YOUNGER AMERICANS ACCEPT FULL HUMANITY OF GAYS

Familiarity breeds ... acceptance. That's why the battle for full equality for gays and lesbians is already won, no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court decides.

A generation of young Americans has grown up with openly gay friends, neighbors and family members, teachers, preachers and entertainment idols. They know them in all their humanity: as responsible parents, as respectable business owners, as conscientious churchgoers, as liars, as cheaters, as drunks. For voters under 35, gay and lesbian Americans are no strange breed apart; they are simply people, just like heterosexuals.

As a college teacher, I've observed that casual affirmation of the full humanity of gays and lesbians. Even on a university campus in the Deep South, where many students hail from Republican families and hew to conservative religious beliefs, homosexual students are generally accepted as peers.

Among the cohort called "millennials" by the respected Pew Research Center -- those are adults born since 1980 -- support for same-sex marriage is at 70 percent. The same percentage of millennials believes gays and lesbians can be good parents, according to Pew. Even younger conservative Christians are less resistant to gay marriage than their parents and grandparents, polls show -- with just 44 percent of them opposing those unions.

(Familiarity has also helped to change the views of some older Americans. Note the conversion of Ohio's Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who now supports gay marriage. Portman recently announced that he had shifted from the opposing view after learning that his son, Will, is gay.)

As an adult who grew up when gays and lesbians were still shunned and shamed, I'll admit to having been pleasantly surprised by the views of some of my students. One -- a young woman who described herself as conservative -- told me she is not troubled by the notion of gay marriage because "it doesn't have anything to do with me."

That principle ought to be a bedrock of conservative/libertarian philosophy, the underpinning of its suspicion of an intrusive government. But that's not the way many older conservatives see it. They have fused their religious views with their political ideology, resulting in a curious and confusing philosophy that supports government intervention in the lives of people whose values they disagree with.

In service of their muddled philosophy, they've put forth a number of arguments against gay marriage -- including the strange contention that it would undermine heterosexual marriage. There is no rational evidence anywhere to support that. Nor have I ever heard a divorced heterosexual couple argue that their marriage collapsed because the gay couple down the street got hitched.

Equally ridiculous is the notion -- actually put before the Supreme Court last week by Charles Cooper, who defended California's initiative banning same-sex unions -- that the traditional institution cannot be changed because it was designed to enforce societal norms around procreation. In other words, marriage is for those who plan on having babies. As Justice Elena Kagan pointed out, laughing, that idea would preclude marriage between men and women in late middle age.

Somewhere in those separate but connected ideas -- each is a "pro-family" defense of traditional marriage -- are clues to some of the anxiety eating at opponents of same-sex unions: They are deeply worried over the decline of marriage as an institution. That fear has led them to seek someone or something to blame.

But younger adults don't share that anxiety, either. They know that traditional marriage is already in decline. For the first time, according to the U.S. Census, heterosexual married couples do not constitute a majority of households. Instead, there are multiple other arrangements: single-parent families, never-marrieds living alone, couples living together without the bonds of matrimony, roommates without romantic connections.

There are many reasons for those changes, but gay romances had nothing to do with them. Indeed, one argument for allowing same-sex marriage is to shore up the institution, which is due for some modernizing. Young Americans seem more than willing to give that a shot.

(Cynthia Tucker, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a visiting professor at the University of Georgia. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.)

7,000 Patients Possibly Exposed to HIV

Free Testing for Patients of Accused Oklahoma Dentist (ABC News)

An Oklahoma dentist accused of exposing thousands of patients toHIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C may face criminal charges for his actions, Susan Rogers, president of Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, told ABCNews.com.

"The basic things that everyone knows -- follow CDC guidelines, use clean syringes, don't reuse multi-dose vials in multiple patients, don't use rusted equipment -- those are things even non-physicians know," Rogers said. "Those are basic things. That part makes it egregious."

On Friday the Tulsa Health Department sent 7,000 warning letters to the patients of Dr. Wayne Scott Harrington, an oral surgeon with practices in Tulsa and Owasso, informing them of an investigation into Harrington's practice and advising them to get tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Rogers said investigations by the state dental board, the state health department, the state bureau of narcotics and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency are just getting underway. Although she has not yet submitted documents to the Tulsa District Attorney, she has alerted him about the situation.

The dentist's alleged practices came to light after a patient tested positive for HIV and hepatitis C, and had no known risk factors. State health officials traced the infections to the dentist.

Upon hearing of the infected patient on March 15, the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry conducted a surprise inspection of Harrington's practice on March 18, allegedly finding numerous problems, including regular use of a rusty set of instruments on patients with known infections, and the practice of pouring bleach on wounds until they "turned white." They also discovered that Harrington employed dental assistants who weren't licensed.

"Practicing dentistry without a license is a felony," she said. "When we found out the things that they said, the fact that the assistants were giving IV anesthesia, that part is absolutely unacceptable and illegal, and my board frowns on that."

Since news of the investigation broke yesterday, Rogers said she has received several other calls from former patients alleging that the dental assistants performed other dental procedures, as well.

Calls last night to Harrington's office were directed to an operator, who told ABC News the clinic no longer took voicemails. The operator said patients were being referred to another clinic, but did not disclose the clinic's name.

Harrington voluntarily surrendered his state dental license and other permits, and a formal hearing before the dentistry board is scheduled for April 19.

Rogers called the incident a "perfect storm." On top of his many violations in sanitary practice, the dentist was a Medicaid provider, which means he had a high proportion of patients with HIV orhepatitis, she said.

Harrington and his staff told investigators that he treated a "high population of known infectious disease carrier patients," according to a 17-count complaint filed by the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry. Drug cabinets were unlocked and unsupervised during the day, and Harrington did not keep an inventory log of drugs, some of which were controlled substances, according to the complaint. One drug vial expired in 1993.

"During the inspections, Dr. Harrington referred to his staff regarding all sterilization and drug procedures in his office," the complaint read. "He advised, 'They take care of that. I don't.'"

Harrington allegedly re-used needles, contaminating drugs with potentially harmful bacteria and trace amounts of other drugs, according to the complaint. Although patient-specific drug records indicated that they were using morphine in 2012, no morphine had been ordered since 2009.

The instruments for infected patients were given an extra dip in bleach in addition to normal cleaning methods, but they had red-brown rust spots, indicating that they were "porous and cannot be properly sterilized," according to the complaint.

While 7,000 patients may have been exposed, Joseph Perz, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said it's "extremely rare" to see dental transmission of HIV and hepatitis B or C. In July 2012, 8,000 Coloradans were notified that their dentist had reused needles, potentially exposing them to the blood-borne viruses. But not a single case was identified, according to the CDC.

Dental transmission is not impossible, however. Perz cited a dental fair three years ago in which hepatitis B was transmitted between patients.

In July 2012, more than 1,800 veterans who received dental care at a St. Louis VA Medical Center were warned that improper cleaning of dental tools may have exposed them to HIV and hepatitis.

The Tulsa Health Department has set up a hotline at (918) 595-4500 for people with questions. The department will set up a free clinic to test patients on April 1.

ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser and Katie Moisse contributed to this story.

NKorea says it is in a 'state of war' with SKorea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea warned Seoul on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula had entered "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

Analysts say a full-scale conflict is extremely unlikely, noting that the Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war for 60 years. But the North's continued threats toward Seoul and Washington, including a vow to launch a nuclear strike, have raised worries that a misjudgment between the sides could lead to a clash.

North Korea's threats are seen as efforts to provoke the new government in Seoul, led by President Park Geun-hye, to change its policies toward Pyongyang, and to win diplomatic talks with Washington that could get it more aid. North Korea's moves are also seen as ways to build domestic unity as young leader Kim Jong Un strengthens his military credentials.

On Thursday, U.S. military officials revealed that two B-2 stealth bombers dropped dummy munitions on an uninhabited South Korean island as part of annual defense drills that Pyongyang sees as rehearsals for invasion. Hours later, Kim ordered his generals to put rockets on standby and threatened to strike American targets if provoked.

North Korea said in a statement Saturday that it would deal with South Korea according to "wartime regulations" and would retaliate against any provocations by the United States and South Korea without notice.

"Now that the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have entered into an actual military action, the inter-Korean relations have naturally entered the state of war," said the statement, which was carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Provocations "will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war," the statement said.

Hours after the statement, Pyongyang threatened to shut down the jointly run Kaesong industrial park, expressing anger over media reports suggesting the complex remained open because it was a source of hard currency for the impoverished North.

"If the puppet group seeks to tarnish the image of the DPRK even a bit, while speaking of the zone whose operation has been barely maintained, we will shut down the zone without mercy," an identified spokesman for the North's office controlling Kaesong said in comments carried by KCNA.

South Korea's Unification Ministry responded by calling the North Korean threat "unhelpful" to the countries' already frayed relations and vowed to ensure the safety of hundreds of South Korean managers who cross the border to their jobs in Kaesong. It did not elaborate.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said the country's military remains mindful of the possibility that increasing North Korean drills near the border could lead to an actual provocation.

"The series of North Korean threats — announcing all-out war, scrapping the cease-fire agreement and the non-aggression agreement between the South and the North, cutting the military hotline, entering into combat posture No. 1 and entering a 'state of war' — are unacceptable and harm the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula," Kim said.

"We are maintaining full military readiness in order to protect our people's lives and security," he told reporters Saturday.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Naval skirmishes in the disputed waters off the Korean coast have led to bloody battles several times over the years.

But on the streets of Seoul on Saturday, South Koreans said they were not worried about an attack from North Korea.

"From other countries' point of view, it may seem like an extremely urgent situation," said Kang Tae-hwan, a private tutor. "But South Koreans don't seem to be that nervous because we've heard these threats from the North before."

The Kaesong industrial park, which is run with North Korean labor and South Korean know-how, has been operating normally, despite Pyongyang shutting down a communications channel typically used to coordinate travel by South Korean workers to and from the park just across the border in North Korea. The rivals are now coordinating the travel indirectly, through an office at Kaesong that has outside lines to South Korea.

North Korea has previously made such threats about Kaesong without acting on them, and recent weeks have seen a torrent of bellicose rhetoric from Pyongyang. North Korea is angry about the South Korea-U.S. military drills and new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear test last month.

Dozens of South Korean firms run factories in the border town of Kaesong. Using North Korea's cheap, efficient labor, the Kaesong complex produced $470 million worth of goods last year.

___

NKorean propaganda mill serves up soft side of Kim

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The outside world focuses on the messages of doom and gloom from North Korea: bombastic threats of nuclear war, fantasy videos of U.S. cities in flames, digitally altered photos of leader Kim Jong Un guiding military drills. But back home, North Koreans get a decidedly softer dose ofpropaganda: Kim portrayed as a young, energetic leader, a people person and family man.

Mixed in with the images showing Kim aboard a speeding boat on a tour of front-line islands, or handing out commemorative rifles to smartly saluting soldiers, are those of Kim and his wife clapping at a dolphin show or linking arms with weeping North Korean children.

The pictures can look odd or obviously staged to outsiders. But they're carefully crafted propaganda meant to give North Koreans an image of a country governed by a leader who is as comfortable overseeing a powerful military as he is mingling with the people.

Analysts say the images also hint at something that often gets lost amid the threatening rhetoric: North Korea's supreme commander isn't an all-powerful, isolated monarch who can govern without considering his people's approval. Kim is still busy building his reputation at home.

"Even dictatorships respond to public opinion and public pressure," said John Delury, a North Korea analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University. "He's expected to pay attention to and make improvements in the common people's standard of living. They've put that promise out in their domestic propaganda."

It's a tall order. Living standards in Pyongyang, the capital, are relatively high, with new shops and restaurants catering to a growing middle class. But U.N. officials' reports detail harsh conditions elsewhere in North Korea: up to 200,000 people estimated to be languishing in political prison camps, and two-thirds of the country's 24 million people facing regular food shortages.

When it comes to North Korean propaganda, much of the world focuses on the series of outlandish videos uploaded to the country's YouTube channel and government website, largely for foreign consumption. In one fantasy, missiles rain down on a burning American city while an instrumental version of "We Are the World" plays in the background. In another, President Barack Obama and U.S. troops burn.

But what most North Koreans see on state TV is a different propaganda message: Kim Jong Un bending down to receive flowers from children, Kim visiting families living in rustic homes on front-line islands, Kim mobbed by gushing female soldiers.

As with any propaganda or PR, the images are carefully staged. And many make foreign news headlines only when experts and photo editors discover that North Korea is digitally altering them. For instance, in a picture distributed recently by state media, troops and hovercraft land on a barren, snow-dappled beach. Experts say some of the multiple hovercraft have been copied and pasted into the image.

But North Korea's propaganda makers aren't concerned about the criticism abroad to their heavy-handed photo editing. "These efforts are aimed more at an unsophisticated domestic peasant audience than those of us who are more discerning," said Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Hawaii.

The caring domestic persona being built for Kim by his image specialists is aided by his wife, Ri Sol Ju.

She is young and glamorous, a chic and smiling presence at his side in many of the country's propaganda images. The couple is often photographed at amusement parks, nurseries, factory tours and concerts.

"It's a more complex kind of image he has as a leader," Delury said. "The basis of his legitimacy domestically has to do with these other, non-military things."

The propaganda machine in North Korea also worked to build up a caring image for Kim's father, the late Kim Jong Il. He doggedly appeared at tours of factories, farms and military posts. But while Kim Jong Un puts his wife front and center and is a relaxed presence on camera, his father was stiff in photos and secretive about his family life.

North Korea takes pains to select and sometimes alter photos so its leaders appear in the best light possible, said Seo Jeong-nam, a North Korean propaganda expert at Keimyung University in South Korea.

For example, past propaganda specialists were careful not to pick photos that showed the large lump on the back of the neck of Kim's grandfather, North Korean President Kim Il Sung, Seo said. When Kim Jong Il was alive, North Korean photographers tried to make him look taller in photos than he actually was, often positioning him slightly in front of others, Seo said.

As for Kim Jong Un, Seo said North Korea's propaganda mill chooses photos that show off his strong resemblance to his grandfather, who still is depicted on state TV as the loving father of the nation, surrounded by children and adoring citizens.

___

U.S. B-2 bombers sent to Korea on rare mission: diplomacy not destruction

By Warren Strobel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The stealthy, nuclear-capable U.S. B-2 bomber is a veteran of wars in Iraq and Libya, but it isn't usually a tool of Washington's statecraft.

Yet on Thursday, the United States sent a pair of the bat-winged planes on a first-of-its-kind practice run over the skies of South Korea, conducting what U.S. officials say was a diplomatic sortie.

The aim, the officials said, was two-fold: to reassure U.S. allies South Korea and Japan in the face of a string of threats from North Korea, and to nudge Pyongyang back to nuclear talks.

But whether North Korea's young new leader, Kim Jong-un, interprets the message the way the White House hopes is anybody's guess. His first reaction, according to North Korean state media, was to order his country's missiles ready to strike the United States and South Korea.

A senior U.S. official said Kim's late father, Kim Jong-il, was at least more predictable: He would issue threats that got the world's attention without provoking open conflict, and then use them as leverage in subsequent diplomatic negotiations.

This time, U.S. intelligence analysts are divided over whether Kim Jong-un is pursuing the same strategy. "It's a little bit of an 'all bets are off' kind of moment," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,.

The official said the idea for the practice bombing run, part of annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises named Foal Eagle, emerged from government-wide discussions over how to signal to Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would back them in a crisis.

It is less clear whether Washington informed China, North Korea's neighbor and only major ally, in advance.

The plan was approved by the White House and coordinated with South Korea and Japan, the official said.

REASSURING ALLIES

While the 20-year-old B-2 often flies for long durations - 44 hours is the record - Thursday's flight of approximately 37-1/2 hours was the plane's first non-stop mission to the Korean peninsula and back from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, Air Force officials said.

With Pyongyang threatening missile strikes on the U.S. mainland, as well as U.S. bases in Hawaii and Guam, the flight seemed designed to demonstrate how easy it would be for the United States to strike back at North Korea.

It is far from clear that Pyongyang, which has had mixed success in its missile tests, can make good on its own threats.

"This is useful reminder to the South Koreans that the U.S. nuclear arm can reach out and touch North Korea from anywhere. We don't need to be sitting there at Osan Air Base," south of Seoul, said Ralph Cossa, president of the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum CSIS think tank.

"This also reminds the Chinese that North Korean actions have consequences. It tells them that the U.S. is taking North Korean threats seriously but we're not panicking," he added.

The senior U.S. official said that once the Foal Eagle exercises are concluded, the Obama administration hopes to pivot to a diplomatic approach to North Korea, and hopes Pyongyang will reciprocate.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to travel to East Asia in about two weeks, the first of a parade of senior Washington officials headed toward the region.

45-MINUTE NAPS

Thursday's drill was a rare moment in the limelight for the B-2 "Spirit" bomber, which began life with a slew of cost and development troubles for manufacturer Northrop Grumman Corp but has become a mainstay of U.S. nuclear deterrence.

Long-duration missions, in which the bomber is refueled in midair, are "a challenge on your body and mind, staying sharp," said an Air Force captain and B-2 pilot. Under the service's security rules, the pilot could only be identified by his radio call sign, "Flash."

The captain, who did not participate in Thursday's practice mission over South Korea, said flight doctors have devised special regimens to keep the plane's two-man crew sharp.

They include 45-minute naps, on a cot in the back of the plane, that end a half hour before "critical events" such as in-air refueling or dropping ordnance, he said.

All 20 of the United States' B-2 bombers are based at Whiteman, and they saw combat during the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the NATO mission that led to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow.

In the 1980s, the Pentagon had planned to buy 132 of the bombers, whose main mission was to penetrate the Soviet Union's airspace undetected. The program was drastically cut back after the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989.

So elite is the B-2 pilot corps that more people have been in outer space than have flown the aircraft, "Flash" said.

(Reporting by Warren Strobel; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Paul Eckert; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Eric Beech)