WA government stalls on safe sex

WA government stalls on safe sex

By Leon Harrison

PERTH — The WA Health Department's safe sex campaign, aimed at 16- to 25-year-olds, has been stalled yet again.

Health minister Keith Wilson, a right-wing Catholic, first blocked the campaign in July, the month of its supposed launching. The reason he gave at the time was that "the only safe sex is practised in long-term monogamous, heterosexual relationships".

Now Wilson is saying that, because condoms are not 100% safe, the state government might be open to legal action in the case of someone acquiring HIV whilst using a condom.

AIDS Council director Michelle Kosky has said that while the campaign is being stalled, the rates of HIV amongst teenagers will undoubtedly rise.

From GLW issue 32