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-------------------------
Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
( Michael Johnston) Angry that Walgreens is supporting the 2006 Gay Games, the American Family Association has launched a smear campaign to pressure the drugstore chain into dropping its sponsorship. The hate group has resorted to the most vile stereotypes and malevolent misinformation:
Imagine the sales pitch in Walgreens' corporate board room went something like this: "We know people are going to be spreading communicable diseases and a lot of them will eventually become very sick. If we show support for gays now, we stand to reap a ton of business in the not-too-distant future. Let's call it 'Walgreens' HIV/AIDS Awareness' so they'll think of us first when they need drugs."
Remember folks, this is the same American Family Association that sponsored "ex-gay" Michael Johnston, who was accused of having bareback gay orgies even though he was HIV +. Johnston did not tell his partners about his HIV status. The American Family Association presumably knew what Johnston was up to and did not seek to warn his partners that they might be infected. The AFA's irresponsible "ex-gay" program, which promotes lying and deceit, has certainly done nothing to help slow the spread of HIV. That is why it is sickening for this group to say the awful, hateful things that they are now spewing about Walgreens and the Gay Games. It is time the AFA practices what they preach and stops concealing their role in the Michael Johnston cover-up.
23 Comments:
As an ex-gay, I declare that change is possible. I've done it. Although I sometimes "fall" this does not mean that I am not straight. I am straight and you should beleive me. My wife forgives me when I come up short. Homosexuality can lead to AIDS and that is why I escaped the lifestyle. After more than 500 sodomy partners, I'm thrilled to be alive and in the light of Jesus Christ.
Wayne: I saw this article and responded by Calling Walgreens HQ.
Walgreen Company Corporate Office at: 200 Wilmot Road Deerfield, IL 60015 (847) 914-2500
Everytime I see one of these hate filled campaigns by these Hate Groups - I make a point to write a letter, send an email and call them to let them know that as a Gay man I want to Thank them for their support.
Mark you "falling" only proves that you have only changed your behavior, you will always be gay whether you act on it or not, heck I haven't had sex with guys yet I know in my heart I will always be gay whether I act on it or not, hopefully someday you will realize that and leave your destructive ex-gay lifestyle behind.
posted by Adam Kautz, at
10/25/2005 4:12 PM
Why do these ex-gays think that accepting being gay is accepting self-destructive behavior??
It is crazy. If you are gay - you are gay.
The ex-gays seem to be confusing sexual addiction and drug addiction with a homosexual sexual orientation. They are two very different things.
The vast majority of gay people live sexually responsible and healthy lives. Just because some of these ex-gays did not is no reason for them to demonize gay people. These ex-gays are total losers and liars.
So Mark equates homosexuality with AIDSz? Hmmm...I suppose straights who get it are what, Mark? Since when is any disease relegated to one's sexual orientation? If AIDs equals homosexuality, then can Mark tell us why straights get it too? FYI Mark: the reason why people get AIDS is because of unprotected sex or intravenous drug use, period and you don't need multiple partners to contract it either. For your information Mark, AIDS is killing far more heterosexual people in Africa and in other parts of the third world far outnumbering gays worldwide. Had AIDS first appeared in the heterosexual population, I wonder what Mark would be equating that with. His homophobia is so transparent by his ignorant statement. I don't even believe he is an ex-gay either. If he says he "falls", then he's definitely not straight, any gay man can marry and have sex with woman, its just that its not our natural orientation. Even if he is a socalled ex-gay, let the ex-gay ministry provide the documentary evidence to the leading American medical and scientific institutions. We need the proof before we can believe you, Mark.
Mark, you're NOT living the "light of Jesus Christ", you're living in the darkness of ignorance and self-loathing. Hopefully, someday the "Light" really will come on for you and you'll be who you were meant to be. Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at
10/25/2005 9:23 PM
It's all rather ugly, isn't it.
I do recall the openly gay rightwing blogger, Andrew Sullivan, wrote that barebacking in the age of AIDS was perfectly OK.
The "es-gay" thing is very sad indeed. NOTHING can separate me from the love of GOD, NOTHING, neither homosexuality, nor churches... NOTHING. The people that claim to be "Ex-gays" do so because they are affraid of society, fear of God is different, fear of God makes you a good person, a loving and honest one. There is nothing honest about calling yourself "ex-gay" and still be after guys, expecting that your wife put up with it because you "Struggle". You "Struggle because you are living a lie, and the day you decide to accept and love yourself as part of God's creation, that day you will stop "falling"... that what we call LIFE.
I wish that the fundies would stop using God and Christianity to promote their lies, because all they do is to give bad name to real Christians. Our churches are empty because of the lies that the fundies spread, and because of the false immage that they provide about what a real Christian is. RATzinger was elected in hopes that his "Iron fist" would unite the Roman Churhc... nothing farther from the truth. Fundamentalism destroy Christianity!
posted by Anonymous, at
10/26/2005 11:34 AM
First of all, it's a shame that there is a separate Gay Games to begin with. Obviously athletic prowess and talent isn't exclusively a gift for heterosexuals.
But historically, AIDS is simply the syphillis of the new millennium, and hopefully, the treatment and cure for it is on the horizon. In the meantime, syphillis was as deadly a plague in the world as AIDS is now, and there was no single group to blame then as now. So MARK, or whoever you are... this is nothing new.
I will also remind you of the Tuskeegee Experiment on black men infected with syphillis in the South. They were victims of a diabolical conspiracy to track the phases of the disease (left untreated) and blacks were a convenient and unknowing test group.
It might not be out of the realm of possibility for something similar to have happened with AIDS in other communities. Just as our society is trying to prepare for avian flu decimating large groups of people, we were not prepared for HIV making the transition from apes to humans and mutating into the virus we know now as AIDS.
Mark, your ignorance is inexcusable. History has taught us that disease is disease, and no ONE group corners the market for blame of their spread.
Living in commercially active travel centers, in overcrowded and poverty ridden conditions has been responsible for MANY diseases spreading among people in large numbers.
It's people like you Mark, that perpetuate the very fear that organizes people against the wrong target for the wrong reasons and thus makes the disease win.
posted by Regan, at
10/26/2005 12:29 PM
I cant believe Sullivan actually said that, especially since he's positive.
posted by Anonymous, at
10/26/2005 12:33 PM
Many, many gay people do not like Andrew Sullivan because they think he is irresponsible.
Because Sullivan may be irrepsonsible - that means gay people in general are?????
That is like saying - heterosexual men rape women - so all hetersosexual men are evil.
Well said Regan. Mark is the antithesis of what a republican is supposed to be. Republicans promote responsibility for one's actions, yet they see fit to blame an entire community for a disease. Its tantamount to gays blaming straights for cancer, polio, alzheimers, its absurd and fraught with prejudice. Its a reminder of nazism in Germany, blaming a minority for societies ills, nothing has changed.
What an insulting group of non-christians the AFA is. To equate being gay, straight, black, white, oriental etc to having a transmitted disease is stupid. Disease spreads through mostly known, sometimes unknown methods. What the AFA has done is insulted anyone living with any disease in this world and they are a shameful bunch of hypocrites. Hopefully, Walgreens will ignore their utter stupidity and ignorance about life.
posted by BC WaterBoy, at
10/26/2005 9:43 PM
Mark and others who are "struggling" with being gay and religious need to move beyond religion. I didn't find peace with myself until I came out of the closet and shunned religion. Remember that man created religion. God didn't create religion or write any bibles or korans, MAN did! Man has always held himself back with myths and rules that have stifled his progression. My whole being and human spirit was stifled and imprisioned by religion for the first 35 years of my life. I refuse to let other peoples myths and archane beliefs do this anymore.
Greek Chris, well said. I believe firmly that 90% of the struggle with being gay comes from the stigmatization that religion has attached to us. There is documented history that gays were accepted and in fact loved in ancient societies before someone along the way decided that we were not acceptable and were to be shunned. Thus, those inherently wrong beliefs spread and are still held by religions today. To me, religion is responsible for most of the low points in history and continue to negatively affect the world today producing war, racism, rampant sexism, famine, genocide and homophobia. All of these have the root cause of misguided religion. Do these people really believe that a creator would create a being whose sole purpose would be to shun and ridicule. Preposterous.
posted by BC WaterBoy, at
10/27/2005 11:25 PM
Calling the AFA a "hate group" is irresponsible at best. Just because they disagree isn't cause for such a label. But this is the standard liberal mentality, "as long as you agree with me you are allowed to speak". Sad but true. It is a facist mentality worthy of despite.
posted by I say, I say..., at
10/28/2005 1:33 PM
I say I say, I suggest you have a look at some of the gems from the AFA and then reconsider your stance on "hate group" In my opinion, it is a status that is well earned. They campaign regularly to enact legislation to enfringe on my rights. It is a lot more than just disagreement, they regularly attack gays, are well funded and connected politically. A hate group is a group that uses rhetoric and falsehoods to drum up contempt against a minority. That is exactly what they are doing. Don't blame liberals, they earned that rotten reputation all by themselves.
posted by BC WaterBoy, at
10/28/2005 7:59 PM
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