The Times ran these stories a day apart:

A Quarter of teen girls have STDs

wherein Planned Parenthood roundly condemned abstinence only sex education

and

Many gay men w/ STDs go unfound

wherein Planned Parenthood did not blame the problem on poor sex education.

I just thought it was interesting to see how one organization responds to the same problem in two different populations. STDs in teens - must be because of those evil Christians. STDs in gay men . . . hmm can't pin it on the Church, what to do.

Labels: politics, prolife, religion, STDs

My housemate told me last night that our neighborhood (Brooklyn in Baltimore) has the highest percentage of syphilis in the nation. I know our neighborhood has the highest rate of prostitution and child prostitution in Baltimore, so that would make sense. But still, the highest in the nation?? Well, I looked up rates of syphilis on the CDC website and found out that Baltimore does in fact have the highest percentage of Gonorrhea in the nation and the third highest for syphilis. Yay for Baltimore! Couple this with the fact that according to Business Week Magazine, Baltimore is also the most toxic city in America. Now I'm beginning to get a little depressed about where I live. I live in a city infamous for crime, drugs, STDs, and toxic waste sites.

Now I actually like my new hometown and am considering staying here, but I'm just a bit distressed about the situation its in, and if I stick around here, I may have to return to my activist college roots.

Labels: Baltimore, pollution, STDs, urban