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Jonathan Van Ness thinks the US government's response to the monkeypox outbreak has been “fuelled by homophobia”.
The 35-year-old TV star has blasted the government's “botched response” to the health crisis in an essay for TIME magazine.
He wrote: “Watching the government's botched response to monkeypox has been surreal, and in many ways, I believe it's been fuelled by homophobia and transphobia.”
The ‘Queer Eye' star also accused legislators in the US of being slow to react.
He said: “When an outbreak affects mainly men who have sex with men, some portion of our elected legislators will have no incentive to act. He thinks it will not touch their constituents, which is obviously messed up because people's lives are at stake, and there are queer people in all 50 states.”
Jonathan is now calling for urgent action against monkeypox.
The TV star explained that one of his own friends was recently forced to cancel a trip to New Orleans after being diagnosed with monkeypox.
He said: “I started calling all the political contacts I have, ringing alarm bells about how quickly cases were rising, and pleading with officials to take the virus more seriously.”
So far, Jonathan has been disappointed by the reaction of politicians, including US President Joe Biden.
He also likened the government's response to the ineffective reaction to the AIDS epidemic in the 80s.
Jonathan – who came out as HIV positive in 2019 – explained: “Once again, we're seeing too little action taken until the situation has ballooned out of control. If nothing changes, we'll continue to experience failures like this response, which has been plagued with too few tests, lack of access to treatments, inadequate vaccine supply, and ambiguous guidance.”
He added: “Why is it that we haven't seen this administration prioritise the rapid procurement of monkeypox vaccines?”
