El Papa, "Condoms not good for AIDS."

I mean, he's not completely unreasonable, he's saying that abstinence is better and condoms promote sex. That's true, right? In much the same way eyeglasses promote poor eyesight.

From IndyStar.com:

In his four years as pope, Benedict had never directly addressed condom use, although his position is not new. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, often said that sexual abstinence - not condoms - was the best way to prevent the spread of the disease.

Benedict also said the Roman Catholic Church was at the forefront of the battle against AIDS.

"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane heading to Yaounde. "On the contrary, it increases the problem."

The pope said a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease, as he answered questions submitted in advance by reporters traveling on the plane. His response was presumably also prepared in advance.

FOXNews is quick to bring up the issue that most sources are emphasizing the "no on condoms approach." Because, you know, FOXNews is the moral paragon of the country.

Meanwhile, people continue to have sex and people continue to get AIDS. You know, because years of abstinence-abstinence-abstinence worked for this country and everyone else...

...after all, just look at the Palin's.

Look: let's be honest. Abstinence is the best way to protect yourself from getting STD's and against unwanted pregnancies. It's the truth. No one is denying that. But the problem is not whether or not we go out and teach abstinence, it's whether or not we add the rejoinder "but if you choose to have sex, you should use..."

It's called comprehensive sex education, not "happy-fun-fuck-orgy-time" sex education. Responsible, complete, intelligent.

Monday Morning HIV/AIDS Update

I do this for work, btw, update the staff on issues around the world about HIV/AIDS. Conveniently, that also happens on Monday morning. This may become a regular thing...

• Prominent and longtime HIV/AIDS activist Martin Delaney has died. Founder of Project Inform and author of Strategies for Survival,this man was old school, to the point of smuggling the untested HIV drug, Rimavirin, from Mexico when the FDA was held up and was not prioritizing the disease. I mean, that's some old school AIDS activism. Well done, sir. There's a special place for you, I'm sure.
• Welcome back to the 21st century, South Africa. Their new health minister, Barbara Hogan, has incredible goals set for that country after years of Mbeki nearly destroying years of advancement by appointing a woman who essentially believed in withcraft as a way of curing HIV.
• The only thing that Bush will be remembered positively for is his work in African HIV/AIDS. This is what we call the creation of mythology and the beginning of a legacy. No one will remember the abstinence only education rules, though, or continuing the anti-syringe exchange policies that he let go on through his tenure.
• Meanwhile, President Obama is pushing for better and more comprehensive family planning and education. He will continue to be called the devil.
• The Gates Foundation is expanding its focus to include polio, which is excellent. The World Health Organization will be quite happy. After all, their last success was smallpox, and their efforts are middling when it comes to HIV/AIDS.
• Fascinating new efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS in young women of color -- apparently they are trying out cell phone based videos as a way of getting the message out about unsafe sex and STD's. I'm optimistic, but I always question these sort of methods. There are 100 things that halt its success (like, how many young women of color download videos onto their cell phone). The acting tends to be lousy in this sort of thing, too. But, it's always good to see things tried... more importantly, it's good to see someone connecting sex and safety on a popular art form -- television shows.
• And our DUH story for the day: Botswana is telling men to cut down on their sexual partners. Apparently, they are just now figuring out there that larger numbers of sex partners increase risk for all sorts of little nasties. That's a big old, welcome to the 21st century to you, Botswana.

Ahhh... now doesn't that feel better? Don't you feel a little more informed? :-) Aren't you glad you never asked? And, more importantly, aren't you glad to see more and more of the world entering modern times?

Gay Predictions for 2009

From The Edge: Boston, we get our first gay list of predictions for 2009...

10. NJ Gay Marriage -- the legislature's for it, the governor's for it, the people are for it... what else? QC.com Comment: We may also see some surprises in New Hampshire and Iowa this year as well...

9. Major League Baseball Player Comes Out -- this is one of the most shockingly well thought out things I have ever read, actually...

8. Anderson Cooper Comes Out -- If not, Perez Hilton will throw a shit fit.

7. Cher Comes Out of Retirement -- Yea, yea, yea.

6. Europe Gets An Openly Gay Head of State -- Also, congratulations to Portland Mayor Sam Adams on being the first openly gay person to be the mayor of a major city... and may be the highest ranking non-national elected official to be out (that is, not House or Senate).

5. Milk Wins an Oscar or Two -- It should; this isn't really going out on a limb.

4. The Leader of an African Country Has HIV -- This hasn't happened yet?

3. Obama Starts Slowly Phasing Out DADT -- Grr... If it isn't 2011 by now.

2. Dick and Lynne Cheney Endorse Gay Marriage -- I would actually not be surprised if this happened; and it may be the single catalyst for changing the movement forever. Though I argue it may be a few more years before it happens.

1. Their number one is personal to the author, so I ask you, my dear readers...

What's your prediction for gay in 2009???

Queerty also has a good list...

Bush the Best President on Global AIDS?

...so sayeth some commentators:

I can see it now. The world will be very different. The president of the United States will receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his lifesaving aid to victims of disease in Africa. Government and civic leaders from Europe and Asia will express their admiration. Americans will walk a little taller. Barack Obama will bow his head as the ribboned medal is extended.... .

But wait. The president who deserves such an honor is in office now. It is George W. Bush who has devoted so much time, energy and money (well, our money, but it was legal) to fighting AIDS and other diseases in Africa...

But for the most part, the beautiful people in America - the Hollywood and university types, the book and magazine publishers, and of course, the major media - have shown complete indifference to George W. Bush's dedication to a cause they purport to value. In fact, they've pointedly ignored it. It goes without saying that if Mr. Obama does even half of what Mr. Bush has done for AIDS sufferers in Africa, he will be - in the eyes of those same people - a candidate for canonization.

Of course the left can say whatever they like about George Bush and the war in Iraq and the war on terror. But when he does something completely in line with their own stated principles and values, it is simply mean-spirited of them to deny him his due.

Discuss.

(Personally, I think taking care of AIDS victims in Africa is the easy way out. Where was the same money for domestic AIDS cases? Of course, he did create PEMS, the once-hated, now-vaulted "HIPAA-violating" tracking system that mysteriously discovered that we were drastically underreporting new HIV cases every year. Strange, that.)

HIV Meds Used to Get High?

I'm a little skeptical that this can actually happen, but it is the BBC (thanks to TY). And, really, we will get high on just about anything these days...

Anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/Aids are being bought and smoked by teenagers in South Africa to get high.

Reports suggest that the drugs are being sold by patients and even healthcare staff for money.

Schoolchildren have been spotted smoking the drugs, which are ground into powder and sometimes mixed with painkillers or marijuana. Aids patients themselves have been found smoking the drugs instead of taking them as prescribed.

I wonder if it has the same affect as taking the pill itself, which we could then make an argument that it would be good to go into nebulizers along with medical marijuana.

The kids say that it gets them high and transports them to another world. Here's my thing: since HIV meds are in such high demand for, you know, HIV+ patients, what we don't need is another drain on the supply.

Jeez.

HIV/AIDS: Article from 1987

One of my dear coworkers was cleaning out some folders the other day (spring cleaning time, it seems, for people, now that it's finally warm), and came across an intact copy of a Reader's Digest article entitled AIDS: The Plague that Knows No Boundaries. Dated June 1987.

She thought of me and brought it in. I got really excited about it, but was a little disappointed that it focuses almost exclusively on the growing African crisis... per the article, where "the official total of AIDS cases in Africa was only 2627." You read that right folks, but the article delves into the interesting politicking that went into admitting the problem, and the mass amounts of denial that was going on (and, btw, still goes on for many of the countries... ever heard of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang from South Africa? or President Thabo Mbeki, who sympathizes?)

Anyways, I'll make you a copy if you ask real nicely. However, I thought I'd highlight this (from the addenda to the article entitled What You Must Know About AIDS):

How Can You Protect Yourself?
Avoid having multiple sexual partners. Noninfected couples who have maintained a mutually faithful relationship for at least five years are not at risk for AIDS through sexual transmission. Abstain from sex with people whose activities put them in a high-risk group.

If you are not absolutely certain that neither you nor your sexual partner is carrying the virus, you must take protective measures. Either avoid penetrative intercourse (vaginal, oral, or anal), or use a condom, which prevents contact with semen and vaginal secretions. The condom should be worn even during foreplay if there is a chance of genital-to-genital contact. A condom does not guarantee protection but, used correctly, and each time, it sharply reduces the risk.

There's a little more, but two things strike me: 1) that Reader's Digest would be so detailed and talk about anal sex, and 2) that the message has not changed in twenty years, except for some tweaking. I once said we need to change the message, make it simpler, but people looked at me and said "It's simple ... wear a condom, how much simpler can you get."

I mean, I guess. But no marketing campaign that lasts for 20 years works. Even Coca-Cola had to change its marketing a few times.