Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels
Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels
Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels
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(MSM). In 2008 <strong>the</strong>re were 13,500 reported cases of primary and secondary syphilis, <strong>the</strong> most<br />
infectious stages of <strong>the</strong> disease. Reported cases of syphilis showed that 63 percent were<br />
among MSM. This is of particular concern because syphilis infection facilitates HIV<br />
transmission. Syphilis rates among blacks was about eight times higher than that of whites in<br />
2008 (CDC,2008).<br />
HIV was introduced into <strong>the</strong> United States through <strong>the</strong> homosexual community. After its<br />
initial diagnosis in 1981, it spread rapidly across <strong>the</strong> country through male homosexuality,<br />
intravenous drug use, bisexuality, and multiple high risk heterosexual partners. Infants were<br />
infected by mo<strong>the</strong>rs who had <strong>the</strong> HIV virus. In 2006, CDC estimated that over half (53%) of<br />
new cases occurred in gay and bisexual men. Through 2007, <strong>the</strong> cumulative estimated number<br />
of AIDS diagnoses in <strong>the</strong> 50 states and <strong>the</strong> District of Columbia was well over one million,<br />
1,018,428. <strong>Over</strong> half (50.3%) of <strong>the</strong>se cases were reported in four states: New York, California,<br />
Florida and Texas. By 2007, <strong>the</strong> cumulative estimated number of deaths from AIDS in <strong>the</strong> 50<br />
states and <strong>the</strong> District of Columbia included 557,902 adults and adolescents and 4891 children<br />
under age 13 years. Although Blacks represented about 12% of <strong>the</strong> U.S. population,<br />
cumulated estimated AIDS cases for Black and African Americans through 2007 exceeded that<br />
of Whites, numbering 426,003 to 404,465 respectively. Black women were particularly<br />
affected as bisexual men brought <strong>the</strong> disease home to <strong>the</strong>ir wives and girlfriends. (CDC,2007).<br />
Cumulative estimated # of AIDS cases for 50 states and DC (CDC, 2007)= 1,018,428<br />
Cumulative estimated # of AIDS deaths for 50 states and DC (CDC, 2007) = 562,793<br />
Life expectancy for gay and bisexual men is compromised by perhaps 20 years. An article<br />
printed in <strong>the</strong> New York Times reported that a young male homosexual has about a 50%<br />
chance of getting HIV by middle age. In 1998 <strong>the</strong> CDC reported that an estimated half of all<br />
new infections of HIV in <strong>the</strong> U.S. were among people under 25. HIV/AIDS is accompanied by a<br />
list of o<strong>the</strong>r STD’s common among <strong>the</strong> homosexual population. Included in this list of particular<br />
concern is anal cancer. O<strong>the</strong>r maladies include Chlamydia , cryptosporidium, herpes simplex<br />
virus, human papilloma virus or genital warts, isospora belli, microsporidia, gonorrhea, viral<br />
hepatitis types B & C and syphilis (Brinkmann, 2004).<br />
Refusing to admit any problem with <strong>the</strong> homosexual practices <strong>the</strong>mselves, homosexual<br />
activists actively suppressed information portraying HIV/AIDS as a gay disease, contending that<br />
it affected <strong>the</strong> whole population equally. However, in his ‘State of <strong>the</strong> Moment’ address at <strong>the</strong><br />
National Conference of <strong>the</strong> National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) in February of 2008,<br />
<strong>the</strong> executive director, Matt Foreman made a statement acknowledging HIV as a gay disease.<br />
He said, “Folks, with 70 percent of <strong>the</strong> people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi, we<br />
cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own that and face up to that”. Curiously ,<br />
<strong>Over</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Rainbow</strong>: The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America. 2010<br />
Dr. M. L. Coppock<br />
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