Posted on 12/08/2003 12:04:25 PM PST by M 91 u2 K
Editorial: The Community Manifesto issued by gay activists in Seattle and calling on gay men to accept their responsibility for the spread of AIDS and for doing something about it is the first statement of its kind to come out of the gay community. It recognizes that the AIDS epidemic is entirely the result of irresponsible behavior, which if corrected would halt the epidemic in its tracks. Instead of holding irresponsible ideologues who have promoted “sexual liberation” -- and thus self-destruction -- accountable, politically correct individuals in the gay community, the public health system and the Democratic Party have blamed inadequate funding and “homophobia” for the tragedy. It is twenty years too late for the hundreds of thousands of dead gay men who have been the victims of misinformation put out by gay leaders, the government and the liberal media. This misinformation is still the word of the day, most recently in the CBS miniseries “The Reagans,” which blames Ronald Reagan for deaths that should properly be attributed to gay activists, the principal AIDS organizations, former Surgeon General, Dr. Everett Koop, and writers like Tony Kushner and NY Times columnist Frank Rich who have put out false information, and conducted witch-hunts of anyone who spoke the truth about this terrible and avoidable scourge.
From the beginning of the AIDS epidemic there has been only one way to combat the epidemic and that is behavioral change. Behavioral change can only be accomplished by holding people accountable for the consequences of their acts. For twenty years the progressive culture has labeled “homophobic” anyone who has tried to point this out and save gay lives. Now a group of gay activists has finally said, “Enough of us are dead. Let’s stop the lies, and begin the task of saving others.” This is why we are posting the Community Manifesto on this site. – David Horowitz
A Community Manifesto: A New Response to HIV and STDs
In the face of alarming increases in HIV and STD* infection rates among Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, we--the MSM HIV/STD Prevention Task Force--issue this Manifesto calling for desperately needed community norms and actions.
Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men must act against the behaviors and attitudes responsible for the increased spread of these diseases. Today, one in seven Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are infected with HIV. Among Gay men in King County, syphilis rates are 100 times higher than in the general heterosexual population, and are estimated to be 1000 times higher among HIV positive Gay men than among the general heterosexual population. These rates show we have stopped doing the things that protect us and our sex partners from needless infection.
Every Gay, Bisexual, or other man who has sex with men is responsible for the health and well-being of the community. Our sexual relationships should be passionate, healthy, consensual, honest, and respectful. We are accountable for our behavior-to ourselves, our sex partners, and our community:
Knowingly transmitting HIV is avoidable; its transmission is unacceptable.
Disclosing HIV/STD status does not negate the necessity to practice safe sex.
Bare-backing is unacceptable high-risk behavior except in committed monogamous relationships between partners of the same HIV status.
Transmitting HIV knowingly is an act of violence. HIV/AIDS prevention workers, health care providers, public health staff, and AIDS service organizations must lead by motivating the community to prevent future STD and HIV infections through:
Up-to-date, relevant information about HIV and STD prevention.
Loud, clear messages of health.
Diverse, specific, and crucial HIV and STD prevention statements delivered in a variety of media.
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*Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), including syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes are transmitted from person to person through sexual contact and increase the risk of getting or passing on HIV.
All Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men must care about health--their own, the community's, and each person's-as an act of self-love and an affirmation of self worth by:
Joining together to make safer sex-the proper use of condoms and treating each partner with honesty and compassion-our community norm.
Challenging friends or loved ones that do not conform to this community norm with the consequences of their actions.
Advocating for information, access to treatment, and an end to discrimination. We who are HIV positive men must take responsibility for not transmitting our virus, to demonstrate compassion for all our partners, anonymous and long-term, and to show our concern for the standing and reputation of our community.
We who are HIV negative or don't know our HIV status must believe that HIV infection is not inevitable, must learn what our status is, take responsibility for not acquiring HIV, and get tested regularly. We cannot assume we are HIV negative if, since the last HIV test, we have had unprotected anal sex with a partner whose HIV status is positive or unknown.
To all Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men:
If you have multiple sex partners, use a condom for anal sex and get tested regularly for HIV and STDs. Know your HIV and STD status, disclose your status to sex partners, and ask them to disclose theirs to you.
Challenge any sex partner who doesn't know his HIV and STD status.
In disclosing to potential sex or drug partners, give an honest, accurate HIV/STD history, including test results and how long since your last tests.
Realize that medications for HIV are expensive and damaging to a person's system-even with today's advances, HIV infection is never trivial.
If you choose to use mind-altering substances, like poppers or crystal, you risk letting down your guard-being high is not an excuse for unsafe sex.
Accept that your actions have consequences.
Get tested.
Future generations of Gay, Bisexual, and other men who have sex with men must not inherit HIV!
Stop transmitting STDs and HIV NOW!
Articles by David Horowitz on AIDS/HIV:
Silent Slaughter
Unnecessary Deaths from AIDS
Horowitz Challenges New York Times on Pro-AIDS Propaganda
Facing the Truth About AIDS
The Boys in the Bathhouses
The AIDS Epidemic is Just Beginning
Male homosexuals don't engage in the same behavior as a polygamist, in general. Except, of course, if you're referring to a male homosexual with several wives.......... well, that would get very difficult, I would think.
The article is very interesting, as a honest step forward. Randy Shilts, author of "And The Band Played On" praised the brave gay spokesmen in San Francisco who were arguing to shut the bath houses down in the early 1980s. A deadly new sexually transmitted disease was around, and all the constant daily contacts in bath houses made them ideal breeding grounds. The spokesmen were threatened and everything else, because closing down the bathhouses was like shutting down the party. Gays refused then to accept any responsiblity; in fact, a ridiculous campaign to blame Ronald Reagan began.
As a matter of their own lives and deaths, it's long past time to grow up and accept responsibility. Shilts, BTW, died of AIDS in 1994 at the age of 42.
I KNOW I'll be sorry I asked, but what is that?
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