Free Republic

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are appealing the conviction of an Easton woman who was accused of endangering a child by using cocaine while she was pregnant. Kelly Cruz, 30, was found guilty of a reckless endangerment charge Aug. 5 after waiving her right to a jury trial. She was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison. Cruz was charged in February, about a month after giving birth to a premature baby boy who tested positive for cocaine. Defense attorneys had sought an acquittal, arguing there was never a risk of harm to another person -- because...

Two young people have died in Idaho, each suspected of trying to catch a buzz by cutting off the blood supply to their brains. Also in recent weeks, a college student in Kentucky and another youth in Michigan have fallen to their deaths while "surfing" atop moving vehicles. Dangerous activities like these aren't new, but experts say today's teens are increasingly likely to try them - and to take more risks than previous generations. "It's certainly part of the teenage psyche - but we're seeing an enormous amount of it of late," says Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University...

Accused HIV spreader puts Atlanta's gay community on edge The Associated Press - ATLANTA Garry Wayne Carriker was a fourth-year medical student with a charming style that he worked to his advantage around the city's bustling gay scene. But just months after he would have graduated from Emory University Medical School, Carriker's career is on hold as he sits in jail, awaiting trial on sex-crime charges that have put Atlanta's gay community on edge. His crime? Police say the 26-year-old knew he had the HIV virus but went ahead with unprotected consensual sex with another man without warning him. And...

University of Arizona researchers discovered that the recreational use of drugs such as Cialis, Levitra and Viagra by gay men increases the chances they'll have sex without a condom by as much as 600%. As a result, those men were also twice as likely to be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. And half mixed the prescription medication with an illegal drug, including ecstasy and methamphetamine.

A Massachusetts court has recently had to resolve the question, as a matter of tort law, what duty of care a pair of non-married adults owe to each other for injuries resulting from consensual sex between them. I'll leave the details of the case for those with strong stomachs who are willing to read the opinion found in the preceding link. In summary, however, the plaintiff (male) was injured when the defendant (female) changed her position during the middle of intercourse. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, finding that, as a matter of law, there...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it plans to go ahead with a new guideline that recommends that men who've had sex with other men within the past five years be rejected as anonymous sperm donors. The FDA has rejected criticism that the move stigmatizes all gay men and that the restriction should apply to all men -- gay or straight -- who've engaged in high-risk sexual behavior. The FDA says gay men collectively pose a higher-than-average risk of carrying HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the Associated Press reported. It's not clear whether the FDA guideline will have...

Health officials have worried for years about the high rate of HIV among African Americans. Now the federal Centers for Disease Control is examining how one group, known as men on the "down low," could be spreading the disease among black women.

Dr. Gail Wyatt has a message for black women: We need to change our views and actions regarding sexuality. Or die. Nearly three-quarters of America's new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are African-American women. Black women between 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than white women of the same age. It is one of the most underreported news stories of this new decade, and sadly, more women will die before we pay attention. Black women and their sexuality are the focus of Wyatt's research since she conducted the first study...

Study: Abstinence May Lead to Risky Acts 1 hour, 35 minutes ago U.S. National - AP By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are more likely to take chances with other kinds of sex that increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, a study of 12,000 adolescents suggests. The report by Yale and Columbia University researchers could help explain their earlier findings that teens who pledged abstinence are just as likely to have STDs as their peers. The latest study, published in the April issue of the Journal of...

A new survey by the Partnership for a Drug Free America has found that 12 percent of today's parents have never talked to their kids about drugs and the risks they pose. That's twice as many as just six years ago. At the same time, parents are significantly underestimating their kids' use of and exposure to drugs in schools and communities. This phenomenon is raising alarms in the drug-prevention community, primarily because statistics show that kids whose parents talk with them regularly about drugs are 50 percent less likely to use them. But it's also because this generation of children...

After all the thousands of AIDS deaths and all the years of "Safe Sex Is Hot Sex" prevention messages, it has come down to this: many gay men who know the rules of engagement in the age of AIDS are not using condoms. As news of a potentially virulent strain of H.I.V. settles in, gay activists and AIDS prevention workers say they are dismayed and angry that the 25-year-old battle against the disease might have to begin all over again. While many are calling for a renewed commitment to prevention efforts and free condoms, some veterans of the war on...

--- Fire Smokers, Hire Fat Homosexuals By Pete Fisher Feb 11, 2005 We have recently seen some companies such as the one in Lansing, Michigan fire employees for smoking cigarettes. The reason they used was the higher insurance rates imposed for those who engaged in a high risk lifestyle. We have seen a trend on smoking bans nationwide and worldwide over the past 3 decades from businesses to bars, airports and public outdoor areas. And I really do not mind most of them, smoker or not, people who do not smoke should not be forced to inhale fumes in a...

NEW YORK : Two New York men have been diagnosed with a rare sexually transmitted disease that has recently been making inroads among gay and bisexual men in Europe. The disease, a rare form of chlamydia known as lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, can cause serious illness, permanent disfigurement and fuel the spread of AIDS, according to New York health officials. "LGV is a serious condition and its emergence in New York City reflects continuing high levels of unsafe sexual activity among men who have sex with men," said the city's health commissioner Thomas Frieden. "It is also critical for gay...

With the big flap over so-called "gay marriage" temporarily on the back burner--now that their fearless but feckless leader John Kerry has gone down in flames, and with the first government-sanctioned same-sex unions already ending nastily in divorce courts and bitter custody battles--this just might be an opportune moment to discuss some rarely mentioned health problems inherent within the allegedly avant garde homosexual lifestyle. Some would say it is a known fact that most homosexuals, and especially gay men, are promiscuous. Their rhetoric is carefully crafted to give the impression they are in "committed, caring relationships" while research suggests that...

Approximately one out of six gay men use Viagra recreationally, and are more likely to do so if they are also using illegal drugs, new research indicates. U.S. investigators Richard Crosby of the University of Kentucky in Lexington and his co-author R. J. DiClemente found that men who experimented with cocaine and ecstasy were nearly three times more likely to have used Viagra without a prescription in the previous three months. However, the authors caution that the men included in the study were all attending a sex resort. Nevertheless, the results raise concerns, Crosby and DiClemente write. Taking Viagra may...

Psychoanalyst comments on gay "bug chasing." http://www.narth.com/docs/deathwish.html

The advent of "poke and stick" parties is causing a stir as more of our nation's youth are choosing to have their new tattoo or piercing done by a teenage friend, rather than a professional. Since these parties could be happening in your community, the Pennsylvania Medical Society cautions that this fad not only may violate a new state law, but it also could spread infectious diseases, like HIV and hepatitis. The organization's member doctors recommend that parents and teens carefully consider safety measures to protect themselves from serious health consequences. The ancient arts of tattooing and body piercing appear...

The men begin parking along the quiet residential street in Redford around 9 on Saturday nights — and the last leave around 6 Sunday mornings. In the intervening hours, some 40 to 85 men pay $12 to engage in orgy-style sex in the basement and ground-floor rooms of the ranch-style home. There are few rules. "Don’t ask, don’t tell" is the typical approach to the question of HIV status. And condoms are rarely used. That’s the point at a "bareback" party.

Gay and lesbian youth, like older LGBT people, may be 40 to 60 percent more likely than their straight peers to smoke cigarettes, according to data presented last week at a conference of gay and lesbian medical professionals. In a survey of over 12,000 students in grades 7-12, about 8 percent of the respondents indicated having same-sex attractions or same-sex relationships. Of those, nearly 45 percent of females and 35 percent of males reported smoking. Among those who did not report same-sex attractions, 29 percent -- both males and females -- were smokers. The survey was conducted by the National...

A longtime member of the New York Gay Men's Chorus, Bobby Darnell, nearly became a casualty of the crystal methamphetamine drug scene... Darnell began using crystal meth in casual sexual encounters and began searching the Internet for sexual liaisons. References on the Internet to "PNP" parties (shorthand for "party and play" - meaning sex and drugs) helps drug-addicted gay men find sex parties. Darnell was eventually hospitalized for his growing addicytion but later stopped using the drug. The use of crystal meth to enhance sexual experiences has spread rapidly among gay parties---especially during the past three to four years. A...

CHICAGO - Children who watched a lot of TV with sexual content were about twice as likely to start having intercourse during the subsequent year as those with little exposure to televised sex, researchers found. High exposure to TV sex among those age 12 to 17 also was linked with a lower but still substantially increased risk of starting non-intercourse behavior, including passionate kissing and oral sex, the researchers found. Even shows that only refer to sex but don't depict it had the effect, they found. "Exposure to TV that included only talk about sex was associated with the same...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Teenagers who watch a lot of television with sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse than those who watch few such programs, according to a study published on Tuesday. The study covered 1,792 adolescents aged 12 to 17 who were quizzed on viewing habits and sexual activity and then surveyed again a year later. Both regular and cable television were included. "This is the strongest evidence yet that the sexual content of television programs encourages adolescents to initiate sexual intercourse and other sexual activities," said Rebecca Collins, a psychologist at the RAND Corp. who...

HIV infections rise among gays More and more young homosexuals forget about the risks of AIDS By Peter-Philipp Schmitt Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The test had been long overdue. But Tim decided to have it done once he realized that he had another problem anyway. “I only went because I had contracted syphilis,“ he says. The results were not the news Tim wanted to hear: He had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Around Germany, increasing numbers of young German homosexuals like Tim are learning that they, too, are carrying around the deadly virus. While the number of new infections has...

<p>Women who abort their first accidental pregnancy are likely to abuse substances, a new study says.</p> <p>The report, published this month in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, is the latest of more than 20 studies linking abortion to substance abuse.</p>

On Tuesday night CNN devoted a segment of Anderson Cooper 360 to how, as CNN's Dr, Sanjay Gupta put it, throughout his presidency "many would accuse President Reagan of ignoring AIDS," as if Reagan talking about it would have done more to prevent it than those in the homosexual community modifying their unsafe sex practices. Leading into a Reagan clip from 1987, Gupta complained that "the first time President Reagan would utter the word AIDS in public would be well into his second term, six years after the virus was discovered." In fact, Reagan talked about AIDS in 1985 and...

Though President Bush rarely mentions it -- too many conservatives in Congress are uncomfortable with amending the Constitution to ban same-sex unions -- conservative preachers and right-wing activists can't let go of gay marriage. They're still using its "threat" to traditional families to rally their parishioners, lest they forget to be judgmental and unwittingly slip into love and mercy. Nowhere are the front lines in the battle against gay marriage tended with more care than in conservative black churches, where ministers regularly denounce homosexuality as an abomination. It is a curious approach they would no doubt characterize as "tough love,"...

Sexual Activity and Condom Use Up Among High School Students; 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Released 5/20/2004 7:00:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Adrienne Verrilli of Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S., 212-819-9770 NEW YORK, May 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance - United States, 2003 (YRBS). This report monitors six categories of health-risk behaviors among youth and young adults, including sexual behavior. Overall, trends in sexual behavior among high school students have been positive over the last 12 years. High school students who...

When Patrick Smith started using methamphetamine, he quickly found that sex and the potent drug — which gay men call Tina or Crystal — became hopelessly connected. Whenever he had sex, he wanted meth. Whenever he was high on meth, he wanted sex. A methamphetamine user since he was 16, Smith spent years having anonymous, unprotected sex while high. He took the drug whenever he could. He hooked up with male partners — he has no idea how many — at large dance parties and at all-night sex clubs. Smith ran out of money and prostituted himself. He was hospitalized...

Study: Lesbian & Bisexual Girls at Heightened Risk for Tobacco Use; Prevention Efforts Important When Working With Girls 4/5/2004 4:05:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Mary-Ellen Shay of Children's Hospital Boston, 617-355-6420; web: http://www.childrenshospital.org BOSTON, April 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A new study has found that lesbian and bisexual girls may be among the hardest hit by tobacco among the nation's young people. Led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the study appears in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Using data from adolescents participating in...

Black America's casual homophobia hardly speaks well for a people who have experienced so much discrimination themselves. But this bit of knee-jerk bigotry is no longer a mere social failing. It is now also a killer, keeping black gays in the closet and contributing to the rise of HIV. From the black church to the barbershop, a gay-bashing ethos is so prevalent that black men who have sex with other men refuse to admit that they're gay. Indeed, according to Dr. Helene Gayle, one of the nation's top African-American experts on AIDS, some black parents prefer to falsely accuse their...

'Crystal Meth' Use Boosts STD Rates Among Gay Men Thu Mar 11, 11:47 PM ET By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, March 11 (HealthDayNews) -- Crystal methamphetamine -- or "speed" -- seems to be a driving factor behind higher rates of sexually transmitted disease among gay and bisexual men. In one study from San Francisco, gay men who visited a health clinic were twice as likely to be infected with the AIDS virus if they had recently used the illegal drug. And they were nearly five times as likely to be diagnosed with syphilis. Armed with the new statistics, federal...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Internet has played a significant role in the latest increase in cases of syphilis among gay men by introducing partners more likely to practice high-risk sex, according to a study released on Wednesday. About 22 percent of homosexual men diagnosed with early stage syphilis reported meeting one or more of their sexual partners through the Internet around the time they were infected, said the study by the Los Angeles Health Department. Researchers at a national conference in Philadelphia on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases also said they found gays who used the Web to meet...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Internet has played a significant role in the latest increase in cases of syphilis among gay men by introducing partners more likely to practice high-risk sex, according to a study. About 22 percent of homosexual men diagnosed with early stage syphilis reported meeting one or more of their sexual partners through the Internet around the time they were infected, said the study by the Los Angeles Health Department on Wednesday. Researchers at a national conference in Philadelphia on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases also said they found gays who used the Web to meet sex...

Fewer Idaho teens drink, smoke and have sex than their peers across the country, according to survey results released by the state Department of Education on Friday. Students in the ninth through 12th grades in 36 of Idaho's public high schools were questioned last spring about everything from drug and alcohol use to sexual experience and eating habits. Many rates of "risky behavior" among Idaho teens were lower than those of two years ago, and several were far less than the natio nal average. Still, nearly a quarter of Idaho high school students engaged in binge drinking, consuming five or...

LONDON (Reuters) - Sexual antics of young British men and women on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza could be endangering their health, doctors warned on Wednesday. Around half the 1,500 people who arrived on Ibiza without a regular sexual partner said when questioned in a poll that they had sex with at least one person during their stay. One in four young men and one in seven women had more than one sexual partner. Eleven percent of males and three percent of females said they had indulged in sex with six or more people during a typical 10-day stay...

A new study by the British Medical Association finds that young people in Great Britain are living dangerously when it comes to eating, drinking, mental health, drugs, and sex. The frightening report reveals a burgeoning youth culture that is high on risk and low on character. The report found that one fifth of British adolescents aged 13 to 16 are overweight or obese. One in four 15 and 16 year olds smoke regularly, and one in five use drugs. Youth alcohol consumption now ranks among the highest in Europe, and binge drinking is becoming a serious problem. One in five...

New Report Details Sexual Trends Among Low-Income Black Urban Youth 1/21/04 9:01:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 202-478-8510 WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- For many low- income Black urban youth, sex is seen as little more than a transaction and mainstream messages about sex, love, and relationships are having little impact in the inner city, according to a new report from MEE (Motivational Educational Entertainment) Productions, released today by MEE, in partnership with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. This extraordinarily frank report, This is My...

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - Vancouver is facing the worst outbreak of syphilis per capita in the developed world, with city health officials fearful of a looming epidemic of the sexually transmitted disease once thought almost wiped out in North America. Some 254 new cases have been diagnosed locally this year authorities said early this week -- more than the total for North America in two decades, with more expected, said Dr. Michael Rekart of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. "There's a lot of unsafe sex going on in Vancouver and the disease has simply taken hold," Rekart said....

Teen Drug Abuse Declines Across Wide Front; Eleven Percent Reduction Exceeds President's Two-Year Goal 12/19/03 11:36:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk and Health Reporter Contact: Tom Riley of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 202-395-6618; Blair Gately of National Institute on Drug Abuse, 301-443-6245 WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, today released results of the 2003 Monitoring the Future survey, showing an 11 percent decline in drug use by 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students over the past...

IT'S A GOOD THING OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WAL-Mart is just 150 yards from my office. In my very informal Belz Blue-Collar Poll on Homosexual Marriage (see last week's issue), I forgot one very important follow-up question, and had to hurry back this morning to get a few more opinions. (This very unscientific approach is why you should attach no statistical significance to my findings.) To put this account in context, you need to know that a couple of days ago, I had also stopped by for a visit to the local unit of Red Cross, where I go as often as...

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...