Posted on 07/16/2004 4:52:39 PM PDT by familyop
During the summer of 1999, an outbreak of early syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) who met their sex partners on the Internet (1) presaged a rapidly expanding syphilis epidemic in San Francisco. By 2002, San Francisco had the highest rates of primary and secondary syphilis of any metropolitan area in the United States (2). During 1998--2002, the number of early syphilis cases increased, from 41 cases in 1998 to 495 cases in 2002 (3). Concomitant with the increase in early syphilis was an increase in the proportion of cases among MSM, from 22% in 1998 to 88% in 2002 (Figure 1) (3). To assess the association between early syphilis infection and use of the Internet by MSM to meet sex partners, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) analyzed surveillance data and case reports. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which suggest that public health officials might find the Internet to be an important tool for 1) promoting disease awareness, prevention, and control and 2) accessing sex partners of syphilis patients to conduct appropriate partner notification, evaluation, and management. The findings underscore the need for public health officials to understand the role of the Internet in facilitating the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). With the assistance of community partners, other jurisdictions can examine the online social/sexual networks that are used commonly in their gay and bisexual communities and develop an effective means of communicating prevention and control messages online.
In accordance with California law, cases of syphilis are reported to SFDPH by laboratories and public and private health-care providers. A case of early (i.e., <1-year duration) syphilis was defined as a case of primary, secondary, or early latent syphilis diagnosed in a San Francisco resident. Early syphilis cases had darkfield-positive lesions, reactive serologic tests for syphilis and accompanying symptoms, or reactive serologic tests with evidence of syphilis infection occurring during the preceding year.
Persons with early syphilis were interviewed by SFDPH staff. Interviewers obtained demographic data (e.g., sex, age, race/ethnicity, address, and sexual orientation) and risk-behavior information (e.g., sexual behavior, condom use, number and sex of partners, venues for meeting partners, alcohol and recreational drug use, and self-reported HIV status) for the period when syphilis might have been acquired or transmitted. This period was determined on the basis of stage of disease at the time of treatment (i.e., 3 months before treatment for primary syphilis, 6 months for secondary syphilis, or 12 months for early latent syphilis). Interviews were accompanied by disease-intervention counseling, which assisted in locating and treating sex partners.
During 2002, a total of 434 cases of early syphilis among MSM were reported to SFDPH. The median age of MSM with early syphilis was 38 years (range: 14--66 years). Of these 434 patients, 289 (66.6%) were white, 69 (16.0%) were Hispanic, 34 (7.8%) were Asian/Pacific Islander, 31 (7.1%) were black, and 11 (2.5%) were from other racial/ethnic populations; 293 (67.5%) were HIV seropositive. Information about sexual behavior and sex partners was obtained from 415 MSM. These men reported a total of 6,482 sex partners during the period when syphilis might have been acquired or transmitted (median: six partners; range: zero to 500 partners). The most common venues for meeting sex partners reported by the 415 patients with early syphilis were the Internet (32.6%), bars (20.6%), bathhouses (13.3%), sex clubs (12.6%), and adult bookstores (5.5%). During January 2000--December 2002, the proportion of MSM with early syphilis who reported meeting sex partners on the Internet increased significantly (p<0.0001), from 12.2% during the first half of 2000 to 37.4% during the second half of 2002 (Figure 2).
In a review of 151 early syphilis cases among MSM interviewed for partner management during January--April 2003, a total of 67 (44.4%) men reported meeting sex partners over the Internet; 14 (20.9%) provided information about 44 sex partners for whom the only locating information was an Internet e-mail* address. Eleven (25%) of the 44 Internet partners lived outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. SFDPH staff located 15 (34%) of the Internet partners and ensured that they were evaluated and treated appropriately. The following two case reports are illustrative of successful online partner notification, evaluation, and management.
Case 1. In February 2003, a Hispanic man aged 36 years had early latent syphilis diagnosed by his private health-care provider. He reported meeting male sex partners through the Internet but not through sex clubs or at bathhouses. In December 2002, he traveled to Los Angeles, California, where he had sex with three different partners. He did not know his total number of partners during the 12-month interview period, but mentioned 16 (i.e., three met in Los Angeles, for whom he had no additional information; five Internet partners; and eight met elsewhere). For the five Internet partners, the patient had only their Internet e-mail addresses, which he provided to SFDPH staff; four lived in San Francisco, and one lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All five responded to SFDPH staff e-mail messages and were evaluated and treated preventively for possible incubating syphilis. In addition, the other eight partners were evaluated and treated preventively, including one who lived in Phoenix, Arizona. None of the 13 located partners (Internet and non-Internet) had syphilis at the time of their evaluation.
Case 2. In April 2003, a white man aged 43 years had primary syphilis diagnosed at the San Francisco municipal STD clinic. He did not travel outside of the San Francisco Bay Area during the 3-month interview period. He reported meeting male sex partners through the Internet and at bathhouses. Of the 13 partners that the index patient reported during the interview period, he had information about three (i.e., an Internet e-mail address for two partners and a telephone number for one partner). These three partners lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and two were evaluated and treated appropriately. As a result of being contacted through Internet e-mail, one of the partners (partner A) had early latent syphilis diagnosed in late April 2003. He had traveled to Chicago, Illinois, in December 2002, during the 12-month interview period when he might have been infectious. He reported 50 partners during the interview period and provided only Internet e-mail addresses for four partners and more complete locating information for two other partners. One of these four Internet partners was the index patient. No other Internet partners were located; however, the other two partners were located and evaluated, including one (partner B) who lived in San Jose, California, and had secondary syphilis diagnosed earlier in April 2003. Partner B named the index patient as his only locatable partner; the index patient did not provide any information about partner B.
Reported by: CK Kent, MPH, W Wolf, MPA, G Nieri, W Wong, MD, JD Klausner, MD, San Francisco Dept of Public Health, San Francisco, California. TA Peterman, MD, Div of STD Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC.
This report describes the increasing association between early syphilis infection and use of the Internet as a means for MSM to meet sex partners. Often the only link that these men have to their Internet partners is an e-mail address. This report demonstrates how an Internet e-mail address can be used successfully to notify persons that they have been exposed to syphilis. The findings also suggest that the Internet facilitates MSM meeting sex partners when they travel. Meeting new sex partners while traveling might explain, in part, the rapid dissemination of syphilis among MSM throughout the United States and western Europe (4--7).
Health departments should learn how the Internet is used to meet sex partners and how health agencies can use the Internet to contact partners for disease intervention. Concerns about the notification of sex partners through the Internet include protecting confidentiality and ensuring that notification messages are not discarded as junk mail or "spam." To respond to these concerns, SFDPH developed interim practices for performing partner notification online (Box). SFDPH is continuing to refine its online partner management program.
The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, the findings are largely descriptive. Second, not all MSM with early syphilis infection in San Francisco were interviewed; the observations described in this report might not reflect all MSM with early syphilis. Finally, the findings might not be representative of all MSM with early syphilis in the United States.
Local health departments in other cities that have had large increases in early syphilis cases among MSM should consider using the Internet for partner notification and management. Internet partner management might serve as a useful new tool in addressing this epidemic, even though it might reach only a small number of partners. In contrast to anonymous partners met in sex clubs, bathhouses, and adult bookstores, effective disease intervention is possible for Internet partners. Online prevention activities can include individual outreach, banner ads with links to sexual health promotion sites, and other social marketing activities (8). CDC is coordinating local and national efforts to engage the gay and bisexual community, Internet service providers, and public health officials in developing effective Internet-based prevention strategies.
As has been observed in other cities (4--6), a high proportion of MSM with early syphilis in San Francisco also were co-infected with HIV. Because STDs increase the risk for HIV transmission (9) and MSM are among persons at highest risk for HIV infection (10), controlling syphilis among MSM also might be important for preventing further HIV transmission. The findings in this report underscore the importance of coordinated STD- and HIV-prevention efforts among the gay and bisexual community, public health officials, and health-care providers.
Acknowledgments
This report is based on contributions by the Syphilis Team; R Kohn, MPH, San Francisco Dept of Public Health, San Francisco, California. Syphilis Rapid Response Team, Div of STD Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC.
* E-mail service provided by an Internet service provider or an Internet-based e-mail account.
Try it again later. It appears their site is experiencing some problems... again. I may have the article saved somewhere but no time to look right now.
Longterm, maybe it doesn't work like this in your town, but I know a lot of people who go through a promiscuous period, then settle down to one partner. Sure, sometimes they change a partner, after another promiscuous period, but they settle back down to one partner again. Homosexual people and straight people both do this.
At some point, maybe the first time, if you're darn lucky, you find the right person to make a very long term go of it, even till death do you part. It really does happen to gay people, too.
Got news for ya, heterosexual people are using the Internet to find multiple sex partners. Even married ones, can you believe that!
This article has NOTHING to do with the FMA. Sorry, that's just my opinion.
Dr. Cameron is Chariman of the Family Research Institute of Colorado Springs, Colorado USA. Click here for more information about this organization. You may contact him at: Family Research Institute, PO Box 62640, Colorado Springs, CO 80962 USA. Phone number: (303) 681-3113.
Ann Landers (1) says the statement "Homosexuals are more inclined to molest children sexually than heterosexuals" is false. The American Psychological Association has sponsored a work that asserts: "Recognized researchers in the field on child abuse,... almost unanimously concur that homosexual people are actually less likely to approach children sexually." (2)
Why is it, then, that we read about sex between boys and men in every newspaper? Does it merely reflect sensationalist journalism? We know that heterosexual molestation also occurs. But since there are so many more heterosexuals than homosexuals, which kind of child molestation – homosexual or heterosexual – is proportionately more common?
Three kinds of scientific evidence point to the proportion of homosexual molestation: 1) survey reports of molestation in the general population, 2) surveys of those caught and convicted of molestation, and 3) what homosexuals themselves have reported. These three lines of evidence suggest that the 1%-to-3% of adults who practice homosexuality (3) account for between a fifth and a third of all child molestation.
In 1983, a probability survey of the sexual experiences of 4,340 adults in 5 U.S. cities found that about 3% of men and 7% of women reported sexual involvement with a man before the age of 134 (i.e., 30% was homosexual).
In 1983- (4), a random survey of 3,132 adults in Los Angeles found that 3.8% of men and 6.8% of women said that they had been sexually assaulted in childhood. Since 93% of the assailants were male, and only 1% of girls had been assaulted by females, about 35% of the assaults were homosexual. (5)
The Los Angeles Times (6) surveyed 2,628 adults across the U.S. in 1985. 27% of the women and 16% of the men claimed to have been sexually molested. Since 7% of the molestations of girls and 93% of the molestations of boys were by adults of the same sex, about 4 of every 10 molestations in this survey were homosexual.
In a random survey of British 15-to-19 yr olds, 35% of the boys and 9% of the girls claimed to have been approached for sex by adult homosexuals and 2% of the boys and 1% of the girls admitted to succumbing. (7)
In science, a review of the professional literature published in a refereed scientific journal is considered to be an accurate summary of the current state of knowledge. The latest such review was published in 1985. (8) It concluded that homosexual acts were involved in 25% to 40% of the cases of child molestation recorded in the scientific and forensic literature.
Drs Freund and Heasman (9) of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto reviewed two sizeable studies and calculated that 34% and 32% of the offenders against children were homosexual. In cases they had personally handled, homosexuals accounted for 36% of their 457 pedophiles.
Dr. Adrian Copeland, a psychiatrist who works with sexual offenders at the Peters Institute in Philadelphia, said (10) that, from his experience, pedophiles tend to be homosexual and "40% to 45%" of child molesters have had "significant homosexual experiences."
Dr. C. H. McGaghy (11) estimated that "homosexual offenders probably constitute about half of molesters who work with children." Other studies are similar:
– Of the approximately 100 child molesters in 1991 at the Massachusetts Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons, a third were heterosexual, a third bisexual and a third homosexual in orientation. (12)
– A state-wide survey of 161 Vermont adolescents who committed sex offenses in 1984 found that 35 (22%) were homosexual. (13)
– Of the 91 molesters of non-related children at Canada’s Kingston Sexual Behaviour Clinic from 1978-1984, 38 (42%) engaged in homosexuality. (14)
– Of 52 child molesters in Ottawa from 1983 to 1985, 31 (60%) were homosexual. (15)
– In England for 1973, 802 persons (8 females) were convicted of indecent assault on a male, and 3,006 (6 of them female) were convicted of indecent assault on a female (i.e., 21% were homosexual). 88% of male and about 70% of female victims were under age sixteen. (16)
Because of this pattern, Judge J. T. Rees concluded that "the male homosexual naturally seeks the company of the male adolescent, or of the young male adult, in preference to that of the fully-grown man. [In 1947] 986 persons were convicted of homosexual and unnatural offences. Of those, 257 were indictable offences involving 402 male victims.... The great majority of [whom]... were under the age of 16. Only 11%... were over 21."
"[T]he problem of male homosexuality is in essence the problem of the corruption of youth by itself [i.e., by other boys] and by its elders. [And thereby]... the creation... of new addicts ready to corrupt a still further generation of young men and boys in the future." (17)
The 1948 Kinsey survey found that 37% of the gays and 2% of the lesbians admitted to sexual relations with under-17-yr-olds, and 28% of the gays and 1% of the lesbians admitted to sexual relations with under-16-yr-olds while they themselves were aged 18 or older. (18)
In 1970 the Kinsey Institute interviewed 565 white gays in San Francisco: 25% of them admitted to having had sex with boys aged 16 or younger while they themselves were at least 21. (19)
In The Gay Report, 23% of the gays and 6% of the lesbians admitted to sexual interaction with youth less than 16 years of age. (20)
In France, 129 convicted gays (21)(average age 34 years) said they had had sexual contact with a total of 11,007 boys (an average of 85 different boys per man). Abel et al reported similarly that men who molested girls outside their family had averaged 20 victims each; those who molested boys averaged 150 victims each. (22)
About a third of the reports of molestation by the populace have involved homosexuality. Likewise, between a fifth and a third of those who have been caught and/or convicted practiced homosexuality. Finally, a fifth to a third of surveyed gays admitted to child molestation. All-in-all, a rather consistent story.
Nowadays parents are labeled bigots for fearing that homosexual teachers might molest their children. But if homosexuals are more apt to molest children and are in a positon to take advantage of them, this fear makes sense. Indeed, accounts of disproportionate homosexual teacher molestation appear throughout the scientific literature.
The original U.S. Kinsey study reported that 4% of the non-criminal white gays and 7% of the non-criminal white lesbians reported that they had their first homosexual experience with a ‘teacher or other caretaker.’ None of the heterosexuals were recorded as having a teacher as their first sex partner. (18)
In England, Schofield reported that at least 2 of his 150 homosexuals had their first homosexual experience with a teacher and an additional 2 reported that their first homosexual contact with an adult was with a teacher. One of the 50 men in his comparison group had also been seduced by a homosexual teacher, while none of the men interviewed claimed involvement with a heterosexual teacher. (23)
In the 1978 McCall’s magazine study of 1,400 principals, (24) 7% reported complaints about homosexual contact between teachers and pupils and 13% reported complaints about heterosexual contact between teachers and pupils (i.e., 35% of complaints were homosexual). 2% "knew of instances in which teachers discussed their homosexuality in class."
Of 400 consecutive Australian (25) cases of molestation, 7 boys and 4 girls were assaulted by male teachers. Thus 64% of those assaults were homosexual.
In 1987, Dr. Stephen Rubin, associate professor of psychology at Whitman College, conducted a 10 state survey (26) and found 199 sexual abuse cases involving teachers. 122 male teachers had abused female pupils and 14 female teachers had abused male students. In 59 cases, however, male teachers had abused male pupils and in 4 cases female teachers had abused female students (overall 32% were homosexual).
A 1983 survey asked 4,340 adults to report on any sexual advances and any physical sexual contact by elementary and secondary teachers (4% of those who were teachers in the survey claimed to be bisexual or homosexual).4 29% of the advances by elementary and 16% of the advances by secondary school teachers were homosexual. In addition, 1 of 4 (25%) reports of actual sexual contact with an elementary school teacher were homosexual. In high school, 8 (22%) of 37 contacts between teacher and pupil were homosexual. 18% reported having had a homosexual teacher (8% of those over the age of 55 vs 25% of those under 26). Of those reporting a homosexual teacher, 6% said that the teacher influenced them to try homosexuality and 13% of the men and 4% of the women said that the teacher made sexual advances toward them.
Whether examining surveys of the general populace or counts of those caught, homosexual teachers are disproportionately apt to become sexually involved with children.
Study after nationwide study (3) has yielded estimates of male homosexuality that range between 1% and 3%. The proportion of lesbians in these studies is almost always lower, usually about half that of gays. So, overall, perhaps 2% of adults regularly indulge in homosexuality. Yet they account for between 20% to 40% of all molestations of children.
Child molestation is not to be taken lightly. Officials at a facility which serves about 1,500 runaway youngsters each year estimate that about half of the boys have been homosexually abused and 90% of the girls heterosexually assaulted. (27) Investigation of those suffering severe chronic mental illness implicates child molestation as a primary cause (45% of Bigras et al’s (28) patients were homosexually abused).
If 2% of the population is responsible for 20% to 40% of something as socially and personally troubling as child molestation, something must be desperately wrong with that 2%. Not every homosexual is a child molester. But enough gays do molest children so that the risk of a homosexual molesting a child is 10 to 20 times greater than that of a heterosexual.
The gay movement is forthright about seeking to legitimize child-adult homosexual sex. In 1987, The Journal of Homosexuality – the scholarly organ of the gay rights movement – published "Pedophilia and the Gay Movement." (29) Author Theo Sandfort detailed homosexual efforts to end "oppression towards pedophilia." In 1980 the largest Dutch gay organization (the COC) "adopted the position that the liberation of pedophilia must be viewed as a gay issue... [and that] ages of consent should therefore be abolished... by acknowledging the affinity between homosexuality and pedophilia, the COC has quite possibly made it easier for homosexual adults to become more sensitive to erotic desires of younger members of their sex, thereby broadening gay identity."
In 1990 COC achieved a significant victory: lowering of the age of consent for homosexual sex in Holland to 12 (unless the parents object, in which case it goes up to 15). (30) In the U.S. and Canada, the North American Man-Boy Love Association marches proudly in many gay pride parades with the stated goal of removing the barriers to man-boy sex. Note the phrases "oppression towards pedophilia" and "liberation of pedophilia." It is clear that those who advocate the legalization of sex between adults and children intend to argue that such conduct is a "civil right," deserving of the same legal protections afforded to other minorities. A large proportion of Americans regard that argument as a mere pretext to giving "sexual predators" free reign to take advantage of vulnerable children.
Not only is the gay rights movement upfront in its desire to legitimize sex with children, but whether indexed by population reports of molestation, pedophile convictions, or teacher-pupil assaults, there is a strong, disproportionate association between child molestation and homosexuality. Ann Landers’ claim that homosexuals molest children at no higher a rate than heterosexuals do is untrue. The assertion by gay leaders and the American Psychological Association that a homosexual is less likely than a heterosexual to molest children is patently false.
This educational pamphlet has been produced by Family Research Institute, Inc., Dr. Paul Cameron, Chairman. A complete report is available for a donation of $25 in the U.S., $40 foreign, postage included. Other pamphlets in the series include:
What Causes Homosexual Desire?
Child Molestation and Homosexuality
Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do
Violence and Homosexuality
Born WHAT Way?
The Psychology of Homosexuality
Same Sex marriage: Til Death Do Us Part?
Suggested donation for pamphlets: 11 for $5, 25 for $10, 50 for $19, 100 for $35, 350 for $100, 1,000 for $250, postpaid. Remit to:
The Family Research Report newsletter is $25/year ($40 foreign)
Copyright, 1999, Family Research Institute, Inc.
>Justified early deaths to follow, could not happen to a >more deserving group!!!! and not quick enough .
That is a pathetic statement, and to call someone a faggot because they are appalled at your disgusting behavior towards a group of people...
I do not agree with thier lifestyle, but you better bite your tongue if you ever call Christ your savior because this is NOT the attitude of Christ.
What the Internet has done is allowed closeted or "straight" homosexuals an easy way.
Saying it's wrong to wish death on people isn't being a faggot.
I thought is was for Men Seeking Men at first. If you want to see acronyms (you don't even want to know what they mean) you should see their men seeking men sections of their want ads.
You should be aware, however, that Paul Cameron is not considered credible by mainstream researchers. He was expelled from the American Psychological Association in 1983 for an ethics violation. A 1985 resolution adopted by the American Sociological Association claimed Cameron "has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism". And in 1985, Judge Buchmeyer of the US District Court of Dallas in a written opinion stated that Cameron had made misrepresentations to the Court.
These sanctions may well reflect simple persecution of a scientist who is challenging the dominant orthodoxy. But other scientists who challenge the mainstream position on homosexuality haven't been sanctioned on scientific ethics, and a strong case against homosexuality can be made without relying on Cameron's research. I thumbed through my copy of Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth by Dr. Jeffrey Satinover (an excellent book that helped convince me that homosexuality is wrong and dangerous), and he never mentions or quotes Cameron. So I am wary of Cameron.
It's Gore's fault!
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Oh. It's MSM. I thought this was another MSN story . . . |
The Gospel According to Saint Matthew
18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
18:7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Speaking as a father, I am not interested in mercy being shown to child molesters. In my circle of friends, we've had a hard time over the last year over a guy who was supervising children's sports activities. He's currently on trial for homosexual molestation over a dozen kids, some pre-adolesant, one of whom is the son of a friend of ours. The worst is not being able to know his HIV status
Thank you.
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