American Family Association Pushing List Of AIDS Deniers — From 1991

Bryan Fischer, Director of Issue Analysis for the American Family Association (AFA), Saturday was pushing a webpage — virusmyth.com – from 1991 that “questions” the “hypothesis” that HIV causes AIDS, falsely claiming there are “serious questions about HIV as the cause of AIDS.” The site lists 78 Ph.Ds, 46 M.D.s, six people who are “authors,” one veterinarian, and dozens of other apparently uncredentialed people who apparently just felt like offering their name to this list of people who, from 1991 – 1993 — yes, before two decades and millions of dollars of research — suggest that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. Of course, the website’s URL says exactly where they are on the spectrum of crazy: VIRUSmyth.com.

Fischer, an AIDS denialist and the public face of the American Family Association — which is certified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group on the same plane as “God Hates Fags” — actually is pushing this fatal claim that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, and decided that at 9:59 PM on a Saturday he’d tell the world, via Twitter:

 

Apparently Fischer didn’t have enough characters left to mention the list is two decades old, and I guarantee you that there are plenty of folks on this list who regret allowing their name to be used — assuming they actually did.

But don’t worry — you too can sign the letter. Because, anyone can. Amusingly, Bryan Fischer did not — nor did he respond to my tweet.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, they are not entitled to their own facts, and pushing this myth is not only a bad idea, it is a potentially fatal one. By lying about the cause of AIDS, Bryan Fischer is potentially bringing harm to those who actually believe his claptrap.

This is far from the first time Fischer and the American Family Association tried to jam down the public’s throat the lie that HIV does not cause AIDS.

Of course, Fischer was far from shy about blaming Rep. Barney Frank — upon the news of his resigning from Congress — for millions of people contracting HIV/AIDS:

“Who knows how many people were drawn or encouraged in some way by Barney Frank’s example to dabble in a lifestyle that eventually cost them their health and maybe even cost them their lives,” Fischer crowed last year.

And in January, as The New Civil Rights Movement wrote, Fischer:

“promote[d] the lethal and widely-discredited theory that HIV does not cause AIDS, by touting the cherry-picked research of Peter Duesberg, whose work has led, some say, to the infection and/or death of hundreds of thousands of HIV/AIDS infected babies in South Africa. Fischer today called the scientifically-proven HIV to AIDS link a ‘hoax,’ a ‘scam,’ and said that people with AIDS ‘reap what they sow’.”

Just a few days later, Fischer, again, as The New Civil Rights Movement wrote, falsely claimed that 96% of gays are drug users, gays have hundreds, sometimes over 1000 sex partners, and again claimed that drug use, not HIV, causes AIDS.

“God’s design is one sexual partner for life,” Fischer stated. “Now, in the homosexual community, the average homosexual has hundreds of sexual partners over the course of a lifetime. Hundreds. Some of them have between 500 and 1000 and there are any number of homosexuals, and they admit this in their own literature, have more then a 1000 sexual partners.”

…

“And we know, [Peter] Duesberg say, look we know, we can demonstrate in the lab the way these nitrites, the way these inhalants break down the immune system. And the research indicates that 96% of the people who engage actively in homosexuality, homosexual behavior, use these nitrites. The inhalants are very common.

“So he suggests that this is the cause of AIDS: it’s the rampant promiscuity, coupled with this drug use. That’s what causes the human immune system to break down.”

These are but a few examples of how Bryan Fischer and the American Family Association are spreading lies about gay people in order to demonize and marginalize the LGBT community. And put the health of those who actually believe his lies, in jeopardy.

But Fischer is playing with fire. And, as the world knows all too well, HIV/AIDS is an equal opportunity disease.