University fires AIDS expert for testifying homosexuality is bad for public health
KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 22, 2014 – A world-famous expert on AIDS has been fired from his job at the University of the West Indies after telling court officials in Belize that homosexual behavior is a threat to public health.
Professor Brendan Bain, who until now served as director of the regional coordinating unit of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network (CHART) at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, was fired Tuesday after more than 30 homosexual activist groups demanded he be removed from his job because of testimony he gave in 2010 in defense of Belize’s sodomy ban.
Brendan Bain
“As a physician and Public Health practitioner, one of my responsibilities is to assess behaviors for their health and well being,” Bain wrote at the time. “When something is beneficial, such as exercise, good nutrition, or adequate sleep, it is my duty to recommend it. Likewise, when something is harmful, such as smoking, overeating, alcohol, or drug abuse, and unsafe sexual behavior, it is my duty to discourage it.”
“Another of my responsibilities as a Public Health practitioner is to assess the cost of behavior, not just to the individual ‘actor,’ but also to the community,” Bain wrote. “[T]here are instances in which private behaviors result in considerable public cost due to illness, with accompanying loss of productivity and social disruption and the prospect of premature death.”
Bain argued that one such behavior is anal intercourse, which significantly increases the risk not only of HIV/AIDS, but other sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. He shared with the court data from studies conducted all around the world, which showed that sexually active gay men contracted AIDS at roughly 40 times the rate of other groups.
Bain’s willingness to tell the truth about the risks of sodomy ultimately cost him his job.
“Professor Brendan Bain provided a statement on behalf of a group of churches seeking to retain [Belize’s anti-sodomy] law,” said the University of the West Indies in announcing his termination. "Many authorities familiar with the brief presented believe that professor Bain's testimony supported arguments for retention of the law, thereby contributing to the continued criminalization and stigmatization of MSM. This opinion is shared by the lesbian, gay and other groups who are served by CHART.”
The university added that the "majority of HIV and public health experts believe that criminalizing men having sex with men and discriminating against them violates their human rights, puts them at even higher risk, reduces their access to services, forces the HIV epidemic underground thereby increasing the HIV risk. These are the positions advocated by the UN, UNAIDS, WHO, PAHO, the international human rights communities and PANCAP (The Pan Caribbean Partnership against AIDS), which is the organization leading the regional response to the HIV epidemic.”
"While the university recognizes the right of professor Bain to provide expert testimony in the manner he did, it has become increasingly evident that Professor Bain has lost the confidence and support of a significant sector of the community which the CHART program is expected to reach, including the loss of his leadership status in PANCAP, thereby undermining the ability of this program, to effectively deliver on its mandate. It is for this reason that the University of the West Indies has decided to terminate the contract of Professor Bain as Director of the Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) of the Caribbean HIV/Training (CHART) Network."
Non-governmental organization that focus on AIDS defended Bain's firing even as they said they agreed with the content of his report.
The National AIDS Committee (NAC) stated on Thursday that “There is nothing in that report which is contrary to or offensive to the work of” NAC, and his conclusions represent “the very position of the National AIDS Committee.”
Instead, they argued, “It is the contention of the NAC and other Civil Society Groups that by participating in the case of Caleb Orozco v. the Attorney General for Belize et al, at the specific request of, and on behalf of a group of churches who were opposing the removal of a law” that they argue would “prevent access to treatment” or AIDS and undermines “support” of homosexuality.
