The Elderly And Extremists Disrupt First State-Sanctioned Gay Protest In Russia, Pope Authorises Condom Use To Reduce Rates Of HIV Infections But Only For Male Prostitutes Only, HIV Crisis In South Africa Looms Large

The first state-sanctioned gay rights protest in Russia was held Saturday in St. Petersburg, the country’s second largest city, AFP reporting that an estimated dozen or so people assembled calling for greater tolerance of homosexuality and expanded human rights protections, one of the organisers, Maria Efremenkova, saying “The fact that this demonstration was authorised is a step forward for us and for all democratic Russia.” A larger group of counter-protestors outnumbering the gay rights group was guarded by police, including extreme nationalists, Orthodox Christians, and an odd contingent of elderly women. There were reports that at least ten of the counter-protestors were arrested, and that the march was halted after forty minutes because of concern for the safety of the gay rights group.

According to a new book by Pope Benedict XVI, a collection of interviews given to a German journalist, the authorises the use of condoms in exceptional circumstances, saying that condoms could reduce the risk of HIV infection, using the example of male prostitutes, the BBC reports. The Pope emphasised that a more humane attitude to sexuality was the more effective way to combat HIV/AIDS. Asked whether the Catholic Church was not opposed in principle to use of condoms, the Pope answered “She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.” He continues that the use of condoms by male prostitutes is a “first step towards moralisation” even though condoms are”not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infections, adding that the “sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalisation of sexuality” where sexuality is no longer an expression of love, “but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves.” The book, titled Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times, is to be published Tuesday.

A report presented Friday in Daveyton, South Africa Friday suggests that the nation can expect an additional five million people to become infected with HIV in the next two decades even if South Africa more than doubles its financing for treatment and prevention, according to a report by the New York Times. Currently, there are 5.7 million reported cases of HIV, and if new projections are correct, the government will need to spend upwards of $102 billion over the next twenty years to keep the number of newly reported infections at the five million mark.