A group of individuals are seeking conversion, but not a religious conversion. These individuals, known on-line as “bug chasers,” are actively seeking to be converted to HIV+ status. Yes, you read that correctly. These individuals are participating in homosexual acts, actively trying to “catch the bug.” Gregory Freeman interviewed one such individual and noted:
He takes a moment to slurp on his grande Caffe Mocha in a crowded Starbucks, and then he gets back to explaining how much he wants HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. His eyes light up as he says that the actual moment of transmission, the instant he gets HIV, will be “the most erotic thing I can imagine.” He seems like a typical thirty-two-year-old man, but, in fact, he has a secret life. Carlos is chasing the bug (2003).
As insane as it sounds, a small fraction of homosexual men exist who are deliberately attempting to contract HIV. They designate HIV+ men as “gift givers” and they view their own personal infection as the ultimate goal. Daniel Hill observed:
In Gay nightclubs across the U.S. men wear sleeveless shirts in hopes that someone will notice the tattoo “HIV-” blazoned across their deltoid. What is not so obvious is that the intention of such a tattoo is to attract someone who is HIV+ (2000).
Yes, there are individuals out there who are purposefully seeking to be infected with a deadly disease. These individuals should not be considered similar to physicians who may put themselves in harms way to try and cure someone who is known to have a deadly disease or virus. No, for these people it has become a “sport.” As BBC News reporter Richard Pendry noted: “Bug chasers supposedly look for ‘conversion parties’ where HIV positive men have the opportunity to pass on the virus to multiple partners” (2006). Thus, the advent of “bug parties,” where only the infected man and the host know about his HIV+ status, and the “object” of the party is to catch the bug—to become infected.
Dr. Robert Cihak, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and his colleague Dr. Michael Glueck wrote an article about this strange phenomenon, in which they remarked:
Throughout history and literature, people have deliberately exposed themselves to deadly infection. Sometimes their motivations are noble and altruistic: caring for others, medical research, perhaps even sharing suffering with a lover or other precious person. Sometimes they reflect the kind of existential turmoil that goes on in the human depths when death is the issue. But, to the extent that Carlos [the young man mentioned in the Rolling Stone interview—BH] and those like him seek infection because it’s cool, we must consider the culture that makes such seeking possible and desirable...and we’re talking about American culture, and not just the farther reaches of the gay realm (2003).
This behavior not only testifies against those who actively participate, but it also speaks loudly against the culture that cultivated it. The sexual revolution that occurred in the 1960s and 70s promoted freedom to express ones self in ways that had previously been considered immoral. Within a single generation sexual activity was stripped away from the marriage bed, in order to fulfill the sinful desires of individuals. The Bible, which has spoken clearly on these matters for centuries, was conveniently forgotten, as young people sought out their own pleasures. Now we fast-forward to the year 2006, when that immoral behavior has firmly taken root in our culture, and now radical individuals are not only committing acts of homosexuality, but have slid further down the slippery slope into a world in which they are actively pursuing a deadly virus.
In classrooms all across this nation, homosexual lifestyles are being promoted simply as an alternative. For instance, Port Washington high school students were given a “heterosexual questionnaire” last week in which they were asked questions such as: “If you have never slept with someone of the same gender, then how do you know you wouldn’t prefer it?” (Kertscher, 2006). Additionally, the California senate recently passed a bill that would remove sex-specific terms such as “mom” and “dad” from textbooks (see Bill Barring..., 2006). These attacks on God-ordained sexuality are inextricably linked. As our culture progressed away from “sexual relations within the confines of marriage,” more and more deviant acts began surfacing. Initially they were viewed as abhorrent, and then slowly over time, they began to receive acceptance. This acceptance comes thanks-in-part due to the new ideals being taught in the classroom, that above all else, acceptance should be the rule. Intolerance is now the only sin discussed in the schoolroom.
But is this “lifestyle” just a simple alternative? Is it a matter of accepting “different” behavior? Are school students being accurately informed that homosexuals experience a shorter lifespan than heterosexuals (a fact that is not often reported in the national press)? Paul Cameron and his colleagues studied the life expectancies of both homosexuals and heterosexuals. They reviewed 6,714 obituaries from sixteen United States homosexual journals (1993). They then compared those results to obituaries from two conventional newspapers. There findings should make us do more than stop and think—they should make us question the ethics of teaching this behavior as “acceptable” in a public classroom. For instance they discovered that among heterosexuals the median age of death:
in married men was 75, 80% died old
in unmarried men was 57, 32% died old
in married women was 79, 85% died old
in unmarried women was 71, 60% died old
For homosexuals these figures dropped dramatically. From the 6,714 obituaries collected from homosexual journals they discovered the median age of death for homosexuals:
was 39 if AIDS was the cause (1% died old)
was 42 in non-AIDS cases (<9% died old)
When compared to the average life expectancy published by the Center for Disease Control, which currently stands at 77.2 (according to 2001 data), the average homosexual (without AIDS) dies 35.2 years earlier than the average United States life expectancy. This does not factor in this new rare breed of individuals who are actively seeking to become infected with HIV.
Cameron and his colleagues also pointed out that if the person had not died of AIDS, the very lifestyle they live brings about more violence when compared to heterosexuals. They reported that participants of a homosexual lifestyle died:
— 10 times more often in accidents
— 17 times more frequently in traffic
— 26 times more often from suicide
— 87 times more from murder
— 23 times more often from heart attacks (when compared to white men aged 25-44).
Their study reviewed the literature from 1858 to 1992, and clearly established that homosexuals experience shorter life spans compared to heterosexuals.
Yes, our America’s moral footing has slipped. But it is not just enough to acknowledge that truth. If we are ever going to effectively change the direction this nation is going, then we must also be courageous in identifying sin. If we continue to allow our society to believe immoral behavior is not a sin then they will never recognize the need for redemption—and we can expect this abhorrent behavior to increase.
REFERENCES
“Bill Barring ‘Mom,’ ‘Dad’ from Texts Passes,” (2006), World Net Daily, [On-line], http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50162.
Cameron, Paul, William L. Playfair, and Stephen Wellum (1993), “The Homosexual Lifespan,” Paper presented at Eastern Psychological Association, April 17.
Freeman, Gregory (2003), “Bug Chasers: The Men Who Long to Be HIV+,” Rolling Stone, [On-line], URL: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939950/bug_chasers/.
Hill, Daniel (2000), “Bug Chasers,” Alternatives, [On-line] URL: http://www.alternativesmagazine.com/15/hill.html.
Pendry, Richard (2006), “HIV ‘Bug Chasers’: Fantasy or Fact?,” BBC News, [On-line], URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4895012.stm.
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