Really? We're done?
AIDS and I are the same age. There's nothing to drive home this point like sitting through two and a half days worth of health sessions at a giant national queer conference.
I realize that in many circles I'm still considered a young person. I still qualify for the "young adult" membership at the YMCA. I still get carded occasionally (and even more occasionally asked what grade I'm in). That said, twenty eight years seems old for a disease that has killed over half a million people in the US alone.
I grew up learning about HIV and AIDS from the mass media. I saw news stories on Ryan White and felt sad cause he wasn't that much older than me. I learned from watching Chad Lowe on Life Goes On that you couldn't get HIV from drinking or eating after someone. I felt all proud of Pedro from The Real World when he said he was a person living with HIV, not dying from it.
But something happened, and all these media images went away. I fully admit to being a somewhat sheltered upper middle class white girl. My peer group are the ones who haven't seen anyone get sick or die from AIDS. We're the kids who get blamed for the complacency around prevention, and I accept that. I was twenty six before I even personally knew someone with HIV. I don't doubt my friend will live to be old because HIV is treatable now, and he has health insurance.
When this issue of the management of HIV was brought up in the conference sessions I attended, the immediate response was that the disease is still a crisis and an epidemic and killing people disproportionately in communities of color. People are still dying, and we need to recognize that not everyone has access to health care.
What was never brought up, not once, was that there is still no cure for AIDS. Just like the TV shows stopped having AIDS storylines, everyone has stopped talking about finding a cure, and I don't understand why. In no way do I want to diminish the importance of prevention work and treatment, but it's been almost thirty years. Does it really take science that long? Do the researchers just not care any more? When did they stop caring? Working in the field of reproductive health, we like to talk about how much cheaper is it to provide a woman a safe abortion than to deal with the complications of an unsafe one. Is there more money for the pharmaceutical companies to sell a lifetime worth of drugs than a vaccine or a one pill cure?
I loved, loved, loved my big gay conference and found it informative and eye-opening. It was inspiring to be around so many queer activists and organizers working to challenge the way things are and make us all better people. I just fear that if curing AIDS isn't going to be brought up in that forum, it's not going to be brought up anywhere. Is anyone still interested in pushing this issue?
I realize that in many circles I'm still considered a young person. I still qualify for the "young adult" membership at the YMCA. I still get carded occasionally (and even more occasionally asked what grade I'm in). That said, twenty eight years seems old for a disease that has killed over half a million people in the US alone.
I grew up learning about HIV and AIDS from the mass media. I saw news stories on Ryan White and felt sad cause he wasn't that much older than me. I learned from watching Chad Lowe on Life Goes On that you couldn't get HIV from drinking or eating after someone. I felt all proud of Pedro from The Real World when he said he was a person living with HIV, not dying from it.
But something happened, and all these media images went away. I fully admit to being a somewhat sheltered upper middle class white girl. My peer group are the ones who haven't seen anyone get sick or die from AIDS. We're the kids who get blamed for the complacency around prevention, and I accept that. I was twenty six before I even personally knew someone with HIV. I don't doubt my friend will live to be old because HIV is treatable now, and he has health insurance.
When this issue of the management of HIV was brought up in the conference sessions I attended, the immediate response was that the disease is still a crisis and an epidemic and killing people disproportionately in communities of color. People are still dying, and we need to recognize that not everyone has access to health care.
What was never brought up, not once, was that there is still no cure for AIDS. Just like the TV shows stopped having AIDS storylines, everyone has stopped talking about finding a cure, and I don't understand why. In no way do I want to diminish the importance of prevention work and treatment, but it's been almost thirty years. Does it really take science that long? Do the researchers just not care any more? When did they stop caring? Working in the field of reproductive health, we like to talk about how much cheaper is it to provide a woman a safe abortion than to deal with the complications of an unsafe one. Is there more money for the pharmaceutical companies to sell a lifetime worth of drugs than a vaccine or a one pill cure?
I loved, loved, loved my big gay conference and found it informative and eye-opening. It was inspiring to be around so many queer activists and organizers working to challenge the way things are and make us all better people. I just fear that if curing AIDS isn't going to be brought up in that forum, it's not going to be brought up anywhere. Is anyone still interested in pushing this issue?