Free Republic

POP star Andy Bell says he always WANTED to be HIV positive. The gay Erasure singer, 40, revealed he is HIV positive last month — six years after diagnosis. And in a new interview he says: “You are going to think this strange, but I wanted to be HIV positive. I thought HIV was a touchstone of being gay. “But I’m a fighter. They will have to take me from this world kicking and screaming.” Bandmate Vince Clarke, 44, insisted Bell’s diagnosis did not change anything. He said: “I had no fear this was the end. “I have other friends...

Okay. If your children are listening... Well, never mind. This is okay for children because the UN is doing this. Never mind. If your kids are with you, it's fine. Don't worry. Forget I said that. (story) "A new global campaign to stop the spread of AIDS uses three animated characters dressed as condoms who deliver a serious message in humorous public service spots in 41 languages: If you're going to have sex, use a condom. The short spots are being offered free to broadcasters, community groups and universities and have the potential of reaching 80 percent of the world's...

In a new video to be distributed to 61,000 schools across the nation, homosexual activists are using popular children's TV characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Barney the dinosaur to surreptitiously indoctrinate young children into their lifestyle, a pro-family activist group charges. SpongeBob Squarepants is one of the popular children's TV characters appearing in a new 'tolerance' video. Based on the 1970s hit song "We Are Family," the video will be distributed to public and private elementary schools nationwide March 11, along with lesson plans for teachers, points out the American Family Association. The distribution, sponsored by FedEx, will coincide...

YMCA Chief Fired for Transgender Ball Flap Dec 24, 10:00 AM (ET) CHICAGO (AP) - A YMCA director has been fired and overnight facility rentals banned after the parents of young children arriving for a morning swim meet clashed with participants in an overnight transgender fashion show and ball. Greg Weider, who had been acting director of the New City YMCA for two years, was fired Wednesday. Programming manager Michael Horton, who oversaw scheduling at the center, resigned two days earlier. "We've taken very swift, decisive action, and we will do everything we can in order to restore the...

In an incident the YMCA is calling "a very regrettable scheduling error," kids arriving for an early-morning swim meet Sunday walked into a gender-bending scene of the kind most of them wouldn't be allowed to watch on TV. Several of the kids' angry parents clashed with participants in a transgender fashion show, which had been under way at the New City YMCA since about midnight, resulting in a chaotic melee that was eventually broken up by private security guards and East Chicago District police. A YMCA member had reserved the entire facility, at 1515 N. Halsted, from 11 p.m. Saturday...

What is it about sex education that causes some otherwise rational adults to behave irrationally?  When it comes to other topics -- smoking, drinking, drug abuse -- we don’t hesitate to give our children the benefit of an unambiguous “no.” We tell them flat out that they shouldn’t do it. If anyone said, “But kids are going to drink any way, so let’s show them how they can minimize the effects of a hangover,” most parents would suggest that that person have his head examined.  Yet who can deny that the same logic (or lack thereof) lies behind the push...

Even though he knew what he was in for the President of the AMA did wander into the Kevin McCullough Show today. I tried to remain polite - but his position - opposing abstinence in federal funding initiatives is just foolish. Nonetheless I have to give incoming AMA President J. Edward Hill props he stood and faced the music - read for yourself... KMC: Dr. Hill, welcome to the Kevin McCullough Show... Hill: Thank you very much Kevin. KMC: Let me ask you, from Tupulo Mississippi to the head of the AMA - that's quite a rise wouldn't you...

Is anyone else trying to watch the Christmas programming on "ABC Family"? There are several good programs on, many of them are the old Clay-mation Christmas shows that I remember from my childhood. And before I get bashed for not knowing that Jesus is the reason for the season, I do. But I also know that these are good, wholesome classics and are a Christmas tradition in my family. The problem is: nearly every commercial break contains a plug for the "ABC Family" show "Degrassi High", which appears to be aimed at teenagers and has at least one positively-portrayed gay...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is calling for a review of federally funded sexual abstinence programs. The Tennessee Republican told A-B-C's "This Week" program that federal officials should look into allegations that the programs give students false and misleading medical information. California Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman says the programs give out false information about condoms and the effects of abortion. He also accuses the programs of blurring science and religion and getting fundamental scientific facts wrong. Frist, who's a doctor, didn't directly address the issues raised. But he says the programs should be reviewed.

To all D.C. (suburban MD) Freepers; Jerry Klein, WMAL's house liberal is fielding calls on the Montgomery County Sex-ed controversy.

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found. Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease....

Teen Says He Lost Virginity At 9 CLEVELAND -- Research shows 16 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys have engaged in sexual intercourse by the time they reach their 14th birthday. For some fourth- and fifth-graders, sex is the topic of school lunch room conversations almost daily. In a special report, NewsChannel5's Deb Lee explored the troubling statistics. Lee talked with a 15-year-old Cleveland-area girl who is enrolled at the Pepper Pike Alcohol Treatment Center for kids about her experiences with alcohol and sex. The teen said kids are having sex as young as 11 and 12 years...

The Washington Post is running this story today about how misleading abstinence-only education is. The claim is that abstinence-only curricullum contain mis-leading, distorted, and sometimes flat-out false facts. Some of their examples of this are: Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person’s genitals “can result in pregnancy,” a congressional staff analysis has found. Okay, so what’s wrong with any of...

Civil liberties and homosexual rights advocates have renewed their push for community programs to bolster support in schools for homosexual youths, just weeks after voters repudiated same-sex unions in 11 state referendums.     But in northeastern Kentucky, parents and students have defied the Ashland-Boyd County school district's "mandatory anti-harassment workshops," part of an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union to allow the Gay-Straight Alliances student group to meet in school buildings. Hundreds of students opted out of the tolerance training video, and another 324 students did not show up for school the day it was shown. The ACLU has...

Sarah Jessica Parker has been ordered to cover up after her Lux billboard advert offended Israel’s Orthodox Jews. Within 24 hours of the billboard being displayed, a senior rabbi contacted the Israel office of consumer magnates Unilever to threaten a boycott of the company's entire range of products, not just Lux. With this potentially devastating boycott in mind, Unilever decided to appease the rabbis by drawing up new posters that conceal the 39-year-old’s exposed flesh.

Let's talk about sex On Everwood, the WB's family drama about life in a small Colorado town, Ephram (played by Gregory Smith) has been in love with Amy (Emily VanCamp) since the show's first episode in the fall of 2002. Their tumultuous journey to coupledom spanned the show's first two seasons, which corresponded with their sophomore and junior years in high school. The pair faced many obstacles, most of them resulting from the fact that Amy's boyfriend, Colin, was in a coma. Finally, at the end of last season, Amy and Ephram made it through the wilderness and began dating....

Despite settlement, Web site cites God In a six-page letter made public Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union says a state program promoting sexual abstinence has violated a 2002 court settlement by invoking the name of God and quoting biblical passages on the program's taxpayer-funded Web site. If changes aren't made to the site in 30 days, the ACLU said it will have no choice but to take the Governor's Program on Abstinence back into federal court. Meanwhile, the site, AbstinenceEdu.com, remained up and running, telling teens, among other things, that God is standing beside them as they choose abstinence...

If we are having problems with sexual education here in America, shouldn't we try to implement a system that the Dutch have in place? I don't know the positives/negatives of the system because I can't get any details on the web, can some of you help me out? I hear they have an average of 8 pregnancies per 1,000. Plus their abortion rate is the lowest in the world.

ITHACA--According to the Ithaca Journal(which cannot be reposted here thanks to the cretins at Gannett news), "[t]he Self-Help and Advocacy Council of CNY and "Over the Rainbow" are proud to announce their co-sponsoring of a monthly coffee house that will serve as an alternative social meeting place for members of the local LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community."The Journal reports that the coffee house will open Nov. 13, at Ithaca's Unitarian Church.According to the newspaper, "[t]he goal of the sponsors...is that people will find it to be a pleasant and safe atmosphere that people can use as a forum for...

November 8, 2004 -- A 29-year-old Connecticut woman — accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy for months — says she considers the little neighbor her "boyfriend" and hopes to marry him someday, authorities said yesterday. "I don't want anyone but you!" Tammy Imre allegedly wrote in a letter to the boy, who was a playmate of Imre's 7-year-old daughter.