Reflection on the LGBT community

As I was thinking about what to do for this particular project I had the trouble of reconciling the fact that I really don't want to learn anything about it at all.  The fact that I am required to take a diversity course, required that it focuses on a people group I'd rather not learn about, leaves a sour taste in my mouth.  The whole being forced to do something makes me naturally want to rebel and do the opposite, to not cooperate at all.  I had to get over that.  Took a while but I managed to do it.  I am more willing now to consider what part of this group I want to do research on.  Though the list just lists the different population groups that form the whole group, it didn't really give a good idea of what issues they are facing right now.  The most common one, well publicized is the Right to Marriage.  I don't really want to focus on that topic, I'd rather do something else.  So I have decided to preliminarily focus on gay men who suffer from AIDS or the potential hazards gay men/women face when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases.

Honestly I don't really know a lot of what to assume is true, the most common I guess is that gay men have the highest risk at contracting the disease.  It is life crippling/destroying.  It affects the LGBT community more than it affects heterosexual communities, though that's probably not the case in Africa.  The despair someone must feel at knowing there is no cure and it will eventually lead to their death?  That has gotta be really rough.

I think maybe social media may have influenced this belief?  The couple of friends who I have who claim to be gay and sexually active claimed to have sexual relations with other men who had AIDS, which to me seems insane, and they were lucky enough not to contract it.  Media portrayal of gay men, this being mainstream TV shows showing them sexually promiscuous? 

I am not sure what the most challenging thing I will face as I do research concerning this topic.  I want to be able to do a good job in finding reliable sources that will help me form good sound opinions.  Not just hearsay and gossip, social medias.  Another challenge may be that I will have to continue to reconcile that while I may have not done something like this on my own, being required to do this might not be a terrible thing after all.  There we have it.