Robert L. Spitzer was once a champion of the homosexual community in the United States, because his was a pioneering voice in the early 1970s to have the American Psychological Association remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Dr. Spitzer recently earned the anger of homosexuals for announcing the results of a study which shows that gay people are able to turn straight if they really want to do so.

On the AIDS front, a terrifying report announced on June 1 shows that 32 percent of young black homosexual men in the United States are infected with the AIDS virus. U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher expressed his alarm: "I'm very concerned about the pockets of epidemic that we're seeing. Thirty percent-that's approaching Botswana's level of infection."

AIDS infections in the United States, once thought to be on the way to being controlled, are now approaching the levels that they were 20 years ago, when the disease was first discovered.

Officials speculate that the fact that young homosexuals have no memory of the seriousness of the plague when it began, coupled with their false assumption that AIDS is easily treated with medications, has led to the explosion in infections.

Typical of the "official response," many voices are calling for increased funding of programs that educate the public on the dangers of AIDS. Currently, the CDC provides about $400 million for state and local AIDS prevention programs. That is, the money goes solely for education, not for treatment.

In a related development, the British Public Health Laboratory Service announced on June 1 that the number of newly diagnosed HIV positive cases in the UK has reached an all-time high-14 percent higher than the previous year's figures. It's the highest infection rate since testing became widely available in 1985. The BBC reports that the worldwide infection rate last year was 50 percent greater than was predicted by the World Health Organization 10 years ago. About 36 million people now live with HIV or AIDS. Most cases are in Africa and Asia.

Sources: The Washington Post (David Brown); AP (Malcolm Ritter); BBC.