Editorial

The Vatican’s spin machine has shifted into high gear, trying to deflect responsibility for its worldwide clerical-abuse scandal by blaming homosexuality and attempting to paint its critics as opponents of “family values.”

There is, however, ample evidence that the culture of the Church itself is to blame.

While new HIV-infection rates stabilized or fell in Wisconsin among other demographic groups between 2001 and 2008, they tripled among young black men who have sex with men in Milwaukee. This increase came despite an aggressive HIV-testing program targeting the city’s African-Americans.

Epidemiologists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came to Milwaukee to investigate the problem. Their first order of business was to determine whether the high numbers truly reflected a rising infection rate or were instead the result of increased testing efforts finding cases that had previously gone undiagnosed.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a potentially devastating blow to democracy with its ruling to roll back restrictions on corporate spending in federal campaigns. The 5-4 decision, with conservative justices forming the majority, could unleash a torrent of corporate-funded attack ads in upcoming elections.

In their ruling, the conservative Justices said essentially that corporations are entitled to the same free-speech rights as individuals. That might sound good in principle, but corporations with millions to spend on behalf of politicians who support their interests are not the equivalent of ordinary citizens.

The healthcare reform legislation signed into law last month by President Barack Obama is a big step forward for all Americans, but it is particularly important for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. LGBT people have been disproportionately harmed by the current healthcare system.

Repeated studies have shown that LGBT people are less likely to have health insurance than heterosexuals, regardless of their age, employment status, income or education. That’s largely because the majority of same-sex couples – unlike their married straight counterparts – can’t rely on the employment benefits of their partners to secure affordable coverage.

The gay conservative group GoProud showed courage and commitment in co-sponsoring the recent Conservative Political Action Convention in Washington. Although many in the LGBT community might differ with the group on a number of public policy issues, we can all applaud them for daring to be out and proud in the very lion’s den of right-wing activism.

While GoProud leaders said they were well-received by libertarian Republicans, far-right Christians at the event were openly hostile. GoProud was subjected to harshly anti-gay rhetoric from the podium, and its members were sometimes marginalized behind the scenes. A representative from the National Organization for Marriage shook GoProud members’ hands in front of CNN cameras, but fired off a scathing press release about their presence behind their backs.

As of press time, the same people who spent millions fighting a massive campaign to overturn same-sex marriage in California were fighting a judge’s decision to videotape a trial to determine Proposition 8’s constitutionality. They claimed the proceedings, to be shown on YouTube.com, would expose them to intimidation and harassment by same-sex marriage supporters, and they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the plan.

Hak-Shing William Tam, a chief organizer of the campaign, was so frightened of repercussions that on Jan. 8 he asked a judge to remove him from the suit. In his petition, Tam wrote, “I do not like people questioning me on my private personal beliefs.”

Those intoxicating spring-like days of mid-March will probably feel like a distant memory by the time this issue of WiG hits the streets and mailboxes. But it was enough to reassure us that the sun is indeed working its way northward. Summer will return to Wisconsin and, along with it, PrideFest.

In fact, PrideFest was in the midst of unveiling its line-up of performers for this year’s event while spring was making its preview performance. As in years past, PrideFest organizers did not disappoint. There is something for everyone in their entertainment selections, all but guaranteeing another banner year for an event that was teetering on bankruptcy just seven years ago, but now stands on firm fiscal ground.

The commander in chief has called for repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” So have Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and even retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, who once held Mullen’s title and previously backed the policy.

And so has the American public – by a 75 percent majority, according to polls.