Bush apoints anti-gay activist to AIDS comission

A United States marketing consultant who described Aids as the "gay plague" has been appointed to serve on Presidential George W Bush's advisory commission on HIV and Aids.
Jerry Thacker says homosexuality is a "deathstyle" and Christ can "rescue" homosexuals".

The appointment has provoked criticism from HIV researchers and activists who say a scientific-based - not moral-based - approach is needed to solve the HIV problem.

Dating back to the Reagan era, the 35-member commission also includes a representative of a gay and lesbian advocacy group, a World Bank adviser on Aids and a public health expert.

Campaigner

Mr Thacker contracted the Aids virus from his wife who was infected by a blood transfusion while giving birth.

Their daughter is also HIV positive.

The Thakers kept their disease secret for many years but then decided to start a campaign to make churches more aware of the impact of HIV and Aids.

"He has a very powerful and tragic personal story and an ability to reach out to an audience we couldn't reach in the process," a government health official told the Washington Post newspaper.

However, gay activists have criticised the appointment.

"Abstinence-until-marriage does not help anyone in the gay community because we can't get married. If you are a gay youth who is addressing your concerns?" Carl Schmid, a gay activist is quoted by the newspaper as saying.

"This individual is an extremist ideologue who persecutes and demeans an entire class of people impacted by the disease," said David Smith of Human Rights Campaign.

'A Sin'

Mr Thacker's biography, which appears on the Scepter Institute Website he established to sell material on Aids, says that when he and his wife discovered they had the disease in 1986 "the most horrible thought was that it was a disease connected with the sin of homosexuality".

"They didn't want anyone to think they were homosexual because they knew what the Bible said about homosexuality," it says.

Mr Thacker's beliefs on homosexuality are known as "reparative therapy" - a philosophy that considers homosexuality aberrant behaviour that can be modified through religious faith.

However organisations such as the American Psychological Association say that approach has no medical or scientific basis.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2688943.stm