Stonewall, We Have an HIV Problem
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Once upon a time, Queer Rights and AIDS activism were interconnected. The fight for one was the fight for the other. Tragically HIV/AIDS has become a queer afterthought. Look no further than Stonewall 50 for proof.
The impact of HIV/AIDS on the queer community has been whitewashed out of Stonewall. It is a fucking insult.
Right there on the NYC Pride site on “Our Timeline, they get the date of the first announcement of HIV wrong! It was not 1982. It was June 5, 1981. I know it is just one year. But the lack of understanding makes it A BIG FUCKING DEAL.
It speaks of a lack of empathy and concern. In the age of Google, ignorance is no excuse.
We would not have same-sex marriage were it not for the strong bonds forged by AIDS activism. HIV/AIDS seems missing in action for Stonewall 50. It is a slap in the face of everyone who lost all the people they loved to AIDS and the losses of the Queer community.
Oh, and the Darkest Hour headline is meaningless. 1981 was the beginning of AIDS. 1996 was the height of the AIDS epidemic, which might be the Darkest Hour but there were two decades from 1981–1998 when AIDS was dark so perhaps Darkest Decades would be better. Darkest Hour is empty verbiage written by some clueless web designer and approved by the hosts of World Pride NYC committee.
I guess AIDS does not match rainbow colored crap and tacky shoes, shirts, hats, and every fucking thing a for-profit agency has slapped on merchandise to show their “pride.”
We’ve sold our souls to corporate culture and never looked back. AIDS has been discarded in the process.
Fuck that.
From Time Out NYC in an interview with Harry Breaux
When did HIV and AIDS awareness come into the picture at the Pride celebration?
Parades in the ’80s had its contingent of people with AIDS. There were people in wheelchairs. We knew people were dying. And then, in the mid-’90s, Pride turned into forgetting about AIDS. The commercial booths flourished because they didn’t want to talk about AIDS; they wanted to talk about how fabulous it was to be gay again. What I’m concerned about now is that the people who have it are surviving get the attention they deserve.
June 5, 1918 was the first announcement by the CDC of a mysterious illness killing young gay men in Los Angeles on June 5, 1981.The beginning of the AIDS epidemic became HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day on June 5, 2014. It is an official awareness day on HIV.gov.
Learn more at https://HLTSAD.org
About
Tez Anderson, Founder of Let’s Kick ASS — AIDS Survivor Syndrome™ a grassroots movement empowering HIV long-term survivors to thrive since 2013.
I’m an HIV long-term survivor. I’ve lived with the virus since 1983. In 1986, I was given less than two years to live. My journey of survival is the basis for my advocacy and my life’s purpose helping others living with HIV/AIDS for decades live their best lives.
As the founder of Let’s Kick ASS — AIDS Survivor Syndrome™ a grassroots movement empowering HIV long-term survivors to thrive since 2013, I coined the term “AIDS Survivor Syndrome” in 2011 to describe something I lived through that did not have a name and nor any treatments.
My work led me to create HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSAD)in 2014. It is held annually on June 5, on the anniversary of the first announcement by the CDC of a mysterious illness killing young gay men in Los Angeles on June 5, 1981.The beginning of the AIDS epidemic became HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day on June 5, 2014. It is an official awareness day on HIV.gov.
Tez online: Facebook TezAndersonLKA | Twitter @TezAnderson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tezanderson
Facebook AIDSSurvivorSyndrome | Twitter @LetsKickASS_hiv | Instagram letskickass
HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day is June 5
Facebook | Twitter @HIVsurvivors | Instagram | HLTSAD.org
