Graphic AIDS book draws parents' ire

A lesson in AIDS/HIV has a Saugus family seeing red after their second-grader took home an explicit workbook noting that "semen" and "vaginal secretions" spread the disease.

The Saugus case is the second time in a week parents have complained that schools are giving young kids more than they need to know on sensitive issues. Paul Stamatopoulos came forward after hearing of a Lexington father who was arrested after he complained when his kindergartener brought home a book that dealt with gay marriage.

Stamatopoulos was dumbfounded when his 7-year-old daughter showed him what she called the "sad book."

"I took it away from her. I was shocked," he said.

Along with information on the history of AIDS and the benefits of hand-washing, the booklet told kids HIV is "spread by the exchange of infected body fluids (blood, semen, vaginal secretion)."

Stamatopoulos and his wife Diana said they weren't initially opposed to AIDS education. But they said they had no idea the information would be so graphic.

The state Department of Education leaves sex education up to local districts, though a state law requires parental notification when classes are held, a DOE spokeswoman said.

"I was told these are facts. I said `We know, but at that age, there are facts about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Do we tell our children those facts?" Stamatopoulos said.

Saugus Superintendent Keith R. Manville said the booklet was approved by the School Committee "a long time ago." He plans to meet with Stamatopoulos tomorrow, and said he might recommend altering the book.

"I think some of the examples are a little tough for a 7-year-old," Manville said.

Paul Stamatopoulos with the booklet his 2nd grade daughter brought home from school.(Staff photo by Nancy Lane)

"A 7-year-old? Do you want the teacher to explain fisting and threesomes?"

WASHINGTON TIMES
‘Published: Nobvember 16, 2001 Author: Robert Stacy McCain

Taxpayers paid for AIDS-prevention projects that encouraged sexual activity — in direct violation of federal guidelines — and met the "legal definition of
obscene material," an inspector general's report has concluded.

Workshops with names such as "Booty Call" and "Great Sex" were sponsored by the San Francisco Stop AIDS Project, which received nearly $700,000 in
federal funding last year through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a report by Janet Rehnquist, inspector general for the
Department of Health and Human Services.
The "Great Sex" workshop "appears to directly promote sexual activity, which is not consistent with CDC's basic principles," the IG's report said.
The "Booty Call" workshop, which "discusses the taboos of anal eroticism," does discuss "the harmful effects of promiscuous activity," but also "appears to
focus equally on, and possibly to promote, sexual activity," Miss Rehnquist concluded.
The IG's study of CDC-funded AIDS prevention programs was ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson in response to
complaints from members of Congress, including Rep. Mark Souder, Indiana Republican, and Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, Pennsylvania Republican.

"I'm very encouraged by Secretary Thompson's prompt action on this," Mr. Pitts said in a statement yesterday. "It shows that we have an administration that
is accountable and responsible."

CDC guidelines for HIV/AIDS prevention funding were first developed in 1986 and revised in 1992.
The guidelines prohibit the use of CDC funds for "education or information designed to promote or encourage, directly, homosexual or heterosexual sexual activity or intravenous substance abuse."

CDC funding is also prohibited for materials that violate obscenity standards established by the Supreme Court's 1973 Miller v. California decision.
San Francisco officials have contended that provocative advertisements and sex-themed workshops are necessary to attract homosexuals to AIDS preventioncourses — a suggestion that some AIDS activists find offensive.

"The materials are sexually explicit, meaning the only way to get the attention of a gay man in San Francisco is through sex instead of using intelligence to
reach gay men," said Michael Petrelis, a San Francisco activist.

Mr. Petrelis cited advertisements for workshops on the Stop AIDS Project's Web site — www.stopaids.org — that use obscene language to describe anal
sex.

One ad proclaims: "Whether you like taking it or giving it, this workshop is for you. How do our roles turn us on and keep us pumping?"
"That is what the American taxpayer is paying for with their money," Mr. Petrelis said, noting that the CDC-funded efforts have failed to reduce rates of HIV
infection in the San Francisco area.

Among other violations of federal policy, Miss Rehnquist found that the Stop AIDS Project had failed to submit workshop materials to a community review
board and did not track federal funding of individual activities.

Overall, CDC funds accounted for 39 percent of the project's budget in fiscal 2000.
In forwarding the IG's report to members of Congress, Mr. Thompson said the CDC has already "taken preliminary remedial actions" in response to the
findings and that he has requested Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Claude Allen to "conduct an examination of all Department-funded HIV/AIDS
activities."
The IG's office will also "conduct a more comprehensive review" of AIDS-prevention activities, Mr. Thompson added.

The reason not to have casual sex is on moral grounds NOT because it is dangerious. 'AIDS' is not an std but that does not make casual sex OK.

If we rely on fear of 'AIDS' to enforce moral values the whole thing will backfire when the myth falls apart. This is already taking place. I believe this may be why the left and gays have pushed every 'AIDS' scare to the maximum. They know it will cause a counter reaction in the long run a distroy all moral values in one stroke.

We must not fall into the trap. It is what they want and if we do there will be no stopping them.

______

Sex has nothing to do with AIDS

Result of the largest and longest study of the heterosexual transmission of HIV in the United States:

We followed 175 HIV-discordant couples over time, for a total of approximately 282 couple-years of follow up [...]

We observed no seroconversion after entry into the study. Padian NS et al. Heterosexual transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Northern California: Results from a ten-year study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1997;146(4):350-7.
David W. Rasnick, Ph.D., member of the Scientific Group for the Reappraisal of AIDS, also present this study in

Sex has nothing to do with AIDS, a letter published by the British Medical Journal.

___

Sex And HIV: Behaviour-Change Trial Shows No Link
The East African (Nairobi)
March 17, 2003
Posted to the web March 19, 2003

By Paul Redfern, Special Correspondent Nairobi
A UK funded trial aimed at reducing the spread of Aids in Uganda by modifying sexual behaviour appears to have had little discernible effect.

The trial, carried out on around 15,000 people in the Masaka region, involved distributing condoms, treating around 12,000 victims of sexually transmitted diseases and counselling.

However, while the trial led to a marked change in sexual behavioural patterns, with the proportion reporting causal sexual partners falling from around 35 per cent to 15 per cent, there was no noticeable fall in the number of new cases of HIV infection, although there was a significant reduction in sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhoea.
The trial results, which were reported in the British medical journal The Lancet, have already aroused some controversy.

The team leader of the trial, Dr Anatoli Kamalai, acknowledged that there was "no measurable reduction" in HIV incidence with "no hint of even a small effect."

http://allafrica.com/stories/200303190482.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200303190482.html

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