Bush's Sex Education, Ryan White Policies Undermining HIV Prevention Efforts in Gay Community, Opinion Piece Says

Not only is President Bush doing "precious little" to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in the gay community, but his policies also have "worked against" prevention efforts targeting the population, California state Sen. Carole Migden (D) writes in a San Francisco Examiner opinion piece. The Bush administration has shown a "consistent pattern of funding abstinence-only programs" that "deny the reality that many teenagers and adults ... have sex outside of wedlock -- especially in the gay community, where there is no possibility of marriage," Migden says. In addition, Bush has proposed a "wrong-headed policy" to cut Ryan White CARE Act funding "from states and cities generous enough to provide local assistance to AIDS patients," Migden writes. "It's high time we re-fund and reprioritize safe sex and AIDS assistance programs based on real science and geared toward the gay community," she concludes (Migden, San Francisco Examiner, 12/8).

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