The Prime Minister of St Kitts-Nevis stated in the first paragraph that commercial sex workers will not be welcomed to its shore for CWC.   In the next paragraph he offers a caveat that both shocked and appalled me as a black woman from St Kitts.

 “However, Prime Minister, Dr Denzil Douglas told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that while prostitutes would not be welcomed for the CWC, it was about time that Caribbean people engaged in serious discussions on the decriminalisation of prostitution and homosexuality.”

One of the reasons I missed this article must be the shock that I was reeling from to learn that 70% of all newly diagnosed HIV-positive women in America are black women.  African Americans-Black Americans-Caribbean Americans.  

A one-hour special that aired on August 24, 2006 entitled 'Out of Control: AIDS in Black America'.  The article goes on to state that we make up 13% of the US population yet we account for over 50% of all new cases of HIV.  The infection rate is eight times the rate of whites. Among women, the numbers are even more shocking—- almost 70 percent of all newly diagnosed HIV-positive women in the United States are black women.  Black women are 23 times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white women, with heterosexual contact being the overwhelming method of infection in black America.

The problem is that black men are sleeping with both sexes and that is the main cause for this explosion of cases.  So decriminalizing prostitution and homosexuality will not necessarily solve the problem of discrimination or bring it to the forefront.  I have more respect for the ones who pick a side and stick with it.  I am not endorsing the lifestyle, nor do I believe having sex with a prostitute and then going home to your wife or partner will stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.

If it is decimating such a huge population such as the US, what will the decriminalization of homosexuality and prostitution do in the Caribbean, much less the tiny population of St Kitts-Nevis?

Carren Foxe
Atlanta, GA