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World War HIV

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With gay marriage a done deal and transgender rights rapidly triumphing, the hunt is on for a new oppressed minority to champion. How about people with HIV who are annoyed by laws mandating that they inform potential sex partners of that fact? That’s discriminatory! From the New York Times:

THE STONE
Sex Crimes That Shouldn’t Be
By LAURIE SHRAGE JUNE 1, 2014 7:00 PM 4 Comments

The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
… We now have several Supreme Court rulings protecting our privacy in this [sexual] domain, but there is one group of people to whom not all those protections extend: those who are H.I.V.-positive. In many jurisdictions, people who know they are H.I.V.-positive are legally required to disclose this status to potential sexual partners, even when they intend to engage in relatively safe and protected sex. Why do our disclosure policies single out this group, and not, for example, people with other incurable, or possibly fatal, infectious diseases?

Because they are not sexually transmitted incurable diseases?

… For instance, people who fail to disclose that they are H.I.V.-positive do not necessarily cause any harm to intimate partners. … H.I.V. disclosure laws give too little weight to the interests and rights of those who are H.I.V.-positive, while overvaluing and overestimating the benefits of transparency for society. By repealing these laws, we move in the direction of adopting more just and effective policies for combating the H.I.V. epidemic, while protecting the most fundamental human rights.

Laurie Shrage is a professor of philosophy and women’s and gender studies at Florida International University.

But even among New York Times commenters, World War HIV is off to a poor start:

S.L. Briarcliff Manor, NY 4 hours ago

The reason HIV is singled out is that it progresses to a deadly disease without life-long expensive treatment with plenty of side effects. Just because people are living longer with HIV before it progresses to AIDS does not mean that it is not criminal to infect someone with a potential killer. It may not be politically correct to some people to single out this one disease which is frequently spread by dangerous and promiscuous behaviors. That does not make it right not to prosecute people for knowingly spreading a killer disease. In addition, it is a tremendous burden on the health care system to add another chronic disease, especially one which can be curtailed by more cautiousness and honesty on the part of sexual partners.

 

Josh Hill is a trusted commenter 4 hours ago

This column is quite frankly insane.

But prima facie ridiculousness is no barrier to ultimate success, so keep an eye on this one. It could be a contender.

 

7 Comments to "World War HIV"

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  1. […] SAILER: World War HIV. “The hunt is on for a new oppressed minority to champion. How about people with HIV who are […]

  2. HIV has never been proven to cause any disease. HIV tests are pretty much worthless and “standards” vary from country to country. I’d recommend Rebecca Culshaw’s slim volume “Science Sold Out” or watch the 2009 documentary “House of Numbers.”

    Glad to see Steve collaboratin’ with Unz!!

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  3. Saw this post last night. This morning, I had to work hard to use the search to find it. ???? It’s probably me. I don’t do well with changes. I loved the old iSteve and how it was laid out.

    These bastard activists have been pushing hard to drop the ban on not letting gay men give blood. They made an even bigger push this year, with testimony from the CDC still not budging, but you know how that goes. All it takes is some dumb shyt activist w/in that org to turn things around. Worse, the media buried the fierce push the gay lobby made. They’ll be back and again the media will ignore it. The public has no idea what the stats are concerning the HIV infection rates of men between 18 and 41. Horrendous. The lobby has managed to make most Americans think HIV has faded from memory simply because it rarely appears in the news any more. Hollywood has also managed to influence many people, esp. women, through shows like “Modern Family” in which the two gays characters, both predictably funny and engaging, have monogamous relationship and an adopted daughter…oh, they just got married in a recent episode. Sooooo far from reality. Now, we all know this is nothing new. Hollywood productions are never “reality” but there’s no reporting out there that shows the average American that that portrait of gay males is way out of whack. If you live in a city, you know that. If you don’t, you don’t know that.

  4. I second the recommendation that iSteve and Unz readers watch “House of Numbers.” It is available on Netflix through streaming (at least that is how I watched it sometime ago).

  5. says:
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    I wonder how long before everyone involved in the making of the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ will have to apologize for being in such a hate filled film. How things have changed in only 20 years.

  6. But prima facie ridiculousness is no barrier to ultimate success, so keep an eye on this one.
    It could be a contender.
    —-
    Unfortunately true.
    Gay marriage sounded insane to almost everyone including most gays just 10 years ago after all.
    This is close to the theme of your may 16th post “freedom for aggression”.

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