HIV Rising Again Among Homosexual Men, CDC Reports     12/7/2005
By Benjamin Frichtl

Brown University scandal at Queer Alliance party also highlights risky behavior.

HIV/AIDS infections rose 8 percent among homosexual men in 2004 while other categories declined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report covered all HIV/AIDS contraction cases for the previous year as reported by 33 states’ health and human services departments, including, for the first time ever, statistical data from New York. Some 157,252 people were diagnosed during the time period, with 112,106 men and 45,146 women reporting positive for HIV/AIDS, The Washington Times reported.

Homosexual men continue to account for the lion’s share of AIDS cases, with 44 percent of the three-year total between 2001 and last year, and 61 percent of overall male infections. Heterosexual contraction accounted for 34 percent of male cases, while intravenous drug use claimed 17 percent of those men infected. Some of the categories overlap, with authorities unsure whether some men contracted HIV through sex or needle sharing.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) responded belligerently to the new CDC data. In a press release, NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman blamed the Bush administration for the predominance of HIV/AIDS infections in the black community:

The CDC data — like the aftermath of Katrina – underscore the profound racial injustices that continue to afflict our nation. No feeling person can be anything but appalled that African Americans are becoming infected with HIV at a rate eight times that of white people. Clearly, the Bush administration’s de-funding, de-prioritizing, and de-gaying HIV prevention programs has [sic] been nothing short of a disaster.

“Mr. Foreman is singing the same old tune, trying to play a race card, when he knows full well the problem is the risky behavior that he and his organization promote as healthy and normal,” said Robert Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute. “NGLTF and other homosexual pressure groups for years have opposed sound medical responses such as partner tracing and early diagnosis, and instead continue to advocate throwing ever more condoms at the problem.”

While the study greatly improved the national picture of the AIDS epidemic, the data are still incomplete. Only 33 states provided statistics on HIV infections to the CDC. The report stated, “[A] number of high-morbidity areas that lack long-standing confidential, name-based HIV reporting, including California and Illinois, are still not included.”

‘Queer Alliance’ Party Puts 20 Students in the Hospital

The CDC report comes on the heels of a shocking incident on November 12 at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. During Brown’s annual Sex Power God party (put on by Brown’s Queer Alliance club), local emergency medical services received a record number of calls due to binge drinking and drug overdoses. According to the Brown Daily Herald, the number of calls increased significantly from past years.

Fox News producer Jesse Watters infiltrated the mass orgy and recorded segments of the party, which aired on Fox’s Monday night The O’Reilly Factor. The Brown Daily Herald

reports, “Between images of grinding in their underwear, producer Jesse Watters described the event as ‘pure debauchery.’…Watters said that he observed ‘guys kissing guys and girls making out with girls.’”

The event prompted David Greene, Brown University’s vice president for campus life and student services, to write an e-mail to the entire student body, noting that the weekend’s activities had prompted an investigation into the college’s student activity policies.

“Brown has come a long way since its founding in 1764 as Rhode Island College by two Christian clergymen,” said Knight. “The university has done such a thorough job of eradicating its Christian past that events like the Sex Power God party fit right in with Brown’s current fundamentalist creed of moral relativism.”

Benjamin Frichtl, a student at Patrick Henry College, is an intern in CWA’s Culture & Family Institute.

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