they test when they come over to our industry why is that not good enough?

This is where the heated part of the debate comes into play. Certain people are passing around false information or they just don’t seem to understand math.

If person A sleeps with person B and neither have HIV, there is a 0% chance to get HIV. That is what impossible means because you can’t give an STD you don’t have to someone. That’s something we can all agree on, right?

Now if person A has sex with person B and person B has HIV there is a chance that person B can give person A HIV. I think that’s also something we can all agree with, right? It’s not a 100% chance, but there is still a chance you could get HIV if you have sex with someone who is HIV positive.

Now if person A sleeps with person B and person B has HIV but he (or she) is on medication which suppresses their count enough to trick the PASS system into passing them, there is a small, chance to get HIV. Sure the chance is small, but the chance is still there.

According to the World Health Organization, if a person is HIV positive and on antiretroviral therapy, this reduces the risk of transmission by up to 96%. No not 100% — 96%! I don’t know about you but I’m not willing to play those odds. 4% is still 4% too much for me.

Now keep in mind that same person who is on their antiretroviral therapy will clear the PASS test.

So you tell me, are you willing to play those odds?

Now let’s talk about the CDC’s official statement — according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) — HIV medicine is called antiretroviral therapy, or ART. If taken as directed, HIV medicine reduces the amount of HIV in the body (viral load) to a very low level, which keeps the immune system working and prevents illness. This is called viral suppression—defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood. HIV medicine can even make the viral load so low that a test can’t detect it. This is called an undetectable viral load.  If you are virally suppressed or have an undetectable viral load, your HIV is under control.

This is what a lot of people like to quote. “People who take ART daily as prescribed and achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting the virus to an HIV-negative partner.”

Only that statement is misleading. Almost no chance doesn’t actually mean NO chance. Remember before when we talked about how if person A and person B had sex, there was still a small chance? A CHANCE OF ANY KIND TO GIVE ME HIV IS TO MUCH OF A CHANCE FOR ME.

If you are having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV positive, there is always a chance they could give it to you.

If you are okay with those odds, doesn’t mean you get the right to make that decision for everyone in the industry. Every performer should have the right to chose if they are willing to take on that added risk for themselves.

• “Undetectable” does not mean “cured.” There is no cure for HIV. An undetectable viral load means that so few copies of the virus are present in the blood that today’s monitoring tests are unable to detect them. Even with an undetectable viral load, however, an HIV-positive person still has the virus.
• It’s not impossible to transmit HIV. Your viral load can fluctuate between tests. This can happen for no known reason, or when you have a sexually transmitted infection like chlamydia or gonorrhea, or when ART doses are missed. During these viral load “blips,” the chance of transmitting the virus may be higher. A variety of things can cause your viral load to go up between the time you took the STD test and showed cleared in PASS and the time you do your scene. Even something as a small cut on your finger could divert your body’s immune system to fight off infection for the cut. This small fluctuation could, in turn, increase the chance you could transmit HIV to your scene parter, despite the fact that you were cleared in PASS.

What about PrEP?

If person A sleeps with person B and person B has HIV, but person A is on PrEP, there is a reduced risk of transmission by as much as 92% however 92% is not 100%. That means there is still a chance of getting HIV if you have sex with someone who is HIV positive – as much as an 8% chance. That’s a big chance you are taking with your life and that doesn’t even take into account all the crazy side effects that go along with taking PrEP.

Are you willing to roll the dice and hope you aren’t one of the unlucky 8 out of 100?  The Free Speech Coalition and their performer branch APAC will have you believe that you don’t have any right to know if the person you are doing a scene with is HIV+.  Apparently, they are just fine rolling the dice with your health and well being.