More HIV News

At Conservative Commentary debate rages as to whether infected porn actress Lara Roxx is a tragic victim or Darwin Award nominee. Perhaps as so often the truth's somewhere in between.

If Peter's a tad short on sympathy for Lara, what would he make of this - the practice in some homosexual subcultures of 'gifting' or 'bug-chasing' - where people deliberately try to become infected with HIV ?

Even the gay-friendly Indie can't quite believe it.

"Practices such as "gifting" and "bug chasing" - in which men without HIV willingly seek to become infected - are being promoted on the internet.
Some sites are used specifically to arrange unprotected - or "bareback" - encounters between groups of men. Such encounters include "conversion" parties where men with and without HIV have unprotected sex.
The internet is helping to foster "sexual micro-cultures" where dangerous sex is actively sought."

I think they must be talking about sites like this.

Dr Mark Pakianathan, spokesman for the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV, said that sites should do more to encourage safe sex.
"There is no doubt that there has been an increase in the amount of unprotected sex and new infections including hepatitis C and syphilis.
"It may be that these sites should, at the least, be required to carry health promotion messages."

What ? Suggest limitations of any kind on people's uphill gardening ? Fascist !

Will Nutland of the Terrence Higgins Trust rejected the demand that gay dating sites should carry health promotion messages.
"These sites are commercial operations and we wouldn't expect them to take our adverts for free."
He said that the internet had "liberated" men who would otherwise be isolated because of their HIV status.
"The internet has been demonised ..."

After all, if Aids went away where would the Terence Higgins Trust get all that money from ?