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Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger weren't drawn to "Brokeback Mountain," the story of two cowboys involved in a homosexual relationship, by the movie's risky subject matter or the controversy it may raise. In fact, said Gyllenhaal, those aspects of the script worked against his decision to do the film. "I read the story and heard about it as 'the gay cowboy movie' and I immediately responded against that," he said at a press conference for the film at the Toronto Film Festival Saturday. "[But] as soon as I heard [director] Ang [Lee] was attached, I knew it would be a...

POP star Andy Bell says he always WANTED to be HIV positive. The gay Erasure singer, 40, revealed he is HIV positive last month — six years after diagnosis. And in a new interview he says: “You are going to think this strange, but I wanted to be HIV positive. I thought HIV was a touchstone of being gay. “But I’m a fighter. They will have to take me from this world kicking and screaming.” Bandmate Vince Clarke, 44, insisted Bell’s diagnosis did not change anything. He said: “I had no fear this was the end. “I have other friends...

Antibiotic-resistant strain of syphilis is spreading A fast-spreading mutant strain of syphilis has proved resistant to the antibiotic pills that are offered to some patients as an alternative to painful penicillin shots. Since the late 1990s, doctors and public health clinics have been giving azithromycin to some syphilis patients because the long-acting antibiotic pill was highly effective and easy to use. Four pills taken at once were usually enough to cure syphilis. But now researchers at University of Washington in Seattle have found at least 10 percent of syphilis samples from patients at sexually transmitted disease clinics in four cities...

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A growing number of gay and bisexual men in the United States are engaging in risky sex with partners they meet on the Internet, raising fears that the AIDS virus could be poised for a major comeback in the group hardest hit by the epidemic. Online chatrooms and Web sites are replacing gay bathhouses and sex clubs as the most popular meeting point to arrange high-risk sex, according to two new studies presented on Tuesday at the 2003 National HIV (news - web sites) Prevention Conference. The findings come amid growing evidence of an apparent resurgence of...

Figures newly released show HIV infection rates in NSW have increased for the first time since 1994. The only surprise, perhaps, is that the rise did not come sooner. AIDS lobby groups are blaming declining federal government funding and leadership. They are acknowledging a rise in unsafe sex among homosexually active men, the largest group affected by the virus in Australia. They are also pointing to foolhardy youth, and the false belief the virus has been cured. What they haven't got their heads around is the use of language. American culture soon sweeps the world. And so the verb "barebacking"...

<p>New HIV infections are on the rise in the San Francisco Bay area, in part, because a small proportion of gay men who are having unprotected sex, a new study shows. The study said despite years promoting condom use to prevent HIV infection, some gay men are actively seeking out partners who will have unprotected sex with them.</p>

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - New HIV infections are on the rise in the San Francisco Bay area, in part, because a small proportion of gay men who are having unprotected sex, a new study shows.</p> <p>The study said despite years promoting condom use to prevent HIV infection, some gay men are actively seeking out partners who will have unprotected sex with them.</p>