Abstain or Die

Joel Bleifuss

Responding to a campaign spearheaded by the Christian Traditional Values Coalition and Rep. Mark Souder (R-Indiana), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is threatening to defund the Stop AIDS Project of San Francisco because its programs violate a federal law barring use of federal money to “encourage or promote sexual activity.” At issue are safe-sex workshops titled: “In Our Prime: Men for Hire,” “Bootylicious,” and “Oral Sex = Safe Sex.”

Joel Bleifuss, a former director of the Peace Studies Program at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is the editor & publisher of In These Times, where he has worked since October 1986.

The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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