The Health Risks of ‘Gay’ Sex

April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

“The Health Risks of Gay Sex” by John R. Diggs, Jr., M.D.

“As a physician, it is my duty to assess behaviors for their impact on health and wellbeing. When something is beneficial, such as exercise, good nutrition, or adequate sleep, it is my duty to recommend it. Likewise, when something is harmful, such as smoking, overeating, alcohol or drug abuse, and homosexual sex, it is my duty to discourage it.”

“The Health Risks of Gay Sex” by John R. Diggs, Jr., M.D. Corporate Resource Council (2002). This resource is available here  in pdf format:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/healthrisksSSA.pdf

Dr. John R. Diggs, Jr., is a practicing Internist with first-hand experience in treating many of the problems described in this paper. He also travels and lectures on a variety of medical topics to audiences around the world.

John R. Diggs, Jr., MD is a board-certified Internist who has put his medical training and 15-plus years of clinical experience to work in developing a series of messages advocating the sanctity of human life and the proven benefits of sexual restraint. His central theme: Overwhelming scientific evidence supports the inherently reasonable and, at one time, universally held belief that sex belongs exclusively inside marriage.

The costs of sexual libertinism are much higher than the well-publicized devastation of the AIDS epidemic. Using the research skills and clinical expertise of a seasoned physician, Dr. Diggs exposes the real-world effects of sexual permissiveness through a message that is logical, consistent, coherent and inspiring. It leads lay persons and professionals to seek the best in themselves and their children. Parents are energized to fulfill their primary role in the education of their children. Teachers are relieved to discover their limited responsibilities in the area of sex education and their larger duty to honor the moral and ethical prerogatives of parents. Civic leaders are encouraged to find that their gut-instincts about the importance of civic virtue actually coincide with the most up-to-date findings in medicine. Businessmen learn of the costly effects of sexual immorality on the lives of their employees and on businesses themselves. Doctors have even commented that they will change their manner of practicing medicine because of the information that is presented by Dr. Diggs.

Whether they are received by medical professionals, church audiences, civic associations or corporate communities, Dr. Diggs’s presentations lead listeners to greater respect for one another and for the power of the human sexual faculty, correctly channeled. Consequently, listeners gain new clarity and hope regarding problems ranging from adolescent pregnancy to sexual addiction, pornography and male-female relations in the workplace. The quick wit and humor that Dr. Diggs injects in his presentations does not blur the bright line of truth that courses through the message.

In addition to a appearing before a variety of professional conferences, churches, high school and collegiate audiences, Dr. Diggs has published numerous essays and articles for local and national print media. He has appeared on more than 100 local and national radio programs — including the “Dr. Laura” Schlessinger show — and television venues such as MSNBC, national Fox News and “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Dr. Diggs has been married for more than a decade and is the beaming father of 3 children.

Source:

http://www.ambassadorspeakers.com/ACP/speakers.aspx?speaker=423

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Homosexuality, promiscuity

Syphilis ‘back with vengeance’ among Christchurch’s young homosexual community

March 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Syphilis fuelled by iPhone applications such as Grindr have “come back with a vengeance” among Christchurch’s young homosexual community.

Sexual health physicians say the Government needs to take immediate action before the infection spreads into the heterosexual community, where it has the potential to claim the lives of unborn children.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/8402842/Syphilis-back-with-a-vengeance

Christchurch fielded a fourfold increase in infectious syphilis from 2011 to last year and so far this year 16 people have been treated for syphilis at the city’s Sexual Health Centre – with six of those infectious.

Canterbury District Health Board Sexual Health Centre physician Dr Heather Young said sexual health was “one of the most neglected hospital specialties” in New Zealand.

“If there is no specific action taken, it [syphilis] has the potential for rapid spread and I fear we will be just sitting here watching a train wreck,” Young said.

Infectious syphilis waned in Christchurch late last year but had “come back with a vengeance” this year.

Because government funding does not cover most sexually transmitted infections (STI), treatment rests with regional health boards.

Syphilis has been on the increase in New Zealand since 2003, with a rise of more than 193 per cent of cases between 2004 and 2006.

Rates peaked in Christchurch last year, Young said.

Not only did the number of cases leap from seven in 2011 to 28 last year, but the average age and way that men were contracting the infection also changed dramatically.

Most men who caught syphilis in 2011 were in their mid-40s and contracted the disease at sex-on-site venues, such as brothels.

However, last year the median age dropped to 26, with some sufferers as young as 19. It was most commonly caught after the use of social media or iPhone applications such as Grindr, Boy Ahoy and NZ Dating, Young said.

“The highest number of people contracting infectious syphilis is men having sex with men and many are using social media sites or smartphones to search for sexual partners.”

The applications enabled men to meet “anywhere safe and convenient” for casual sex.

Young knew some patients who used Grindr and had had more than 50 sexual partners in three months. Others did not even know the name of their last partner.

It wasn’t until a patient showed Young how the application worked that she realised “the ease of sexual partner acquisition”.

“I didn’t truly understand it until I saw it. About 50 people popped up in the immediate vicinity with directions on how to access them,” she said.

“People can access sexual partners with the greatest freedom they have ever had now.”

One of the big concerns was syphilis’ potential to spread into the heterosexual community where it can be transferred from mother to baby during pregnancy.

Congenital syphilis could result in miscarriages, still births and abnormalities in babies, she said.

Many other developed countries are also experiencing a rise of syphilis cases, but have already introduced measures to halt its spread.

“Syphilis should be a top priority [for the Government] because it’s got serious consequences,” Young said.

Dr Ed Coughlan, clinical director of the Sexual Health Centre, said the issue was “very concerning”.

Coughlan urged the community to have regular sexual health checkups.

Doctors around the city had been alerted and an advertising campaign was being published on Facebook and in homosexual magazines, he said.

Coughlan and Christchurch medical officer of health Dr Ramon Pink have also written a joint report to the Ministry of Health, urging the Government to initiate a national response with Pink calling for a “nationally co-ordinated approach”.

“We have texting, Facebook and Twitter and many ways in which we as a society are more connected but it is very important for us to realise that despite our advances in technology, these diseases are still prevalent in our community and they do pose a risk,” he said.

“We cannot take it lightly and we have to act appropriately.”

“Pockets” of the outbreak had flared up in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland and Pink said if nothing was done to contain the infection it would only be a matter of time before it went national.

The Government has identified sexual health as a “key work area” in its 2010-2013 Statement of Intent.

Ministry of Health chief medical officer Dr Don Mackie said the Government invested about $55 million in sexual and reproduction health services through ministry contracts and district health board provider agreements every year.

Environmental Science and Research also carries out STI surveillance on behalf of the ministry.

SOURCE:

Story by Livia Carville, 9 March 2012

Syphillis ‘back with vengeance’

Fairfax NZ News

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/8402842/Syphilis-back-with-a-vengeance

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Homosexuality, promiscuity Tagged With: , ,

Fidelity in marriage an issue for gay men – NZ Herald article by lecturer and author – Laurie Guy

August 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

All you need is love. That is the theme song of pro-same-sex marriage proponents. It is the slogan of Louisa Wall, author of the same-sex marriage bill. If two gay people love each other and want to “marry”, why don’t we allow this? But is love enough?

In answering that question, we need to be aware of two other questions: what is marriage? And why is the state involved? The latter question is crucial, because the core issue is one of affirmation, not rights – rights can be dealt with by specific legislation without amending the Marriage Act and upsetting lots of people.

Apart from conveying rights, marriage provides affirmation that the state/society encourages this relationship as a good thing. A crucial question is whether gay relationships are such a good thing as to be endorsed by society as “marriage”.

We should look at the issue of social endorsement through four lenses: love, commitment, health, and society’s interests.

Let’s begin with love. What is “love”? The word covers a raft of sometimes contrary meanings, from sexual desire centred on “my” self-gratification, to heroic self-giving for another. Both heterosexual and same-sex unions may well pass (or fail) this test. The love issue does not debar same-sex marriages.

However, love alone is not enough. It can be fleeting and transient. If marriage is to be serious and not trivial, it needs longevity, buttressed by commitment and faithfulness.

What of gay commitment and faithfulness? Long-term lesbian relationships on average may well be as committed and faithful as that of an average married heterosexual couple. The problem is the gay men.

Some male gay couples are as committed and faithful as typical married heterosexuals. Survey evidence, however, indicates that these are very much a minority.

Significant data on male homosexual behaviour is available through New Zealand Medical Journal articles and the New Zealand Aids Foundation website. The Aids Foundation and the Aids Epidemiology Group at the University of Otago have conducted biennial surveys, the Auckland Gay Periodic Sex Surveys, for the past decade.

The 2010 results covered the sexual behaviour of 1527 gay men in 2008. On the commitment side, the survey indicates that the most common number of sexual partners for gay men over the previous six months was two to five. Just 38.8 per cent of those surveyed had a partner of more than six months’ standing (i.e. relationships with some level of commitment).

However, 52 per cent of these men had also had sex in that period (six months) with other partners. So despite the rhetoric of love and commitment, most male gay couples are not in a genuinely monogamous relationship. Should the meaning of “marriage” be broadened under such circumstances?

There is also the health issue. Male-to-male coupling typically has far greater health risks (because of high levels of anal sex). Both with casual and with “boyfriend” sex the percentage engaging in anal sex is over 80 per cent. Anal sex is never fully safe. Although condoms reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/Aids) by around 85-90 per cent, risk remains (because of user misuse or product failure).

Risk is far greater without condom protection. Although 98 per cent of those surveyed knew that anal sex without a condom is very high risk for HIV transmission, 73 per cent did not use a condom at least once in the past six months (the figure for casual sex was 31 per cent).

The result is high levels of sexually transmitted infections amongst gay men. Over 60 per cent of new infectious syphilis cases are gay men. This category also has high rates of gonorrhoea and hepatitis. And 76 per cent of all new HIV diagnoses in 2000-2009 were gay men.

Can we affirm male gay relationships to the level of “marriage”, given the data on faithfulness and health? One can argue change on the basis of “me”, “my rights” and “choice”. But the debate is also about the good of society.

What society needs are stable, faithful, healthy relationships. Stable marriage has gravely weakened in the last generation. There is deep hurt and scarring of many, especially children, as a consequence.

In a direct sense gay “marriage” will not make this worse. Indirectly, however, it will, because it makes marriage, which for many is becoming vague and fuzzy, vaguer and fuzzier still. It is social engineering – with its negative aspects ignored.

We need to have a deep and wide debate, looking at all factors. The same-sex marriage debate is currently far too simplistic. The draft bill is a daft bill.

Laurie Guy is author of Worlds in Collision: The Gay Debate in New Zealand 1960-1986 (Victoria University Press, 2002). He lectures in church history at Auckland University’s school of theology, and also at Carey Baptist College.

Source: Fidelity in marriage an issue for gay men. 31 August 2012

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10830082

Note: The Objects of the Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc. include: “To focus attention on the harmful nature and consequences of sexual promiscuity ……” (s. 2d of Constitution).

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Homosexuality, Marriage, Moral Values, promiscuity Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Smartphone application linked to gay syphilis epidemic according to Sexual Health Clinic senior clinician

August 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A new smartphone application is fanning a syphilis epidemic outbreak among Canterbury’s young gay men, a doctor says.

Christchurch Sexual Health Clinic senior clinician Heather Young said gay men would usually contract syphilis after meeting at venues such as clubs, saunas or brothels but this year there had been an increase in men meeting electronically.

“In 2011, sex-on-site venues were associated with 50 per cent of syphilis cases but in 2012 it is more commonly found after use of internet dating sites or the Grindr app,” she said.

Grindr is a free social networking app for gay men. The app uses GPS to notify members when there is another gay man nearby.

Young said gay men needed to be aware of the outbreak and should “take responsibility” by ensuring they were tested.

“People think syphilis is an old infection that is not associated with the modern day but it is re-emerging globally,” she said.

Christchurch homosexual Dixie McGregor said Grindr was “the new and popular” way to meet other gay men.

McGregor, who does not have the app, did not think it was responsible for the rise in syphilis cases: “It’s just the new thing at the moment but no matter how you meet someone it’s still up to the individual to make sure they are having safe sex.”

Canterbury District Health Board clinical director of sexual health Ed Coughlan said the syphilis epidemic had got worse in recent months.

“It’s difficult to say why it’s increased recently but once it’s in the community, among the men who have sex with men population, it’s just very infectious, so it’s just spreading.”

He said the average age of people contracting the sexually transmitted disease had dropped from 46 to 24, with men as young as 19 being affected.

Coughlan said there were eight reported cases in 2011. So far this year there had been 22.

“If it carries on this way we’ll be looking at a fourfold increase and that’s quite concerning,” he said.

“Some people have reported having female sexual partners, so of course that poses another risk but this year it has been only men who have been affected in Canterbury.”

An Environmental Science and Research report showed there was 83 syphilis cases reported last year in New Zealand.

SYPHILIS FACTS

The disease is passed through direct contact with a syphilis sore.

Early-stage symptoms include mouth and genital ulcers, hair loss and rashes.

In its early stages, the disease is easily treated with a penicillin injection.

Late stages of the disease can cause paralysis, blindness, dementia or premature death.

Source: Phone app link to gay syphilis epidemic

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7545561/Phone-app-link-to-gay-syphilis-epidemic

Note:  Section 2(d) of the SPCS Constitution “Objects” commences:

“To focus attention on the harmful nature and consequences of sexual promiscuity …….” [Emphasis added]

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Homosexuality Tagged With: ,

‘Sin Precinct’ warning over Chows’ brothel plan

May 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A 15-STOREY brothel complex in the heart of downtown Auckland would lead to an explosion of sexually transmitted diseases, child sex-slavery, moral bankruptcy, drug warfare and a curse on everyone in New Zealand, according to some of the submissions to Auckland Council on the proposal.

Of the 200 submissions on a proposed development called the Penthouse Club, across the road from SkyCity, almost every one was against the project. There was only one submission which even conditionally supported it.

The majority were concerned with issues of morality, criminality and health… [Read more...]

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Moral Values, Prostitution Tagged With: , , , ,

Law needs to catch up with HIV ruling – NZ Herald editorial

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

NZ Herald Editorial. Monday March 19, 2012

The law is generous to people with HIV who do not tell a sexual partner they have the virus. They have no obligation to inform their partner as long as they practise “safe sex”. It is only if they do not protect the unwitting partner to that extent that their failure to disclose their condition becomes a criminal offence, though not as serious an offence as it really is. Thanks to a court ruling last week, the offence will now be regarded more seriously – but only for the purposes of accident compensation.

The Court of Appeal has ordered compensation for a woman who was fortunate not to be infected but suffered post traumatic stress disorder when she learned her partner of four months was HIV positive. Under stress, she took so much time off work that she lost her job. She applied for compensation on grounds of mental injury but ACC refused her claim because the crime was not in one of the eligible categories.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10793001 [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime, HIV/AIDS STIs, Sexuality Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bob McCoskrie: Sex education lets down young people

September 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Parents have every right to be upset with the current sex education curriculum in our schools – most of it delivered by Government-funded groups.

Judging by the results of the current approach, it has been an utter failure. New Zealand has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the OECD, our STD rates are out of control and the number of teenage girls having abortions continues to rise. Our teenage pregnancy rate is almost twice the rate of Australia and Canada and over four times the rate in Denmark, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

The current sex education curriculum operates under the assumption that everyone is doing it or about to do it and therefore they just need to know how to do it “safely”.

…….For those youth who are sexually active, they are not being told the truth. Groups like the Family Planning Association and Rainbow Youth are perpetuating the myth that as long as you use a condom, you can pretty much do what you like.

For complete article go to:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10753771

Bob McCoskrie is National Director of Family First NZ – a registered charity with the Charities Commission.

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Moral Values, Sex Studies, Sexuality Tagged With: , , ,

ASB Showgrounds, Erotica Expo Ltd in Liquidation & Role of Porn King Steve Crow

September 22, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The ASB Showgrounds in Auckland has allowed a failed hardcore porn company that has been declared insolvent and consequently placed into liquidation on 27 May 2009, to organise a three-day porn promotion sleaze event where all cameras, videos and ptx phones are banned.

(see: http://www.bvents.com/event/166191-erotica-lifestyles-expo ).

Any person[s] found within the venue taking video or still images will immediately be thrown out from the porn fest says big boss Porn King Stephen Peter Crow (Steve Crow) and all images recorded will be forcibly removed.

The Society is asking: Why has ASB Showgrounds management allowed a company in liquidation to enter into such an arrangement? Some media commentators predict it will attract no more than a few hundred people with a sexual dysfunction or those seeking titillation from porn sleaze and extravagantly priced sex toys or seeking AIDS for the impotent or promiscuous. 

Liquidator, Lloyd Hayward of Accountants Meltzer Mason and Heath, in his report dated 3 June 2009 and available on the Companies website, states that Malibu Media Ltd (In Liq) (formerly Erotica Expo Ltd) owes unsecured creditors and shareholders $145,665 and $18,649 to IRD. He reports that the company Steve Crow directed failed mainly because of very poor attendances at the most recent Erotica Lifestyles Expos held in Wellington and Christchurch (see Co. No. 1275425 www.companies.govt.nz). These debts together with those of three other porn companies that were directed by Steve Crow, all of which have been placed into liquidation, amount to over 1.3 million dollars. The Liquidator has confirmed that there is nothing left for creditors.

Currently there is no registered company by the name “Erotica Expo Ltd”. Crow changed the name of the company he directed – Erotica Expo Ltd (Co. No.1275425) – to Malibu Media Ltd, on 1 May 2009, one month before it was placed in liquidation; no doubt to try and hide the financial failure being linked to the brand name “Erotica Expo Ltd” which he continues to use in breach of the Companies Act 1993.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: HIV/AIDS STIs, Pornography, Sexual Dysfunction Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
%d bloggers like this: