Pro-gay: There is nothing wrong with homosexuality.
Anti-gay: AIDS!
Pro-gay: AIDS is also caused by dirty needles and heterosexual sex.
Anti-gay: Gay people are more promiscuous, so they make AIDS a bigger problem.
Pro-gay: AIDS is spread mostly by straight people.
Anti-gay: Gay sex is inherently more risky than heterosexual sex.
Pro-gay: You're a bigot.
Anti-gay: You're immoral/damned.
I'm tired of seeing the same debate a thousand times. What can be done to change the dialogue?
Comment by SteveInCO on March 3, 2013 at 9:56pm It's like arguing that white folk are the devil and God shows us our sin of lightness through higher incidences of skin cancer when we choose to be white under the sunlight. Why oh why can't I stop choosing to be white under the sun? I must repent! Or put on some sunscreen.
All it really means is us whitebreads need more sunscreen, especially those of us who get sunburns from flash photography. Similarly anal sex probably requires more precautions (not just AIDS but hepatitis, etc.)
Comment by Strega on March 3, 2013 at 10:00pm First documented case of child cured of HIV *newsflash*
So, without the AIDS issue, once we get it beaten, what's the argument?
Comment by SteveInCO on March 3, 2013 at 10:58pm Indeed Thomas. That being the case, why do so many gays want to sweep the evidence under the rug?
I *very* sarcastically commented on another forum, in response to Strega's newsflash, that of course you know the only way to cure AIDS is to kill all the gays.
Comment by Unseen on March 3, 2013 at 11:31pm Well, way back when AIDS first appeared, the first known patient was a gay airline pilot named Gaetan Dugas ("patient zero"), and for a while it spread mostly in the gay community in San Francisco due to bareback gay bathhouse sex, so it became stigmatized as "the gay disease." It took the public a while to realize anyone could get it, not just gays. Do we have the right to limit and/or determine people's sexuality? Ask your local public health department. They are concerned with syphilis and gonorrhea, so why not HIV?
Comment by Kris Feenstra on March 4, 2013 at 12:59am That being the case, why do so many gays want to sweep the evidence under the rug?
I think you would need to qualify 'so many', but I have encountered different reasons for some clinging to falsely hopeful statistics.
That said, I am not really aware that there is significant denial of increased HIV risks to MSM. It seems to be pretty widely accepted amongst gays and straights alike. Was there some sort of survey or study suggesting that significant members of the gay community are in denial or are misrepresenting the risks?
Comment by Ward Cressin on March 4, 2013 at 2:55am In the USA a higher percentage of gay men are infected with HIV than straight men and women. Worldwide, it is just a disease and could be called a straight disease in Africa. IIRC the same could be said of HIV in southeast Asia but my info is from a while ago and could be off for there.
Desu - very cute, thanks :D
Comment by Gregg R Thomas on March 4, 2013 at 5:16am If Homosexual people are Gay, are Heterosexual people Unhappy?
If Heterosexual people are Straight, are Homosexual people Bent?
Basically it's all Fucking and you gotta be careful in selecting partners.
Personally I don't want ANY STD.
Comment by Unseen on March 4, 2013 at 10:14am @Kris Feenstra
Gay males are said to be about 10%-11% of the male population.
"44% of U.S. men diagnosed with AIDS are men who have sex with men." (source)
I'm not sure how self-described bisexual males fit into the statistics, but it does seem that AIDS is a significantly greater problem in the gay community. I also don't think statistics provide any sort of guidance ethically. Suppose, for example, that there's a disease transmitted heterosexually. And I believe there is one: apparently cervical cancer is caused by heterosexual sex with a male carrying the HPV virus. Women who are sexually active with multiple partners are at greater risk, which is a parallel with promiscuous gay sex.
So, from a public health standpoint, perhaps the government does have standing to discourage sexual promiscuity, but not for moral/ethical reasons.
Comment by Gregg R Thomas on March 4, 2013 at 10:32am If I understand correctly (I may not) in Africa the majority of HIV is spread by Heterosexually activity. Of course those morons believe AIDS is cured by having sex with a virgin, so these fuckers rape female children thereby transmitting it to children. Go figure.
Comment by Barry Adamson on March 4, 2013 at 5:59pm To answer the question : Have an experience like mine, and it will completely change your mind and erase the misguided prejudices you grow up with.
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