British Columbia Supreme Court Finds HIV Man Not Guilty Of Aggravated Sexual Assault Citing HIV As More Manageable Condition, Lithuania Court Of Appeals Rule Baltic Pride Can Proceed, George Alan Rekers Paid $120,000 By State To Vilify Gays

British Columbia Supreme Court Madam Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon has just ruled that a HIV positive man was not guilty of aggravated sexual assault after having unprotected sex with a male partner. The curious case – granted an unusual publication ban prohibiting the release of both the plaintiff and defendant names – may set a precedent in Canadian law. The accused had argued that he had unprotected sex with his then boyfriend only once without disclosing his HIV status. The complainant testified that he was deceived at least five times. Justice Fenlon determined that there were in fact three instances of deception, calculating the risk of transmission to be 12 in 10,000, and that, according to the court, is not sufficient to represent a significant risk of harm. Fenlon said that although it may have been immoral for the accused not to disclose his status, the circumstances did not merit a criminal offense. She added, citing the evidence of physicians, that HIV is a more manageable condition and that no longer is it the case that someone with HIV necessarily develops AIDS. The Crown has yet to comment.

Lithuanian Courts Of Appeals has ruled that a gay pride parade celebrating Baltic Pride can precede as planned, overturning a ban imposed by a lower court that had cancelled the parade citing security concerns. Law enforcement officials in Vilnius had convinced the lower court that they were unable to guarantee the safety of either the participants or the spectators, but many observers, including gay activists and politicians contending that the safety issues were simply exaggerations because of the country’s mostly homophobic stance. However, the Supreme Administration Court Friday said that the right to assembly and expression are guaranteed by the European Convention and that the government is obligated to defend them.

Reports that George Alan Rekers was paid $80,000 by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum to testify on behalf the state as an expert witness on the dangers of allowing gay men and women to adopt – Rekers testifying under oath that homosexuality are inherently mentally unstable – were false. Rekers was paid twice that amount, earning $120,000 for lying, and for and for continuing to vilify gays in public.