World AIDS Day

So, yesterday was World AIDS Day 30...I can not believe how quickly time has blown by!  30 years ago, millions of people around the world opened their newspapers and read


Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals
Outbreak occurs among men in New York and California; 8 have died  inside of two years.  The cause of the outbreak is unknown and there is yet no evidence of contagion, but the doctors who have made the diagnosis, mainly in the New York and San Francisco Bay area, are alerting other physicians who treat large numbers of homosexual men to the problem in an effort to help identify more cases and to reduce the delay in offering chemotherapy treatment.  The sudden appearance of the cancer, called kaposi sarcoma…

Today, they headlines have all but gone away...most people are no longer talking about HIV/AIDS like we did 30 years ago.  To most, especially teens and young adults, they no longer see AIDS as a death sentence, and yet they make up 34% of new infections each year, the largest of any age group.


Today the headlines have changed quite a bit...you no longer read about another AIDS related death of a celebrity.  You no longer read headlines that pontificate the deadly results of being a "queer."  No, today we read headlines of HOPE.  Headlines that are telling us that we have come a long way.  But sadly, we haven't moved that far...with new infections on the rise, I have to stop and think...we are on the verge of another crisis...one in which new HIV infection rates have surpassed any statistic thus far.  This is one of the many, many reasons in which I continue to fight back!  But, yesterday, for me, was a day of reflection on how far I have come these past 30 years.  A time to reflect on those whom have succumbed much too early in life.  A time to be thankful for the HEROS in my live who are fighting the fight...and winning!  It was also a time for me to curl up on the sofa, in my pajamas, a glass of wine, and box of tissues and watch Long Time Companion.  It has become sort of a tradition for me over the past decade or so...It reminds me of where we came from, where we are now, and what we have to look forward to in the future.  Can you imagine what it would be like when this ends? I can, and I just want to be there when it happens!