News Release
For Immediate Release: July 17, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Congressmen Concerned About HIV Infection of Veterans – is this a joke?
(Harrisburg) – Last month it was revealed that more than 1,800 veterans may have been exposed to the HIV virus during dental treatment at the John Cochran Division of the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Some House lawmakers have asked the White House, the Veterans Administration and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to investigate. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) notes that at least one of the House members demanding an investigation voted on May 27th to allow open homosexuals in the military. The AFA of PA additionally noted that all Democratic members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs except Congressman Joe Donnelly (D-IN) voted with Russ Carnahan (D-MO) in May and all Republican members voted to uphold the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.
“US Congressman Russ Carnahan does not see a problem with allowing open homosexuals in the military neither do 17 out of 18 Democratic members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Do they not realize that men who have sex with men make up over 53% of all new HIV infections each year? How about the fact that nearly half of all people living with HIV are men who have sex with men? These are CDC statistics that are being ignored in the effort to lift the ban on open homosexuals in the military. The May 27th vote makes 17 members of the 29 member House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs incapable of impartially investigating the St. Louis incident,” commented Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
Concerns about what happens at a VA hospital stateside are valid concerns, but to ignore the potential disaster awaiting the military hospitals or field hospitals dealing with combat emergency situations is disingenuous. The ban on men who have sex with men ever donating blood was recently upheld up a 9 – 6 vote of the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability. In a battle scenario will this be ignored?
“For 25 years the FDA has prohibited men who have sex with men from donating blood – even one such sexual encounter is enough to be banned. This in itself should cause one to pause when contemplating allowing open homosexuals to serve in the military. Such a step would place our entire military and nation at risk, however the question remains whether there are enough politicians in Washington who have the courage to stand up for what is right for the military and the country or bow to pressure from homosexual groups intent on one thing: normalizing their very dangerous lifestyle,” Gramley noted.
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