Deborah Palfrey explains her
predicament to reporters. Photo: AFP

What happens when a controversial madam who services high-profile, Washington clients steps in front of the microphone?

She spills the beans, of course, and names names. The results are often devastating to those who are named, but what is particularly hilarious is that the overtly religious and/or self-proclaimed conservatives always seem to be the ones who get nailed in this type of “sinful” activity. So, what’s the scoop on the latest Republican sex scandal involving Ms. Palfrey? Well, you will be disgusted by this latest Republican perversion that hurt thousands of innocent people.

In an article from May 28th, ‘07, The Nation magazine, it spells out all the sordid details. The politician I am referring to is USAID chief Randall Tobias who is the former pharmaceutical company CEO who ran Bush’s global AIDS initiative for its first three years. He was probably the most powerful client she named as having been a regular “user” of her services for which he was forced to resign, but what most people may not know about Tobias is that he is an avid defender of the President’s puritanical approach to HIV prevention — abstinence. Hmm, what is a person to think when he regularly utilized “massages” from call girls while all along touting the abstinence mantra — “keep all of your clothes all the way on, all of the time”?

The hypocrisy is outrageous when he is the one who forced every U.S. AIDS grant recipient to publicly condemn prostitution, even struggling groups who were doing the sensitive work of persuading destitute sex workers to use condoms. According to The Nation article, a forthcoming study from the Center for Health and Gender Equity of five Asian countries where commercial sex is driving the AIDS epidemic, found that “Tobias’s policy has resulted in the closure of drop-in centers for street prostitutes and a scaling back of other successful prevention efforts”. What’s worse is that in Tobias’s disgraceful role as AIDS ambassador, he dictated a preference for pricey brand-name HIV drugs over cheap generics which sharply reduced the number of people who could be treated.

President George W. Bush announces his nomination of Randall Tobias to be the Coordinator for International HIV/AIDS Assistance in the Roosevelt Room Wednesday, July 2, 2003.
Photo by Paul Morse

But probably the most dire consequences of his leadership resulted from Tom DeLay’s (remember him?) inclusion in the AIDS initiative that one-third of the earmark on prevention be allocated to abstinence education programs. It has been reported that this wasn’t enough for Tobias. It has been reported that “he was so zealous in his promotion in some countries such as Nigeria, that nearly 70 percent of all U.S. dollars granted to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV were channeled toward abstinence”. What is tragic about this is that the Institute of Medicine called for the elimination of abstinence-only programs in 2000 because they simply don’t work. And what does Bush do about a program that proves worthless? Well, he doubles its budget of course!

But, Tobias’s fall from grace comes just at the time that people are beginning to be informed about the $2.5 billion plus abstinence boondoggle. The administration’s own study mandated by Congress on this issue finally released without any fanfare that preaching abstinence doesn’t produce any results. Instead numerous academic studies have shown that contraceptive access cuts teen pregnancy rates and condom education dramatically reduces HIV transmission. Science finally trumps religion. Oh wait, doesn’t it always?

So how many lives could have been saved with the $2.5 billion dollars? Instead of relentlessly attempting to legislate morals and basing public policy on religious sanctions and delusions of social control, our government should be lazer-focused on results. Again, I think it is abundantly clear how religion and politics should never be mixed — it’s a lethal, careless combination. It’s time for politicians, especially Republicans, to stop preaching from the halls of Congress and quit their never ending crusades for the sake of religion. When it comes to sex, religion and politics, each has its place, and that is separate. And, when religion begins to interfere in either, disaster will follow.