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A Matter of Faith: Opinion Piece
About this event: XVII International AIDS Conference

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A Matter of Faith: Opinion Piece
Automatically translated into English thanks to WorldLingo
Is religion a barrier to HIV prevention asked speakers on Monday, August 4th and my singular, silent self in seminar room 2 at the XVII World AIDS Conference

Although the conference had already started (the room was jammed with journalists, activists and educators and security wasn ' t letting in any extra bodies) on arrival. Once inside, the speaker representing the Catholic faith addressed the political regression society has seen in the past few years.

The issue of the politisation of the bible has secularized sexuality and made the Vatican and world governments increasingly anti - choice, anti - contraceptives, strictly monogamist and heterosexual. What' s left for some but to de - baptize themselves?

But while some people are fine with defecting from the catholic church to enjoy sex, perhaps I' m too much of an old - fashioned prude to do such a thing. It turned out religion was not so much the barrier as were the politics at the levels of government. Time for a coup.

In Mexico, the local government approved legal unions among same sex couples and decriminalized abortions. However, at the federal level, the policies of the Vatican continued to influence decision making policies. The same trend can be seen in the U.S. El Salvador will be a mess best left for another time.

Ashok Rapavi, editor of “Bombay Dust” India' s first homosexual publication, further underlined the point of how Christian beliefs had “prude - ified” India, a country with a rich, sexual culture predating British rule. The British have been long gone and the government reinforces a sexually repressive mentality, and India now has the second largest infection rate of HIV after South Africa among MSM, transgender and IDU' s.

I could blame the Vatican for having prevented me from embracing my own imaginative, if ambiguous sexuality. However, I' m not about to de - baptize myself because, you know, just in case.

Being a Catholic woman who lived primarily in Latin America, the holy rosary increased its chokehold around my neck as the bra sizes increased (then decreased. Long story). Although the women in my family openly answered all the questions I had about sex, their jaws would always hit the dinner table before the incoming answers. Then there' s the catholic guilt and the (ridiculous) expectation that I should be a virgin until my wedding day. Anything that feels good is sinful.

But somehow, I managed to inform myself better than my American classmates who, when they arrived to college, didn' t know how to fasten a condom around a wooden dildo or list five STD' s off the top of their head. The supposedly conservative environment had taught me more than I needed to know. And the Great Zeitgeist had taught its own very little. This concerned me. They were doling out the funds, but to what ends? Well, now we know. It ' s as simple as A - B - C…

While I have bucket loads of information, I still don' t know how to reconcile my religious beliefs, however lapsed they might be, with my sexuality. While the issue of contraception, responsibility and open dialogue was addressed, re - addressed and dumped into my bag over and over in neat little cellophane - wrapped squares, I still think that there' s something lacking at the end of the day. I can make him strap on a rubber, but I' ll still feel like a slut. A confused one, at that and it seems like I' m being subliminally pushed in a direction I have no interest in going in. You can' t deprogram years of sexual repression in one conference.

Maybe I' ll convert to Hinduism.

August 5, 2008 | 12:06 AM Comments  0 comments

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