EXTREME RIGHT WATCH: Hurley's cruel comparison
In a sensitively-worded press release about the alarming rates of HIV and syphilis rates in gay men, the CDC last week reaffirmed its commitment to lowering STD rates and heightening awareness in the gay community. The CDC points to continuing stigma and homophobia as barriers to their goal.
Of course, Chuck Hurley and his cronies at the IFPC used the press release as an excuse to bang their monotonous drum against gay marriage.
This time Hurley used a new twist: Gay marriage is more dangerous than second-hand smoke.
Same-sex couples entering into a marriage encourage monogamy and stability in our communities the same way opposite-sex couples do. Marriage is an ideal of love and commitment, a public symbol of the strength of partnership, and when people like Chuck Hurley try and exclude gay and lesbian couples from this ideal, they make us all a weaker community.
A gay man could no more be expected to have a strong marriage to a woman than Hurley could marry a man. But the IFPC would have us believe we'd all be better off if gay men were forced to marry women, lying to themselves and their spouses, and engaging in risky behavior to try and hide who they are.
In an email to supporters, IFPC communications director Bryan English, said the CDC "attempted to blame 'homophobia and stigma' for the HIV epidemic". English and Hurley say the way to stop AIDS is to stop homosexual sex. But we know that's not true, both because safe sex works and because heterosexuals, although their numbers are smaller, are not immune.
The fact is many people, gay and straight, engage in risky behavior , but being in a committed, loving relationship is not one of them. We can't let the Chuck Hurleys and Brian Englishes of the world dictate how we should live when they are so pathetically, and happily, ignorant.
What this study shows, rightly, is that we need to step up our support of young gay and bisexual men. We don't want HIV/AIDS to, as the CDC's Kevin Fenton, M.D., said "inadvertently become a rite of passage for each new generation of gay men."
Showing our gay and lesbian youth they have a place in society, that they do not have to lie to themselves or a spouse about who they are is the answer to this problem, not trying to stuff them back in the closet.
Interestingly Hurley doesn't address lesbians in his rant, who must really be a thorn in his side, because by his own rationale, with the lowest rate of AIDS and other STDs, lesbians should be first in line at the courthouse.
