Chris Ward, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Guildford, makes his Comment is Free début with a piece tackling Julian Lewis’s irresponsible assumptions that AIDS is a solely gay disease.
In every year since 1999, most new diagnoses of HIV have been through heterosexual contact. Although many point out that a good chunk of these infections are believed to have been contracted abroad, statistically meaning that in the UK you are still less likely to be infected if you engage in heterosexual activities, the numbers are still very chilling. It proves convincingly that many heterosexuals do not consider HIV to be an infection likely to affect them. The myth of the gay disease may have heightened awareness of HIV among gays, but it has also sent a wave of complacency across the heterosexual community.
The Guardian article is here.
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4 Comments
Interesting revelation in the Guardian that another Tory candidate, Philippa Stroud, founded evangelical churches which taught that homosexuals were possessed by demons:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure
To be fair, not just homosexuals – alcohol and drug users too…
Ironic observation: HIV, and most other STIs, are almost non-existent in the lesbian population. When it does appear, it’s usually come via the bisexuals.
If we applied right-wing unlogic to this observation, we would conclude that AIDS is caused by men.
Although the article in the Observer says that Mrs Stroud declined to speak to the newspaper, apparently she has now issued a statement in response to it:
“I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However, it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested otherwise. I have spent 20 years working with disturbed people who society have turned their back on and are not often supported by state agencies; drug addicts, alcoholics, the mentally ill and the homeless that I and my charitable friends in the public sector have tried to help over the years. The idea that I am prejudiced against gay people is both false and insulting.”
http://cardiffblogger.co.uk/archives/philippa-strouds-statement
It’s a curious response, because as far as I can see the article does not suggest she believes homosexuality to be an illness. (The article does use the word ‘cure’ in referring to the process of exorcism, but I think it’s safe to assume the word is used metaphorically!)
The suggestion is that she believes homosexuality is caused by demonic possession, and that the appropriate response is to “drive out the demons”. Remarkably, there is no denial of that in her statement.
Twenty five years after Elizabeth and Ariel Glazer, and 10 years after Ofra Haza. These people are idiots.
There’s some zany gender politics which says this is false, and there is a massive epidemic amongst lesbians being hidden by a heterosexist society. I don’t understand it, but think dental dams are suggested as a prevention.