December 2018 Issue #24 December 2018 Issue #24 CHRISTMAS | Page 115

To round all the above off, about 36% of gay men did not have unprotected anal sex
in the last year. About 25% said they only had unprotected anal sex some of the time.
And 39% said that all or nearly all of it was unprotected. So who is not using con-
doms?
Gay men who are married/civil partnered or dating a regular partner can reach a stage
in their relationship when they agree to condom-free sex with each other – indeed 51%
of the men who responded to our survey say they’ve had sex with just one partner in
the past year. 41% said they were in a monogamous relationship.
But gay men in long-term and monogamous relationships aren’t the only ones choos-
ing not to use condoms. Almost a quarter (24%) those are single men. Being single
gay men, they may be having bareback sex with any number of partners. GMFA’s sur-
vey asked these single men how many sexual partners they had unprotected anal sex
with in the past year. Their answers are:
14%: 1 partner
26%: 2-4 partners
25%: 5-12 partners
15%: 13-29 partners
16%: 30-99 partners
4%: 100+ partners
Ian Howley of GMFA told us his thoughts on these stats: “We know that the majority of
gay and bisexual men use condoms some of the time. There is an idea out there that
everyone doesn’t use condoms, and for a lot of people who responded to this survey
this is the case. But many of these men are in long term relationships, or are married/
civil partnered or said they were in a monogamous relationship. When you look at
these stats, it’s only a small percentage of gay men, who are having lots of unprotect-
ed anal sex, who are at a high level of risk. So to say everyone barebacks all of the
time is untrue”
The survey also asked everyone who took the survey about their HIV status. Of the
single men who completed the survey:
38% are definitely HIV-negative
16% are probably HIV-negative
34% are definitely HIV-positive
2% are probably HIV-positive
10% don’t know
Altogether, 54% of single men who are having bareback sex describe themselves as
HIV-negative. We decided to ask these men why they choose not to use condoms.
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