SCHENECTADY Critics urge removal of gay signs Billboards aimed at HIV prevention BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Billboards trying to drum up community support for gay black men were criticized Monday as a pastor, a daycare provider and a City Council member called for the billboards to come down. The Rev. Alfred Thompkins, of Calvary Tabernacle, said the “I am gay” billboard message only encourages troubled youth to embrace homosexuality. “A thirteen-year-old looks at these billboards and says, ‘That must be it, I must be gay,’ ” he said. “That goes directly against God’s purpose. As a resident of Schenectady, a pastor who works with young people, with families, frankly I’m really bothered by the message these send.” The billboards offer three messages, showing gay men with their families, in church and on a basketball court. Each message starts with the announcement “I am gay,” in large letters, and concludes with, “We have always been a part of this community.” They were designed by In Our Own Voices, a gay advocacy group in Albany. The state Department of Health paid for the billboards as part of an effort to find a more effective way to reduce the HIV infection rate, which has disproportionately hit gay and bisexual black men. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control said the epidemic had reached such a level that new methods must be found to encourage men to use condoms. But there is no overt mention of HIV on the billboards. In Our Own Voices is instead hoping that greater acceptance of homosexuality could lead men to make healthier choices. Daycare provider Pamela Spicer told the City Council that the bill- boards were so vague they were worthless. ......................>>>>......................>>>>....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00703&AppName=1
This Billboard promotes Aids/HIV being a gay disease and it isn't today. Just pick up a hooker then go home and give to your wife.
The money for this campaign came from the Federal Gov trickled down to the NYS health department then then a chosen few decided and created this billboard. It has been around in NYC for years.
When I see it I read it as saying "I am Gay and proud of it" and it just barely promotes the fact that the Black community Gay men are being ignorant and practicing unsafe sex in a seriously higher percent of any other ethnic group and supposedly this billboard will educate them. Bull tody these guys are not ignorant they just are immature, irresponsible and self centered.
In Our Own Voices is way off the mark on this one. They should be ashamed of the stigma they just encouraged in supporting a billboard that does not convey the fact the Black Gay community is having serious AIDS/HIV problems but conveys a message that AID/HIV is a Gay disease. Today it no longer is.
Wonder what the percentage of AID/HIV infected prostitutes are without regards to race.
They have one of these billboards next to Stewarts on Brandywine Ave, seeing it I must say it doesn't make any message involving HIV/AID awareness.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
AIDS isn't just a Gay problem, it's an American problem.
I've seen similar billboards in the area (but not the ones mentioned) and they are about being GAY, not about having AIDS.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Try to explain that billboard to a 5 year old! NUTS!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Should we remove everything in this world that can't be explained to a 5 year old? I think they call that censorship...
The billboard is funded with public money. The people that are footing the bill have the right to voice their opposition and question effectiveness and question if the money is being spent the way it has be appropriated. That is not censorship. If a gay rights group want to promote their pro gay agenda with their OWN money, then they can. From what I read in this article, the billboard doesn't sound like an effective HIV/AIDS awareness advertisement. It’s promoting a type of alternative lifestyle. It is misuse of the public's money.
It is another waste of State $$$. That is all. At a time when we are not spending our kid's money, we are already spending our great-great grandkid's money
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
AIDS isn't just a Gay problem, it's an American problem.
I've seen similar billboards in the area (but not the ones mentioned) and they are about being GAY, not about having AIDS.
A woman addressed this issue last night at the city mtg and I think she mentioned that the NYS Health Dept financed those billboards with the sole purpose of Aids prevention. She urged the council to give the Health Dept their money back b/c the goal was not accomplished...not even close
It is another waste of State $$$. That is all. At a time when we are not spending our kid's money, we are already spending our great-great grand kid's money
Like so many other State programs. Rev Al Tompkins was right on this. I only wish he had expanded onto other moral issues. Like official corruption, like not recovering a body from an active crime scene for 3 weeks, like the wasting money on 2 blocks of Downtown while the City implodes, like the lack of opportunity for kids, etc.
Where is the clergy on all this? NOTHING-a wall of silence. Except for SICM constantly shilling for more tax dollars.
It is another waste of State $$$. That is all. At a time when we are not spending our kid's money, we are already spending our great-great grandkid's money
I agree wholeheartedly. At a time when we are facing massive layoffs, essential programs' funding slashed, and tax hikes that appear more regularly than my Sunday paper(Isuspect the kid next door), I don't think we should be wasting tax money on this nonsense.
I'm not homophobic, but those billboards are not going to change any body's views on homosexuality, and may very well have the opposite affect, of what was desired.
I agree wholeheartedly. At a time when we are facing massive layoffs, essential programs' funding slashed, and tax hikes that appear more regularly than my Sunday paper(Isuspect the kid next door), I don't think we should be wasting tax money on this nonsense.
I'm not homophobic, but those billboards are not going to change any body's views on homosexuality, and may very well have the opposite affect, of what was desired.
Of course they won't change views. Some people need to justify the stupid, and wasteful job they have, and these "campaigns" are exactly what NYS is notable for. Along with crumbling infrastructure, lack of industry, huge welfare rolls, the highest taxes in America and no one left to pay for these foolish excesses. So they put it on a charge card.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
A woman addressed this issue last night at the city mtg and I think she mentioned that the NYS Health Dept financed those billboards with the sole purpose of Aids prevention. She urged the council to give the Health Dept their money back b/c the goal was not accomplished...not even close
She is so right on the mark. But the money being earmarked from the Feds has to be used for educating the Black Gay community in particular. The state health department grabbed that money but spent it in such a wasteful way.
There is no doubt the Black Gay community has shown a repeated higher number of AIDS/HIV cases like the the figures above from 2008 show. It is a great deal worse now in 2010.
The Feds and State folks know this specific population basically needs to be educated in a special way, different from all others segments of population. At least that is how I perceive it.
Those Bill Boards with the way they present the info is in my observation a pro gay agenda and nothing to do with AIS/HIV education to the Black Gay community to practice safe sex.
There are so many ways to reach this population like literature at the Gay Bars. Advertising in the gay media. Then again this literature is already out there. The ads about practicing safe sex is in the gay papers and magazines. In the straight bars this literature is also out there. These guys in the Black Gay community just don't get it so they need special education.
I have no issues with someone being gay. I do have issues with promoting a lifestyle using the guise of being a promotion to educate the Black Gay community about AIDS/HIV. These billboards do not educate anyone about practicing safe sex.
Those are only the REPORTED/CONFIRMED cases.....as for a message to 'protect yourself' and make smarter PERSONAL choices....there is no reason why kids ready to conversate cant be taught that, no details necessary.....personal responsibility starts with 'in the corner' consequences......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Logged
Like so many other State programs. Rev Al Tompkins was right on this. I only wish he had expanded onto other moral issues. Like official corruption, like not recovering a body from an active crime scene for 3 weeks, like the wasting money on 2 blocks of Downtown while the City implodes, like the lack of opportunity for kids, etc. 
