Pure Choices

Coming Out, Pt. 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Lisa & Virna Santos

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Series Code: PC

Program Code: PC000011


00:30 Welcome to Pure Choices.
00:32 I'm so glad that you have joined us again today
00:34 for another episode.
00:35 As you know, all season long,
00:37 we've been dealing with some hot
00:38 and very serious topics concerning our sexuality.
00:40 And today is going to be no different,
00:42 we're gonna jump right in there.
00:43 Before we get into this topic though,
00:45 I want to take a moment and just introduce to you
00:47 our panel today,
00:48 and a special guest that we have with us.
00:50 I'm gonna start over here with my brother.
00:52 You all have known him,
00:53 he's been with us all season long,
00:54 Pastor Alfonzo Greene,
00:56 and he's at the First
00:58 SDA Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
01:00 And then we have my brother to the far right,
01:02 Pastor Michael B Kelly who joins us from Riverside,
01:07 California at the Mount Rubidoux
01:09 Seventh-day Adventist Church.
01:10 And then we have my brother right here
01:12 in the pink and green
01:13 who's coming to us from Nashville,
01:15 Pastor Michael Polite,
01:18 and you know that he pastoring
01:19 the Riverside Chapel Church there in Nashville, Tennessee.
01:24 And we have a special guest with us today,
01:26 Miss Dana Battle who is here, local from Huntsville, Alabama.
01:29 She's here, but she works specifically
01:32 with the Alabama Health Department.
01:35 She does specifically STD public training
01:39 and programming director essentially.
01:42 And we brought her here today
01:43 because we specifically want to deal
01:45 with this topic of STDs.
01:47 You know me, I'm your host, Pastor Seth Yelorda.
01:49 And so we're just gonna jump right into this thing.
01:51 Miss Dana, just talk to us a little bit about STDs,
01:54 specifically within the black community.
01:55 You know, we know or we hear at least
01:58 that they are rampant in the black community,
02:00 disproportionately rampant in the black community.
02:03 Is there truth to that?
02:04 Is there any validity to that?
02:05 Talk to us and just kind of inform our audience
02:07 and what's really going on out there?
02:09 Yes, that is true statement.
02:11 Actually, the 2010 surveillance report
02:14 was just released last month
02:16 by the Centers for Disease Control.
02:18 And so the reports do indicate
02:21 that African-Americans are disproportionately affected
02:25 by sexually transmitted diseases.
02:28 And so it is very important,
02:29 I'm glad you all are doing this,
02:31 putting the information out there
02:32 so that they can get the message
02:35 and understand that,
02:37 now is the time to take precaution.
02:40 Now, you know, some people might be wondering,
02:41 you know, this topic,
02:43 you know, the title of the show was Pure Choices.
02:45 You know, and you're talking about STDs,
02:48 you know, we're gonna be talking
02:49 about condoms and contraceptives,
02:50 and that type of thing.
02:52 How does me being pure and making pure choices
02:55 had anything to do with STDs?
02:57 And like, it almost seems like there may be a conflict here.
03:00 But we just want to let our audience know that,
03:02 even in making pure choices,
03:04 we still need to be aware of STDs.
03:06 We were talking about it.
03:08 I think there's two ways to look at that.
03:11 Being pure is this idea of condoms wearing,
03:15 I should say this way is not gonna stop you
03:16 from not being pure,
03:18 'cause I keep a condom or some sort of protection
03:21 that's not pure.
03:22 What we are after of course is purity
03:25 in its greatest sense to be ideal
03:28 which obviously when we're not pure has
03:30 with its spiritual consequences.
03:33 However, when we are pure, and we make some bad choices,
03:38 there are some earthly consequences
03:39 which I know we're gonna get into and so our deal,
03:42 of course, is we don't want you to deal
03:44 with spiritual consequences or the earthly consequences,
03:47 however some folks are still struggling
03:49 in that area and so, man,
03:51 it would stink to have to deal with both of those.
03:53 So, you know, I think we do want to make it clear,
03:55 I'm glad we started that way,
03:57 we're not, in any way, saying that
03:59 if you don't have a disease
04:01 or don't catch it or you use some of,
04:03 you know, protection
04:04 that you are protected for being impure
04:06 because a condom doesn't stop sin,
04:08 you know, those things.
04:09 And that's something that we talked about maybe,
04:11 you know, episode one,
04:13 program one where we talked about it,
04:14 where we said that sex and sexuality is something
04:16 that affects the whole person, you know.
04:18 It's not just a physical thing
04:20 but there's an emotional element to sexuality,
04:22 there's a spiritual element to sexuality,
04:24 and so you could put a condom on
04:25 and it might protect you from the consequence
04:28 of the physical side,
04:30 but a condom can't protect your heart,
04:32 a condom can't protect your spirit.
04:33 And so we really want our audience to know
04:35 that this thing, yes,
04:36 we are definitely advocating purity.
04:38 But we also want to look at the other side of,
04:40 you know, sexuality
04:42 that when you do make a decision
04:43 to engage in illicit sex,
04:46 you know, where you're having such as random,
04:48 multiple partners,
04:49 or even just one partner outside of marriage
04:51 that there is consequences,
04:52 and these consequences are real,
04:54 these consequences can be life threatening,
04:57 you know, these consequences can be deadly, you know.
04:59 And so we really want to,
05:01 you know, just put it out there.
05:02 Yeah, I wanted to ask, Dana, with your work
05:05 and we talked about you see it prevalent
05:06 in the black community,
05:08 what's the age range
05:09 where this is really kind of hitting hard
05:11 in that community?
05:13 What age do you normally see that?
05:15 Well, we see all ages.
05:17 But our targeted populations meaning,
05:20 where we see most disease is 15 to 24.
05:23 Now that's broken down like from 15 to 19,
05:26 and then 20 to 24.
05:28 But the prevalence of disease is
05:30 so great in both of those categories
05:33 as we put them together,
05:34 so 15 to 24
05:36 but the close second at 25 to 29.
05:39 And so those are the formative years,
05:43 those are the years that, you know, most people,
05:48 young people feel that they can do anything.
05:52 They're invincible. Right.
05:53 And so the message really needs to get to them.
05:57 Right.
05:59 I just wanted to just kind of piggyback off
06:00 of that in the sense
06:01 that just from the faith community,
06:04 you know, from that angle, that it's important to know,
06:07 as she just mentioned those numbers,
06:09 that this is not something that
06:10 the faith community is immune from,
06:13 that we see many young people within our churches
06:16 that come to church every single week
06:19 but that are sexually active.
06:21 And, you know, for some of our viewers,
06:24 you know, that may have their head buried in the sand,
06:26 they need to be aware of the fact
06:28 that these dangers are not only just
06:30 real outside of the church,
06:32 but these dangers are also real within the faith community.
06:36 And I'll never forget,
06:37 I was here at Oakwood University
06:39 when I was a junior,
06:41 and someone came from the health department,
06:42 I don't remember the person.
06:44 It probably was Dana then. No.
06:45 I wasn't gonna say that.
06:46 But someone came and they,
06:48 you know, it was during a chapel service
06:50 and the whole student body was in the church,
06:52 and they show
06:53 these graphic pictures of like...
06:54 My Lord.
06:56 You know, what your genitals will look like
06:57 if you have gonorrhea?
06:58 What herpes looks like? What syphilis looks like?
07:00 I mean, the whole,
07:01 I mean, everyone was like throwing up their lunch,
07:04 you know, they were showing extremely graphic pictures.
07:05 There was like...
07:06 It was like someone just blew your stuff
07:08 like you're grading there.
07:09 Exactly.
07:10 I mean, there was like a moratorium on sex
07:13 for like two weeks strong.
07:14 Everyone's like,
07:16 "Yo, we're not doing this," you know.
07:17 But it was a shock, you know, to a degree,
07:19 it was a shock treatment.
07:20 But to me, those images have always been kind of lodged
07:23 in my mind like,
07:24 "Man, if you go down that road,
07:27 this is what is out there waiting for you."
07:30 From your experience,
07:31 what are some of the more prevalent STDs
07:34 that you find in the community,
07:36 and then what are some of the consequences,
07:39 you know, of these STDs,
07:41 like what effects they have on your body
07:43 and just that whole thing?
07:46 Well, right now, chlamydia is...
07:49 Wow, it's just...
07:50 Can I say off the chain?
07:52 Okay, so... Yeah.
07:55 I mean, that is like the most prevalent disease.
07:58 What exactly is it?
07:59 Chlamydia is caused by bacteria.
08:01 Okay. It is a curable infection.
08:03 However, most people
08:05 who are infected don't have symptoms.
08:07 So they can go for quite sometime,
08:08 very long time.
08:09 Passing it around and still having sex.
08:11 Passing it, right.
08:12 And unfortunately,
08:13 complications from the disease can lead to infertility.
08:18 And for women especially,
08:21 pelvic inflammatory disease
08:23 which can be very dangerous and deadly
08:25 where the fallopian tubes
08:27 can burst and those kinds of things.
08:29 So chlamydia, gonorrhea,
08:33 syphilis, HIV have...
08:35 There were statistics posted
08:39 that one in four teenagers has an STD.
08:41 One in four? One in four.
08:42 Wow.
08:43 And the most prevalent diseases were listed, chlamydia was one,
08:48 but herpes, HPV
08:50 which is a human papillomavirus causes genital warts.
08:55 And trichomonas which is a type of vaginitis
08:58 but it's caused by a parasite.
09:02 A lot of diseases are prevalent,
09:03 we can't really go into all of them.
09:05 But billions of dollars are spent every year,
09:10 every year on people who suffer from complications.
09:13 You said, billions? Billions, with the B.
09:16 Every year on people
09:18 who have complications from disease,
09:21 and of course, we want to prevent complications
09:24 but we want to prevent disease.
09:26 So these diseases are very real.
09:30 I think most people think in terms of cure
09:33 as opposed to treatment because, you know, well,
09:35 I can get a shot for that,
09:37 or I can take some pills for that.
09:39 And so it's kind of devalued in the respect that,
09:44 "Okay, maybe I'm not afraid of it,
09:45 I can get a shot or something."
09:48 Then we're not taking it seriously.
09:49 But there are a lot
09:50 of other viral infections out there
09:52 which we don't have a cure for like, herpes,
09:55 like HIV, like human papillomavirus.
09:58 I mean Magic has HIV.
10:00 And he's been alive for 20 years with it.
10:02 Yeah, Magic's like he's just be chilling.
10:04 I mean, so I mean...
10:05 Magic has money. Yes, Magic has money.
10:09 Does his situation or his success in managing HIV,
10:14 could it possibly send
10:15 a wrong message to people saying,
10:17 "If you have it, you know, Magic has it, no big deal?"
10:20 It could be but we don't see behind the scenes.
10:22 We don't see Magic behind the scenes.
10:24 And again, Magic has money.
10:27 Magic could afford treatments and medication at a time
10:30 when he was diagnosed
10:32 that were not necessarily available
10:34 to the average person
10:36 who has disease when your medical price tag is,
10:41 you know, 2000 bucks a month.
10:43 Wow.
10:44 You know, and you've got to figure out a way
10:47 to live and get your medication.
10:50 So everybody has different challenges.
10:54 So, Dana, I have a question.
10:56 We started the show talking
10:57 about how the African-American community
10:59 is just being run through by STDs.
11:03 Does that mean
11:05 that the African-American community
11:07 is more sexual than other communities?
11:10 No. None, whatsoever.
11:12 None, whatsoever.
11:13 In fact, it doesn't even mean
11:15 that we even engage in more risky behavior.
11:18 But what we need to really focus on
11:21 is that we're being affected by...
11:23 We only make up 13% of the total population
11:26 in the United States.
11:28 And, but yet 60% of disease is in our culture.
11:33 And so we need to stop and listen,
11:37 let it penetrate,
11:39 you know, how things just kind of run through over your head,
11:43 through you don't really take it in.
11:45 And so I guess you look back at behavior,
11:48 you look back at how's this going to affect me,
11:50 you need to apply what you hear.
11:52 And really, really just,
11:56 you know, know that you're being affected by it.
11:59 You know, in the,
12:01 you know, faith community that we live in or something
12:03 that we look at the devil's
12:04 a massive deceiver of deception.
12:06 And one of the things I just kind of hear some things
12:09 that our young people think
12:11 about sexually transmitted diseases
12:12 and those things.
12:14 With all those diseases that you mentioned,
12:16 I know there is plenty more,
12:17 are all of them only contracted through intercourse,
12:21 or can some of them just come from kissing,
12:23 through some other things maybe just oral sex?
12:26 'Cause some people will say, "You know what,
12:27 I'm not having sex, I'm just having oral sex.
12:29 I'm just kissing.
12:30 We're just rubbing,
12:32 maybe exchanging different things that way."
12:33 Can you still get
12:34 some of those things you mentioned
12:36 in other ways as well and which ways are they?
12:38 Well, of course,
12:39 and you don't want to downplay the fact
12:41 that people say, "I'm not having sex."
12:43 What you have to get to the root of,
12:46 is what are you doing specifically
12:49 that puts you at risk,
12:51 because sexual intercourse
12:55 and sexual acts can put you at risk.
12:59 And you also have to look at the disease
13:01 and how different diseases are transmitted.
13:04 There are diseases that do present with symptoms
13:07 that can appear in different places
13:10 depending on what type of sex you have.
13:13 So if I'm having oral sex,
13:16 then those symptoms can appear
13:18 in or around the mouth, you know.
13:21 So therefore,
13:22 if I have those symptoms in my mouth
13:24 and I actually happen to be kissing someone
13:27 which may not be sexual intercourse,
13:30 that is a sexual act
13:32 where someone who is infected
13:34 with the disease can put someone else at risk.
13:36 So, you know, you have to look at the whole picture.
13:40 And people really have to get a good understanding
13:43 of what sex is.
13:46 Intercourse, you know,
13:47 you may think in terms of just actual penetration.
13:50 But again, you have to look
13:53 at different types of sexual acts and oral sex,
13:57 because a lot of people don't think that is sex.
13:59 So I just want to be clear
14:00 'cause I think that's such a powerful point
14:02 for some of the other shows that we've gone through.
14:05 So if I'm with somebody
14:07 who's telling about how far is too far,
14:08 I could be with somebody,
14:10 they've had oral sex with somebody else.
14:12 All they do is kiss me
14:14 but I could have gotten something
14:16 that they've got from oral sex just from kissing,
14:18 is that what I understand?
14:20 If I get those symptoms in my mouth,
14:22 and I've never even had oral sex with the person,
14:24 we just kissed.
14:26 You can be exposed. Yes, you can be exposed.
14:28 Right.
14:29 I think, this is bringing up a conversation
14:34 that a lot of students
14:35 are going to be uncomfortable about having.
14:38 And that conversation is kind of checking up
14:40 on the people's background that you're interested in.
14:44 Especially males, we don't like
14:46 when a female approaches us and say,
14:48 "So who you've been with?
14:49 And what you've done before?"
14:50 "Hey, girl, don't worry about all that.
14:52 You know what I'm saying. I got you. I got you."
14:53 You know, we, brothers usually...
14:56 They got to be right. In case you got sober.
15:00 Well, it's interesting that you should say that
15:02 because we're running billboard campaigns.
15:05 And last year,
15:07 we had a billboard
15:08 actually right up on 565 on Interstate.
15:11 And it talked to that very thing
15:13 is that who are the 63 people
15:15 that you had sex with last night?
15:17 And there's a man and a woman there,
15:18 and it has two people.
15:20 But what happens is,
15:21 it grows and it goes out behind
15:24 because the message is that everybody
15:26 that you had sex with,
15:28 I just had sex with because that's your past,
15:31 that's your history.
15:33 And so, you know, the graph
15:36 just kind of grew out from there.
15:38 So that is a powerful message,
15:40 you know, because a lot of people
15:43 don't realize that,
15:44 you know, they're bringing
15:46 that forward to the next person.
15:49 And those symptoms may not manifest right away.
15:53 Dana, as you just kind of broke that now,
15:55 it just kind of brings you back to some of our,
15:56 you know, other shows in the sense
15:59 that we're talking about, like you said,
16:00 how far is too far,
16:01 friends with benefits and stuff.
16:03 I mean, you're really
16:04 in some dangerous territory in the day
16:06 and age that we live in,
16:08 just even the casual things that you do.
16:11 Because like she said,
16:13 I mean, that person could have had oral sex with somebody,
16:16 they could have something,
16:17 and just catch it.
16:19 It's just really makes you up...
16:20 It's too risky.
16:21 Yeah, it's too risky, but then it also makes you appreciate
16:23 even more just from the Christian standpoint,
16:26 what God's talking about.
16:28 I mean, God kind of knows what He's talking about.
16:30 When you follow His ideal, it saves you from so much,
16:35 you know, unnecessary stuff.
16:37 You know, when you make a decision,
16:38 you know what, I'm gonna save myself for marriage,
16:39 or if I have gone down that road,
16:42 I know from this point forward, I'm gonna commit to purity,
16:45 you know, and I'm gonna seek that.
16:47 It saves you from so much drama.
16:48 The thing that I've often found that was interesting is that
16:50 when dealing with young people,
16:52 it seems like every, and I don't want to generalize
16:54 but a lot of young people that deal with,
16:55 they have this mentality of,
16:56 "It won't happen to me,"
16:58 you know, like, "Oh, yeah, you know, we see it.
17:00 And we know but it won't happen to me
17:02 until that happens to them," you know.
17:04 What do you say to young people
17:06 who have that approach to life like,
17:07 "It won't happen to me," like,
17:09 "Yeah, I hear what you're saying,
17:10 you know, 63 in the whole,
17:12 you know, disease amount but it won't happen to me."
17:15 Well, what you have to look at too is,
17:19 that whole age group that I mentioned earlier,
17:22 you know, they all have a certain set of risk factors.
17:26 And as teen's growing up,
17:28 you have lack of awareness.
17:33 And again like I said, those are formative years.
17:35 Those are the years that they're finding themselves
17:38 that, you know, they're wanting to do and experiment,
17:40 and have fun, and get out there.
17:42 So messages that you send them as parents, as pastors,
17:46 as other Christians,
17:49 and other people who are in their lives,
17:51 they come in and they go out.
17:53 And they don't really think about those things
17:55 and it doesn't stick.
17:57 The cause and effect. Right.
17:59 And because they, you know, moving on.
18:00 And I'm not saying that that's all young people
18:03 because there are some who are very focused.
18:05 But, you know, for the most part,
18:06 that's not where most of the teens are,
18:09 that's not where a lot of young people are.
18:11 And so you really have to send a message
18:15 that helps them
18:17 to target number one who they are,
18:19 you know, to having interest in developing themselves.
18:23 You know, if you don't have a goal to shoot for in life,
18:27 where am I gonna be five years from now,
18:28 where am I gonna be ten years from now,
18:31 then you kind of right here in the moment.
18:32 And that goes back to lack of awareness again.
18:35 You know, you really have to be aware.
18:37 So I have a question for you on awareness.
18:39 Yes.
18:41 Have you actually noticed awareness changing
18:44 the decisions of young people?
18:48 I have friends, we sat in sex-ed in high school,
18:51 we saw the graphic photographs, we had even people coming,
18:56 giving their personal experience,
18:59 telling us what they're dealing with on a day to day.
19:02 And then some of my boys, couple days later,
19:06 we're chopping it up in the locker room,
19:07 talking about who smashed and who didn't, you know.
19:10 Is awareness really changing the teenage mind
19:14 when it comes to their choices?
19:16 It should. You would think it would.
19:20 Think about it, smoking bad for you?
19:23 How many people smoke?
19:24 What does it take for you to stop?
19:26 I mean, it's like a habit, you know.
19:28 And how long does it take you to break a bad habit?
19:31 You know, you need to be aware of what it's gonna be.
19:35 And you have to be motivated.
19:37 You have to be motivated to change that.
19:39 You know, is it gonna take a heart attack?
19:42 Is it gonna take you getting a disease to say,
19:43 "You know what,
19:45 I'm gonna have to back up off of this"?
19:46 But I guess when I was younger,
19:49 my mother used to say a thing to me
19:51 that really I didn't understand at then,
19:52 but I understand it now.
19:53 And she used to say,
19:55 "It's better to stay out than have to get out."
19:57 And, you know, why I have to go and deal with this when really,
20:02 if I just do certain things now,
20:04 I don't have to deal with them at all.
20:07 And so if younger people, and even adults,
20:12 if we can get the message right
20:13 and get it and get people to understand
20:16 that if I apply this, this is gonna work for me.
20:18 One of the things...
20:20 Well, I was just gonna say, one of things in our last,
20:21 one of our other shows,
20:23 we talked about just kind of how sex,
20:26 the topic of sex is taboo within the faith community.
20:29 I think we all know that.
20:30 What are some things though that churches,
20:34 people in the faith community can do to help as we,
20:39 you know, it's health department,
20:41 other individuals in creating awareness and just kind of,
20:44 you know, really providing
20:46 some type of positive impact on this whole issue?
20:49 Well, it's so interesting
20:51 because, you know,
20:52 some people can't even say the word sex.
20:54 I mean, we all got here because somebody had sex.
20:57 But, you know, you really need to have somebody in a church
21:01 who is comfortable...
21:03 Talking about it.
21:04 Just talking about it, approaching it, and say,
21:06 "Okay, I'm just gonna be your sex person."
21:09 You know, you would think that it's a part of life,
21:12 it's who we are,
21:14 you know, it doesn't have to be a bad thing.
21:16 But you know, you've got to have some people there
21:19 who are comfortable,
21:21 who are interested
21:23 and making sure people have the right message,
21:27 you know, behind it.
21:28 With the right decisions. Right.
21:29 And so, you know, it may take some training,
21:33 it may, you know, and you want
21:34 to bring other people in of course
21:36 because if that's something
21:37 that you truly want to develop in your ministries,
21:40 then, you know, that's just where you have to go.
21:42 You know, I wanted to ask...
21:45 I think there's another parallel epidemic
21:47 as it were in the African-American community,
21:50 that's children out of wedlock.
21:52 And I'm wondering,
21:53 with some of the diseases and things,
21:55 do those outside of,
21:57 maybe we would say the obvious HIV,
21:58 do those effect?
22:00 Can those be passed down to the children?
22:03 Can the children come in, like I said, maybe besides HIV,
22:06 I think some people already have,
22:07 we kind of know that."
22:09 How does that,
22:10 and if there are some of those specifically
22:12 that you could share with us?
22:13 Oh, most definitely.
22:16 What mom is carrying can be passed on to the baby.
22:19 Not necessarily in utero
22:21 while there are diseases like
22:22 syphilis can be passed to the baby,
22:25 while she's carrying it.
22:26 But other diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea,
22:29 the baby can be exposed to that in the birth canal, herpes.
22:33 And so can the baby be treated for?
22:35 Yes.
22:37 Is mom getting prenatal care
22:39 where she can even be tested for these diseases?
22:41 You know, that's another thing.
22:43 But Alabama actually ranks in the top 10
22:48 for those diseases syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia.
22:52 You know, we reported several cases
22:55 of congenital syphilis last year
22:57 which one case is not good.
23:00 But we are in the top 10 for congenital syphilis.
23:05 Congenital syphilis can be deadly,
23:07 while syphilis is curable.
23:10 You know, you don't want babies to have to deal
23:13 with the complications from any of those diseases.
23:15 So if someone who is sexually active,
23:18 maybe they're not having any symptoms,
23:19 what would you say?
23:21 You know, two scenarios.
23:22 Let's say someone does have symptoms,
23:23 what do we do?
23:25 What do we tell them?
23:26 And let's say someone has had unprotected sex,
23:28 you know, or is sexually active,
23:29 what then is our counsel to them
23:30 when it comes to STDs and protection
23:32 and that type of thing?
23:33 Well, of course, if they're having symptoms,
23:34 they definitely want to be seen by medical professional,
23:38 get help because you don't want them
23:39 to actually develop complications from that.
23:42 And so, you know, our health department is here,
23:46 we have a free clinic, the visits are free,
23:50 the medication is free that we have there.
23:53 Dana, real quick with that, can you maybe describe
23:55 with that environment's kind of like,
23:56 because I know some people
23:58 don't like to get checked out because they're kind of afraid,
24:00 they don't know what it is they're walking into,
24:02 there gonna be all these eyes on them,
24:03 and everyone's gonna know
24:04 'cause there might be someone
24:06 who needs to do a test sitting right now.
24:07 Yeah, and for the most part,
24:11 you know, I guess most people would feel that way,
24:12 especially if you know something's
24:14 going on with yourself.
24:15 But it's not gonna go away, you know...
24:18 Even if you ignore it.
24:20 If you ignore it, it's not gonna go away.
24:22 It's not going anywhere.
24:23 And so that's a situation
24:26 that you definitely have to take care of.
24:30 Our clinic is a confidential clinic.
24:32 You know, other people can't call there
24:34 and get information about your visit.
24:36 Your mother can't call
24:37 and get information about your visit.
24:40 You know, we test for syphilis,
24:41 gonorrhea, HIV, chlamydia.
24:47 You know, anything shows at that time,
24:50 they'll give you the necessary medication
24:52 that you need.
24:54 Of course, if something does,
24:55 if the lab result comes back positive,
24:57 we'll notify you to come back
24:59 and get any medications that you will need.
25:02 But it's just important to make sure
25:03 that you follow up on that screenings.
25:06 Screenings are important.
25:07 If you're sexually active,
25:09 and you're not having any problems,
25:10 you feel fine, doesn't mean that everything's okay.
25:14 Screenings are important because what a screening does,
25:17 it detects disease
25:19 that you wouldn't even think are there.
25:21 Basically, a woman goes in for her annual pap smear
25:27 which is cancer detection.
25:29 But then the physician decides, okay,
25:30 I'm going to run this panel of STDs as well.
25:33 She's not having any symptoms form so you would think,
25:35 "Well, why would he test me?"
25:37 You know, "I'm a young lady.
25:38 And may be I'm between the age of 15 and 25.
25:42 And I'm in that targeted population
25:44 where STDs are prevalent.
25:46 So I'm just gonna screen it anyway.
25:47 Or lo and behold,
25:49 she comes back positive for chlamydia,
25:51 but she never knew it.
25:52 So she was screened which is a good thing.
25:56 And I think maybe more physicians should get
25:58 in that practice of screening individuals.
26:01 Now females more so than males
26:03 because males don't go to the doctor
26:04 like most females.
26:05 Right.
26:07 On the 15 to 24, 25,
26:10 let's say I'm 16.
26:13 Yeah, I'm having some discomfort.
26:15 But I'm definitely not going to Mom or Dad.
26:19 Can I get checked out
26:21 or can I get the medical attention
26:23 I need without Mom and Dad taking me there?
26:25 You can.
26:27 In the state of Alabama, and I don't know
26:28 what the law is in the other states,
26:30 but in the state of Alabama,
26:32 you can be 12 years old
26:34 and come without parental consent.
26:36 Most people don't like that,
26:37 but that's the way it is in our clinic.
26:40 So, you know, this is a real topic, you know.
26:43 And, you know, I thank you for coming and sharing.
26:45 We're running out of time.
26:46 Our whole purpose for this topic
26:48 is to really just inform our audience
26:49 that this is real.
26:51 You know, please do not think that it won't affect you.
26:54 If you are making decisions to live a sexually active life,
26:57 this is real stuff that you have to deal with.
26:59 And we encourage you to protect yourself.
27:01 But here and again you must remember
27:03 that a condom or contraceptives,
27:05 it won't protect your heart, it won't protect your spirit.
27:08 And God has so much more in store for you.
27:10 And so we here at Pure Choices,
27:11 we are very intentional about making sure
27:13 that we promote abstinence.
27:16 Abstinence is the best way
27:18 that we can live pure lives in Christ.
27:21 Are there any last thoughts or comments real quick?
27:25 You know, I think you really hit it,
27:27 just reminding everyone that purity
27:29 is not the absence of something,
27:30 it's the presence of someone.
27:32 And while these things are gonna be struggles,
27:34 very struggle you know to get
27:35 through to maintain the abstinence
27:37 just because you're not having sex,
27:39 our idea is please be pure.
27:40 Pure in God with your thoughts,
27:42 your words, your actions, everything.
27:43 We just want you to be pure in Christ.
27:44 If you have questions, please look us up on Facebook.
27:47 Go to Facebook, type in Pure Choices.
27:49 We would love to hear from you, we love to dialogue.
27:51 We thank you for joining us today,
27:52 come back next week.
27:54 Thank you for being here.
27:55 You know, we hope to see you next week.
27:57 Thank you so much.
27:59 Right. That's it.


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Revised 2018-01-18