AIDS: Sex Outside of Marriage Is Not Entertainment

By Holly Wood

Even sex outside of a committed relationship as entertainment can kill. Or at least give you an incurable disease. The stats are scary, particularly for African Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, an estimated 422,000 people have AIDS with 77% being men and 44% being Black, yet African Americans are only 13% of the U.S. population. And it is not just sex or homosexuality; pick an indicator and Blacks suffer most. We know the litany of reasons expressed to explain the disproportionate impact, but we would like to see some serious progress in this area.

Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie are leading proponents of AIDS prevention. Cookie Johnson just wrote a book, "Stand Up & Stop The Spread of HIV," and has joined Magic's "I Stand With Magic" campaign as an active member. Go Cookie and Magic. Although Magic made the biggest mistake of his life with the behavior that gave him the disease, he has served as a model example of how to conduct oneself in the fight againt AIDS. And Cookie has demonstrated that a committed marriage can even survive a partner contracting the disease. Sign us up. We're ready to join the fight.