Bill Hastings claims that the two videos that warn of the dangers of allowing a militant minority to determine sexual health policy for everyone are anti-homosexual.

As a Canadian, Mr Hastings would know that more than 1100 Canadians contracted Aids and more than 60,000 were infected with heaptitis C between 1983 and 1985.

These unnecessary infections occured because top Red Cross bureaucrats refused to properly screen donors because they were afraid of offending the homosexual community and public by implementing Aids-prevention measures in place in the United States.

Mr Hastings expects the right to express his opinion - an opinion contrary to the view of the Court of Appeal judges - that these videos are not hateful. However, he wants to limit the right of people to freely access political and health-related information and to curtail the free speech of others expressing their genuinely helf belief that particular sexual health policies are putting the public at risk, the whole point of one of the videos.

If I were to suggest that Mr Hastings' sexual orientation might be clouding his judgement over this issue, he would no doubt call me homophobic. Under the hate speech legislation he is lobbying for, I could face criminal prosecution.

Chuck Bird
Onehunga