Comfort with having sexual orientation recorded on official databases among a community and online sample of gay and bisexual men in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Introduction Sexual orientation minorities have worse health outcomes than the heterosexual majority. In 2023, Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) added sexual and gender identity items to the Census, offering actionable data for improving sexual identity and gender identity (SOGI) community health. However, this also raises questions about individuals' willingness to provide such information to Government and their comfort with data privacy and governance. Methods Using data from gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) participants of the Gay Auckland Periodic Sex Survey and Gay Men's Online Sex Survey 2014 cross-sectional surveys, the study question examined comfort having their sexual orientation recorded in official databases. A logistic regression model was used to identify independent predictors of comfort, including sociodemographic and behavioural variables. Results Of 3173 participants who completed the question, 63.1% were comfortable with recording sexual orientation. Adjusted odds ratios showed less comfort among those identifying with an 'Other' ethnicity (AOR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.43-0.96), identifying as bisexual (AOR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.35-0.56), and those who did not believe their GP to be aware of their sexuality (AOR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.26-0.40). No sexual behaviours were independently associated with comfort. Discussion The majority of GBM participants reported comfort with having their sexual orientation recorded on official databases, but some are not, and this is patterned by sociodemographic variables. Officials should improve the safety and perceived relevance of sexual orientation data collection efforts to increase their representativeness and utility for sexual minority populations.

Habitual condom use across partner type and sexual position among younger gay and bisexual men: findings from New Zealand HIV behavioural surveillance 2006-2011.

OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to investigate demographic and behavioural factors associated with condom use and to examine how habitual condom use was across partner types and sexual positions among younger men who have sex with men (YMSM), aged 16-29, surveyed in New Zealand. METHODS: We analysed the 2006-2011 national HIV behavioural surveillance data from YMSM who reported anal intercourse in four scenarios of partner type and sexual position: casual insertive, casual receptive, regular insertive and regular receptive. For each, respondents' condom use was classified as frequent (always/almost always) or otherwise, with associated factors identified with multivariate mixed-effect logistic regression. Habitual condom use across scenarios was examined using a latent variable technique that estimated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: Frequent condom use was reported for 63.6% of 5153 scenarios reported from 2412 YMSM. Frequent use increased from boyfriend to fuckbuddy to casual partners. Infrequent use was associated with online recruitment, Pacific ethnicity, less education, HIV positivity, sex with women, having ≥20 sexual partners versus 1 and reporting insertive and receptive sexual positions. Frequent condom use was associated with having two to five sexual partners versus one and shorter regular partnerships. The ICC=0.865 indicated highly habitual patterns of use; habitual infrequent condom use was most prevalent with regular partners (53.3%) and habitual frequent condom use was most prevalent with casual partners (70.2%) and for either sexual position (50.5% and 49.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Habitual condom use among YMSM highlights the value of early, engaging and sustained condom promotion. Public health should provide better and more compelling condom education, training and promotion for YMSM.

HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men in New Zealand 1985-2009: 25 years of public health monitoring.

Annual population-based estimates of the number of men who have sex with men (MSM) with diagnosed HIV infection (HIV prevalence pool), and the proportion of all MSM this represents (HIV prevalence), have been insufficiently described over the long term. We investigated the dynamic effects of ongoing HIV diagnoses, lower mortality due to treatment and growth in the MSM population over time on these two epidemic indicators using national HIV/AIDS surveillance data in New Zealand, 1985-2009. The diagnosed HIV prevalence pool rose 79% between 1989 and 1999, and 137% between 1999 and 2009. Estimates of diagnosed HIV prevalence as a proportion of MSM were 0.2% of MSM in 1985, and were between 1.5% and 5.0% of MSM by 2009. New Zealand continues to have a relatively low-prevalence HIV epidemic among MSM; however, the number of MSM living with diagnosed infection is growing rapidly 25 years after HIV testing was introduced.