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Today's Health - Wellness / Exercise / Reflections:Whether straight or gay, boys should get HPV vaccinationDecember 29, 2010 - BY CHRIS McDANIEL - Yuma SUNThe parents and guardians of boys as young as 9 are now faced with an important if controversial decision facing the future health of their sons.
They now have the option of vaccinating their boys to prevent the onset of anal cancer and associated precancerous lesions due to human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, and 18.
HPV is associated with approximately 90 percent of anal cancer, and can be transmitted through anal sex, which is commonly practiced by homosexual men.
The dilemma facing parents is deciding whether or not they believe their son could grow up to be gay, as the vaccine could prevent a cancer their child may someday be exposed to.
That is not on easy fact to ponder for many heterosexual men, especially with the stigma of having a homosexual son being attached to their decision of whether or not to vaccinate their child.
On December 22, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine Gardasil for the prevention of anal cancer in people ages 9 through 26 years.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 5,300 people are diagnosed with anal cancer each year in the United States, with more women diagnosed than men.
However a study was conducted on a controlled group of gay men who self-identified as having sex with men.
This population was studied because it has the highest incidence of anal cancer, the FDA reported.
At the end of the study period, Gardasil was shown to be 78 percent effective in the prevention of HPV 16 and 18. Because anal cancer is the same disease in both males and females, the effectiveness data was used to support the indication in females as well, the FDA reported.
As a father of a young son I would prefer him to be a heterosexual when he grows up, but that really is up to him.
If I can prevent anal cancer in him if he does decide to become a gay man and take a partner, then I believe it is my obligation as a father to have him vaccinated.
If I were to be blinded with the "I'll disown him if he is gay," or "there is no way my son will ever have sexual relations with other men" and don't have him vaccinated, I might be setting him up for some serious misery due to personal selfishness.
"Treatment for anal cancer is challenging; the use of Gardasil as a method of prevention is important as it may result in fewer diagnoses and the subsequent surgery, radiation or chemotherapy that individuals need to endure," said Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
I know for many fathers, the idea their son could grow up to be gay is a very uncomfortable issue.
However it is an issue which I believe must be faced head on, or it could lead to the death of those we love, even if they choose a lifestyle we do not approve of.
It is also a decision that needs to be made before the child becomes sexually active as the vaccine will not prevent the development of anal precancerous lesions associated with HPV infections already present at the time of vaccination.
According to the FDA, Gardasil's full potential for benefit is obtained by those who are vaccinated prior to becoming infected with the HPV strains contained in the vaccine.
And there are good side effects.
If the boys do grow up to be straight men then the HPV vaccine will also protect their female partners from becoming infected by them.
Gardasil is already approved for females for the prevention of cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancer and the associated precancerous lesions caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18.
It is also approved for the prevention of genital warts caused by types 6 and 11 in both males and females.
That could prevent a huge family tragedy in the future.
Whether my son grows up to be gay or straight is up to him, but it is my duty to love him no matter what, even if he is gay.
And that love means I personally will do what I can to prevent him from getting a horrible disease brought on by sexual relations whether he chooses a female partner or a male partner in the future.
Consider joining:
- Members of Peckers Pics should join our President Barack Obama group . (Health Care Public Option, Gay Rights, Gay Marriage, Repeal DOMA @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ObamaBiden2008/join
- Bearhug Submission - Roommates (Wrestling fiction)(Your Yahoo Profile must have Age, Gender, Location before you apply for membership!). http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BearhugSubmission_/join
Take Action:
- Boycott advertisers of Glenn Beck on Fox News as well as all of FOX NEWS! Glenn has lied about Health-care, called our President a racist, and is anti-gay rights.
- Update: DADT has been repealed. President Obama has kept his promise!
- Boycott Bill O'Reilly and FOX News and their advertisers. Bill discussed a French commercial by McDonalds that was meant to show that McDonalds is Gay Friendly. Bill said what is next? Is McDonalds going to get be Al-Qaida friendly as well? Further, Bill said that McDonalds would never show a gay friendly commercial in the USA. Imagine, Bill is comparing Gays to Al-Qaida!
- Boycott Arizona the home of senile - Sen. John McCain: because of their Hateful anti-Immigration Law that encourages racial profiling and increases hatred towards minorities. A remedy: Demand Republicans to support Immigration Reform. Further, Their Senator McCain voted against ending DADT and blocked Immigration reform! We shall hold the voters of Arizona responsible!
- NEW: Boycott Target and Best Buy for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations. Update: (12/26/2010): Target is continuing to donate to anti-gay groups/causes/politicians.
- End DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). It prevents Fed'l employees and Gays in the Military from gaining equal benefits. It prevents married gay couples from gaining Fed'l Benifits.
- We need ENDA (Employee Non-Discrimination Act). We do not want to be fired from our job because we are GAY!
- Boycott Salvation Army as they will not hire Gays! "Do not donate to them."
- Boycott Gold's Gym for donating loads of money to anti-gay candidates. Say "NO" to Golds.
This group is called "Peckers PICS." The English - slang definition of "pecker" is to pluck at the truth. Therefore, we peck at items such as Gay Men's Health, Male Fitness, Gay (LGBT) Politics & Issues. In this section you may peck at each photo in order to decide the winner of the "war of the fittest!" Whereas, you should select the guy that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit!" Warning: This may stoke you!
Remember your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.
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38Wilton Manors (FT Lauderdale), Fl, Gay Pride; June 20, 2010
Wilton Manors (FT Lauderdale), Fl, Gay Pride; June 20, 2010
by Michael A. Jones / December 30, 2010 / ChangeWe learned earlier this month that retail giant Target, despite offering a tepid apology for giving political contributions to anti-gay candidates, continued to give money in support of some of the country's most homophobic politicians all throughout the 2010 election season. Candidates that benefited from Target's largesse?
There's Rep. Michele Bachmann, who compares gay marriage to terrorism and says that same-sex couples are a major threat to American children. There's Sen.-elect Roy Blunt, who wants to rewrite the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage and who wants to keep LGBT people from adopting children. And Rep. John Kline, who earlier this year joined with The 700 Club's Pat Robertson to try and stop same-sex marriage from moving forward in the District of Columbia. Talk about a collection of some fiercely anti-gay politicians.
Target's political contributions became one of the largest stories of 2010, at least in terms of the role of corporations in the American electoral process. And Target let it be known in very clear terms: we don't care if politicians are extremely anti-gay, we have the right to support them anyway.
But that philosophy has cost Target a number of LGBT shoppers. Boycott pages on Facebook are plenty, with tens of thousands of people saying they will no longer send their pink dollars to Target. And now Equality Michigan, a leading organization working on behalf of LGBT rights in Michigan, has come out and condemned Target. They're not calling for an official boycott, per se, but they're saying that it would be wise for LGBT people to take their money elsewhere in order to show Target that supporting anti-gay politicians comes with a price.
"Target, which prides itself on being a family company, defended its initial contributions by saying that their donations were based on a desire to invest in economic development. In Michigan, we know better than most that everything possible needs to be done to promote economic growth and sustainability, and to create healthy, stable communities," says Emily Dievendorf, policy director at Equality Michigan, according to the Michigan Messenger. "What Target neglected to consider in their support of anti-gay candidates is that public policy makers that work to allow the denial of basic human rights for LGBTQ individuals and families are supporting and compounding economic and social vulnerability - for all citizens."
Way to thread the needle, Equality Michigan. And way to show that while Target might like to justify their anti-gay donations by saying, "Oh, we're just doing this for economic reasons," that justification just doesn't fly. Dievendorf then put the ultimate punctuation mark on the reason LGBT people should be upset about Target's anti-gay political work.
"If corporations are not willing to consider the implications of the availability of housing, health care, jobs, and parental and spousal rights on the success of their communities, they should refrain from using their profits to weigh in on our selection of political leadership. When corporations do choose to take active roles in political races, they should be prepared to have consumers interpret their support as an indication of their corporate values."
Darn right. And that's exactly why Target not only owes its LGBT customers an apology for supporting anti-gay candidates, but they owe it to either stop trying to buy elections, or put in place processes that include a candidate's social positions when determining whether they deserve political support.
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