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Denial and Complacency Fuel AIDS Epidemic
"Our worst fears have become a tragic reality. AIDS drugs don't work for everyone and aren't a cure for anyone."
-Steve Fisher, AIDS Action Coalition
Disturbing : Recent revelations suggest that the impact of the powerful new AIDS
drugs in reducing death rates has begun to wane at the same time that efforts to block the
spread of the AIDS virus have reached a plateau. John Weatherhead, the Executive
Director of Center 1, the oldest and largest AIDS service agency in South
Florida, declared that his organization will respond to the challenge by emphasizing new
approaches to intervention. It is a necessary effort, as the agency celebrates its 15th
anniversary today.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced at a meeting in
Atlanta last month that the death rate from AIDS in the United States, which had dropped a
startling 42 percent from 1996 to 1997, fell only 20 percent from 1997 to 1998.
Steve
Fallon, the Education Director for Center 1, says that while this is a substantial
decline, it is also a worrisome indication that further declines may be harder to achieve.
Steve works daily at enhancing the community's awareness of AIDS , with programs
everywhere from gay bars to public schools.
Prevention is the best tool for curing the epidemic. But health experts,
such as CDC's Helene Gayle say: "We are battling with what is a very, very critical
crisis... with more people living with the disease, there is a chance that the disease
will rebound." Already we see infection rates soaring in some groups of gay males.
Further, a disproportionate number of new AIDS clients are Afro-American males. In fact,
death rates and the incidence of AIDS amongst black men is ten times higher than whites.
Blacks, who make up about 14 percent of the population, accounted for 49 percent of AIDS
deaths in 1998. Incredible.
Frightening : we develop a treatment that diminishes the urgency
of the crisis with new drug cocktails and then create a corresponding apathy which returns
sexual partners to risky behaviors. While many gay men enjoy a comfortable economic
position in society, the same cannot be said for those in prisons. The prevalence of AIDS
among prisoners in the United States is five times that of the general population. So
careless behavior by gay men invites a comparison to a class of citizens with whom most of
us certainly do not want an affiliation.
Shocking: Women, especially minority women, have an alarmingly
high incidence of AIDS. Said Steven Fisher, a spokesmen for AIDS Action, a national AIDS
policy and advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., :" Women often have different
priorities then gay men. They are taking care of children, the household, others, and
don't focus effectively on their own care." The gauntlet is thus being thrown towards
the lesbian community to do more.
Wake up ! Gay and bisexual men are continuing to engage in unprotected receptive anal sex,
the riskiest sexual practice for HIV transmission. We are not out of the woods yet, but
the way we behave it is hard to tell. It is going to take a lot more than passing out
condoms in gay bars to end this epidemic. A survey of 170 young gay men conducted by the
South Beach AIDS Project in Miami has found, astonishingly, that everyone interviewed had
admitted to having unsafe sex. FIU professor Bill Darrow had randomly interviewed men
between the ages of 18 and 29, and they are practicing an art which is going to 86 them
before they are 40.
Cover-ups: You know, there are still gay men in the closet about
being HIV positive. One study revealed that virtually 40% of sexual partners do not
disclose their HIV status to their partners. It's odd. We come out of one closet only to
hide in another. That is just stupid as well as unsafe. We are in denial already; we
cannot afford dishonesty as well.
Lying: You can't become a friend to others until you are a
friend to yourself. So stop lying and denying. When it comes to your sexual partners, do
ask, do tell. Be careful, be responsible, and be honest. It is selfish to do anything
else. Unless you are in the Army, honesty is still the best policy.
What else can you do?
Caring: I think it is important for you to see the faces of AIDS
patients. Help those who cannot help themselves. Volunteer in a hospital. Offer your
services as a counselor, driver, or teacher. Donate money. Help raise money if you
can't
donate it. Devote some time to a community function. Do the AIDS ride. People who bring
sunshine to the lives of others cannot help but bring it back to themselves. So reach out.
You will feel better about yourself while making life so much easier for another, at a
time when it matters most.
Volunteering: There is a nice piece in this month's Gay and
Lesbian Community Center newsletter on a generous volunteer, Norman McLean. Read it and
reach out, as he has. As a recovering cancer patient, I know how the outreach of another
can give you strength and hope. Be that hope.
Center 1 has been working at targeting the new faces of AIDS.
Minority hires, outreaches into the Hispanic community, posters in gay bars, forums in
community schools, a south county office in Hollywood, and educational initiatives, even
in our local prisons, have created a heightened community awareness. The Center's efforts
have been noble. Now the burden falls upon the rest of us. Not just Center 1, but
Poverello, Broward House, the Persons With Aids Coalition, and your neighborhood hospital
need volunteers.
See what you can do to further their outreach. You will be better for it. The faces of
AIDS are everywhere. Let's see if together we can't paint a new face for the new century,
one that is a picture of promise instead of pain; health instead of hurt. Let's bother to
make a difference.