AP Stylebook and Trans Madness

Have you wondered why all the big media stories on transgenders or transsexuals refer to men as "she" and women as "he"? The heavyweight GLBT activists took control of the AP Stylebook some years back. The AP Stylebook sets usage standards by reporters and editors throughout the country. Since the late 1990s, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and GenderPAC have met with the AP Stylebook editors -- and have had their way. The New York Times and Washington Post have also bent over.

Since 1997, pronoun confusion was enabled by the AP Stylebook in its usage guidelines for the term sex change. At first, physical changes (through surgery, etc.) were considered a requirement for such usage (a he referred to as she). Then from 2000 on -- as transgender activists wanted to downplay surgeries in favor of the individual’s self-identification as the opposite sex – the AP played along. By 2005, the word transgender first appeared in the AP Stylebook. And by 2006, the terms sex change and transsexual were essentially disabled and rolled into the new concept transgender – thereby including a much larger population for the biased media to use in its propaganda war on biological reality.

See GLAAD’s history of AP Stylebook compliance with their most radical demands:

The 2006 edition also relocates the sex changes entry under the more accurate and inclusive term transgender. The transsexuals entry, which used to direct readers to the entry for sex changes, now also points to transgender:

• transgender Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.
  
• If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.
  

So now the individual gets to choose what “gender” he or she is, whether or not he or she has undergone physical alterations, and the media plays along. An 8-year-old boy in Colorado decides (with full parental and school administration support) to return to school dressed as a girl … and the biased media refer to the boy as she. Just following the AP Stylebook!

And the Massachusetts Legislature is asked to play this game, too, in the Transgender Rights Bill H1722.

Gov. Patrick Official and MassEquality Activist McGee Charged with Sexual Battery on Minor

McGee (left) and Conley (right): Separated at birth?

Wow, missed this when we were out of town last week! Carl Stanley McGee, a top homosexual activist and office holder in Gov. Patrick's administration, is caught in the act. This story is reminiscent of another MassEquality figure caught up in perversion with young people: Top lobbyist Bill Conley (now fighting for the Transgender Rights Bill H1722), who was arrested in July 2006 for soliciting college boys for oral sex.

McGee was rated one of Boston's 25 most stylish people by the Boston Globe last November. Former State Senator Jarrett Barrios performed a sodomy "marriage" ceremony between McGee and Rev. John H. Finley (now an Episcopal priest) in 2005. See Howie Carr's column in the Boston Herald: "Allegations vs. Dem hack fly under the radar" (2-13-08).

From LifeSiteNews:

Top Level Mass. Official and Homosexual "Marriage" Activist Charged with Sexual Battery

BOSTON, MA, February 13, 2008 - Carl Stanley McGee, 38, a top-level aide in the administration of Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has been charged with sexually assaulting a 12-15 year old boy. The incident occurred in late December, but has only been made public in the past several days.

McGee allegedly assaulted the boy at a resort on the Gulf Coast in Florida, the prestigious Gasparilla Inn & Club. The day after meeting the boy at the resort and exchanging a few words with him, McGee allegedly entered the steam room where the boy was sitting, removed the boy's towel, massaged his shoulders, and performed oral sex on him. The victim subsequently told his father about the incident, who then reported McGee to the police. McGee was arrested, held overnight and released on $300,000 bond.

According to reports McGee, whose makes approximately $115,000/year, has been put on unpaid leave, and still officially retains his position, pending trial. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Lee County, Florida next week.

McGee is the assistant secretary of policy and planning in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. Besides being one of the leading figures in the push for homosexual marriage in Massachusetts, he has also reportedly been instrumental in the drafting of Governor Patrick's life science legislation. Patrick's life science efforts seek, amongst various other things, to overturn former governor Mitt Romney's prohibition on embryonic stem cell research, and to pour millions of dollars into the unethical research.

McGee has been heavily involved in the organization MassEquality.... McGee and his homosexual partner were listed as "patrons" at the 2007 MassEquality gala dinner, second only to "founders", having donated at least $2500 to the organization. The former Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law school graduate also served as the director of the civic and business outreach efforts of MassEquality, according to the Boston Globe....

Read more...

And see Boston Globe, "Key Aide to Patrick Accused of Sex Assult," 2-7-08.

Inside a Transsexual’s Head

What will “transgender rights” laws foster? What will government be protecting and promoting? What will employer benefits and health insurance have to cover? The writings by transsexuals themselves give us a pretty good idea what will be let loose if Bill H1722 is passed here in Massachusetts.

Matt Kailey (above), a female-to-male transsexual, speaks all over the country about her experience “transitioning.” Her book is a must read: Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience (Beacon Press, 2005). She recently led workshops at the PFLAG/Transcending Boundaries Conference (Worcester 2006) on “Redefining Masculinity: How and Why Transmen are Changing the Definitions of Manhood” and “Exploring Trans Sexuality: How Transition Affects Sexual Identity for Trans People and Their Partners.”

Just to get you started, here are two excerpts from her book, Just Add Hormones:

1. From Chapter "Flat busted":
Chest reconstruction is often the second major step in a female-to-male transition and it's a welcome subtraction to the household. One of the problems with transition, as in furnishing a home, is that you think you'll be satisfied once you get that male haircut/choose a new name/change your driver's license/start hormones, but each progression only leaves you longing for more. ... Chest, or "top," surgery is one of the most fulfilling accomplishments of transition. You can finally abandon painful and artery-constructing binders. You can wear the flimsiest of T-shirts with no telltale binder or bra lines. You can even take your shirt off in public....Breasts are a significant identifier of females in our culture and, therefore, something that transmen usually want to get rid of as soon as possible....

2. From Chapter "Dickless in Denver":
Penises are a very big deal (or very little deal, depending on how you look at it) in the transmale community. Testosterone makes the clitoris grow, but usually only enough to be visible to the naked eye. Some guys have better luck than others, depending on genetics ... The competition among transmen is fierce. Bragging about two inches, unheard of in nontransmale society, is often standard fare at nouveau transman get-togethers. And those lucky enough to be able to afford phalloplastic surgery are definitely at the top of the food chain. For those of us whose goals (and incomes) are more modest, there exists an array of prosthetics that can give the impression of a living organ inside tight jeans.... I could have invested $300 or so for a realistically shaped and molded penis and balls, one fashioned with veins and a carefully shaped head, all in a shade to match my own skin tone. This penis glued on with special medical glue and stayed on for several days ... Was this what it meant to be a man? ...

Research Project Underway

Don't worry, fans.

We're just taking a little research/writing break.

Back soon.

More on Romney's Health Insurance Disaster

Two must-read posts on Romney's disastrous Massachusetts health insurance plan below. Romney is trying to blame the plan's skyrocketing costs entirely on the current administration. Even if Romney has a good sense of the business world, his health plan disaster demonstrates his lack of foresight on the inevitable course of big-government bureaucracies. Needless to say, the mainstream media and establishment Republicans are ignoring this huge black mark in Romney's record.

I. Gregg Jackson, PunditReview:
No Wonder Romney Never Discusses His Healthcare Plan…
Shikha Dalmia, senior analyst at the Reason Foundation has the latest figures on RomneyCare, and they don’t look pretty....
I have said many times that Mr. Romney’s healthcare plan that he signed on his way out the door in Massachusetts (billed as his “signature accomplishment” at the time) was inherently anti-competitive/anti-free market and would inevitably lead to contrived scarcities, inflated costs, and higher prices for consumers- the same things that always result from socialistic/command style systems- not to mention that inconvenient little fact that it established $50 dollars a pop abortions as a “healthcare benefit.”With all the talk about Romney being the only “economic conservative” it bears mentioning that his actual record tells a very different story.

II. Tom Blumer, BizzyBlog:
‘Universal’ Health Care ‘Terminated’? Yes, in California. But RomneyCare Is Alive in Massachusetts (and WE Are Paying for It)
Okay, I get that California is our most populous state, the land of uber-liberalism, and deserving of a shot or two when it tries, and fortunately fails, to pass something dumb.
But if the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal is going to exult in the Golden State’s inability to enact a “universal” health-care plan, the least it could do is spend more than about 30 words on the one such plan that exists — especially when it was the brainchild of a GOP presidential candidate now pretending to be a conservative.
I am, of course, referring to Massachusetts, its former governor, Willard Objectively Unfit Mitt Romney, and the already-imploding Commonwealth Care aka RomneyCare....
UPDATE 2: Gregg Jackson just e-mailed and confirmed something I wasn’t sure of. While Mitt Romney is fond of saying how difficult it was to try to govern in a liberal state, the fact is that RomneyCare was an unforced error. No one was clamoring for it, and there citizen or legislative pressure to “do something.” The Mittster apparently felt that “universal” healthcare would be his signature accomplishment, and that referring to it would be a winning strategy in a presidential campaign. Uh, not exactly....

Disease and Abortion

[Comments from Colonel Randy:]

A recent Reuters article informs us that HIV is not that ubiquitous, global killer-threat as hyped by the media. See "Under 1 percent of U.S. adults have HIV: report." Some numbers/stats paint an interesting picture:
*About 1/2 of 1% of the US population has HIV/AIDS.
*About 0.55% or slightly more than 1/2% of the world population dies from HIV annually (33 million deaths worldwide).

Consider the following:
*MRSA is now being spread epidemically in the promiscuous heterosexual and "gay" communities. There are people at CDC that are really worried about MRSA becoming a killer epidemic if it breaks out of the controlled medical environment and into the general public.
*H5N1, Bird Flu is uncontrolled in the Third World and is expected to mutate into a human form soon... some epidemiologists say that it already has. This flu strain could become a plague.
*Mad Cow disease not yet controlled and the meat supply is still at risk from various forms of cattle feed supplements still on the market parts of the world.
*There are many other hideous diseases like Ebola waiting to be unleashed.

All of the above are awful but now consider the following:
* Approximately 8 million die from hunger every year and 800 million suffer from hunger every year.
* 46 million babies are sacrificed to abortion each year [0.76% a much larger percent than from HIV], that's 46 million victims who never took their first breath, never committed a sin, made a mistake or even offended anyone.

Hunger is preventable. It is publicized but we do not act. Why should we be moved to act? After all, abortion is legal and encouraged throughout the "developed" world.

Abortion is not only preventable it is criminal. You can only read this because your mother "chose" to give you life and not to have you aborted.

How much is spent advertising and providing Planned Parenthood abortion services and procedures, versus how much is spent, for example, on HIV/AIDS research?

It is said that in the news, "If it bleeds, it leads." If this is true, why are the details of HIV/AIDS published, but the tragic effects of abortion on humanity not published? Why is it still acceptable to kill innocent babies? Contradictions we will all have to answer for on that last day...
From Reuters:

Under 1 percent of U.S. adults have HIV: report
Reuters 1-29-08
About one-half of one percent of young adults living in homes in the United States are infected with the AIDS virus, around 600,000 people, the National Center for Health Statistics reported on Tuesday.The agency's snapshot of HIV infection in the United States shows the rate continues to be stable and confirms other surveys that show black men are far more likely than other Americans to be infected....
Men were more likely to be infected (0.7 percent) than women (0.2 percent). People infected with the herpes simplex type 2 virus, known as genital herpes, were 15 times more likely to also be infected with HIV, according to the report ... Black men aged 40 to 49 had the highest rate of infection, at close to 4 percent, the survey found....

Romney Tells "Gay" Republicans He Will Not Oppose "Gay" Rights

Would a true conservative candidate send a representative from his campaign to meet with homosexual activists in his party? The "big tent" idea is contrary to a conservative view of the Republican Party.

As of now, yours truly is a registered Republican. But we're getting sick of "big tenters." No, real Republicans do NOT like big government (as in Romney's state health insurance plan). No, we do NOT like raising taxes (disguised by Romney as fees). No, we do NOT like experiments on human embryos, or the state/taxpayer funding abortions. No, we do NOT believe in special rights for homosexuals.

From the Washington Blade, a homosexual newspaper:

Romney rep’s remarks disappoint audience (1-25-08)

Remarks made by a representative for Romney’s campaign during a forum hosted by the D.C. chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans Jan. 16 had at least one attendee feeling disappointed.
During the forum, representatives from the campaigns of four Republican presidential contenders expressed views on why the Log Cabin Republicans should endorse their candidate.
Michael Cleary made remarks on Romney’s behalf. During his presentation he did not mention gay issues, instead focusing on how Romney revived several failing companies during his business career.
David Lampo, vice president of Virginia Log Cabin Republicans and attendee at the forum, criticized Cleary for neglecting to address gay issues and asked him to state where Romney stood on them.
Cleary responded that he could not recall a time in recent years when Romney went “out of his way” to emphasize gay rights. Cleary added that, “I want to make the point that he won’t oppose them.”
Noting Romney’s endorsement for an amendment defining marriage in the U.S. Constitution, Cleary told attendees that they should not interpret his position as being “prejudicial towards gays.”
[emphasis added]

Real Man, Pretend Man, and the Democratic National Committee

This is a man.

This is a not a man.

The Boston Herald and the Democrat Party are doing what they can to push for the latest lunatic concept, "transgender rights." The Dems have just added their first "transgender" member to their national platform committee, thanks to its head, Gov. Howard Dean.

The "female-to-male" transsexual appointee, Diego Sanchez, works for the radical AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, and used to be a co-chair of the Mass. Transgender Political Coalition.

Sanchez is a really woman who has undergone medical procedures we'd rather not go into here. Yet the Boston Herald refers to Sanchez as "he" (as instructed in the AP stylebook).

Here's a video of Jim Braude (New England Cable News) interviewing Sanchez and another transsexual, Joanne Herman (who's on the board of GLAD, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders) in March 2007.

Transgendered delegate makes DNC history

Boston Herald (1-27-08)

When Diego Sanchez attends the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August, he’ll be making history.

Sanchez, the director of public relations and external affairs for AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, is the first transgender person to be named to a convention committee.

...“Gov. Dean’s appointment of a record seven LGBT members to the convention committees, including the first transgender member, is an important recognition of the Democratic Party’s diversity and our commitment to equality,” said DNC spokesman Damien LaVera.

Sanchez, of Lawrence, said he first told his parents that he believed he was in the wrong body when he was 5 years old. It took him 20 years to make the medical and legal transition into life as a man.

Concord-Carlisle High School Hosting V-Day Trash

The Concord-Carlisle High School Auditorium will host a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" this weekend -- that juvenile piece of theatre that needed to die years ago. But instead we're seeing its 10th anniversary celebration. We read it a few years back, and it was offensive, but mostly just stupid. It was fun throwing it into the trash.

But the enlightened feminists of the Concord area think that it will somehow help to end domestic violence if someone shouts "c*nt, c*nt, c*nt" over and over from the stage. (We suggest they work to end abortion instead. Nothing teaches devaluing others' rights better than believing it's OK to kill babies... Abortion certainly plays a role in teaching violence.)

Young women around the country are starting to see through this trash and publicly oppose the productions. (See this Washington Post story from 2006.) The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute has an online student guide, "The Vagina Monologues Exposed." Good stuff:

We at the Luce Policy Institute believe that The Vagina Monologues trivializes the legacy of women who have achieved great things with their creativity, energy, intellect, and spirit. It glorifies social deviancy and sexual perversion and assaults and condemns men. That's why we created a special program to help you combat the widespread and damaging effects of V-Day. V-Day Unveiled seeks to:

* Reclaim the romance and beauty of Valentine's Day
* Celebrate the intellect, strength, integrity, and spirit of the modern American woman.
* Promote respect in ways to honor—rather than debase and degrade—women.

Nobody argues that violence against women isn't tragic, but V-Day has no real impact on the violence. Women deserve better than the reprehensible and degrading messages sent to them by Eve Ensler and her fellow "vagina warriors"—whose efforts effectually reduce women to their sexual organs.

154 Mass. Companies Supporting Transgender Employees

Yesterday we posted the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) list of perfect-scoring companies in Massachusetts, those that support every facet of their radical GLBT agenda in the corporate world. At a recent legislative briefing session at the State House, the Mass. Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) issued a list of 154 Massachusetts employers with "non-discrimination policies covering gender identity." (Apparently, there are many companies that support this concept, while not on HRC's 100% list.)

If we believe the MTPC handout, it seems to demonstrate that there's not so much anti-transgender discrimination going on out there as they want us to believe. If this many companies openly jump on the bandwagon, what's the problem? Oh, yeah -- MTPC wants everyone to be forced to think the same way, and allow no leeway to employers on whether or not they believe in the natural reality of only two sexes, MALE and FEMALE.

This long list of 154 wacky companies does not yet appear on MTPC web site. But they do post this shorter version, slightly expanding the HRC list:
Bain and Company
Bank of America
Best Buy
Borders Group
Brandeis University
Bridgespan Group
Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Foley Hoag LLP
Giant Food
Gap
Global Hyatt Corp
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Harvard University
Hilton Hotels Corp
HSBC USA
John Hancock Financial Services
Mass. Mutual Life Insurance
Merck
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo LLP
MIT
Novartis
Prudential Financial
Raytheon
Staples
State Street Corp.
Toys R Us
Trillium Asset Management
Tufts University
United States Postal Service
Wainwright Bank and Trust
Walgreens

Some of the others on the list handed out at the State House (not complete):
Amherst
BJ's Wholesale Club
Beth Israel Medical Center
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Mass.
Bose Corp.
Boston Globe
Boston Medical Center/Hospital
Boston Scientific
Cabot Corp.
Central Massachusetts Health
Children's Hospital Boston
Clark University
College of the Holy Cross
Cumberland Farms
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Digital Equipment Inc.
EMC Corp.
Emerson College
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Friendly Ice Cream Corp.
Greater Boston Hotel Employees #26
Hanover Insurance Group
Hill & Barlow
Houghton Mifflin C.
John Hancock Financial Services
Liberty Mutual Group
Millipore Corp.
Mount Holyoke College
New England Medical Center
New England Mutual Life Insurance
Northeastern University
Partners Healthcare
Ropes & Gray
Simmons College
Smith College
Sonesta International Hotels
Stop & Shop Supermarket Co.
Suffolk University
Sun Life Financial Inc.
Talbots
Tufts Health Plan
TJX Companies, Inc.
University of Massachusetts System
Wellesley College
Wheaton College
Williams College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Telegram

Mass. Corporations Supporting Transgender Madness

In order to earn a 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign's "Corporate Equality Index 2008," a company needs to support the craziest recent inventions of the GLBT movement: "transgender" or "transsexual" rights and benefits. The company would have to allow employees to "transition" from one "gender" to another, including medical costs, sick leave, etc. -- on the company ticket. (Most companies' benefits include mental health coverage -- and this should take care of the problem. But sadly today, there are all too many mental health practitioners who buy into trans madness, and are only too happy to prescribe hormones and mutilating surgery for their confused patients.)

Read the HRC ratings criteria. Here are the HRC recommended sources for companies to use for "transitioning" employees.

Troubled employees are not changing their sex (that's biologically impossible). Just their "gender." We think... Then again, they do call it "sex reassignment surgery." (But what the troubled employee thinks is all that really matters.) If they want hormone injections, body mutilating surgeries, and cosmetic treatments (that can add up to $100K or more) that let them pretend they're the opposite sex (or is it gender?), any company willing to play along gets a 100% rating from HRC! Here's what the company will have to do: HRC Workplace Gender Transition Guidelines.

Here's the list of companies nationwide that agree to these guidelines. (See Appendix X.) And here are the companies and law firms in Massachusetts that have bought into this insanity. (If House Bill #1722 passes, every company and government entitity -- including public schools -- in Massachusetts will have to support this!)

Massachusetts Companies & Law Firms supporting transgender/transsexual benefits (2008):
Raytheon
State Street Corp.
Bain & Co.
Boston Consulting Group
McKinsey & Co.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions [day care!]
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care [health care!]
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
Bingham McCutchen
Foley Hoag
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo

Update on MRSA Staph Issue from Concerned Women for America

Concerned Women for America has just released this statement:

"Homosexual Groups Invited to Work to Curb Spread of MRSA" (1-22-08). Excerpts:

Washington, D.C. — Because Concerned Women for America (CWA) cares deeply for the health and well being of all Americans, CWA is sending letters inviting the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, GLAAD and Lambda Legal to put aside profound ideological differences with CWA — for the sake of the lives and health of their members — and to call for commonsense steps to help curb the spread of a potentially deadly strain of Staph infection.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA bacteria, is infecting men who have sex with men in major cities at an alarming rate. A study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that “gay” men are 13 times more likely to contract the infection....
Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues, said, “We now have a wonderful opportunity for ideological opponents to come together for the common good. Steps must be taken to keep this MRSA outbreak, which is occurring within certain segments of the homosexual community, from becoming a more widespread epidemic.
“HRC and other homosexual groups have a profound leadership role in their communities and a responsibility to protect their members from behaviorally related threats to their health and well-being. Therefore, these groups should publicly condemn those specific ‘high-risk behaviors’ which this study has concluded are responsible for spreading MRSA among homosexuals.
“We’re asking HRC and other groups to denounce, through word and deed, ‘sex with multiple partners,’ ‘group sex [parties]’ and to actively promote the notion that it is never okay to ‘use methamphetamine and other illicit drugs.’ ”
“In light of this behaviorally related MRSA outbreak,” said Barber, “we additionally ask HRC and other groups to call on local health agencies to shut down the many bathhouses and sex clubs around the country where men meet for anonymous sex with other men, often multiple partners, on a daily basis. These places create the ‘perfect storm’ for infectious disease, including MRSA...."

Read entire statement...

Romney's Latest FlipFlop: Now He's for BIG Government

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby has highlighted Romney's latest flipflop. After lots of talk of vetoing unnecessary spending and cutting government redudancies, now Romney is promising BIGGER government and federal props for failing industries. He's found his new voice!

See Jacoby's column, "What would Reagan say?" (1-20-08). Excerpt:

... Romney's message used to be one of unabashed small-government conservatism: "Government is simply too big. State government is too big. The federal government is too big. It's spending too much." Those words still appear on his website, but there was nothing like them in his remarks last week. He told his supporters that Washington is broken and needs to be fixed - which is decidedly not the same as saying it needs to be shrunk. Romney used to boast of the hundreds of spending line-items he vetoed as Massachusetts governor; "I like vetoes," he told audiences. But these days he's singing from a different hymnal....

But it is Romney whose pitch has shifted the most as he (again) seems to be reinventing himself, this time as a big-government planner with more faith in the power of top-down federal intervention than in the innovations and efficiencies of the free market.

In Detroit last week, Romney vowed to resurrect the moribund US auto industry - which has been declining for decades - with massive corporate welfare and other government largesse. He derided as "baloney" McCain's blunt reality check that many auto manufacturing jobs are gone for good. He condemned "the absence of a federal policy designed to strengthen the US automotive sector," sounding for all the world as if he just stepped out of some 1970s statist time warp. He promised "a fivefold increase - from $4 billion to $20 billion - in our national investment in energy research, fuel technology, materials science, and automotive technology."...

Read more...

"Gay" Fenway Health Clinic Downplaying New Staph Outbreak

Left: "Dr. Cox" -- the answer man at Fenway Community Health Clinic in Boston. Note the link with the Boston Public Health Commission. On Dr. Cox's page you'll see links to anonymous hook-up web sites.

The CEO of Fenway Community Health in Boston (a GLBT clinic), Dr. Stephen Boswell (below), is trying to downplay the news of the new, virulent strain of staph infections proliferating in the homosexual community. But he is concerned that there is no "safe-sex" advice applicable to this new bacteria, which can be spread by casual contact.

That fact concerned one of the authors of the original report: "We are nowhere near the peak," Diep [head researcher at S.F. General Hospital] said. "The peak greatly will occur when it spreads into the general population."

InNews Weekly reported on Jan. 17, "Study finds increasing number of drug-resistant skin bacteria in Boston's gay community," with the qualifying headline, "FENWAY COMMUNITY HEALTH SAYS NEWS OF PROLIFERATING 'FLESH EATING DISEASE' IS INFLATED."

No mention that "men who have sex with men" show a 13 times higher likelihood of contracting the disease than others ... just that it "appears to be more commonly transmitted" in this group. From InNews Weekly:

A multi-drug-resistant strain of the S. aureus bacteria - or a relatively new strain of an old staph infection - isolated in Boston and San Francisco, and its causal bacteria, which most commonly presents as a large boil, appears to be more commonly transmitted sexually among men who have sex with men than others, reports the Annals of Internal Medicine.

However, reports that the bacteria - although life threatening if not treated - is a "flesh eater" and spreads rapidly, have been inflated, said Dr. Stephen Boswell of Fenway Community Health.
"The truth is, we are only seeing one or two cases a week, but that is an increase [over past years]," said Boswell this week in an interview. He added that a story in last Monday's The New York Times ("New Bacteria Strain Is Striking Gay Men") was "a bit dramatic." ...

"What we are seeing is an old bacterium that has become resistant to a number of antibiotics, and that could be because we use a lot of antibiotics. After a while, bacteria in your body becomes used

to the treatments and they no longer work," said Boswell, who wouldn't say whether gay men are more susceptible to antibiotic failure as a result of being treated for a constellation of STDs more frequently than other populations. "Infectious diseases tend to affect certain groups of people, and we're not exactly sure why this one is affecting predominantly gay men. It is being seen in other groups as well, just more frequently in gay men." ...

But, says Boswell, if it is transmitted from skin to skin, it's difficult to offer any safe-sex advice....

[emphasis added]

GLSEN Founder Kevin Jennings Leaving Organization

We wonder why? A while back, we remember reading that Jennings was not well. Read the press release from GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network).

What a lot of harm this man's done. While a teacher at Concord Academy in Massachusetts, he founded the first "gay/straight alliance" which served as a model for activists around the country. His GLSEN-Boston conferences distributed the Little Black Book to kids in 2005, and promoted fisting to teens in 2000.

Under Jennings' leadership, GLSEN cleverly devised ways of getting at all the kids in our schools: the Day of Silence (April), Ally Week (October), No Name-Calling Week (next week, Jan. 21-25, in many schools), and now even the "Transgender Day of Remembrance"!

GLSEN has a formidable list of national corporate sponsors. Have the sponsors seen the Little Black Book? Do they know about the"Fistgate" incident? Are they aware of the recent transgender/transsexual push?

Thanks, Kevin, for drawing our children into your twisted and unhealthy world. Wish you'd retired sooner.

Boston Globe Pushing "Transgender Discrimination" Story

Yesterday's print edition of the Boston Globe NorthWest had a front-page story, "Transgender student alleges bias," which for some reason is not appearing in the online headlines. (It is available if you do a search, and appears with a different headline, "Student alleges bias over locker.") Has the Globe decided to back off on this story? Has the Globe received complaints about supposed objective reporting:

• referring to a female as "he"
• accepting the very absurd notion of "transgenderism"
• detailing that this young woman has had her breasts removed, but "still has some female anatomy" ?

This is only the beginning of "transgender" craziness in this state. If men don't want to see women with mutilated bodies in their locker rooms, they'd better call their State Rep and Senator and tell them to oppose H1722, the radical "transgender rights" bill, which will force all locker rooms everywhere in the state to include members of the opposite sex who "think" they are "transgender".

From the Boston Globe NorthWest:

"Transgender student alleges bias" (1-27-08)
Ethan Santiago, a physical education major in his first semester at Northern Essex Community College, had been using the men's locker room for weeks when he decided he needed a spot to stash his gym bag. So, he applied for a locker.
He said a school administrator denied his request, citing safety reasons. Santiago, a transgendered student, still has some female anatomy.
The rejection spurred the 20-year-old to file an affirmative action grievance against the school in October, alleging that he was discriminated against because of his gender identity.
Santiago said he just wants to be treated like other male students on campus. Instead, he said, the college offered him the use of a locker room generally reserved for athletes from visiting schools, as well as use of a handicap-accessible bathroom near the NECC men's locker room. He said both options made him feel like a second-class citizen....
Santiago, of Lawrence, took the name Ethan about two years ago. He was born Elizabeth. That identity confused Santiago, who said that as a teen he didn't "feel straight" but knew he wasn't a lesbian. He figured he could be bisexual, but decided to do some research.
"I came across a general education website that had all the definitions of different ways that people are queer, and transgender was there and I was like, 'What! That makes so much sense.' It just clicked," said Santiago, who has since cut his hair and dresses in men's clothes and has had breast reduction surgery.
"It was exciting every step of the way to find out what I really liked," Santiago said. "I grew up female and I know that a lot of trans people try to put their old life behind them, but I fully embrace that I was born female and that I grew up female . . . and I think it's going to make me a much better guy."
Meanwhile, Santiago said, he'll continue his fight at Northern Essex. He's been in contact with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, a nonprofit that has offered to help guide his next steps.
Otherwise, "what am I going to do when people ask me, 'How come you're not coming to the locker room with us?' " asked Santiago. "I am living as male. I am using the men's locker room."
[emphasis added]

Romney's Temper Flairs When Challenged by Inconvenient Facts

Yesterday, Mitt Romney lost it when an AP reporter challenged him on his statement that he didn't have Washington lobbyists running his campaign. In fact, he does: Ron Kaufman and Vin Weber. See "Romney, reporter tussle over truth" in today's Boston Herald. Don't miss his spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom's arrogant tongue-lashing of the reporter at the end. The video is very revealing.

We've documented another incident when Romney totally lost it with Chicago talk show host, Sandy Rios, at an event in that city some months back. Rios challenged his illegal implementation of "homosexual marriage" in Massachusetts. Rios had spent a lot of time closely monitoring the developments here from the Goodridge ruling on, as President of Concerned Women for America, and she knew what she was talking about. Hear the audio broadcast from WYLL radio in Chicago, March 9, as Sandy Rios explains what happened.

And then there's the tape from Romney's appearance on the Howie Carr show on WRKO in December, where he not only changed the subject when he couldn't answer honestly, but insulted Gregg Jackson, host of another WRKO show, calling him "delusional." See our report, and listen to the audio.

BAGLY Fundraiser Tonight Supports Creation of "Queer Youth"

Above & right: Adult male drag queen attendees at BAGLY's queer prom at Boston City Hall, part of the Youth Pride events every May, and sponsored by the Mass. Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.

Below: "Grace" Sterling Stowell (in sunglasses), the male-to-female transsexual who runs BAGLY and is co-chairman of the Mass. Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, ushering youth into his prom (May 2007).

Algonquin Club (left) will house a fundraiser tonight for the dangerous organization BAGLY (Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth). BAGLY funds also support the Mass. Transgender Political Coalition. BAGLY runs the hideous "queer" prom at Boston City Hall every May, capping the Youth Pride events on Boston Common.

See our photo galleries from the BAGLY queer prom in 2006 and 2007.

BAGLY's executive director, "Grace" Sterling Stowell, is a male-to-female transsexual who lectures children at the GLSEN conferences about fanciful transgender concepts.

The Algonquin Club describes itself as "a peaceful haven for Boston's leading citizens to conduct business, socialize with family and friends, and enjoy the finest cuisine in an elegant setting."

The business to be discussed at this get-together? How best to convince young women to have double mastectomies and be the man they always wanted to be. And to collect referrals for gender therapists who will fit young men with padded bras and binders. Unbelievably, there will be many donors eager to give to this cause.

From Bay Windows:

Community Calendar
Thursday Jan 17, 2008 6:00pm BAGLY annual fundraiser

The Algonquin Club, 217 Commonwealth Ave, Boston

Join the friends and Board of BAGLY, the Boston-area support group for queer youth, at their annual fundraiser tonight. Help BAGLY continue its important work with your $500 ticket, and enjoy the festivities from 6-8 p.m. at The Algonquin Club, 217 Commonwealth Ave, Boston.info: 617.429.3537 or www.bagly.org

Boston "Gay" Community Seeing New Deadly Staph Infections

Boston is one of the cities seeing the spread of a dangerous new staph bacteria in the homosexual community. Reported in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday:

S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph (1-15-08):

SAN FRANCISCO -- A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday. The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston....
"We are nowhere near the peak," Diep [head researcher at S.F. General Hospital] said. "The peak will occur when it spreads into the general population."
Diep said there is reason to believe that the more drug-resistant strain will make that leap because it is just a slight variant of USA300, which became one of the most common strains of MRSA in the United States only a few years after it was first detected.
The latest study focuses on the spread of the more drug-resistant strain in San Francisco and Boston, but reports of the bug are turning up in New York and Los Angeles....
[emphasis added]

For analysis, see Americans for Truth, Big City Homosexual Men Are Epicenter of New Virulent MRSA Staph Strain; More evidence that homosexuality is a public health hazard (1-15-08):

What a mystery … How could it be that so many infections are occurring in the “buttocks and genitalia” of San Francisco men (who have sex with other men)? …
Is this not an eerie reminder of the initial stories about AIDS — then called GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease) – 25 years ago? It is unfathomable that after that plague, disease specialists and the media are now surprised at the correlation of new infections with homosexual behavior.
Wake up, medical and political establishment: homosexual behavior is unhealthy — no matter how many secular sermons you preach against “homophobia.” Due to liberal political correctness, which insists on treating aberrant — even deadly — behaviors and lifestyles as a “civil right,” we as a society don’t seem to have learned much from the AIDS pandemic. This latest news begs some serious questions:
- Why aren’t all schoolchildren being taught that there are special health risks associated with homosexual behavior and that they should “just say no” to homosexuality?...
Read more...

And for more analysis, Concerned Women for America put out a press release yesterday:
Epidemic Feared — “Gays” May Spread Deadly Staph Infection to General Population (1-15-08)
... According to the study, at this point, homosexual men are 13 times more likely to contract the potentially deadly, drug-resistant strain of staph infection, but the fear is that, because the infection is spread via skin-to-skin contact, homosexual men may soon spread it to the general population.
Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), said, “The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease. In recent years we have seen a profound resurgence in cases of HIV/AIDS, syphilis, rectal gonorrhea and many other STDs among those who call themselves ‘gay.’
“The human body is quite callous in how it handles mistreatment and the perversion of its natural functions. When two men mimic the act of heterosexual intercourse with one another, they create an environment, a biological counterfeit, wherein disease can thrive. Unnatural behaviors beget natural consequences.
“In recent years our culture has adopted a laissez faire attitude toward sexual deviancy....
“Well, now the dangerous and possibly deadly consequence of what occurs in those bedrooms is spilling over into the general population. It’s not only frightening, it’s infuriating.
“Citizens, especially parents, need to stand up and say, ‘No More! We will no longer sit idly by while politically correct cultural elites endanger our children and larger communities through propagandist promotion of this demonstrably deadly lifestyle.’ "

[1-18-08 addendum] And Barber cites the study itself:
The study determined that the spread of MRSA, “among men who have sex with men is associated with high-risk behaviors, including use of methamphetamine and other illicit drugs, sex with multiple partners, participation in a group sex party, use of the internet for sexual contacts, skin-abrading sex, and history of sexually transmitted infections.” --- That’s a direct quote...

Romney Stories That Make You Go "Hmm..."

Hmm ... we were about to post this, then decided to take a little detour to Michigan. Now back home, we find that Romney's campaign staff has written yet another letter, supposedly from the Mass. Family Institute president, Kris Mineau, calling us names. Hmm ... Romney's paid staff -- apparently including Mass. Family Institute -- weren't too pleased with our trip! (They're just like leftists, aren't they? Since they can't shoot down the facts, they call us names. More on that soon. But for now ...) here's what we were about to post on Saturday before we took our trip.

From RedState.com:

Romney in Seven Words (1-11-08)
On Wednesday, after his loss in the New Hampshire primary, Gov. Mitt Romney returned to Boston to lick his wounds and conduct a telephone fundraiser before heading off to his next must win state of Michigan. ABC Radio microphones were there ... "Hit the phones today make all the promises you have to, and…make sure that we get the funds that we need to keep on propelling this campaign forward with power and energy." [emphasis added]

On the very weird goings-on in Wyoming, here's from Wyoming Star-Tribune:

Some question Romney 'victory' (1-8-08)
The results of Republican nonbinding straw polls in some Wyoming counties Saturday don't jibe with the statewide delegate selection results in favor of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In Johnson County , for example, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee came in first in the straw poll, while Romney was in fourth place.... Johnson County Republicans who contacted the Star-Tribune ... questioned why statewide straw poll results had not been publicized....
Of the 12 delegates selected statewide Saturday, Romney won eight, Thompson three, and Duncan Hunter one. Tom Sansonetti of Cheyenne, who coordinated the county conventions, said Monday there was no mandatory poll. "There was no statewide organized straw poll. Each county was given the option of holding a straw poll if they wanted to," Sansonetti said. He said about eight to 10 of the 23 counties did hold straw polls. He said he talked to Republican officials in five counties that conducted straw polls. Romney won four and Texas Congressman Ron Paul won one, he said.The counties that took straw polls weren't required to turn in their numbers to the state party headquarters.

And more Romney election weirdness in Rhode Island, from EyeOn08.com:

Romney and Giuliani delegate operations fail in Rhode Island (1-10-08)
The Rhode Island Secretary of State just released the list of filed delegates. Delegates then need to get signatures to get on the ballots. But… John McCain and Mike Huckabee filed 40 delegates. Fred Thompson 8. Mitt Romney 7. And Rudy Giuliani 0.
... The first one is that Romney’s delegate operation failed. They have the Governor, one of the delegates. The head of Students for Romney is one of the delegates. And that was all they could get.... This sounds like wheels coming off an organization.

Howie Carr Let Romney Off the Hook on "Gay Marriage" Lies

Left: Howie Carr

Right: Gregg Jackson

One of these guys has the courage to stand up to Mitt Romney's lies.

Howie Carr, WRKO talk show host and Boston Herald columnist, had Romney on his show for a few minutes on December 21. Another WRKO host and writer, the alert Gregg Jackson (Pundit Review Radio, Sundays at 7 p.m.), heard Romney was on and called in to ask him a burning question: Why did the Governor issue the unconsitutional orders to his Dept. of Public Health, Town Clerks, and Justices of the Peace that began the phony homosexual "marriages" back in 2004? We broke this story shortly after it happened.

Now Howie should understand this issue, and what Romney was up to. He's received all of our research. Why didn't he challenge Romney when he evaded the question and lied? What's up, Howie?

Romney was specifically asked about changing the MARRIAGE LICENSES to read "Partner A & Partner B" (instead of "husband & wife"). But he did a little sleight of hand, hoping no one would notice he answered about BIRTH CERTIFICATES (which he hadn't ordered be changed from "father & mother"). This is how stupid he thinks we all are ... and maybe he will fool most of the people.

Listen to the audio here.

See Gregg Jackson, Mitt Zombie Calls Me "Delusional."

From BizzyBlog today: Mitt Romney Calls Gregg Jackson ‘Delusional’; What Does That Make Romney?

... Mass Resistance has posted the audio and transcript of a call that took place on the air during the Howie Carr show on the afternoon of December 21 on WRKO in Boston.
The caller was Gregg Jackson, who is co-host of Pundit Review Radio on Sunday evenings on WRKO and is co-proprietor at the Pundit Review blog. Howie Carr’s guest was Objectively Unfit Mitt Romney, who in the course of answering Jackson’s question, showed exactly why he is, indeed, objectively unfit.
Keep in mind that Gregg is the author of “Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies,” a book that has earned rave reviews from the likes of Thomas Sowell (”political and media spin are shot to pieces by hard facts”) and David Limbaugh (”There is not a better one-stop-shop item to refute with evidence and examples the liberal lies.”).... [Read more.]

More Episcopalian Bishops in Homosexual Relationships

Recently, we reported that Bishop Gene Robinson was looking forward to being a "June bride" (his words), under the new civil unions law in New Hampshire. Now we learn there are other disordered relationships within the Epicopal hierarchy. Are we surprised?

US Episcopal Leader: There Are More Gay Partnered Bishops, but They're Secretive, LifeSiteNews.com (1-4-08)

The head of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Bishop Jefferts Schori, shocked listeners of a BBC Interview when she announced that Gene Robinson - the controversial Episcopalian bishop who was consecrated bishop despite his being an openly practicing homosexual - is not the only homosexual and partnered bishop in the Anglican Church.

"[Robinson] is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop," Schori said in response to a question from her interviewer. "He is certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop. He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who's open about that status." ...

Jackass on Beacon Street

The Boston Globe is still doing the bidding for former State Senator and homosexual activist Jarrett Barrios.

Radicals for illegal immigration, led by Barrios, managed to get a big photo on page 1 of the B section in Monday's Globe. His gimmick was for teenagers playing the shelterless Holy Family (complete with donkey) to parade through the streets by the State House, implying an equivalence with hardships faced by illegals in this country now. What a joke.

"It seems to have become very easy for people who call themselves Christians to forget this fundamental theme of our faith - that God directed us to love everyone without exception," said Jarrett Barrios, an organizer of the event and a former state senator who in 2006 sponsored a bill to allow illegal immigrant children to pay in-state tuition, which ultimately failed.

Read more:

Through Bible story, many others told; On Three Kings Day, advocates act out skits illustrating the hardships immigrants face, Boston Globe (1-7-08)
Yesterday, on the Three Kings Day, more than 350 immigrant advocates, clergy, and others walked behind two Boston high school students playing Mary and Joseph around Boston Common in a twist on the Latin American tradition known as "Las Posadas," which is Spanish for shelter.
Their goal: to make a point about the treatment of the 12 million immigrants living illegally in the United States.
Immigrants and advocates gathered on the Common amid holiday lights still twinkling on barren trees to re-create the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Reading from a script in English and Spanish, the two high school students acted out skits illustrating the hardships immigrants face....
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, said advocates are misusing the Bible to make a political point to garner sympathy for immigrants who are breaking the law.
"They're essentially manipulating a scripture for current political purposes. It's not appropriate in any policy area," said Krikorian. "The Bible doesn't tell us what the minimum wage should be or anything else. It's a broad perspective on how to think about issues."...

Romney's Socialist Health Care Crackup

Always scheming, here's Romney surrounded by Massachusetts Democrat Socialists, including Teddy Kennedy: "Romney signed the healthcare bill at an elaborate ceremony at Faneuil Hall, but he angered Democrats by vetoing eight sections of it, including a fee on employers that didn't provide health coverage for their workers. The move allowed him to take credit for a landmark law while washing his hands of something resembling a tax increase." - Boston Globe, "The Making of Mitt Romney" (2006).

Speaking of health care in Massachusetts, don't miss this update on Romney's health care plan here, from BizzyBlog (drawing on an AP report by Steve LeBlanc yesterday):

The RomneyCare Crackup Is Arriving Early (Heavy Fines and Rationing; Also See the Various Updates) OVERVIEW: After one year, Commonwealth Care (aka RomneyCare) in Massachusetts is imploding even earlier than I predicted, due to “spiraling costs.” Punitive fines of $912 - $1,824 are to be imposed on those who would rather not participate in the so-called “grand experiment.”

In mid-October of last year, well before I learned how Objectively Unfit Mitt Romney is to serve as president, I predicted this (fourth item at link):
Let me be the first to say it: It’s becoming painfully clear (link requires subscription) that Mitt RomneyCare in Massachusetts is blowing up, and will get nothing but worse between now and November 2008. If he’s the nominee, he’ll be playing the same game Michael Dukakis played unsuccessfully in 1988 — covering up the Bay State’s disastrous financial situation. Except this time, the other party controls the Governor’s Office. Deval Patrick will gleefully point to the mess he has inherited, and will then tout HillaryCare II as the “better, more comprehensive” solution.
For this reason alone, I believe that Mitt Romney should NOT be the GOP nominee. Period.

Why is Romney's socialist plan -- which he intended to be his crowning achievement as Governor -- not being targeted by the other Republican candidates? Back in 2005, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute put it well: ''All around us, we see signs that government mandates and heavy-handed, command-and-control models of providing healthcare don't work and people are abandoning those, and yet the governor seems to be running toward them."

Good for Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee for going after the $50 abortion benefit (which Romney did NOT veto). But now, they should be going after the big-government aspect.

Telling the Truth about Living with AIDS

Left: John Auerbach, Commissioner of Public Health for Massachusetts. [MassResistance photo]

Does this man promote and protect the public health?

From our report on Youth Pride, May 12, 2007:
"Rather than show up himself, the Governor sent John Auerbach, the new Commissioner of Public Health. Auerbach, who is "married" to another man, talked about how wonderful it is being gay. (This is public health in Massachusetts??) He also said that he's making sure there's enough HIV testing available for everyone."

Sad and fascinating story in Sunday's Boston Globe about the long-term battles with debilitating illnesses for those living with AIDS: "... [W]ith longevity has come a host of unexpected medical conditions, which challenge the prevailing view of AIDS as a manageable, chronic disease." Despite the new drugs, there's no escaping the ravages of this horrible disease. Also, a few days ago, there was a story on the uptick in shyphilis cases among "men who have sex with men" in Vermont, reflecting a national trend.

Are our young people hearing about any of this? No, they're just being encouraged to partake in "love" in whatever form they can imagine: "gay" clubs in the schools, plays encouraging children to "come out" and open themselves up to this infection, school counselors leading children on in this dangerous fantasy, etc. The Little Black Book, published by the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, instructs young men in the very practices that infect them with AIDS and shyphilis. "It's love, simply love!" they're told at Youth Pride. We reported that the Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, John Auerbach, just told the kids to get tested in his speech at Youth Pride 2007. Nothing about the extremely high risks of engaging in sexual practices that define the GLBT life. Nothing about the miserable life before them if they did test positive for HIV, even with the new AIDS drugs. This is dishonest, sad, and evil.

For many with AIDS, longer life spans bring new medical challenges, New York Times (1-6-08)
... The [anti-retroviral] drugs gave [AIDS patient] Holloway back his future. But at what cost?
That is the question, heretical to some, now being voiced by scientists, doctors, and patients encountering a constellation of ailments showing up prematurely or in disproportionate numbers among the first AIDS survivors to reach late middle age.
"The sum total of illnesses can become overwhelming," said Dr. Charles A. Emlet, an associate professor at the University of Washington at Tacoma and a leading researcher on HIV and aging, who sees new collaborations between specialists that will improve care.
"AIDS is a very serious disease, but longtime survivors have come to grips with it," Emlet continued, explaining that while some patients experienced unpleasant side effects from the antiretrovirals, a vast majority found a cocktail they could tolerate. "Then all of a sudden they are bombarded with a whole new round of insults, which complicate their medical regime and have the potential of being life-threatening. That undermines their sense of stability and makes it much more difficult to adjust."
The graying of the AIDS epidemic has increased interest in the connection between AIDS and cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, diabetes, osteoporosis, and depression....

Vt. issues alert on syphilis infections, AP (1-3-08)
... Syphilis, a potentially deadly disease that first shows up as a painless genital sore, can be spread to others during sex. Because the sores may go unnoticed, the disease is often spread unknowingly.
If caught early, syphilis is easily treated with antibiotics. But if the infection is left untreated, syphilis can cause severe complications, infecting the brain, nervous system, and heart....The infection also increases the risk of contracting HIV....
Hannah Hauser, codirector of health and wellness for the R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center in Burlington, said the rising numbers in Vermont show that people are reporting the disease and getting help.
But Dr. Stuart Berman, head of epidemiology and the surveillance branch of the Division of STD Prevention at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called the national syphilis trend "a significant public health concern."
The number of US cases increased for the sixth consecutive year in 2006, from 2.9 cases per 100,000 people a year earlier to 3.3 per 100,000, a nearly 14 percent increase, according to the CDC....
The CDC estimates that men who have sex with men accounted for 64 percent of the syphilis cases in the United States in 2006.
Data suggest an increase in sexual risk taking among some groups of men who have sex with men, which can help contribute to the spread of syphilis, Berman said....
[emphasis added]