PROVINCETOWN PRESS PUBLISHES DISSIDENT AIDS BOOK
PROVINCETOWN -- THE AIDS CULT: ESSAYS ON THE GAY HEALTH CRISIS, published
by Pagan Press under its Asklepios imprint, is now at the printers, with
a February 1997 publication date. According to publisher John Lauritsen,
it will be the first book to deal comprehensively with the real reasons
gay men are becoming sick in ways that are called "AIDS".
John Lauritsen, his co-editor Ian Young, and the other six contributors
to THE AIDS CULT are all at least skeptical of the hypothesis that dubiously
defined "AIDS" is caused by a virus. Lauritsen contends: "At
this point in time, debating the HIV-AIDS hypothesis is like flogging a
dead horse. That absurdity was demolished by molecular biologist Peter
Duesberg a decade ago, and it's time to move on."
However, even those who still accept the orthodox AIDS model will learn
much from THE AIDS CULT, which examines psychological and cultural issues
-- the ways that religious intolerance, group fantasies, toxic drugs, pharmaceutical
propaganda, deadly counselling, and a Cult of Doom have acted together
to destroy the health of gay men.
In his Introduction Ian Young writes: "the orthodox view of our
protracted health crisis -- as a highly infectious contagion from without
-- has been found wanting.... we must seek the causes of this and other
medical dilemmas in our own society, our own assumptions, our group-fantasies,
our regimens, our recreations, and our rituals."
The eight authors in THE AIDS CULT take aim at such targets as the Moral
Majority, the AIDS Quilt, AIDS counsellors, the Public Health Service,
and the pharmaceutical industry.
Both editors of THE AIDS CULT have been active in the gay movement since
the 60s, which lends weight to their criticisms of some aspects of the
homosexual subculture: drug abuse, dehumanized meeting places, unhealthful
sexual practices, and a cultic acceptance of victimhood. John Lauritsen
maintains: "The time has come for gay men to do a ruthlessly honest
reappraisal of our environment, our identities, and the ways that we live."
Ian Young's books include THE MALE MUSE (1973), COMMON-OR-GARDEN GODS
(1976), THE MALE HOMOSEXUAL IN LITERATURE (1982), SEX MAGICK (1986), THE
AIDS DISSIDENTS (1993), and THE STONEWALL EXPERIMENT (1995).
John Lauritsen's books include THE EARLY HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
(1864-1935) (1974, revised second edition 1995), POISON BY PRESCRIPTION:
THE AZT STORY (1990), and THE AIDS WAR (1993).
Despite depictions of horrible realities, the essays in THE AIDS CULT
convey a message of hope. According to Lauritsen: "With the burden
of fear lifted from them, there is no reason why those with positive results
on the HIV-antibody tests should not live to a ripe old age, provided they
take care of themselves and keep poisons out of their body."
Pagan Press
Box 1902
Provincetown MA 02657-0245
(508) 487-8369 (voice)
e-mail: jlaurits@capecod.net