Tuesday, June 7, 2011

HIV Prevention....

Call it what it is.... it is Homophobia.

Gosh. Australians happen to be very direct.... (Yes, I know, we Africans are known for our indirectness. Circumloculation. It is rude to be direct, we are taught, then find that in business and the other spheres...., but let us not go into that.)

And, I am one dude who is making my reputation for not biting my tongue where it is appropriate!!!

Anyway, here was a case of Straight Talk vs Morals. And, at first, the Morals seemed to have triumphed... then the Straight Talk was like... you don't hide a disease, and, especially HIV.

Safe sex advocates claimed a victory over Australia's Christian lobby on Wednesday when their HIV campaign posters featuring two men hugging were reinstated at bus stops after an intense online backlash.
The black and white posters, in which one man has his arm draped across his partner's chest and is holding a condom, are part of the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities "Rip and Roll" campaign promoting condom use.
The ads were withdrawn by billboard company Adshel after it received a string of complaints, but the company later reversed this decision, saying it had unwittingly been targeted by the Australian Christian Lobby.
"This has led us to review our decision to remove the campaign and we will therefore reinstate the campaign with immediate effect," Adshel chief executive Steve McCarthy said in a statement.

And, why did the complainers complain? Here it is, from the horse's mouth.

Australian Christian Lobby Queensland director Wendy Francis said she had personally complained about the ads because she had objected to what she said was the sexual nature of the posters.
"They show two young homosexual men in some sort of act of foreplay," she said. "It's talking about a sexual act and I don't think that's appropriate for the general public."

Some kind of foreplay. Two fully clothed men, hugging. One holding a condom. Some kind of foreplay indeed.
Why do people insist on pushing their narrow view of morality down others throats, even to the detriment of something as important as health? Yes, they do.

So, here is the summation.

But Queensland State Treasurer Andrew Fraser rejected her comments.
"Check the calendar, it's 2011," he said. "I think we should call it for what it is and this is basic homophobia."
 

Uh, straight and to the point. Call it what it is. Homophobia.

Told you, in this week, the 30th year of HIV, one cannot escape HIV.... Nor should we.

Tired of the same old scary HIV prevention message? Well, here is a nifty fun one. And, dude..., I think I do love the friendlier approach! I am not sure that it works, but, I like it!

With an oversized lollipop in his pants pocket and a pink gift bag full of condoms and lubrication, Josh Newbury has perfected the art of the safe-sex soft sell.
On the eve of this weekend's Utah Pride Festival, the HIV prevention specialist for the Utah AIDS Foundation has marshaled volunteers, called the G-Force, to blanket two gay bars with safe-sex kits. Newbury encourages the three volunteers— who are dressed in rainbow colors, belts and suspenders in honor of Pride — to be friendly, frisky and to have fun.
Fear has no place in today's HIV-prevention work.
So when Newbury approaches a man who says he doesn't need condoms because he doesn't plan to have sex, the 24-year-old sounds worried instead of glad: "Really? Why? It's not in the stars?" He puts the kit back in his bag and says, "All right, I've got them if you need them."
Then he pulls out the lollipop to ease the tension.
What's missing is any clinical talk of the ways HIV is spread or that it's incurable.
"It's almost a re-branding," Newbury says of the approach before the team heads to Club Jam in Salt Lake City. "For 30 years, HIV has been talked about in really scary ways. ... People have tuned out."

Ok, ok. I have already clicked the 'like' button, ..... don't seem to have any options for multiple clicks. So I will leave it at that.....

Oh, in Uganda...

Ahem. Ahem..... We don't really want to spread homosexuality... do we? I mean.... anything like this will be striken down by the moralists as 'spreading homosexuality', of course.

But, we do still have huge, high HIV rates, don't we? Cant we spice up the message to make it more fun? Of course we can.....!

Have a fabulous day!

gug

1 comment:

Rose Jurgen said...

Here is  my testimony on how I was cured of HIV by Dr Akhigbe,with his natural herbal medicine.  on a regular basis in efforts to help others when I could. As you may know, each donation is tested.  Well, on July 6th I had a meeting with a Red Cross representative and was told that I had HIV. “What went through your mind when you heard that "Rose" Good question reader! To be honest, I thought my life was over, that I would ever find love, get married, have children or anything normal. Lucky for me I have an amazing support system.  My family supported me then I never thought that I was invincible to STD s or pregnancy or anything else parents warn their kids about. I just didn’t think about it. I was in a monogamous relationship and thought that I asked the right questions.  We even talked about marriage Scary.  During that time I was in college and donated blood on a re as well. who helped me in search of cure through the media.there we saw a good testimony of sister 'Kate' about the good work of Dr Akhigbe natural herbal medicine cure.then I copied his email address and contacted him. A good herbalist doctor with a good heart, he is kind, loving and caring. He replied back to my message and told me what to do. After a week the doctor sent me my herbal medicine and instructed me how to take it.Yes it worked very well, after drinking it I went to the hospital for another test and everything turned negative. What a wonderful testimony I can never forget in my life. Dr Akhigbe is a man who gave me a life to live happily forever so all I want you all to believe and know that cure of HIV is real and herbs is a powerful medicine and it works and heals.  Dr Akhigbe also used his herbal medicine to cure diseases like:   HERPES, DIABETES, SCABIES, HEPATITIS A/B, STROKE, CANCER, ALS, TUBERCULOSIS, ASTHMA, PENIS ENLARGEMENT, MALARIA, LUPUS, LIVER CIRRHOSIS, DEPRESSION, HIV/AIDS, EPILEPSY, BACTERIAL, DIARRHEA, HEART DISEASES, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, PARKINSON'S, ALZHEIMER, COLD URTICARIA, HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS,INSOMNIA,  BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS, SCHIZOPHRENIA, JOINT PAIN, STOMACH PAIN, CHROME DISEASES, CHLAMYDIA, INSOMNIA HEARTBURN, ,  THYROID, MAR BURG DISEASES, MENINGITIS, ARTHRITIS, BODY WEAK, SMALLPOX, DENGUE, FEVER, CURBS, CHANCRE, AND OTHERS VARIOUS DISEASES/ VIRUS.   You are there and you find yourself in any of these situations, kindly contact Dr Akhigbe now to help you get rid of it. Here is his email address:
   drrealakhigbe@gmail.com      or you can write to him on whats app with his phone number:   +2349010754824.
  My appreciation is to share his testimony for the world to know the good work Dr Akhigbe has done for me and he will do the same for you.
   

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