| christian grantham | |||
| Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD. | |||
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latest posts
February 17, 2005
I couldn't have said it better myself. Some of today's AIDS activists seem more concerned with job security than they are getting tough. Julie Davids, executive director of the New York- based Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, provides a perfect example below of the silly attitude among some AIDS activists that is killing our community.
Back then, at-risk populations didn't seem to care about a disease that was killing them. Those on the sexual frontier seemed more worried about defending their freedom than defending their lives. Moreover, amid a fog of early confusion about the cause of AIDS - were "poppers," recreational drugs from the nitrate family, part of the problem? - sex-ideologues denied mortal reality throughout the '80s. Now it's another drug, crystal meth, that might be worsening the problem.Most of those don't-worry-be- happy voices from the '80s have fallen silent, for the simple reason that they are now dead. Yet similar voices of public-health obfuscation are being heard again today. Julie Davids, executive director of the New York- based Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, told Agence France-Presse that she worried that the new reports could stigmatize gay men as "crazed drug-addicts, carelessly or wantonly spreading a killer bug." The real danger, she continued, would be for the gay community to "feel more shame and self- hatred."
That's the beknighted darkness in human nature, thwarting scientific enlightenment. We know a lot about AIDS in the laboratory, but out on the streets, foolishness often reigns. With misinformation coming from some who claim to speak for the "public interest," it's little wonder that youth haven't got the message. One Brooklynite who warns of AIDS dangers told The New York Times, "I have spoken to young kids, sometimes here, who say, 'If I get it, it's no big deal. I can just take a pill.'"
[A new AIDS strain, the same old tune - Newsday - 02-17-05]
The Washington Post's Richard Cohen gets it, too.
Tragically, this juvenile reasoning partially accounts for the apparent upsurge in HIV infections among gay males -- and the emergence of a virulent new strain that has health officials plenty worried. Simply put, it is the determination of some gays -- a minority, but a substantial one -- to disregard all the rules for safe sex because being gay, they think, means you don't have to follow any rules at all. That's just plain dumb.
[A Warning, From Gays to Gays - Washington Post - 02-17-05]
Where is our community's example of leadership that shares such clarity? Why, they're planning circuit parties! The Winter Party, March 2-7, is "produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force."
As a result of this annual fundraising event, well over $1 million has been granted to LGBT organizations serving Miami-Dade. Two-thirds of the net proceeds from Winter Party will be distributed to the Miami-Dade LGBT community through a granting program administered by the Dade Community Foundation. The remaining one-third of the proceeds will benefit the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
[The Winter Party - ABOUT THE WINTER PARTY FESTIVAL]
With so much money purchasing our nation's leadership, who is left to challenge the risky behavior often associated with these events? NGLTF needs to boldly and loudly condemn drug use and unprotected sex often associated with such events. NGLTF must also widely announce that security will have a "zero tolerance policy" on drug deals and use that includes local law enforcement (not staff security) and prosecution of offenders in a court of law. Unless NGLTF takes the step to prosecute drug dealers and users at the upcoming Winter Party, NGLTF will be complicit in the widely known consequences of such use.
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