Global LGBT News Briefs: Ads and Infection
London mayor bans ''conversion therapy'' ads, while Canadian court convicts gay American for HIV infection
London Mayor Bans ”Conversion Therapy” Bus Ads
Advertisements promoting ”conversion therapy” – which claims to make gay people straight – scheduled to run on some of London’s major bus routes in April have been blocked by the city’s Conservative mayor, The Guardian reports.
Boris Johnson, mayor of London since 2008, has blocked the ads due to their offensive nature.
“London is one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance,” Johnson told The Guardian. ”It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses.”
The Core Issues Trust, a controversial U.K. Christian group, had planned to run the advertisements as part of a campaign to promote pastoral care for homosexuality. The ads read, “Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get Over It!”
Chris Bryant, a former vicar in the Church of England told The Guardian why he stands against the ad campaign. “The emotional damage that is done to the individuals who try to suppress their sexuality, the women they marry and the children they might have is immeasurable,” Bryant said. “Most sane Christians believe that homosexuality is not a lifestyle or a choice but is a fact to be discovered or not. The pretense that homosexuality is something you can be weaned off in some way is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of creation.”
HIV-Positive American Charged In Canada For Infecting Partner
A gay American living in Montreal has been found guilty of sexual assault after failing to disclose his positive HIV status to his partner prior to having the unprotected sex that infected him.
James Wilcox, 48, has been aware of his status since 2003, and according to CTV Montreal, when he and his former boyfriend, who was not identified, met and had unprotected sex in a sauna in 2005, Wilcox failed to reveal his status.
Prosecutors argued that Wilcox should be sentenced to at least two years in jail, CTV Montreal reported.
“(The victim) feels bad, and it has a lot of consequences on his life,” prosecutor Sandra Lamarre told CTV Montreal. “I don’t want to go through everything, but he has HIV, so you can imagine what the consequences are.”
Wilcox, who is expected to be sentenced June 5 and is appealing the case, reportedly continued his relationship with the victim after revealing his status. His lawyer, Jeffrey Boro, has asked the judge to spare his client any jail time.
“In the world of unprotected sex between consenting adults, I don’t see why society should have a strong interest seeing my client go to jail,” said Boro. “Both parties knew the risk, they accepted the risk.”
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