In Brief... News About Homosexuality and AIDS
On the AIDS front, a terrifying report announced on June 1 shows that 32 percent of young black homosexual men in the United States are infected with the AIDS virus.
Robert L. Spitzer was once a champion of the homosexual community in the United States, because his was a pioneering voice in the early 1970s to have the American Psychological Association remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Dr. Spitzer recently earned the anger of homosexuals for announcing the results of a study which shows that gay people are able to turn straight if they really want to do so.
On the AIDS front, a terrifying report announced on June 1 shows that 32 percent of young black homosexual men in the United States are infected with the AIDS virus. U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher expressed his alarm: "I'm very concerned about the pockets of epidemic that we're seeing. Thirty percent-that's approaching Botswana's level of infection."
AIDS infections in the United States, once thought to be on the way to being controlled, are now approaching the levels that they were 20 years ago, when the disease was first discovered.
Officials speculate that the fact that young homosexuals have no memory of the seriousness of the plague when it began, coupled with their false assumption that AIDS is easily treated with medications, has led to the explosion in infections.
Typical of the "official response," many voices are calling for increased funding of programs that educate the public on the dangers of AIDS. Currently, the CDC provides about $400 million for state and local AIDS prevention programs. That is, the money goes solely for education, not for treatment.
In a related development, the British Public Health Laboratory Service announced on June 1 that the number of newly diagnosed HIV positive cases in the UK has reached an all-time high-14 percent higher than the previous year's figures. It's the highest infection rate since testing became widely available in 1985. The BBC reports that the worldwide infection rate last year was 50 percent greater than was predicted by the World Health Organization 10 years ago. About 36 million people now live with HIV or AIDS. Most cases are in Africa and Asia.
Sources: The Washington Post (David Brown); AP (Malcolm Ritter); BBC.
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: June 2001
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Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
