July 12, 2007

Senator in Prostitution Scandal Opposes Condoms

A New Orleans brothel is claiming Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was a client just days after his July 9 apology to supporters for using a Washington, D.C. escort service. During work hours, however, it turns out the senator does not support AIDS aid to African countries if it includes contraceptive distribution, according to a questionnaire he completed on VoteSmart.org. Here at home, Vitter tried unsuccessfully last month to re-authorize the Title V Abstinence Education Program to continue abstinence-only sex ed in schools. Earlier this spring, Randall Tobias, the first U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, was linked to patronizing the same D.C. escort service and resigned from his jobs as Director of Foreign Assistance and Administrator of USAID. Tobias had been the architect of the Bush administration’s rule that all recipients of international AIDS funding sign a pledge renouncing prostitution.