A new study by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration yielded some sobering findings:
"Interviews with 500 gay men throughout the District found that more than 40 percent were unaware of their diagnosis before the study, even though most had seen a doctor in the past 12 months, and more than a third did not know the HIV status of their last sex partner.
The study also shattered some stereotypes: Younger men generally had safer sex behaviors; men older than 30 were tested less frequently, used condoms less often and had more sex partners…Last year, the city tested 95,000 people and handed out 3.5 million condoms.
Even so, the report found that more than 40 percent of those interviewed said they did not use a condom with their last sex partner. Although men of color used condoms almost twice as frequently as white men, the study found more men of color were HIV positive than white men."