The head of the UN AIDS Agency, Michel Sidibe, is laying it on the line. With direct and pointed words, he stated yesterday that "it is unacceptable" that 85 countries still have laws criminalizing homosexuality. In fact, seven countries punish homosexuality with the death penalty.
Sidibe described the "growing conservatism" around the world frightening. The fact that conservative policies are increasing and that HIV is on the rise among groups which are not only being discriminated against but facing harsh criminal punishments, is a recipe for disaster. Sidibe warns of a rise in HIV of "epidemic" proportions.
He also pointed out that in Caribbean countries, most of which don't have repressive laws, that only about 5% of HIV is among men having sex with men. The United States, however, is shockingly seeing a spike in new HIV cases, with around 50% of those among homosexuals. Some of this, he concluded, is due to a new "complacency" about the disease.
"We must insist that the rights of the minorities are upheld. If we don't do that ... I think the epidemic will grow again," he warned. "We cannot accept the tyranny of the majority."
In his analysis we can see one of the most dangerous side effects of conservative and restrictive governments. While gays struggle the world over for basic civil rights protections, epidemic disease can be a result of isolation of various groups in the population, groups which are limited in their access to fair and available medical treatments and information. While these governments will undoubtedly entertain the thoughts that perhaps it wouldn't be too bad if certain groups in the population would start dying off, they're missing the piece that will in the end, be their undoing as well. HIV is alive and well among all groups in the population, and while they may not belong to the groups at highest risk now, they will eventually be the population left, the only population left for HIV to attack.
Governments choosing to criminalize and restrict certain groups based solely on some false morality they've created for themselves can come to no other result but to destroy civilization itself, not just the marked parties.
Read more about the warnings of Michel Sidibe HERE
Lesbian couples wanted for research study on Proposition 8
Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 02 February 2010
The aim of this research is to explore the meaning of marriage to lesbian couples marginalized by the California State Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8 and the affects of minority stress on some lesbian couples now barred from the legal institution of marriage in California. The research focus is on the lived experiences of lesbian couples and it seeks to make visible the hidden hierarchies of heterosexism.
The results of this research will be used to educate social workers and other professionals in order to advocate for equal rights in the civil rights debate on marriage equality in the State of California. Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act creates less social equality for same-sex couples in the State of California and has marginalized lesbian couples that would like access to the legal entitlements, regardless of their marital status and may have created mental health problems, as a result of this social policy.
Participant criteria:
--Five to Seven lesbian couples that are currently living together in the State of California and would like to get married.
--Aged 18 years or older
Please contact: Margo J. Randolph, MSW student at (559)790-0048 or rose29@csufresno.edu for more information.
Written by Victoria Colliver, SF Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, 08 December 2009
San Francisco health officials reported an alarming increase in new syphilis cases last year after years of declines.
New syphilis cases rose 55.8 percent in 2008 over the previous year, San Francisco public health officials reported.
The increase was significantly lower than the dramatic spikes reported early in the decade, when new infections increased 167 percent from 2001 to 2002. But last year's rise would seem to indicate an increase in unsafe sexual practices, which could lead to a rise in HIV infection rates.
San Francisco health experts said they have not seen an increase in new HIV cases and cannot explain the reason for it.
"We don't have a single explanation to tie it to, but we do know reported risk behaviors haven't changed dramatically," said Dr. Susan Philip, acting director of the sexually transmitted disease prevention and control services unit of San Francisco's Health Department, which published the new findings in its 2008 summary of sexually transmitted diseases.
HIV Infections Continue to Rise Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men
Written by Latino Commission on AIDS
Tuesday, 08 December 2009
December 2, 2009 - New York , New York - The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene commemorated World AIDS Day by releasing new data to highlight continuing challenges in the struggle to contain HIV in New York City . The number of new HIV diagnoses has not changed significantly in recent years; the total for 2008 is not yet final but appears very close to the 2007 total of 3,965. Yet the number and proportion of new diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) continues its alarming trend upwards. Preliminary numbers suggest that MSM accounted for 42% of the city’s new HIV diagnoses last year, up from 37% just four years earlier. And for men between 13 and 29 years old, that rising proportion reflects a rapid increase in actual infections – from 551 in 2004 to 706 in the partial count for 2008.
Yet Another Study Finds Sexuality Separate From Sexual Abuse
Written by Chris Jarvis
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
(Baltimore) A preliminary report commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops on the roots of the clergy sex abuse scandal found no evidence that gay priests are more likely than heterosexual clergy to molest children, the lead authors of the study said Tuesday.
The full report by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice won’t be completed until the end of next year. But the authors said that their evidence to date found no data indicating that homosexuality was a predictor of abuse.
“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith of John Jay College, in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now.”
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