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Host: Bill O'Reilly Guests: Michael Petrelis, AIDS Activist Rep. Dave Weldon (Republican-Florida) Date: August 12, 2002
Joining us now from Lake Mary, Florida, is Republican Congressman Dave Weldon, who's a medical doctor; and from San Francisco, Michael Petrelis, an AIDS activist who has the disease. Mr. Petrelis, you know, a lot of AIDS activists are loathe to criticize groups like this. But you're not real happy about it? Michael Petrelis, AIDS Activist: Correct. The San Francisco Health Department has told us that San Francisco is going through sub-Saharan levels of increases in HIV. And I think that speaks to the failure of CDC HIV prevention programs here. And speaking as a gay man living with HIV, I'm very offended by a number of the programs that are funded by the CDC. In particular, they put on an annual geezers ball. And I find programs like that are not only offensive to gay men, but they're also ineffective. And it's a very good thing that the CDC has finally come to San Francisco to ask the Stop AIDS Project, are your programs scientifically sound? And I don't think the HIV prevention groups in San Francisco should in any way fear this investigation, and I hope that the CDC will investigate other HIV prevention programs around the country. Bill O'Reilly: All right. But the problem is here, the Stop AIDS project is allowed to advertise. I mean, they advertise booty call, all of this stuff. And it doesn't seem to be any local pressure on them, Mr. Petrelis, to knock it off and to be responsible and to try to stop AIDS instead of telling everybody how to have a great time, you know what I mean?
Michael Petrelis: No, there's no conspiracy. There is just a big desire to keep CDC funding flowing. Bill O'Reilly: Yes, but this isn't a way to do it, is it, Congressman? I mean, my God, you know, we have this agency, and this has been going on for a long time. Rep. Dave Weldon R-Florida: What motivates these people to do what they do, I don't know. But I do know we're spending a lot of federal money. There's no evidence that this is helping reduce the incidents of AIDS. There's actually evidence it's making things worse. So why should the American taxpayer be funding programs like Stop AIDS where the incidents of AIDS is going up? And, actually, it's a very, very big issue nationwide, not just the problem in San Francisco, because we're spending about $1 billion a year for, quote/unquote, "AIDS prevention." Where is the data that shows that all these federal investments are actually lowering the incidents of AIDS? Bill O'Reilly: Well, I'll tell you what the data is. It's the incidents are going up, according to Mr. Petrelis. And the public health department in San Francisco and other major cities around the country say that AIDS are going up because a new generation of gay men, c'est la vie, we've got the cocktails, they'll save our lives. You know, Doctor? Rep. Dave Weldon: And let me tell you one of the biggest problems with all this. In the 1930s and 1940s, they lowered the incidence of syphilis because they did case control follow-up. Somebody was discovered with syphilis, they'd ask them who they were having sex with, they would go to their partners and check them out. We've never been willing to do that with AIDS. Instead, we have all these feel-good programs. And the result is people end up dying. I used to take care of patients with AIDS. Before I was in the Congress, I used to fill out their death certificates. That is a very serious disease. Let me tell you something else. There are a lot of people who are not getting their AIDS drugs, and we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on these bogus AIDS prevention programs when we should be putting the money into the drug program. Bill O'Reilly: Into medicine, right, instead of this propaganda stuff. Now, Mr. Petrelis, what is the psychology right now, and I know you have to speak in a general way, in San Francisco? So, if you took your -- what the doctor is saying, suggestion, and pass a law that said anybody coming into AIDS, you know, you would have to tell who your partners were and there would be -- you know, I know that that would frighten some people away from treatment. But wouldn't that be the best solution to this problem, a more hands-on attitude about who has it, who got it and what they're doing? Michael Petrelis: Yes. I think that speaking as a gay man living with HIV, I have a responsibility to disclose my HIV-positive status before having sex with another gay man. I think the responsibility that I take in revealing that I'm HIV-positive is something all people with AIDS should engage in when having sex. I think we need a lot more personal responsibility when talking about HIV prevention. Bill O'Reilly: Are you for a mandatory personal responsibility, where the health department say ifs you don't tell, you're in trouble? Michael Petrelis: No, but I am in favor of HIV names reporting. California is a state that lacks HIV names reporting, so we don't have an accurate handle on whether HIV across the state is going up or down. I think it's time that we treated HIV names reporting like we do with syphilis and gonorrhea and other... Bill O'Reilly: All right. So that would mean if you came in, the doctor diagnoses you with AIDS or HIV, they would have to report it to health department. Do you favor that on a federal level, Doctor? Rep. Dave Weldon: Absolutely. Not only do I favor that, I've been actively advocating for that. The doctor diagnoses the patient. He provides the name and address to the health department. The health department finds this guy, makes sure he's getting the treatment that he needs, and then asks who have you had sex with in the last few months and start tracking those people down. That's how you prevent AIDS. Bill O'Reilly: What about the witch-hunt aspect of that? What about maybe somebody losing their job and all of that stuff? Rep. Dave Weldon: Well, look, there will be some of that, but there are going to be lives saved if you do it the way I described it, whereas if we continue to do what we're currently doing, you've got more and more people contracting AIDS, and people are getting very, very sick. And they're losing their jobs because they're sick and they're ultimately succumbing to the disease. Bill O'Reilly: All right. I've got one more question for Mr. Petrelis out in San Francisco. I've always felt, and I could be wrong on this because I'm not in your world, there's a self-destructive streak that runs through a lot of gay men. They don't care. I mean, they say I'm going to do what I want. If I get AIDS, I get AIDS. Am I wrong? Michael Petrelis: I think you're wrong. I think that the CDC and groups like the Stop AIDS Project have put out this mistaken notion that gay men no longer care about AIDS. We do care about AIDS. We do want to stop new HIV transmissions. The problem is we don't have good programs. We don't have effective prevention messages from the CDC. And nationally, the CDC is not reducing HIV infections. Bill O'Reilly: All right. So you need a bigger stick (ph). Michael Petrelis: And it's about time we had some investigations into how the local groups use federal dollars. Bill O'Reilly: OK. I'm for that. All right, gentlemen, we appreciate your candor. Thanks very much. Rep. Dave Weldon: Thank you. |
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