Comments Wanted: What Are We Going To Do About HIV?
Friday September 19, 2008
About a year ago, I interviewed a guy as part of a profile series on Gay Life. He shall remain nameless, but I'll never forget his comments. I asked what he thought about the theory that we as gay men have become apathetic about HIV. His response, "Is HIV still a problem?" I responded with a dumbfounded, "What?"
"My doctor told me that HIV is treated like a long-term illness now," he said. "So we really don't have to worry about it too much anymore."
I immediately glanced around the room, looking for the camera crew. Maybe I was on some kind of gay Punk'd. Could there really be people out there that think HIV is no longer an issue?
Fast forward to this summer and the CDC releases its first report on HIV statistics and new HIV cases. The report shows that the number of new infections in black gay and bisexual men 13 to 29 years old is roughly twice that of white or Hispanic gay men in the same age group. The 2006 figures also show that among Hispanic men who have sex with other men, most new infections are occurring in the 13-29 age group. And overall, white gay men account for almost half the number of new HIV cases with most of them among white men 30 to 39 years old, followed by the 40-49 age group. The total number of new infections in 2006? 56,300. Sounds like an issue to me.
Few realize that the FDA uses these statistics to justify their ban on gay blood, semen and vital organ donors. So, HIV not only continues to plague our general health, oversight committees use these virus statistics to strip our rights.
Still yet, the feds have yet to put their money where their mouth is. According to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States requires more than double what is currently being spent on HIV prevention.
HIV/AIDS is over 25 years old. What can we as a queer people do to help prevent further spread of HIV? What can we do to stop the impact of HIV on our communities? I want to hear your comments.
Get the Facts:
What Do The Numbers Say?
The Impact of AIDS on Men of Color
HIV/AIDS Quick Facts
Did HIV Originate From Gay Men?
Getting Tested:
Reasons To Get An HIV Test
Image © Ramzi Hashisho.
Comments
The problem lies in what that fellow you were interviewing said. That HIV is basically no longer an immediate death threat like it used to be. People live an almost normal life span with all the new HIV drugs we have. What they do not tell you is the reality of your quality of life being HIV positive. They do not tell you about the early-onset osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, neuropathy and so many more side-effect issues that make living with this disease an intense struggle just to get through the day. I have a friend with HIV who lives a life of constant pain and chronic fatigue, struggling to keep working so he can keep the health insurance he needs to pay for the HIV medication that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars per month. What we need is more people living with the disease to come forward and speak up about it, to put it back in the face of our community as an unwanted and disastrous result of unsafe sex practices. Now that our HIV positive friends are no longer dropping dead all over the place, we have gotten complacent in our fight against it. We have to recapture our community motivation to eliminate this dreadful disease. My friend described living with HIV is like “having the reaper sitting on your shoulder every moment of every day, never letting you forget that you are sick and dying.”
I wouldn’t be as astounded to hear someone question “is HIV as prevelent as it was when it first hit the country until it peeked in ‘92?” For an older gay man it would stand to reason that he’s probably out of the circles where HIV is not readily threatening. He probably figured that many people had learned the lessons from all those early cases of HIV that lead to certain death early on. And being that HIV in the gay community was at an all time low back in the early to mid nineties when transmission of HIV had been taken over by introvenous permiscuous drug users, one may find themselves (because of age) in a new demographic.
Myself, I am astounded to hear, and saddened, as I have seen the debilitating effects of HIV on people, that new cases of the disease threaten, and apparently there are increasing numbers of teenagers with the disease.
Causes in no particular order: (1) Lack of Personal Accountability; (2) Stigma; (3) Lack of Information; (4) Lack of mandatory HIV testing of all people on a regular basis; (5) Lack of Honesty/ Denial; (6) Indifference of the CDC.
Take it from me: if a guy will lie to the world about having sex with men, he will definitely lie to his sex partners about being HIV+.
I know several people right now who are out there spreading it and they won’t quit. The CDC isn’t as interested in those who won’t tell on themselves. I tried.
Unless someone takes these guys to court and make public spectacles of everyone’s sexual behaviors, more people will know what I know as an HIV+ person. Who is willing to do that? I tried and it cost me my job.
The stigma of this disease is a real mutha. But I really don’t blame people all that much except for the ones who knowingly are putting others at risk. It’s a complicated disease that requires more than one simple blurb to understand and fully comprehend. We’re all too busy chasing tail and chasing money to worry about learning anything much about HIV until we join the 50%-by-age-60 club.
You come out. You lose everything. All you have left is the gay life. You get infected. Are you going to risk losing that by coming out as a pos person, too?
Might as well. While we suffer, the quality of real friends afterwards can be much better than friendships centered around the revolving meat carousel. And then we die. Name your legacy; not the imagined one, the real one.
I think the problem is SOOOO much bigger than just ambivilance about HIV. So many gay men are raised being told that they are sinners and are going to Hell for being themselves that they develop a self-loathing. They are afraid to succeed and harbour a secret death-wish. They seek out HIV as a way to justify their victimization.
Making a public spectacle of someone who is HIV positive who chooses not to disclose his or her status is not the best solution. As this still brings on more fear, more stigma, more shame, and more guilt. Being an out gay black HIV positive performance artist and activist(sounds like a lot) it is my duty to bring awareness and education in my work by not adding to the fears and to help erase the stigma. We need to approach this matter from the lens of strength prevention and strength based work/messages. The issue is much deeper than HIV and the diagnosis. This disease was placed here as another way of oppressing the oppressed. HIV has disconnected us from honest connection. Connection with our families, friends, partners, etc. What I’m saying is this issue goes back to our families and what we choose to embrace and to not embrace. What we “choose” to oppress and what we “choose” to empower. And growing up in families of color, who have been oppressed, when tend shun our “weaker” counterparts…our “different” or “weird” family members. Yes, our punk brother or dyke sister. We need to deprogram our way of thinking and what we associate to be right and wrong and what makes a girl a girl and a boy a boy. I would also like to make a statement to the American government and our many charitable organizations jumping on this band wagon to help with the AIDS crisis in Africa. Yes, the African AIDS crisis is a commodity! There are other countries suffering. Like, ummm…The United States of America. We have a more serious problem right in our own country. Literally either in our homes or next door to us. Our people, of America, are still struggling with this pandemic. Take care of home first!
“Is HIV still a problem?” Yes, and that it is now treated as a long-term disease doesn’t change this an iota. Cancer is generally treated as a long-term disease. Does that mean that cancer is no longer a problem???
Safe/Monogamous sex!!
Its not that hard boys.
To me it comes close to meditating. ,