British National Health Service will Buy Viagra for Gay Men

Britain's National Health Service will provide Viagra to gay men when it becomes available from the government medical system later this year.

"Family values" campaigners had argued gay men do not deserve the impotency treatment and will abuse it, but the Department of Health said it could not discriminate based on sexual orientation.

"I don't see why people should be paying for people to have homosexual activity," said Dr. Adrian Rogers of the Conservative Family Institute. "It really should be available only for married couples."

Valerie Riches of Family and Youth Concern said the drug needs to be "controlled to appropriate relationships" or "everyone will just be using it for larks."

It is estimated Brits will consume up to $1.6 billion worth of Viagra yearly.

A record 15,000 people turned out for Johannesburg, South Africa's ninth gay-pride parade September 26, reports Gavin Hayward, editor of Exit, a local gay newspaper.

The eight-kilometer procession wound through the central Hillbrow, Yeoville and Berea areas, starting and ending at the same park. More lesbians and more people of color participated than ever before (South Africa is about 85 percent non-white). Several floats were sponsored by corporations, including GinZing, Benson & Hedges and BMW.

The parade theme was "Recognize Our Relationships."

"The last thing that we want is to have first-class marriages for straight people and second-class marriages for gay people," said rally keynote speaker Kevan Botha, a well-known gay lawyer and activist. "We again stand together and commit ourselves to work for a society where our relationships are respected and admired and where we have the choice not only to live in freedom but also to decide the nature, content and character of those relationships."

The rally featured a beer garden and information booths, including one staffed by the South African Police Service's Police Gay and Lesbian Network.

The Pride Parade After Party, held in the huge space below the grandstand of Johannesburg Stadium, offered four dance floors and continued until sunrise.