UN: Legalize Prostitution, Drug Use and Homosexual Sex to Stop AIDS!

Dear Supporter of the Family,

A new report issued by a UN commission established by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon claims that all nations must legalize prostitution as part of any successful effort to deal with the AIDS pandemic.  This report, titled “HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights & Health” also calls for the legalization and destigmatization of injection drug use and sexual relations between males—all in the name of AIDS prevention. 

Ironically, the report acknowledges that “sex workers” (the euphemism used for prostitutes), intravenous drug users, and “men who have sex with men” have the highest incidence of AIDS, yet the commission still calls upon nations to legalize and destigmatize these risky behaviors.  

We could have predicted the recommendations because the commission was stacked with committed “sexual rights” activists.  The report simply recycles the same discredited arguments that have been made for some time now by UNAIDS and other UN agencies, which are reflected in the UNAIDS “International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.”  (Click here for our policy brief on the Guidelines and here to see our brief on failed UN HIV/AIDS policies.)

The argument the report uses for legalizing high-risk behaviors is a common argument used by sexual rights activists and goes something like this:

In many countries, prostitutes, drug users and male homosexuals feel marginalized or fearful because their behavior is outlawed and not considered acceptable by the society in which they live.  As a result, they argue, these “vulnerable” individuals will not come forward for counseling, testing and treatment, and so they will continue to spread AIDS at a much higher rate than the general population.  Sexual rights activists claim that governments must not only legalize these high-risk behaviors but also destigmatize them through public campaigns and comprehensive sexuality education programs in the schools so that these high-risk individuals will not be discouraged from taking advantage of HIV-related services.

The problem with his logic is that it ignores the fact that these groups generally have much higher rates of HIV infections than the general population, not lower rates.  This is the case even in developed countries.  In France the HIV infection rate among MSM is said to be “out of control.” 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued a fact sheet showing that the only group in the U.S. in which HIV infection rates are dramatically rising is in the population of men who have sex with men, even though homosexual sex is legal in the U.S. and is increasingly being “destigmatized.”  

The major reason for these outcomes is the simple fact that whatever behavior you legalize and destigmatize in society will likely increase, not decrease.  Therefore, wherever the recommendations in this UN report are implemented there will likely be more AIDS cases, not fewer.

Wouldn’t it be better to simply establish confidentiality laws and policies that would allow high-risk individuals to obtain HIV-related services without fear of being penalized for seeking help?  Wouldn’t it be better to set up programs that would provide counseling to help people change their high-risk behaviors rather than condone them?

What is really behind this push to protect these high-risk behaviors in the name of HIV/AIDS prevention?  It is a thinly-disguised manipulation of the AIDS pandemic and the UN system by sexual rights activists to mainstream promiscuous sexual behavior in societies around the world, regardless of the consequences. 

This commission revealed its bias when they cited the notorious Yogyakarta Principles in their report as a guide for promoting the sexual rights of “sexual minorities.”  (See our brief on this radical document here.)  Among other assertions, the Yogyakarta Principles, which was created by international sexual rights activists, is their claim that “sexual rights” trump free speech and religious liberty rights.  The Principles even claim that governments are obligated to help people with sex-change operations.

This UN commission report is just the most recent example of sexual rights advocates putting their agenda ahead of any other considerations including the safety and health of individuals as well as the larger society.

With your continued support, Family Watch will continue to work to expose this radical sexual rights agenda that is promoting fictitious sexual rights at the expense of sexual health and stop it from doing more damage to individuals and families.  

Sincerely,

Sharon Slater
President

News Items of Interest

Abortion

Court Upholds South Dakota Law Providing Information on Abortion/Suicide Link.  The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that doctors can be required to warn women who undergo abortions that they face an increased risk of suicide.  The majority opinion held that the law did not affect abortion rights or physicians’ free speech rights.  Read more here.

Azerbaijan Considers Banning Abortion.  The chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament's social policy committee has introduced a bill that would ban abortion.  Currently, abortion is legal up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and if there are exceptional circumstances, until the 22nd week.  Read more here.

House Committee Passes Bill Restricting Abortions in D.C.  The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill by a vote of 18-14 that will ban abortions in Washington D.C after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the time when a fetus feels pain.  The bill now goes to the full House.  Read more here.

Spain to End Abortions of Handicapped Babies.  Spain’s justice minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, has announced that reform of the country’s abortion laws will eliminate fetal deformity as a basis for terminating a pregnancy.  Ninety percent of handicapped or deformed children in Spain are aborted—over 16,000 in the last five years.  Read more here.

Obama Administration Funds North Carolina Planned Parenthood Defunded by State.  State lawmakers defunded the organization, but it has secured federal funding worth three times what the state pulled from it.  A grant of $426,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was awarded to the clinic.  Read more here.

Homosexuality Related

Study Finds Homosexual Men Highly Vulnerable to HIV.  Unprotected anal intercourse and high rates of casual sex are major reasons homosexual and bisexual men are contracting HIV in record numbers despite the emphasis on condom use and HIV testing.  According to UNAIDS, HIV is more common among gay and bisexual men than adults in general in all areas of the world, including Africa.  Read more here.

Ukraine Considers Banning Promotion of Homosexuality.  A bill is being considered that would impose prison terms of up to five years for spreading positive depictions of homosexuality in public.  Homosexual advocates have condemned the bill.  Read more here.

U.S. Boy Scouts Retain Homosexual Ban.  After a two-year review by an 11-member special committee, the Boy Scouts of America has reaffirmed its policy of excluding openly homosexual leaders from participating. The committee, made up of professional scout executives and adult volunteers, was unanimous in its conclusion.  Read more here.

Marriage Related

Obama Administration Grants Same-Sex partner Benefits to Federal Employees.  The U.S. Government announced rule changes that include the addition of “same-sex domestic partners” to the list of individuals who have an “insurable interest” in a federal employee’s retirement benefits.  In addition, children of an employee’s same-sex domestic partner may now qualify for a child-care subsidy.  Read more here.

Hawaii’s Marriage Law Facing Legal Challenge.  An amendment to Hawaii’s state constitution permits the state legislature to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman.  In January a new statute went into effect that allows civil unions of same-sex couples.  Now two homosexual couples are challenging the state’s constitutional amendment saying the civil union law is not enough.  Read more here.

Presbyterians Reject Same-Sex Marriage.  By a vote of 308 to 338 at their biennial convention, the church narrowly defeated a constitutional amendment that would have changed the church’s definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.  Had the amendment passed, it would have caused the loss of an estimated 11 percent of Presbyterian congregations.  Read more here.

Google Promotes Worldwide Homosexual Rights Campaign.  The Internet giant will focus its activism on countries with laws against homosexual behavior with its “Legalize Love” campaign.  Countries that do not recognize same-sex marriage will also be targeted.  Read more here.

Poll Shows Support for Marriage Amendment in Minnesota.  A new SurveyUSA and KSTP-TV poll of Minnesota voters showed a 15 percent lead in favor of the state constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman.  The results of the poll showed 52 percent of voters in favor of the amendment and 37 percent against it.  Read more here.

California Democrats Push for Same-Sex Marriage Plank.  A majority of the state’s Democrat congressional delegation are already in agreement that there should be an official call for their political party to include homosexual marriage in its convention platform.  Read more here.

Scotland Moves to Legalize Homosexual Marriage.  Following a consultation process in which about 65 percent of the comments received supported legalizing homosexual marriage, the Scottish government has announced it will produce a draft bill by the end of the year to legalize it.  Read more here.

Maine Polls Show Majority Support for Same-Sex Ballot Measure.  Two recent polls show 55 percent or more of Mainers are in favor of the initiative.  In 32 states where similar initiatives have been brought before the voters, including Maine in 2009, same-sex marriage has been soundly rejected.  Read more here.

News Items of General Interest

Study Finds Exposure to Sexual Content in Movies Can Affect Sexual Behavior in Adolescents.  The study, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, found that teens who watch movies with more sexual content may engage in riskier sex at an earlier age compared with those who watched movies with less sexual content.  Read more here.

UK Government Official Warns Against Large Families.  The head of the government agency that deals with troubled families in the UK said the state should tell women it is irresponsible to have more children when they are already struggling.  Britain’s 120,000 troubled families cost taxpayers £9 billion a year.  Twenty percent have more than five children.  Read more here.

Transgenders Lobby for New Diagnostic Terms.  Advocates are attempting to ensure that the American Psychiatric Association rewrite or remove the categories used to diagnose transgenders in the revision of its diagnostic manual.  Transgenderism is currently listed as a mental disorder.  Read more here.

UN Treaty That Threatens Parental Rights up for Ratification.  The U.S. Senate is in the process of reviewing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  Obama signed the treaty in 2009, and to be ratified, it must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.  The treaty would allow the government to make decisions on behalf of disabled children rather than their parents.  Read more here.

U.S. Congressional Report Finds Abstinence Education Best Sex-Ed Approach.  The House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee has released a report in favor of abstinence education titled “A Better Approach to Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Sexual Risk Avoidance.”  The report makes it clear that abstinence education deserves more attention in public policy.  Read more here.

 

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