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May 20, 2013 By Robert Wilder Comments 5
News
02.22.2012
6 Comments
Is a Gay Safe Sex Pamphlet Behind DOH's Order to Remove Public Info from All Clinics?
Critics say so.
By Joey Peters
Last night, KRQE-TV and KOB-TV both reported about the firing of a contracted Department of Health employee for distributing a safe sex practices pamphlet that features cartoons of a male homosexual couple in Roswell. According to the reports, an internal investigation led to the employee's firing on Friday, just days after DOH ordered its clinics to pull all of its public information materials for review.
SFR reported on the order, which some critics deemed "micromanaging to the nth degree," in today's issue. Per the order, every public pamphlet and packet in all of DOH's 55 public clinics, plus its two satellite clinics, must have Health Secretary Catherine Torres' seal of approval on it. The problem, critics say, is the large burden the directive places on an underfunded agency, all to the cost of removing important health information to the many patients who rely on public health.
In multiple DOH e-mails to employees and in interviews with SFR, DOH officials cited "outdated materials"—not the same-sex safe practices pamphlet—as the reason behind pulling all informational materials. Critics (albeit anonymous ones) don't buy it, claiming the order was ideological.
In a post on NMDOHCrisis.com, a website presumably run by unsatisfied DOH employees, "Johnathan Publix" replays last week's events:
"It is difficult to ascertain whether the directive came from," Publix writes. "Some emails said Governor Susana Martinez made the mandate while others implied Cabinet Secretary Catherine Torres made the demand."
SFR retrieved both emails, which can be viewed at the bottom of today's story.
Publix continues:
"What is not known by everyone, is buried in all of the recalled educational materials is safer sex materials that contain illustrations of a same sex couple that caused the removal of all materials. The hopes of the Torres administration is to cover-up the removal of these materials with a mass recall under the reason of a missing logo. So you might ask yourself, what do we have going on here? Well, we have the issues of censoring material and lying about the reasons to cover-up the fact that there is an ideological reason why materials are being recalled."
The public information materials, which likely number the thousands, are being sent to Secretary Catherine Torres' office to be reviewed by her staff with help from Public Health Division employees. SFR put in calls to DOH this morning about the pamphlet and will update this post when we hear back from them.
View the pamphlet here, retrieved from NMDOHCrisis.com (or refrain from viewing if homosexual cartoons offend you):
Gaysafesexpamphlet
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You 've GOT to be kidding me????? This is the NEW logo? It looks like a throw back to the 60's. It is a joke! Me thinks Joey and those DOH employees are correct....it's all about the gay sex issue. You want HIV/AIDS or you want to blush a little. Get real!!!! What a surprise that a republican cabinet member would order a pamphlet showing how to have safe sex is offensiv! I AM APPALED!
I viewed the pamphlet. These cartoons are not pornography. I understand that the pamphlet was developed for distribution to gay men, but, honestly, if my 14 year old son was son was living in a dormitory and contemplating or engaging in sex with another male classmate (yes, that does happen in Roswell), I would want some caring adult to go over this information with him using a pamphlet that was as direct as this one is. I don't think anyone was intending distribution by helicopter drop. Of note, the only other information I would add to the pamphlet is instructions on how to rinse the Santorum out of the sheets. The response from the Department of Health was ridiculous. I understand that in addition to firing someone who had their best interest in helping vulnerable youth, the Department pulled ALL health information form ALL clinics until each pamphlet can be approved and re-branded with a new logo. Does no one see how this puts so many people seeking health information at risk. How long will it take to re-brand tens of thousands of pieces of health information. This is just another fear-producing, over-the-top reaction by our inexperienced and narcissistic Secretary of Health. Please see www,nmdohcrisis.com for the background on that fiasco.
After following this story and reading the nmdohcrisis.com blogs, it has become clear to me why the DOH staff must resort to such anonymity in the cry for help. Firing the contractor for providing this brochure is scary. As far as I can tell, the brochure didn't even make it into the sight of the youth until it got all the media attention. Seems like the biggest distributor of this "pornography" has been the and the Secretary herself. Good work, folks. More kids have viewed the brochure thanks to you. I hope they have learned something and live longer and healthier lives because of it.
It's just so weird to me that people can get so up in arms about a pamphlet when there's some really serious shit going on in the world that is about 100 times more harmful than this.
The DOH has caved into to the GOP homophobes. The only victims will be those that can't get the info in the brochure because of the ignorant bible thumping closed minded fools. The only way to stop the spread of STDs is through education, not denial. Shame on you DOH!
Dr. Torres and her two deputies Jim Green and Wally Vette routinely make homophobic comments. I witness this on a nearly daily basis. Some of the comments are are general homphobic statements and others are comments about gay employees behind their backs. It is sickening! I do not know what these people have against gays. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
To make thing clear DOH employees are not gay-haters just Dr. Torres and her administration