Popularity does not come into it! Sorry Smokey,we have bee bombarded by sexual education and information on condom use for decades

Ake, you seem to have misunderstood me - my fault, I was a bit vague. I meant popularity for the Pope among western RC's who have become more than a bit disillusioned with the church heirarchy of late due to the recent scandals.

As for availability, education and encouragement, I was thinking about such places as Africa where the availability of condoms is lamentably low due to the word/influence of the church which is taken somewhat more literally than it generally is around here and the U.S.

Is it because the sex is between two or more males, without the steadying influence of the female, or the attachments formed by procreation, that the homosexual promiscuity rates are so high?

Or are homosexuals no more promiscuous than heteros, and there is some other factor which causes the high rates?

I've never noticed that homosexuals are any more promiscuous than anyone else, but it's true to say they are more inclined to sodomy than heterosexual couples, which I think is the surest sexual way of transmitting the disease. I suspect though, that needle sharing is probably being underestimated as a factor as it's impossible to gather meaningful statistics due to the illegality of the drugs. There is also the crossover between the hard drug culture and prostitution to consider. Much could be done to alleviate that factor, but it seems to be generally ignored, no doubt due to conflicting political agendas.

the steadying influence of the female

Hmm.. :-)