Austrian bishop criticized for comments about AIDS

Austrian bishop criticized for comments about AIDS

Washington Blade - August 10, 2001

SALZBURG, Austria - The Salzburg Social Democrats accused Bishop Andreas Laun of being intolerant for reportedly telling the magazine News that gay people have a much shorter life expectancy because of "hepatitis, AIDS, and other gay diseases." The South African Press Association reported that Laun, the second-highest-ranking bishop in the Salzburg Catholic Church, recently caused alarm in Austria when he said that "homosexuals have a 20- to 30-year lower life expectancy." Salzburg Social Democrats' spokesperson David Brenner said Laun's comments represent "the height of intolerance." "His regular defamation and exclusion of 10 percent of our population has almost racist overtones," he said. "Sexuality is a private matter, and not one of the church, whose sexual morals are stuck in the Middle Ages." Brenner noted that worldwide the majority of people with HIV/AIDS are heterosexual.
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