Stephen Bennett’s latest press release is so chock-full of bizarreness that I hardly know where to start. But here goes:

Stephen Bennett, now married for 13 years to his wife Irene and father of the couple’s two children, is a national speaker on the issue of HIV/AIDS and other dangerous sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among gay men.

He is? Just when has Bennett been a speaker on the issue of HIV/AIDS?

Quoting selected statistics does not make you an authority on medical issues, Stephen. You are NOT a speaker on the issue of HIV/AIDS, Stephen. Pedro Zamora was a speaker on the issue of HIV/AIDS. You are an anti-gay activist who regurgitates anything negative you can find about gay people and who happens to include in your arsenal some medical statistics.

As for his orientation, Stephen now says this of himself:

“As a heterosexual man who once engaged in homosexual behavior for 11 years…”

“…as a former gay man…”

I’m not even going to try to understand what Stephen means other than that he now considers himself heterosexual (and if anyone was wondering, he is his children’s father).

In response to a tentative finding that a drug is showing promise that it may possibly prevent HIV infection, Bennett says this:

“I believe this possible HIV prevention pill is only going to push a culture down an already dangerous and risky path. This pill is the equivalent to a drug rehab assisting heroine addicts in their addiction by giving them needles.”

“Listen, as a former gay man, the news of a possible ‘prevention pill’ is one of the most dangerous signals you can send to individuals bent on engaging in unsafe sex and potentially deadly behavior. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over 53% of all HIV/AIDS cases in America to date are due to men having sex with men (MSM). This twisted ideology only gives the appearance of a green light for gay men to engage ‘safer’ in unsafe, dangerous sexual behavior. This message is tragic and irresponsible at best,” said Bennett.

Bennett’s twisted logic seems to say gay sex is bad because it’s dangerous and deadly. And a pill that could eliminate the risk of contracting HIV would make gay sex less dangerous and deadly. And if gay sex weren’t dangerous and deadly, then people might be more inclined to have gay sex. And that would be bad. Because gay sex is dangerous and deadly, oh wait it wouldn’t be, but.. uh.. urg.. it’s bad I tell ya, bad.

I can just imagine the hysterics if a polio-style vaccine is ever found for HIV.

Stephen ended, “The medical community wants a ‘prevention pill?’ It’s already available – it’s called abstinence.”

I think it’s clear that Bennett would be horrified if all sexually transmitted disease were eliminated because then he couldn’t define gay sex as “potentially deadly” or “dangerous”. Without a real medical reason to oppose sex, he’d be left arguing solely on his own religious beliefs. And that isn’t as likely to raise money or convince people.

Bennett’s very bad response to this very good news displays the ugliest face of the ex-gay movement. Only an evil person rejoices at others’ illnesses. Only an evil person laments when this sickness can be avoided.

And it causes me to question Bennett’s claim that “I’ve lost numerous dear friends to AIDS”. If you have watched, as I have, the emaciated face of someone you love wracked in pain and dying before your eyes, you cannot think that a pill that would reduce the chance of someone else going through this is “tragic and irresponsible at best”.

Bennett claims that he is “authoring his first book, “I WAS Gay” to be released December 2006.” We’ll see, Stephen. Will this book be as vague in detail as the rest of your testimony? Will it say “I lived in Connecticut” and “I went to a church” and “I had a partner” and “I had friends die of AIDS” and all the other nameless general statements that have carried you so far? Or will this book provide any verifiable details that can substantiate any of the often bizarre and foreign claims you make about living as a gay man?

(thanks to goodasyou.org)

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