The reality of AIDS in the United States
In a June 11 human interest story about a student living with AIDS, the Indiana Daily Student reports the student "does not want to perpetuate the stereotype that only homosexuals contract HIV, he said. Anybody - straight, gay, male, female - can become infected. He just happens to also be gay."
The problem is that statement is simply not true.
There are two facts about HIV and AIDS in the United States that too many people try to ignore in an attempt to be politically correct. First, AIDS is a behaviorally spread disease. Second, male homosexuals are at a greatly elevated risk compared to the rest of the population.
The statistics available on the Centers for Disease Control's website are striking. According to CDC statistics for 41,087 HIV transmissions in 2008, 22,469 infections were from male-to-male sexual contact. This is 54.7% of HIV infections. "Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use" accounted for another 1,141 HIV transmissions in 2008, according to the CDC. Furthermore, male-to-male sexual contact has accounted for 513,138 of AIDS diagnoses through 2008, or 48% of the 1,063,778 diagnoses tracked by the CDC.
When newspapers like the IDS perpetuate the lie that everyone is equally vulnerable to infection with HIV, they are not just shirking their professional responsibility as journalists to report the facts. This is not just any lie - it is a deadly lie. It is a lie that downplays the very real risk that comes with male-to-male sexual contact, leaving people with a dangerous false sense of security. All people are not equally at risk, and it is hateful to pretend otherwise.
In fact, there are some people who have virtually zero risk of contracting the virus. Those people are the ones do not have sex until they are married, stay faithful to their spouses after they are married, and choose spouses who make the same choices. This lifestyle of monogamous, lifelong heterosexual marriage just so happens to be the one presented to us in the Bible as the ideal. For those longing to escape sexual sin, I invite you to visit ClearNoteBloomington.com.