Westboro Baptist Church Counter-Protested By AIDS Denialists

The Foo Fighters had a concert on the 30th in Kansas City, MO, but received some unwelcome attendance from the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, who naturally showed up with their usual "God Hates Fags" schtick. The band, to their credit, responded by coming out of their trailer and serenading America's least favorite church with "Keep It Clean," including one lyric:

I've got a hankering for something, think I'm in the mood for some hot man-muffins.

Video:



Cute.

Towleroad, however, reminds us that the Foo Fighters are no stranger to dangerous propaganda that affects the gay community. This particular musical group has notably supported the theory of AIDS denialism, a movement which nonsensically denies that HIV has any connection whatsoever to AIDS. In fact, Mother Jones reported in 2000 that the Foo Fighters had a benefit concert for Alive and Well, an organization that urges people to forgo HIV testing and drug treatment:

The multimillion-album-selling alternative rock outfit has thrown its weight behind Alive and Well, an "alternative AIDS information group" that denies any link between HIV and AIDS. In January, Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel helped organize a sold-out concert in Hollywood to benefit the group. Foo fans were treated to a speech by Alive and Well founder Christine Maggiore, who believes AIDS may be caused by HIV-related medications, anal sex, stress, and drug use, and implies that people should not get tested for HIV nor take medications to counter the virus. Free copies of Maggiore's self-published book, "What If Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong?," in which she declares "there is no proof that HIV causes AIDS," were also passed out to the concert-goers.

While the Foo Fighters' hearts were in the right place with WBC, one wonders when Nate Mendel and crew will address this dangerous misinformation that they have espoused? Who knows how many people living with HIV attended that concert and are now dead from refusal to take their meds?

While Alive and Well is no longer listed as one of the group's pet causes on their website, if Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters want to be seen as role models for heterosexual allies of the LGBT movement, they should repudiate this dangerous and factually incorrect vision of HIV/AIDS.