ENOUGH?:

Twenty Years Late, But Better Late Than Never (David Horowitz, December 8, 2003, FrontPageMagazine.com)

The Community Manifesto issued by gay activists in Seattle and calling on gay men to accept their responsibility for the spread of AIDS and for doing something about it is the first statement of its kind to come out of the gay community. It recognizes that the AIDS epidemic is entirely the result of irresponsible behavior, which if corrected would halt the epidemic in its tracks. Instead of holding irresponsible ideologues who have promoted “sexual liberation” -- and thus self-destruction -- accountable,  politically correct individuals in the gay community, the public health system and the Democratic Party have blamed inadequate funding and “homophobia” for the tragedy. It is twenty years too late for the hundreds of thousands of dead gay men who have been the victims of misinformation put out by gay leaders, the government and the liberal media. This misinformation is still the word of the day, most recently in the CBS miniseries “The Reagans,” which blames Ronald Reagan for deaths that should properly be attributed to gay activists, the principal AIDS organizations, former Surgeon General, Dr. Everett Koop, and writers like Tony Kushner and NY Times columnist Frank Rich who have put out false information, and conducted witch-hunts of anyone who spoke the truth about this terrible and avoidable scourge.

From the beginning of the AIDS epidemic there has been only one way to combat the epidemic and that is behavioral change. Behavioral change can only be accomplished by holding people accountable for the consequences of their acts. For twenty years the progressive culture has labeled “homophobic” anyone who has tried to point this out and save gay lives. Now a group of gay activists has finally said, “Enough of us are dead. Let’s stop the lies, and begin the task of saving others.” This is why we are posting the Community Manifesto on this site.

Mr. Horowitz is unfortunately wrong about the behavioral changes enumerated here stopping the spread of AIDs--in fact, he endorses the same big lie as General Koop did, about condom use--but they would help. And he's right that this manifesto was needed twenty years ago.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 8, 2003 8:20 AM