New infections among the United Kingdom’s young gay men have more than doubled during the past decade, prompting the country’s National AIDS Trust to demand that sex and relationship education in schools focus more on same-sex relationships, Medical News Today reports (medicalnewstoday.com, 7/16).
According to the article, 281 young gay men were diagnosed with HIV in the United Kingdom last year, compared with 128 in 1998.
“Current sex education completely fails young gay men, and we are seeing the results in increasing numbers being diagnosed with HIV,” said Deborah Jack, the advocacy organization’s chief executive. “Teachers are given no guidance on how to talk about same-sex relationships in the classroom, and government-sponsored TV campaigns fail to even acknowledge gay relationships. Gay men are entitled to the same level of sex and relationships education as their heterosexual peers.”
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
