Circum Spective

a justified stigma

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Obama said Friday the U.S. will overturn a 22-year-old travel and immigration ban against people with HIV early next year. 

In 1987, the Department of Health and Human Services added the disease to the list of communicable diseases that disqualified a person from entering the U.S.

More than 56,000 new infections are reported every year in the United States.

Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality (an organization that promotes immigration for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive people). "Now, those families can be reunited, and the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country."

[How touching, Rachel. I think I'm gonna cry.]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gee. That's just swell. Thanks Barack Hussein for yet another brilliant decision.

ONE little clarification though: It is not the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission. It is, in the vast majority of cases, perverted, impenitent and reckless sexual behavior that perpetuates THE transmission of HIV.

There should be a stigma attached to it. It is a completely justified stigma. Unless you are among the miniscule percentage of infected people who got that way from a blood transfusion or from your mother at birth, you've earned your suffering. You've certainly been warned enough times.

How shocking for a Christian to say such harsh things!
That's what you're being tempted to think ... right?
Oh, grow up -- SPIRITUALLY. Jesus said many things just as "harsh". It's just not culturally or "politically" correct to emphasize (or even to mention) those kinds of statements anymore in this watered down, God-is-like-Santa-Claus western brand of Christianity.

Of course God will forgive you if you repent ... but that doesn't mean you won't have to suffer the natural (as opposed to eternal) consequences of your sin.
I follow the same reasoning here as someone who has been convicted of a heinous murder and is sitting in prison for the remainder of his (or her) life, with no possibility of parole. If he (or she) repents, then he (or she) will be forgiven by God and spared from hell -- granted eternal life, but he (or she) will still have to suffer the "natural" consequences (punishment) for the crime committed.

Another applicable analogy: If you insist on playing with fire after being warned over and over again, then don't cry foul when you get burned. And if you make a habit or lifestyle of starting fires (in other words, become a practicing arsonist), then don't expect to live free of "stigma" ... and don't expect to be welcomed into our communities with open arms ... or even more absurdly, to insist that you have the right to be welcomed with open arms.