Stigma Free

Technically my obligation to blog is done with the end of class. I seem to have gotten a taste for it though, so expect a random post now and then.

Situation: I was at work yesterday and I was conversing with a friend and she was complaining about the fact that her friend kept bombarding her with facts about homosexuals. He has recently "come out" so he likes talking about his sexuality, not necessarily about sex, but just about gays and the culture. Cool, whatever. I mentioned how I was on Gay.com the day before and a profile question (in addition to age, height, etc) was the question "HIV status." That really just upset me because of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and the fact that it is primarily gay men who are infected with the disease.

I thought my friend would share some of my indignation (I don't know why, maybe I was just hoping?) and all she said was how her friend told her that it was primarily white heterosexual women who were infected and transmitting the disease.

Her logic to that was because gay men "can't make up their frickin' mind" and decide who to have sex with and the only reason that women are infected with HIV/AIDS at all was because...well...I won't quote her on this one but I'll leave it with you that it had something to do with bestiality and monkeys. I'm sure you can piece it together from there.

This infuriated me.

It's not ONLY gay men who have HIV/AIDS.

They didn't get it from having sex with monkeys. (Yes, it is arguable that the disease came from monkeys in Africa because they have a similar disease however it is waaaaaay more likely they got it because they were hunting and ate the meat from an infected monkey or they were hunting, had a cut, and some of the infected primate blood entered into the hunters system.)

HIV-2 for example corresponds to SIVsm, a strain of the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus found in the sooty mangabey (also known as the green monkey), which is indigenous to western Africa.

One of the highest "groups" in Canada who are infected with HIV/AIDS are Aboriginals. This is primarily due to a lack of health care (for testing and treatment), drug use (transmitted through needles), and poverty.

After reading 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa (an amazing book) I learned more about people who become infected with HIV/AIDS and how it happened.

It's not just the gay men who are infected...

... it's the mother of 3 who's husband was unfaithful
... it's the couple who had unprotected sex
... it's the child who's mother was infected and she didn't know
... it's the child who's mother was infected and she knew but couldn't afford the necessary medication to prevent the transmission to her child
... it's the man who always had protected sex but when he and his friend were violently attacked one day he carried his friend's bleeding body to safety and, unbeknownst to him, his friend was infected and some of the infected blood got into his own wounds and he contracted the disease

If you are not infected by HIV/AIDS you are affected by HIV/AIDS.

This disease is all around us but remains invisible because most of the people who have it are across the ocean, are receiving medication (anti-retrovirals or ARV), or are suffering in silence because of the treatment they will receive from their peers and society. Their obituaries will not read "so and so passed away from HIV/AIDS." They will read "pulmonary infection," "cancer," or "tuberculosis." In developing countries especially, it won't even be realized that the cause of death was related to HIV/AIDS.

We are affected by HIV/AIDS because a generation of people, of human beings who's lives are just as valuable and real as yours or mine, are dying because we chose not to help. We chose to be silent. We chose not to give foreign aid. We chose profits from drug companies over progress in health care availability.

Religion also plays a part in this mess. Abstinence only education discourages pre-marital sex. As a result there is no discussion about protection for those who choose to engage in pre-marital sex. This is a lack of information that can cause serious consequences. Also, religious groups are the ones who most often fund HIV/AIDS prevention programs overseas. And when they only way people can receive funding is by promoting "don't have sex" instead of "refrain from risky sexual behaviour" that adds to the issue as well.

Stigmas are what hold progress back. If there is a stigma that HIV/AIDS only affects homosexuals then there will not be a broadened education about how to prevent transmission. People will continue to be discriminated against unjustly. Funding will never appear. And many, many millions more will have their lives cut short and live a painful existence.

Education is the only vaccine. Be HIV free. And be stigma free.