DON'T WORRY, IT'S GENETIC:

Gays' Rising Meth Use Tied to New HIV Cases (Lisa Richardson and Lee Romney, January 19, 2005, LA Times)

For seven years methamphetamine helped Ron Conner believe he was the talented, sexy, bold man he had always dreamed of being. The 37-year-old graphic artist would have sacrificed everything to hold onto that glamorous vision of himself — and, ultimately, he nearly did.

"I lost my house, two cars, my checking and savings accounts, my piano, my boyfriend," he said.

"I had sex with guys I knew were [HIV] positive, who said they were positive, and I just didn't care," he added.

Although Conner, who is sober and working again, did not end up HIV-positive, such is not the case for many gay meth users.

Health officials and AIDS activists nationwide are alarmed at the increasing correlation between new HIV diagnoses and methamphetamine use among gay men. The drug's ability to heighten arousal and erase inhibitions is proving a deadly combination — leading to sexual behavior that increases the chances of infection with HIV and syphilis.

Who'd have dreamt that if you tell folks they aren't responsible for their behavior that they'll behave irresponsibly?

MORE:
Honduras Measure to Ban Same-Sex Marriage Mobilizes Rights Groups: Sponsor of the proposal, backed by a burgeoning evangelical movement, slams acceptance of gay unions in parts of the U.S. and Europe. (Reed Johnson, January 19, 2005, LA Times)

From his fifth-floor office in the National Congress building, Jose Celin Discua has seen the enemy, and it is us.

The veteran congressman has been watching what he regards as a surging tide of immorality sweeping the United States and other parts of the Western world. He's determined to stop it from reaching Honduras, even if he has to rewrite the law of the land.

"In various countries of the world — Holland, Spain, various states of the United States — there is already [same-sex] marriage," Discua says. "It is already coming, and it is already accepted."

But not in this impoverished, crime-racked Central American nation of 6.8 million. In October, Discua sponsored a congressional motion to ban marriage and adoption by homosexuals. Strongly backed by the country's swelling evangelical Christian movement, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, the motion passed unanimously.

If the measure passes a second legislative vote, as required by federal law, the constitution will be amended to read that marriage only between a man and a woman is legally valid. In effect, Honduras would implement nationwide what 11 U.S. states voted for in ballot measures in November and what President Bush says he hopes to enact across the U.S.: a comprehensive ban on gay marriage.

"We hope that next year they will ratify it, in which we recognize that the state of matrimony is between a man and a woman," says the Rev. Oswaldo Canales, president of the Evangelical Fraternity of Honduras, which represents 98% of the country's estimated 2 million evangelicals. "For me, a homosexual is like an alcoholic, like an addict that needs help. They are sick morally and have a sickness of the soul."

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 19, 2005 8:55 AM