Posted on 03/21/2009 7:14:15 AM PDT by stan_sipple
Some people worry that Nebraska’s gay community is unfairly targeted by a bill meant to punish those who knowingly spread a deadly disease like AIDS.
The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard public testimony Friday afternoon on a measure (LB625) that would make it illegal to intentionally or knowingly spread a deadly disease through sex. It would also be illegal to sell or donate organs, blood, semen and other bodily fluids, or share hypodermic needles with the same purpose.
“I’m concerned that this will be a witch hunt against the gay community of Nebraska,” Lucas Peterson of Lincoln said after the hearing. “It would give a prosecutor a right to go after someone who is perceived to have a life-threatening disease.”
Peterson said he’s gay and doesn’t have HIV or AIDS.
He told the panel that if a prosecutor had a vendetta against a group of people, the proposed law could be misused.
Sen. Pete Pirsch of Omaha, who introduced the bill, wants a harsh penalty for violating the proposed law.
Violators would be guilty of a Class 1B felony, which carries a minimum prison sentence of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Bob Creager, president of the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association, said the term communicable disease must be defined in the bill, and there should be some discussion of intent.
“What if the person doesn’t get the communicable disease?” Creager asked.
Ejay Jack of Omaha questioned where the bill draws the line. For instance, giving someone the flu could fall under the bill, because influenza can be life threatening.
Jack, who is transgender and does not have HIV or AIDS, said the bill is poorly written. He asked senators to instead focus on educating people on how to prevent the spread of HIV.
They evidently want the RIGHT to spread AIDS as they see fit.
For years, almost decades, we have been sermonized that it’s just ordinary people like all of us who spread AIDs.
Now this? Is this some sort of admission that it ISN’T ordinary people who are responsible for the spread of AIDs?
wonder if using condoms will be an affirmative defense?
A sensible person might consider this an attempt to help protect gay men, rather than a witch hunt against gay men. Obviously, the reporters looked as hard as necessary until they found someone with no common sense. In the real world, this law is irrelevant. What are the courts going to do to a man with AIDS that matters?
Didn’t Ann Coulter talk about that in “Godless?”
So it’s okay, according to these people, to be a typhoid Mary? I believe that most people have a different opinion.
Unconstitution. It is their right to spread aids. Ask the supreme court.
Sadly, AIDS and HIV are almost 100% preventable based on personal lifestyle choices, but they don't want to hear that because that requires personal responsibility.
maybe if we had treated the carriers as typhoid marys in the beginning we wouldnt have the problems today
I wonder under what circumstances it should be anything less than criminal to intentionally spread aids...
Unfairly?
Gadzooks, methinks I detect lib-thought.
What part of “you’ve got AIDS and if you screw someone and they get it, it’s your fault” do they not understand?
Never could I knowingly expose some one to it.
It would die out if it wasn't knowingly spread.
Hmmm...is this an admission that AIDS is a homosexual disease?
It is beyond belief that someone with Aids/Hiv is not legally bound to disclose the fact.
Actually I hope this comes to pass. How on Earth could anyone knowingly have sex with someone if they know they could infect them. That is first degree murder in my book. The homosexual population thinks this is an attack on them, but more folks than gays have Aids and they should be punished too. In fact, the gay community should support this as it affects them. Does a gay guy want to have sex with another gay guy who has Aids??? I would think the majority would say no...yes you have wackos in every group.
Ejay Jack of Omaha questioned where the bill draws the line. For instance, giving someone the flu could fall under the bill, because influenza can be life threatening.
People always find a reason for a bill not to pass...the flu??? HAHAHA!
So, here is some inconvenient truth for the left and the gay agenda from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
The term men who have sex with men (MSM) refers to all men who have sex with other men, regardless of how they identify themselves (gay, bisexual, or heterosexual). In the United States, HIV and AIDS have had a tremendous impact on MSM. Consider these facts:
AIDS has been diagnosed for more than half a million MSM. Over 300,000 MSM with AIDS have died since the beginning of the epidemic.
MSM made up more than two thirds (68%) of all men living with HIV in 2005, even though only about 5% to 7% of men in the United States reported having sex with other men.
In a 2005 study of 5 large US cities, 46% of African American MSM were HIV-positive.
Since HIV/AIDS in MSM was first diagnosed 1981, gay and bisexual men have been leaders in dealing with the challenges of the epidemic. Gay organizations and activists, through their work, have contributed greatly to many of the guidelines for prevention, treatment, and the care of people living with HIV/AIDS.
For complex reasons, HIV/AIDS continues to take a high toll on the MSM population. For example, the number of new HIV/AIDS cases among MSM in 2005 was 11% more than the number of cases in 2001. It is unclear whether this increase is due to more testing, which results in more diagnoses, or to an increase in the number of HIV infections. Whatever the reasons, in 2005, MSM still accounted for about 53% of all new HIV/AIDS cases and 71% of cases in male adults and adolescents.
“It would die out if it wasn’t knowingly spread.”
These people are mentally ill. By their same logic it should be okay with them if I just shoot and kill people, as long as I don’t discriminate in my choice of victims.
Isn’t it already a felony in some states? I think people have been convicted of deliberately infecting others.
Jack, who is transgender and does not have HIV or AIDS, said the bill is poorly written. He asked senators to instead focus on educating people on how to prevent the spread of HIV.
Then Jack needs to be more precise in what the bill says. Isn’t he the representative for the gay community? If the bill is poorly written...write a better bill but don’t just push the issue to the side. People should be locked up if they “kill” someone.
The mantra of liberalism. Don't do anything to FIX a problem, but spend millions to EDUCATE people how to live with a problem. Seriously, is there any adult in America that doesn't know how HIV is spread?
There is that segment of the population that believes that doctors give you cancer, HIV does not cause AIDS, and vaccinations cause autism. No amount of "education" is going to work on them.
You're talking about a harmless ubiquitous retrovirus, an ANTIBODY test indicating nothing other than prior exposure, and DNA chain-terminating drugs used to 'treat' the 'disease' that will most certainly KILL you!
The homosexual HIV / AIDs scam has been massive, lengthy and effective in throwing away our tax dollars on worthless science. Enough is enough. Let'em die. HIV doesn't scare me and it shouldn't scare you!
Back in the Seventies, I contracted TB. I was locked up in a TB ward at Milwaukee General. It was six months before they determined that my atypical TB couldn’t be spread. They figured I had gotten it gardening. Earlier that year, I had thinned out a huge old Lilly bed. They’re tubers. Doc said, “Yup.”
Why is there even a debate?
And why is this lawyer whining about “intent”? If you have AIDS and have sex with another person without telling them you have AIDS, well, I call that intent.
Send him to prison where state taxpayers will be forced to cover 100% of his end of life medical bills.
“I’m concerned that this will be a witch hunt against the gay community of Nebraska,”
Is it a witch hunt against criminals if there is a law against murder, burglary, or robbery?
Stupid reasoning by queers. Barney take notice.
Unfairly? Seems fair to me, after all, homosexuals are the ones spreading AIDS.
Very perceptive observation. I always find it amusingly hypocritical when homosexuals say it's not a gay disease, and then feature it as their pet cause in all their parades, festivals, and homo-concerts. I mean, the AIDS quilt is as big a homo-sponsored thing as anything they do.
I vote to change the name back to GRIDS - it's aptly appropriate.
I like this law: Way to go for decently and public safety Nebraska!
Whoever wrote this is amazingly simpleminded. To those of normal intelligence, there is nothing complex about the reasons why AIDS is an issue for gay men.
Go Big Red!
Right on target, fire for effect.
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