Katherine Kersten gets it right?

Links for today:

CityPages takes a look at gay seminarians particularly among Lutherans -- an increasingly common occurrence in Minnesota.

Project 515 visited Rochester to talk about the Minnesota statutes that discriminate against same-sex couples. They visited the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, RNeighbors and the Olmsted County Human Rights Commission. Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, attended: "Some of these things are just plain old fairness issues and plain old workforce issues, and Minnesota needs to attract and keep highly skilled people and creative people."

Along the marriage lines, Massachusetts is set to overturn their laws that say only Massachusetts residents can marry in Massachusetts. Gays from around the country would be able to marry there -- and spend millions in the process.

Katherine Kersten takes a look at a controversy surrounding AIDS, and while she almost gay-bashes, she really, honestly said some coherent and helpful things.

"In my view, O’Neill — with his overheated rhetoric — has this backwards. The campaign to universalize the AIDS threat was not a moral crusade, but an attempt to deflect such a crusade. AIDS appeared when gays were beginning a push for general acceptance. This included attempts to overcome the widespread perception that gay sex was risky and unnatural. If AIDS was tied to gays, activists feared, it might seem to confirm these perceptions.

Was the AIDS’ threat “oversold?”

No. AIDS is a dreadful disease, which has taken millions of lives here and abroad. The resources we have poured into alleviating suffering and seeking a cure are amply justified. But could we have saved more lives if we had targeted our resources more wisely, rather than pouring millions into a misguided campaign to universalize the threat?"

In other words, maybe if we spent the money actually targeting gay men, drug users and sex workers we could have made a greater impact? Tell that to the Republicans who have tied the hands of prevention workers so that they can't discuss the issues relevant to those populations. And shoveled money to faith-based groups who will talk with those groups, but only to share with them their sinful ways.