McCain Flip-Flops on HIV Prevention

John McCain changed his stance on several key issues of concern to HIV prevention and sexual health advocates, according to an interview published this past Wednesday in the District of Columbia's gay newspaper, The Washington Blade.

McCain called for a national strategy to deal with HIV/AIDS:

I am committed to supporting the development of a National AIDS Strategy. Countries receiving PEPFAR aid are required to develop a national plan; but we don't have one in our country. It's important to settle on a national strategy - with input from state, local and federal government officials; along with the private sector, doctors, drug companies and AIDS advocates. Let's roll up our sleeves and put together a National AIDS Strategy for more effectively addressing the domestic challenges. Recent CDC statistics show that gay men continue to be strongly impacted by the disease, and the disease is disproportionately affecting people of color. Our prevention and treatment efforts must be improved to address these challenges.

Barack Obama has championed as part of his platform a national strategy to address HIV/AIDS. In contrast, McCain has never voiced support for a national strategy until this interview, let alone advocated for prevention measures that address the needs of gay youth. You can read RH Reality Check's comparison of both candidate's views on this issue of HIV/AIDS here.

In fact, McCain has supported abstinence-only education mandates as part of sex education - a strategy that many experts have faulted as aiding in the increased rates of infections among gay youth. Those programs, which focus on abstinence until marriage, ignore a significant issue: Gay youth are well aware that they can't get married in most states. Government evaluations of the abstinence-only education programs have all determined the programs are failures. Yet McCain and Palin continue to support the programs.

In the Blade interview, McCain had the following exchange with the interviewer:

Blade: How would a McCain administration approach abstinence-until-marriage sex education initiatives? What is your view regarding programs that provide safe-sex messages specific to gay youth?

McCain: I have supported including abstinence as a component of sex-education programs. Decisions regarding programs targeted specifically at gay youth should be made based on a review of the scientific data to determine what works and what doesn't, but they must encourage responsible individual behavior.

Given an opportunity to support the claim that programs addressing the issue of prevention be scientifically sound, McCain voted against the measure, according to Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

McCain opposed legislation requiring that abstinence-only programs be medically accurate and scientifically based. McCain voted NO on legislation that would help reduce the number of teen pregnancies by providing funding for programs to teach comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education and other programs to prevent unintended teen pregnancies.

So the question is, what does John McCain actually believe when it comes to HIV/AIDS prevention?