This is my post from last year on World AIDS day with a few changes.
This will be the 20th World AIDS day, come Dec 1 2007. It seems fitting
to deja vu a post on AIDS as more things seem to stay the same. As long
as we moralize the disease and monetize the cure and treatment, this
will never end. The only thing that might save us is if people of faith
start acting like their Gods, rather than playing them.
December
1st is World AIDS day. As a Gen X'er I have pretty much grown up under
the specter of this disease. No free love, or swinging, or love the one
your with (or whoever keys you fish out of the bowl) for my peers and
myself. I remember hearing about AIDS for the first time as "GRID." Dan
Rather looked somber and they had one of the medical charts that shows
a heart rate. The tie in on that was always a bit hazy for me, since
the end all, be all, do all result of this disease seemed to be NO
heart beat. I remember the gay bashing and the bigotry that came with
it. I remember the hysteria over things like drinking fountains.
I
remember Ryan White, I remember Rock Hudson, I remember Bobby Campbell.
I remember the sick feeling I had watching people protesting with signs
saying they were "dying of red tape." I remember being very proud of
the people in Act Up for the Wall Street demonstrations. I remember a
rather unpleasant dinner conversation with an uncle who worked for
Burroughs Welcome.
And I remember the faces of the people I took care of who were dying of AIDS.
From
1989-1991 I worked in an inner city hospital on the medical floor as a
CNA. The hospital was located in a trendy area popular with Gen X'ers,
artists, young families with children looking for a more urban
lifestyle, and the gay and lesbian community. It also had a large
housebound geriatric population and a growing homeless population. I
was 20 when I started working there. You could say it had a profound
affect on me.
In 17 months, I saw faces from each of these
groups die of AIDS. The drag queens, the artists, the elderly, and the
children were all represented. I remember the grandmother who beat
cancer but died a year later at 83 from the blood transfusions she
received. I remember the street people who died. At times, we didn't
even know their real names. I remember the hemophiliac kids who were
still fighting the disease when I left. I remember the street kids -
teenagers- and their combative attitudes when given their diagnosis. It
seemed impossible to them that they were 16 and would probably die
before they reached legal drinking age. Can you blame them?
I
remember Tony, who's family would have nothing to do with him. In their
minds, AIDS was gods punishments for gays. Tony was a sweetheart. He
was a stylist. His last words to me were some heartfelt advice on my
hair and it's complete lack of style. Had he been able to give me the
"do" he had in mind, I am sure I would have conquered the world. We
were the same age. He was 22 when he died. **Update - Kidlet just found
me a picture of his quilt in the Names Project online. It has been
nearly 20 years since he died and not enough has changed. But the
numbers keep going up, and the tears keep falling, don't they?
I
remember Ollie and his love of Haagen Daz blueberry and cream swirl ice
cream. I remember his love of papaya. I remember nearly falling over
when he came back to visit us before his final relapse. He was back
from Hawaii with papayas in hand. He was gorgeous. The last time I saw
him he weighed a bit over 90 pounds while standing over 6 feet tall. I
could carry him like I did my daughter. When she was two.
I
remember Robert and the amazing bead work he did despite the fact that
AIDS left him blind. He made the most intricate Indian moccasins. I
remember walking in the AIDS walk the year he died. It was dedicated to
his memory.
Most of all I remember Neal. And his cigarettes and
how he nearly burned his bed down trying to smoke one. I remember the
bags of Hershey's kisses he'd have his SO bring me every time I was
scheduled to work. I remember his love of clear high heel pumps with
the goldfish in the heels. That man could make me laugh like no one
else. I miss you, Neal.
I remember the 20+ funerals I attended.
I remember holding the hands of men with no families present. I
remember both comforting and being comforted by life partners when
death finally came. I remember the kind woman who was volunteering at
the Names Project who was there with a hug and a box of tissues when I
found the quilts of three of my patients and burst into tears looking
at the ordinary reminders of lives that were gone and people who were
no more.
I remember when the AIDS death total finally exceeded that of the Vietnam War. Over 58,000 dead from the virus. That was then.
Today,
AIDS has killed over 25 million people and there are over 33 million
living with it. In developing nations people are dying for lack of
medicines that cost less than the average candy bar. TWIX or death?
Our
politicians are only as good as we make them be. Hold them accountable.
If enough people stand up and demand they do something about AIDS and
all the stupid poverty related deaths that could be avoided, they will.
Remind them that it's not about charity, it's about justice.
The
changes we need may not happen tomorrow, or next month, or next year.
But if we keep making noise, they will happen, and maybe today's kids
will not have to live in a world where a child dies every three seconds
from AIDS and poverty. Make noise for these people. Make noise for my
kid and her friends. Make noise for your kids or the children in your
family.
Please visit One.org and sign the declaration.
HIV: Key Facts and Dates
1981 First documented case of AIDS (then referred to as GRID)
1982 AIDS first used as a term and is detected on five continents
1985 Rock Hudson first public figure to be known to have died of AIDS
1986 Needle exchanges first piloted in the UK
1987 Don’t Die of Ignorance campaign
1987 Photographs of Princess Diana holding the hand of an AIDS patient broadcast around the world
1987 First form of anti-retro viral treatment available (AZT) in the US
1987 National AIDS Trust founded
1987 First successful form of HIV ‘anti-body’ tests widely available in the UK
1988 First World AIDS Day held
1989 First HIV awareness materials targeted at gay men produced by Health Education Authority
1990 Mark Fowler diagnosed HIV positive on Eastenders
1991 Half of the 500,000 people living with HIV in the West had died
1991 Freddie Mercury died
1991 Red ribbon becomes the international symbol of HIV
1991 Princess Diana becomes patron of the National AIDS Trust
1991 Number of people infected with HIV worldwide reaches 10 million
1995 The film Philadelphia screened
1995 First combination therapy treatment available in the US dramatically improving the life chances of people living with HIV
1996 UNAIDS established
1999 90% of all people living with HIV are in the developing world
2001
Pharmaceutical companies abandon court case against South Africa’s
Treatment Access Campaign, allowing generic production of
anti-retrovirals for the first time
2002 Global Fund to fight AIDS,
TB and Malaria set up to increase funding to fight the world’s biggest
killer diseases. As of 2007 Only 28% of people with AIDS in developing
countries are getting the medicines they need
Today 33.2 million people with AIDS worldwide. 25 million have died. There are 12 million AIDS orphans.
After 20 months, (RED) Products have funnelled over 50 million dollars into the Global Fund. Shop Smart. Shop RED Smart.
by Starrlight via Here Comes A Storm
--We Missed December 1 World Aids Day and are as guilty as many American's who have filed away AID's as last Centuries minor setback, no longer on our radar. Thanks to Starrlight and her Here Comes a Storm blog for this.-- Grateful Web Editors
Needless to say I was worried as hell when Texas barrelled into its teeming Polygamist Youth compound in April and shut down one of the most productive reproductive cells America had to replenish our Military at this critical time.
Barney Moran
Barney Moran
Barney Moran
Barney Moran
Barney Moran
