When I logged onto to Twitter this afternoon I saw the site was all in red and an announcement that today was World AIDS day. I think everybody should take at least one moment today to reflect on this. AIDS is a disease that we will one day cure. It is NOT a curse sent down by God, nor is swine flu. AIDS is a virus that does not discriminate based on age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, social status or wealth. Currently there are 33 MILLION people who have AIDS, with most of them living in Subsaharan Africa. Just because we don’t hear about this disease on the news everyday does not make it any less scary or dangerous. People who are living with it face discrimination, look at the new Uganda policies. I imagine most of this discrimination is from bad information or just a plain lack of education. Google has a whole page setup with links Learn, Act, and Give. Or visit worldaidsday.org. If you are on Twitter, be sure to type in #red to show support. Atleast take a second to think about this situation. 33 Million people is quite a large number.

I saw this over at Pharyngula today. The FUCK Uganda? Here is what is being proposed:

According to Clause 2 of the Bill, a person who is convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment. But if that person is also HIV positive the penalty — under the heading “aggravated homosexuality” — is death.

The Bill has not been endorsed by the Ugandan government but it has allowed it to proceed, and some top officials are said to have praised it.

Yes you read that correctly. As if life imprisonment for being who you are is not totally batshit crazy enough, you put them to DEATH if they have HIV? There is already suggestions that AIDS is on the decline. The bill also spits in the face of free speech as well. More insanity follows:

The Bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for anyone who is aware of evidence of homosexuality and fails to report it to the police within 24 hours. And it would impose a sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians.

Basically this blog post would constitute a seven year jail sentance for me. Just for defending my fellow humans. I’m sure some of you are writing this off because Uganda is still a developing country and all that shit. Let us look at the origins of the bill. A group of AMERICANS known as “The Family“. Hell I’m sure I could walk to the corner of Main Street and Wall Street and sell this idea to plenty of my eager countryfolk. Spread the word about this, it is absolutely fucking nuts.