World AIDS Day

[jeezifonly]

December 1st is World AIDS Day

Work still to be done, but it’s medical science that gives the context to this timeline:

Forty years…

And some of the people here knew some of the people HERE

Plenty of cause for Hope as the fight continues.

 

 

[+ Charlie]

I remember the first time I went to a showing of the quilt at an armory in NYC in the late 1980s. They had thoughtfully put boxes of Kleenex throughout the exhibit, and I needed them when I encountered the names of men I had known but didn't know that they had died. The quilt is much larger now. Thanks for posting this.

[+ Lucky]

I have noticed that just about every year someone posts about World Aids Day but few people even look at it. Here we have 53 views. I guess it is only the older posters who have an interest, having lived through this tragic time. But I would hope younger people would pay attention to it as well, as many lessons ca be learned.

Look at past threads and see how few replies the topic gets. Sad.

https://www.companyofmen.org/search/?q=World AIDS&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=79

Edited December 3, 2021 by Lucky

[Luv2play]

I think part of the problem may be that AIDs has largely disappeared in North America to people who are infected now living with HIV and under treatment for it which keeps AIDs at bay. It is still a problem in the third world where effective drugs are not as available as here. Somehow the conversation has not kept up with the situation which has changed from twenty years ago. 

[Luv2play]

So I just checked the stats and see that about 15,000 people with HIV die annually in the US but from any cause, not specifically from their infection with HIV. This could include old age or any number of other causes. 

This does not surprise me since just in my own experience here in Canada, one does not read or hear about people dying of AIDS so much any more, unlike during the height of the epidemic. 

I was in Toronto recently and went to the park in the Gay Village to see the memorial there and read the names of people I knew who died of AIDs back in the day. No new names have been added to the plaques for years now. The names were grouped by years and they started to peter out in the early 2000s as effective treatments were introduced.

[+ Charlie]

No one I knew was described as "dying of AIDS" after the mid-1990s; they all were longterm HIV+ survivors who died of something else, usually cancer, though their immune-compromised status may have contributed to their cause of death. Younger gay men today probably don't know anyone who "died of AIDS."

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

The problem isn't really AIDS.  It's opportunistic disease that feeds off a compromised immune system because of AIDS.

Even medicated daily, you have a higher likelihood of things like cancer.  It's unfortunate, but true.

This is why we need continued solid research and human trials from mRNA tech.  So far, it appears to have positive results.

Until there's a cure...

https://www.until.org/

 

 

[CheckCar]

I stopped having penetrative anal sex for 19 years because of my fear of HIV/AIDS. And even now, I use condoms in addition to being on PrEP; I still have my 80s- and 90s-based fear of bareback sex. Death rates may have declined in the US, but HIV/AIDS has all types of debilitating longterm effects—physical, mental, spiritual, political, sexual. 

[italianboyph]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:36 PM, Charlie said:

I remember the first time I went to a showing of the quilt at an armory in NYC in the late 1980s. They had thoughtfully put boxes of Kleenex throughout the exhibit, and I needed them when I encountered the names of men I had known but didn't know that they had died. The quilt is much larger now. Thanks for posting this.

That honestly made me tear up. I cannot even imagine what it would’ve been like back then, and to see friends  just die and ones you didn’t know died. Gay men dying left and right, an the government laughing without doing a single thing.

[+ Charlie]

1 hour ago, italianboyph said:

That honestly made me tear up. I cannot even imagine what it would’ve been like back then, and to see friends  just die and ones you didn’t know died. Gay men dying left and right, an the government laughing without doing a single thing.

The "government" wasn't laughing; they were actually trying pretty hard to figure out what was going on and how to deal with it. Fauci's work on AIDS research at the NIH in the 80s was what made him a public figure, and a lightning rod for criticism at the time, while Reagan refused to say anything about AIDS because he was afraid of being connected to it politically.

[italianboyph]

Yes, I’m referring to the Reagan  administration mainly, as they watched gay men just die. I’ve watched footage of press conferences and anytime they would ask what they were doing, his team and journalists did nothing but laugh. It’s sick. Everything Fauci did to help gay men with drugs was amazing, although a lot of people didn’t react well to AZT. 
 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by italianboyph

[Luv2play]

I remember that time vividly since I was starting to encounter friends and acquaintances coming down with AIDS. I also remember the Reagan Administration was very reluctant to come to terms with the problem or even acknowledge it existed.
 

That little clip above represents pretty well the failure of US policy in the early days caused by what I believe was a general homophobia, as shown by the press gallery at the White House and the president’s spokesman, Larry Speakes.

[+ Lucky]

Where were all of these comments on World AIDS Day? For years the threads on that topic were virtually ignored.

[+ WilliamM]

I monitored a wonderful housing counseling agency for the City of Philadelphia. The director of the agency had AIDS and demanded his staff to do  personal chores at his home.

He seldom showed up for work.

No everyone with AIDS was a hero

Edited January 27, 2022 by WilliamM

[+ Lucky]

3 hours ago, WilliamM said:

No everyone with AIDS was a hero

Did someone say they were? What's the point of bringing negativity to the thread?

Edited January 27, 2022 by Lucky

[+ WilliamM]

1 minute ago, Lucky said:

Did someone say they were?

Look, I am also interested in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington because a close friend was killed in Vietnam. It doesn't bother me if other members aren't as interested.

[+ WilliamM]

3 hours ago, Lucky said:

Did someone say they were? What's the point of bringing negativity to the thread?

Huh?  Some people who had AIDS never admitted it. AIDS is a complicated subject. Not all rainbows and kittens. 

[Luv2play]

11 hours ago, Lucky said:

Where were all of these comments on World AIDS Day? For years the threads on that topic were virtually ignored.

Well, some of us commented back in December. I think living in a pandemic where people are dying every day of COVID has overshadowed AIDS which is mostly seen as yesterday’s issue.

I said back in December most people don’t die of AIDS any longer in North America where treatments are available that also help prevent acquiring HIV. In fact the treatments are more effective than the vaccines for COVID.

I don’t think it is helpful to rehash how people who acquired AIDS 40 years ago behaved at the time. Those of us who had friends who died then know that each one of them dealt with it differently and who were we to judge since we weren’t facing a death sentence. We were just scared sh**less.

[marylander1940]

On 12/1/2021 at 5:10 AM, jeezifonly said:

December 1st is World AIDS Day

Work still to be done, but it’s medical science that gives the context to this timeline:

Forty years…

And some of the people here knew some of the people HERE

Plenty of cause for Hope as the fight continues.

 

 

[marylander1940]

On 1/26/2022 at 5:45 PM, italianboyph said:

Yes, I’m referring to the Regan  administration mainly, as they watched gay men just die. I’ve watched footage of press conferences and anytime they would ask what they were doing, his team and journalists did nothing but laugh. It’s sick. Everything Fauci did to help gay men with drugs was amazing, although a lot of people didn’t react well to AZT. 
 

 

 

thank you for posting this! 

 

[italianboyph]

13 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

thank you for posting this! 

 

You’re welcome ❤️❤️