AIDS and Homosexuality

During my second week in site I helped translate for a medical brigade from the states and meet an American missionary family living here in Santa Barbara. They run a church and various bible studies and missionary trips. I have been testing out various churches so I decided to visit their church and their bible study. The church service was alright and gave me a chance to meet other Hondurans. Then I went to bible study and although it was a little conservative it was alright. Then towards the end the pastor from the states reminded us that all sins have consequences. For example, the consequence of homosexuality is AIDS. When I heard this my heart started pounding and I got so mad that I got up and left the meeting. I felt like I had to stand up for what I believe in and it felt very good to leave that meeting. Afterward the pastor’s wife asked me what happened and I said I didn’t think that was true and she said okay. I didn’t say anything to the pastor and thanked them for dropping me off at home after the meeting. After that night I was torn because I didn’t know if I should confront them or let it go or return to their church. In the end I decided I had to stand up for what I believe in and let them know how I feel.
Here is the letter I wrote them followed by the letter they wrote back to me:

Dear Collin & Ginger,
First, I want to thank you for the hospitality you have shown me since we met. I really feel blessed to have been able to be a part of the optometry brigade and meet your family, especially your boys (and their respective girlfriends). Some of my personal goals during my time here are to find spiritual support and form close relationships with people in my community (both Hondurans and foreigners). Attending different churches and groups is an important way for me to do that.
In addition to personal goals, I also have work related goals as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer to educated people about HIV/AIDS. Some of the things that were said during last week’s bible study have really gotten me thinking and I would like to share some of my thoughts with you. I’m sure you remember how I stood up and left towards the end and I would like to explain why. Collin, when you were talking about the consequences of different sins I believe you mentioned AIDS as the consequence of the sin of homosexuality, is that correct? I may have missed something important after I left, if so I’m sorry, it just upset me very much and I had to leave to calm down.
As a health volunteer working with HIV/AIDS one of our main goals is to provide people with accurate information so they can make healthy choices in order to protect themselves. Throughout the world and in Honduras there are many myths surrounding HIV; how you can and cannot get it, who can and cannot get it, where it comes from and why. One of these myths is that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease and only homosexuals have it. This is a very dangerous and inaccurate misconception for a number of reasons…
§ First of all it is not true; AIDS is not the consequence of homosexuality, being gay doesn’t give you AIDS. AIDS is the consequence of unsafe exchange of bodily fluids. AIDS has inaccurately been labeled the ‘gay disease’ but remember that there a lot of other ways to transmit HIV besides homosexual contact. Since we are in Honduras I will share with you the statistics about HIV/AIDS infections here…
-82% of HIV/AIDS cases in Honduras were contracted through heterosexual contact
-8% of the cases were contracted through other ways, such as vertical transmission (mother to child) and through blood
-6% were contracted through bisexual contact
-4% were contracted through homosexual contact
HIV/AIDS is something that can affect anybody, not just homosexuals. I don’t believe that there is any country in the world with a higher rate of homosexual transmission than heterosexual transmission.
We often think of high risk groups as homosexuals and injection drug users. It turns out that in Honduras married women fall into a high risk group because their husbands have unprotected sex outside of marriage and in turn infect their wives (and in turn their children) who have no power to ask their husbands to wear condoms. If you want to link AIDS to sin infidelity would be a good place to do it.
§ Second, associating AIDS only with homosexuality confuses people about who can get it. If a heterosexual person thinks that HIV is a gay disease he will think he is not at risk and may engage in risky behave thinking he is immune because he is not gay.
§ Third, HIV/AIDS remains to be a highly stigmatized disease because it has been associated with sinfulness and homosexuality. This stigma prevents many people who are at risk from even getting an HIV test. It prevents many people with HIV/AIDS from seeking treatment or support from their friends, family and churches. Imagine if somebody in your church was HIV positive but was too scared to admit it and seek help because he thought it made him gay or people would think he was gay or people would think he was a sinner. Breaking down myths, stereotypes and stigma against HIV will help people living with HIV/AIDS to get the treatment and respect that every human being deserves no matter what their sexuality is.
§ Fourth, linking HIV/AIDS to homosexuality increases stigmatization and hate towards the gay community for being ‘responsible’ for such a deadly disease. I’m positive that you personally would never preach hate towards any group of people but through the history of HIV/AIDS linking these two together has often caused extreme hate and violence against the gay community.
§ Finally, as an American missionary and leader of a church you obviously have a very strong and important influence on your people and I’m sure you take this responsibility very seriously. Please consider that some of your teachings could have unintentional but nonetheless dangerous health consequences.
Thanks for reading,
Allison

This is their response:
OK. I was not going to respond because I did not want to argue. I have given it some thought and as you said I have a responsibility to the truth and to the people who listen to me. More than that I have a responsibility to preach God's word. So here goes. You are right I should link HIV/AIDS with all sexual sins. But I was there when HIV/AIDS was discovered. I remember all to well that it was almost completely among homosexual men. You were not born yet. Many people want to rewrite history. At the time it was discovered it was believed to have started among homosexual men in the prisons of Africa. I don't know that they have ever discovered exactly where HIV/AIDS got its start but one thing is for sure it was almost exclusively among homosexual men.
I base what I said on Romans 1:21-32.
God said in verse 27 that He has designed a consequence for homosexual activity that is very specific to that sin. Although there are a lot of ways to transmit HIV/AIDS it started with the specific sin of homosexuality.
To not tell people the truth is like saying it is ok to park your car on the train tracks. Don't worry when the train hits you we will blame it on the train. We will tell people the only way to be safe is to park you car on the train tracks safely. You must have a strong and good car (condom) and you will be safe but if you die we will just give some technical explanation as to why the train killed you and we will again blame it on the train. We will never tell people not to park their car on the track because every one is doing it and we might offend some one.
It seems to me that the most kind and loving thing is to preach and teach people that the only safe thing is to practice sex God's way through marriage. Be faithful to your spouse and faithful to God's word. If every one did that than we would eradicate HIV/AIDS in just 10 years.
It is true that I love every one. I want every one who has AIDS to seek help. It is probably true that many people have aids that did not practice sex outside of marriage. It is unfortunate that sin effects us all. I do not hate the homosexual or the person with aids but I will tell the truth. HIV/AIDS started because God is judging homosexual behavior. I can not help the fact that some people are going to feel guilty and maybe avoid seeking treatment. I am thinking more about the masses that do not yet have AIDS and they deserve the truth. The only way to help them who do not yet have aids is to worn them that AIDS is a consequence of sin. If you do not like those words than read Romans 1: and take it up with God. As for me I will preach God's word.
Thanks for reading.

Collin and Ginger Jones



After I read the response I was again furious but in the end I accepted that I had done what I could to express my viewpoint and if they didn’t want to accept it there was nothing more I could do. No matter what I do or where I am there will be I don’t agree with, especially when it involves religion. I think I’ll visit another church, maybe the Catholics; they seem to be the more liberal ones down here.