World AIDS Day 2021

I get a news feed in my email each day, and though I haven’t read all of today’s email yet, the title of the lead article is “Africa: Far Behind,” about the Covid pandemic and the vaccination rate, and when I saw it on this date in particular, it was with the sinking feeling of the more things change, the more they stay the same. Often in Africa, where there are vaccinations in place, they aren’t being used because of distrust and skepticism, which is rooted at least partially in the continent’s historical experience with HIV and AIDS.

There are better-informed sources on that than I am, so I’ll leave it there. Instead, I’ll talk about HIV/AIDS and Covid in a more personal way.

In 1992, when I marched with a group of activists in Houston at the Republican National Convention, one of our chants was: 350,000 dead, NO MORE AIDS. About ten years before–1981–the first five cases of what would become the AIDS virus had been identified, and anyone involved in those early noisy protests was begging to be heard. For someone to act. For medicine, science, and government not to move faster, but to move at all. Those protestors and activists remain my heroes, because without them, HIV wouldn’t be a manageable disease in 2021. Because of science and medicine, and yes, governments, progress was made that saved not only millions of lives but taught us many of the lessons that help people survive pandemics today.

350,000 dead, NO MORE AIDS. Worldwide to this date, approximately 36.3 million people have died of AIDS, while 37.7 million people are LIVING with HIV/AIDS globally. HIV is a different kind of virus from Covid 19, transmitted through sexual contact, blood, needles, or from mother to infant–a mask won’t stop it, though a condom can.

It’s estimated that there have been 5.2+ million deaths from Covid 19 globally already. Covid 19 is spread in three main ways:

• Breathing in air when close to an infected person who is exhaling small droplets and particles that contain the virus.
• Having these small droplets and particles that contain virus land on the eyes, nose, or mouth, especially through splashes and sprays like a cough or sneeze.
• Touching eyes, nose, or mouth with hands that have the virus on them.

Covid has an easier transmission route than HIV, and while vaccination may not prevent a person from being infected, it can mean the difference between staying home feeling lousy for a few days versus landing in a hospital or morgue. And wearing a mask or avoiding places and people who won’t wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid is, I guess, something like wearing a condom or not sharing needles to prevent the spread of HIV. Tragically, many people refuse(d) those safety measures, too.

It’s bizarre to me that now there are actually people who scream against vaccinations that save lives. Who refuse to wear a little piece of cloth that protects themselves and others because it infringes on their freedom. Our friends lost to AIDS: Steve, Jeff, John, Tim R, and Pete, could only dream of a lifesaving vaccination or something as simple as wearing a mask. They would rather have lived longer, and I sure wish they had.

I made promises to them that I’d never forget them. That I wouldn’t let other people forget those times. That I’d keep striving to be a writer and tell stories, not necessarily about AIDS, but about friendships and the families we create as we make our lives on this planet. Their memory impels me to stay alive and to write as inspired not only by them, but by the friends who remain.

Thank you for being part of the journey.