Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of the conservative law group
Liberty Counsel, decried resolutions supporting same-sex marriage and parenting
by the American Psychological Association’s Council of Representatives.
(Photo by Eric Risberg/AP)
advertisement
advertisement
|
Friday, August 06, 2004
HONOLULU (AP) — Resolutions by the nation’s largest association of
psychologists backing gay marriage and same-sex parenting drew criticism last
week from conservative and religious leaders. The policy positions were approved
July 28 by the American Psychological Association’s Council of Representatives
during the group’s annual convention in Waikiki. Liberty Counsel, a conservative
law group based in Orlando, Fla., said by supporting gay marriage, the psychology
professionals are showing their “support for the homosexual agenda of gaining
full acceptance for the homosexual lifestyle.” The research supporting
gay parenting is flawed, the group said. “The APA’s position on homosexuality
flies in the face of common sense, ignores the social science research, and will
hurt children,” Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty
Counsel, said in a statement. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League,
said, “The only surprise in learning of this decision was why it took so
long. The politicization of homosexuality in this country is now all but out
of control.”
WASHINGTON — The Food & Drug Administration approved two AIDS drugs
designed to simplify treatments, according to a Reuters report. The new drugs
combine two medicines into one tablet, making it easier to follow treatment
regimens, according to Reuters. The makers, GlaxoSmithKline and Gilead Sciences,
said they intended to provide the medicines at "no-profit'' prices for
needy nations. Glaxo also said it would give a free, 60-day supply of its combination
drug, called Epzicom, to patients in the United States. Before these new pills,
patients juggled multiple pills and doses. Glaxo's Epzicom combines the company's
HIV medicines Epivir and Ziagen into a once-a-day pill. Gilead's once-a-day
tablet, called Truvada, contains the AIDS-fighting drugs Viread and Emtriva.
Proponents of aggressive treatment of AIDS around the world consider the easier-to-take
combination pills vital to fighting the disease in Africa and the Caribbean.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Men who are HIV-positive now can father disease-free
babies via in vitro fertilization (IVF) thanks to a breakthrough by Melbourne
doctors, the Victoria Herald Sun reported this week. While health officials
once feared that sperm from men with HIV would result in transmission of the
disease to the mother or baby, effective HIV drugs and a new technique have
somewhat alleviated those fears, the newspaper reported. The new method, developed
at Melbourne IVF and the Royal Women’s Hospital, now allows couples that
include an HIV-positive man to have their own babies, the Herald Sun reported.
Associate Professor Anne Mijch, head of the Victorian HIV Service at the Alfred
Hospital, told the newspaper, “They’re able to have a normal life
with a family and kids, and do that safely.” According to Mijch, combined
antiretroviral therapy for HIV patients give them virus levels too low to detect,
and once the potential fathers’ HIV is considered undetectable, a similar
test is used to determine if their sperm has any detectable virus.
SYDNEY, Australia — Animals ranging from koalas to wallabies, penguins
and dolphins engage in homosexual activity, flying in the face of an old argument
that gay humans’ behavior goes against nature, the Sydney Morning Herald
reported. Dr. Geoff MacFarlane is a biological sciences lecturer at the University
of Newcastle and gave a public speech this week on the topic of homosexual
behavior among animals, according to the Herald. Although some argue that such
behavior is unusual or deviant among wild animals, leading to assertions that
sex between members of the same gender is “against laws of nature,” MacFarlane
said recent scientific research “forcefully demolishes these assumptions,” the
newspaper reported. More than 450 species worldwide have been identified as
exhibiting some gay behavior, MacFarlane told the Herald. Among bonobos, or
pygmy chimpanzees, for example, about 50 percent of their sexual encounters
were between the same sex, MacFarlane and a colleague wrote in the journal
Nature Australia, according to the Herald.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new two-year marketing campaign funded by the Missouri
Foundation for Health will dispatch guardian angels to encourage safer, smarter
sex across St. Louis. Young gay and bisexual men are the primary target of
the Guardian Project, which will be promoted on billboards, bus shelters and
in radio messages starting in September. Uniformed “guardian captains” will
visit bars, nightclubs and other places frequented by gays to distribute condoms
and answer questions. The hope is that it will reduce the HIV infection rate
among young gay and bisexual men who are seeing a surge in infections. The
volunteers, most of them under 30, will wear black caps and T-shirts with the
Guardian logo, the letter “G” on a set of wings. The logo will
be stamped on condom packages, postcards and coasters that will be widely distributed
in bars and clubs.
|
 |
