The headline on the cover of the May 18 issue of Newsweek reads “AIDS at 25.” The story inside is a grim reminder that, although a quarter of a century has passed since the disease was first identified, the problem has not been solved. The issue has received unprecedented coverage in the media. AIDS has made the cover of Newsweek 20 times.
This Newsweek issue rehashes old information. The virus was identified 20 years ago and the means of transmission are well understood. While there is still no vaccine, advances in treatment have transformed AIDS from a death sentence into chronic debilitating disease. Thus, while the death toll has decreased, the number of persons living with AIDS has increased dramatically, putting a strain on health care funding. In spite of millions spent on education and condoms, the number of new infections per year in the United States has remained the virtually the same.
It is clear that the prevention strategy currently in place has failed. This is a tragedy because it is easy to avoid HIV. A person who is chaste before marriage, faithful in marriage and married to someone who is also faithful, who receives high quality medical care, and who doesn't inject illegal drugs has virtually zero chance of becoming HIV positive.
The black community has been particularly hard hit by the epidemic. The Newsweek article places the blame on poverty, “homophobia, and religious leaders steeped in moralistic doctrine” who have “suppressed honest conversation about how to stop it.”
As an example of how poverty and black preachers are at fault Newsweek presents the case of Alijah Burwell who was diagnosed with HIV eight years ago. Burwell admits having “unprotected” sex with men and women even after his diagnosis. According to the article “he didn't tell the women that he was sleeping with men too. He also smoked crack and drank a lot. And though he sought treatment for HIV, he wasn't vigilant about taking his medication, spiking his viral load which made him a greater threat to his partners.”
Now tell me again how poverty and black preachers are responsible for Alijah's behavior? Was he spending so much time at church that he never heard the safe sex message? This seems unlikely since those who gave him the diagnosis and treatment would have undoubtedly warned him about the risk he posed to others. Did the black preachers encourage women to go out and have unprotected sex with unemployed crack addicts and drunks? I doubt it. Did his poverty keep him from purchasing condoms? Unlikely. The government was giving him free treatment for HIV, but he didn't care enough to follow the regime. He probably could have gotten free condoms too, and if not, he could have bought them for himself, since he had enough money to buy alcohol and crack.
The fact is all AIDS victims are not equal. Some are innocent victims. The faithful wives of unfaithful husbands engage in unprotected relations because they want to have babies. They don't deserve to get AIDS. Babies of mothers who are addicted to illegal drugs don't choose to be infected. There are also irresponsible victims; those who engage in what they know perfectly well are high risk behaviors. And there are guilty victims like Alijah who know they are infected and know they could infect others and don't care.
If prevention is so easy, why is the epidemic continuing unabated? Because a coalition of AIDS patients and activists set up an AIDS establishment which vetoed every tested public health strategy for controlling a sexually transmitted disease. Don't tell people not to engage in promiscuity, prostitution, and injection drug use, they insisted, just tell them to be responsible and use safe sex.
This hasn't worked because people who engage in “multi-partnering,” employ “sex workers,” and have “substance abuse” problems are by definition not responsible. The research shows there is a clear connection between irresponsible sexual behaviors and alcohol and drug abuse. Twenty-five years of experience has proven that no matter how much safe sex education the irresponsible receive they will not use a condom every time. And therefore the epidemic will continue.
It is time to just say no to the AIDS establishment and put in place the public health strategies that were suggested and rejected at the beginning of the epidemic: (1) mandatory testing of at-risk populations, people seeking health care, those applying for health insurance or Medicaid, everyone under arrest, and pregnant women; (2) contact tracing and partner notification; (3) cracking down on the statutory rape of young women and sexual child abuse; (4) making knowingly infecting another person a crime; (5) abstinence education.
Why has the AIDS establishment opposed every sensible strategy for preventing new infections? Because the AIDS establishment is more interested in protecting and promoting sexual liberation than preventing new infections. That is the real story and one you won't read in the pages of Newsweek.
Dale O'Leary is a writer, pro-family activist and educator living in Rhode Island. Her e-mail address is daleoleary@thefactis.org.
