Republican lobbyists: US should scrap HIV funding and just tell gays to stop having sex
The American Family Association has claimed that the US should scrap all its HIV prevention programmes and just tell gay people to not have sex.
It comes after a proclamation from President Obama marking 35 years since the start of the AIDS crisis, which claimed thousands of lives.
In his address, Obama said that the government must do more to help tackle HIV infections in minority groups such as men who have sex with men, and must also tackle homophobic stigma on the issue.
But the AFA, a Republican-affiliated ‘traditional values’ lobbying group, has a different solution.
In a clip on their website, the group’s President Tim Wildmon says the US should launch a campaign to dissuade people from gay sex like it does with sugary drinks.
He said: “You know, one of the real ironies of this proclamation is the president here cites the need for more funding for HIV/AIDS.
“Unlike Michelle Obama, who advocates that children stay off the sodas, he doesn’t advocate behavior change when it comes to homosexual behavior affecting your health.
“Why doesn’t he say, ‘Stop doing what you’re doing and you won’t get AIDS’?”
Analyst Abe Hamilton replied: “I think once again you highlight one of the glaring episodes of hypocrisy that comes from secular progressivism as applied to public policy.
“In terms of other health areas, well, you need to get exercise, you need to cut the sugars, you need to not eat sodas, but in terms of homosexuality, there’s no adjustment needed in your behavior, we just need to pour more money into treating the results of the behavior.”
Wildmon added: “Even though it’s very provable that engaging in homosexual activity is dangerous to your health, in the same way that smoking is, or sugar, too much sugar, or anything of that nature.”
Of course, their approach has been tried before: it’s pretty much what happened in the early 1980s.
Thousands of people, primarily men who have sex with men, died before the government took the issue seriously. President Reagan did not speak publicly about AIDS until over 5000 people had died.
The AFA has a close relationship with the Republican Party, funding a GOP trip to Israel for a number of key Republican figures last year.
