In an effort to look at these figures from a purely scientific and public health perspective, let's substitute smoking and cancer for homosexual sex and HIV. If the CDC released information which made a direct correlation between smoking and extremely high rates of getting cancer, people would take notice.

The media would write about it. Public health organizations would make sure the news was spread. Campaigns would be launched to save lives by discouraging smoking. Public funds would be spent to deter people from engaging in such dangerous behavior. Schools would teach children about the dangers of smoking.

Of course, as we all know, that scenario is real. Because of the now-known dangers of smoking, a warning from the Surgeon General appears on every pack of cigarettes.

Public service ads saturated the airwaves over a period of years discouraging smoking. The dangers of smoking are a standard part of most health classes in schools. And it has all worked.

Thirty years ago there was nothing unusual about seeing a person smoking in a restaurant, or in an office, or in a public place. Now it's jarring to see someone lurking outside an office building, lighting up and puffing away.

There is no hiding from the CDC's numbers when it comes to the health dangers of homosexual sex. But political correctness and fear of being accused of bias seem to have stopped everyone from stating the simple truth: that it carries serious health risks.

Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention had this to say about the findings: "While the heavy toll of HIV and syphilis among gay and bisexual men has been long recognized, this analysis shows just how stark the health disparities are between this and other populations."

Dr. Fenton was in no way suggesting that, considering the data, perhaps the whole notion of homosexual sex should be reconsidered or re-examined, or, heaven forbid, discouraged.

On the contrary, he went on to toe the politically correct party line -- i.e., that prevention is the key. "It is clear that we will not be able to stop the U.S. HIV epidemic until every affected community, along with health officials nationwide, prioritize the needs of gay and bisexual men with HIV prevention efforts." The CDC is focused on prevention.

That sounds good, right? But if prevention efforts work, why was the number of new HIV/AIDS cases among MSM in 2005 11 percent higher than the number of cases in 2001, according to the CDC's website?

The CDC lists 1981 as the year when HIV/AIDS was first diagnosed among MSM. Nearly 30 years of prevention and education efforts touting the use of condoms and regular testing have failed to pay off, for a number of reasons.

Dr. Miriam Grossman, in her book You're Teaching My Child What?, tells the story of Dr. Ruth Jacobs, an infectious disease specialist in Maryland, who has worked closely with AIDS patients for many years.

A few years ago, at the request of a concerned parent, she reviewed a video called Protect Yourself, shown to tenth-graders in Montgomery County as part of a course called "Family Life and Human Development."

The video stated that condoms provide 98 percent protection against pregnancy and STDs, including HIV. According to Grossman, the video "implied that this nearly perfect level of protection was effective during vaginal, oral, and anal sex."

Dr. Jacobs knew that was just plain wrong. The 98 percent figure was applicable only to pregnancy prevention, and even then, only in "perfect use" situations.

"Dr. Jacobs wanted students to hear what she told her patients - that due to anatomy and physiology, anal sex has been estimated to be at least 20 times riskier than vaginal," Grossman writes. "Also missing was the information that condoms are more likely to fail during anal sex - a danger acknowledged on condom wrappers that warn consumers:

'Non-vaginal use can increase potential damage to the condom.'" Despite Herculean efforts on the part of Dr. Jacobs - including the presentation of scientific research and the support of peers in the medical community - the Board of Education refused to listen. The video would remain as part of the course for tenth-graders. Grossman doesn't hold back on the subject of what many sex education curricula teach - and don't teach - about anal sex, no matter what genders are involved.

"The truth of biology - anal sex is too dangerous - is squelched, because it contradicts the ideology of 'anything goes - no judgments allowed.' ...Kids are encouraged to explore their sexuality, and told precisely how; with the experts' blessings, they go out and play in traffic....And then we wonder why, after 25 years, HIV is still going strong." No one wants to hear it. No one wants to say it. But the cold, hard truth is that homosexual sex is risky at best, life-threatening at worst.

END