Gay-spread monkeypox is back. Watchdog asks policymakers to drop the political correctness.

Health officials in California recently confirmed that monkeypox, a virus spread almost entirely in the West by and among homosexual men, has once again reared its ugly head in the United States.

The Oversight Project, a government watchdog group, is calling on policymakers poised to tackle the latest outbreaks to drop the political correctness that tripped up previous approaches to the disease.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, "Public officials should be honest about how and where monkeypox is spreading, should not be worried about offending anyone, and should pull the fire alarm if animals and children start catching it."

Monkeypox is a nasty disease caused by a virus in the same genus as the virus that causes smallpox. While endemic in various African regions, monkeypox made a global play in early 2022.

Individuals infected with monkeypox may experience a painful rash that can look like pimples or blisters, respiratory problems, exhaustion, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and chills. The disease can be spread via respiratory droplets, through "direct contact with a rash or sores of someone who has the virus," and through "contact with clothing, bedding, and other items used by a person" with the virus.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that of the 528 infections diagnosed between April 27 and June 24, 2022, 98% of those infected were homosexuals and that "transmission was suspected to have occurred through sexual activity in 95% of the persons with infection."

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Photo by Ronaldo Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Months after then-President Joe Biden stated in May 2022 that "everybody should be concerned" about the virus, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra declared that a "public health emergency exists nationwide." Numerous states including Illinois and New York subsequently rushed to declare statewide disaster emergencies.

'They should shut down gay bathhouses.'

While the Biden administration and various state health authorities appeared willing to admit that the spread was predominantly among homosexuals, they nevertheless generalized the threat, glossed over the nature and locations of the spread, and refrained from cracking down on super-spreader venues in the same fashion they had when tackling COVID-19 — while in some cases fretting both privately and publicly about feeding into homosexuals' "sexual shame and stigma."

Such efforts to gloss over critical facts and to pretend the virus presented a danger to the general population evidently caused consternation behind the scenes.

The Oversight Project flagged, for instance, a May 27, 2022, email in which Dr. Stephanie Cohen, then-medical director of the San Francisco City Clinic, noted to other officials at the San Francisco Department of Public of Health that while she supported the "desire to not stigmatize gay men/MSM and agree that other populations can be affected, I worry a bit that we are not being fully transparent about current [epidemic]."

The Oversight Project noted that "officials were primarily concerned with not stigmatizing, the exact opposite of the COVID response."

The watchdog group further revealed that while health officials around the country were well aware that the disease was being spread at LGBT events and homosexual venues such as bathhouses, they refrained from seeking health crackdowns on such locations.

The disease, which the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under Anthony Fauci was reportedly cleared to conduct gain-of-function experiments on, has apparently made a comeback.

Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the City of Long Beach's health department both confirmed new cases of monkeypox in their respective jurisdictions.

The announcements by both health authorities appear to have once again been worded to avoid stigmatizing homosexuals. The Long Beach health authority noted, for instance, that "Mpox can spread through specific behaviors, regardless of a person’s race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation."

The Los Angeles County DPH, echoing the state health authority, did, however, note that the disease primarily impacts "communities of gay and bisexual men" and that risk can be mitigated by reducing the number of sexual partners, limiting attendance at "sex or circuit parties," and refraining from sharing "fetish gear" and sex toys.

"Monkeypox is back. We encourage policymakers to follow the science instead of political correctness this time," stated the Oversight Project.

When asked what prioritizing science over political correctness would look like in practice, Howell told Blaze News, "It means they should shut down gay bathhouses if they're again epicenters for monkeypox."

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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