The L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center launched a new campaign that has a lot of people talking. And, I guess, that is the point.
Posters that read "HIV Is a Gay Disease. Own It. End It." are meant to get gay men talking again about HIV/AIDS. Gay men who, according to the Center, make up more than 75 percent of HIV+ people living in L.A. 700 gay men in L.A. will die from AIDS this year.
Back in the day (80s and early 90s), our community fought like hell to send a message that AIDS was not just a gay disease. We would never have stood for a poster like this.
Now, it's widely known that AIDS doesn't only affect gay men, and one of the problems with that is that a lot of gay men think it doesn't affect them at all.
The younger generation coming out today didn't live through the holocaust that took our best and our brightest, our loved ones, our family members, the boy next door. They didn't see the Castro when it was a ghost town, when 25-year-old men were walking the streets with canes, the ravages of AIDS written across their bodies.
Today's drug cocktails have extended lives and made HIV a more "manageable disease" -- creating a false sense of security that being HIV+ is no big deal.
Barebacking, to some, has become the norm. It's required at some sex parties, and glorified in gay porn.
The problem? Gay men are still dying from AIDS. But no one is talking about it.
The Center's director, Lorri L. Jean, says it this way:
"Why do we need to say HIV is a gay disease? We have so effectively de-coupled the epidemic from the word “gay” that most of us don’t even know the degree to which we are impacted. If we have learned anything in the past 25 years, it is that we must speak the truth no matter how uncomfortable some may find it."
Jean also cites the problem of reduced federal funding for HIV programs, funding which has been slashed because the people in power today favor moral righteousness over science. Like we did in the 1980s, gay men need to stand up and say that our lives count. Prevention programs that aren't afraid to speak to gay men are necessary, and are worthy of federal dollars.
Not everyone loves this campaign. I've heard people say that it
blames gays, could increase hate violence, and doesn't address other affected
communities. On the latter point, the Center fully acknowledges that gays don't
have an exclusive on HIV -- but does that mean that we shouldn't target gay men
at all? In my view, the 'Own It. End It.' campaign is, unfortunately, something whose time has come.
HIV is a gay disease. It needs to be said.
I already buried one generation of my friends. I don't want to have to bury another.
More at OwnItEndIt.org
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15 comments:
How do we know it's not a gay disease. When I know of gays who sleep with married men. I know of gays and lesbians who work in positions involving children and its' so strange to see that a gay man would want to be a boy scout leader. It's pathetic, anything to be near children. It's the children whom they prey upon. And i'll put my money where my mouth is. How many gays out there could say that they are so decent they've never tried to force themselves on straight people. To talk to children to convince them they are gay or lesbian also. It's sickening, and the numbers are not right because not all children can speak, till later in life.
that is a cool picture thanks for the picture
that is a cool picture thanks for the picture can you tell me where you got it from
that is a cool picture thanks for the picture can you tell me where you got it from
I can 100% honestly raise my hand in saying I've never once forced myself on someone who was straight. There, not you know of at least one who hasn't.
While I agree with the first half of your post, I disagree with the campaign and with the notion that any group of individuals "own" a disease. How would one respond to campaigns that read "breast cancer is a woman's disease" or "diabetes is a black disease"? We and our loved ones are all at risk and should all be concerned about HIV and many other diseases. I wish that the LA Gay and Lesbian Center would have pursued a more universal strategy similar to Washington, DC's recent campaign that normalizes HIV testing among all 18 to 84 year olds regardless of orientation.
Get bent, "Success Coach." I think *someone* needs to read up on the Heterosexual Agenda (see previous blog entry).
Girl, please.
Don’t be a clown – there is no legitimate or verifiable study that supports your claim(s). The innoxiousness and naivety of children are manipulated day after day, regardless of the manipulator’s sexual designation [straight or gay men and women alike]. Your sweeping generalizations erase even the slightest credibility to your argument. Can you prove that every gay person has tried to force themselves on their straight counterparts? Can you prove that every gay person has tried to convince young children of their (homo) sexuality? That’s right, I thought you couldn’t.
Do these types of abusive homosexual men and women exist? Of course they do. Does the same hold true for heterosexual men and women? The answer should be obvious enough. Thus, your observations are unfounded … at best.
More the point of this blog, how does your knowledge (and I use the term knowledge very liberally with you) of homosexual promiscuity (and because you aren’t the brightest bulb in the box, we’ll deem this with the term “promiscuity”) make HIV their disease? It does not. Until we can be certain of where the disease originates from, it’s rather foolish to design to ascribe it to any one particular group. Though those afflicted with HIV may be in higher volume amongst certain networks, recent times have shown us that the boundaries of this disease not only encase the gay community, but have spread abroad, finding fertile soil in the lives everyone else. That’s right, HIV affects everyone; no it’s not a gay disease – though I can appreciate the efforts of the campaign to arm gays in the fight against it.
It’s this kind of archaic thinking that sets the whole world back about 20 years. Nice try, though.
To: Successcoach
Girl, please.
Don’t be a clown – there is no legitimate or verifiable study that supports your claim(s). The innoxiousness and naivety of children are manipulated day after day, regardless of the manipulator’s sexual designation [straight or gay men and women alike]. Your sweeping generalizations erase even the slightest credibility to your argument. Can you prove that every gay person has tried to force themselves on their straight counterparts? Can you prove that every gay person has tried to convince young children of their (homo) sexuality? That’s right, I thought you couldn’t.
Do these types of abusive homosexual men and women exist? Of course they do. Does the same hold true for heterosexual men and women? The answer should be obvious enough. Thus, your observations are unfounded … at best.
More the point of this blog, how does your knowledge (and I use the term knowledge very liberally with you) of homosexual promiscuity (and because you aren’t the brightest bulb in the box, we’ll deem this with the term “promiscuity”) make HIV their disease? It does not. Until we can be certain of where the disease originates from, it’s rather foolish to design to ascribe it to any one particular group. Though those afflicted with HIV may be in higher volume amongst certain networks, recent times have shown us that the boundaries of this disease not only encase the gay community, but have spread abroad, finding fertile soil in the lives everyone else. That’s right, HIV affects everyone; no it’s not a gay disease – though I can appreciate the efforts of the campaign to arm gays in the fight against it.
It’s this kind of archaic thinking that sets the whole world back about 20 years. Nice try, though.
This is a rediculous poster. HIV can effect and infect anyone.
I think this campaign , if seen by straight, will send us back to early 80's where people REALLY thought AIDS was a gay plague.
To say " own it.End it ." is probably a sick joke!!!?? Who those people who did that kind of crap were thinking?
I have plenty of humour, nothing shock me , but this..It's a disgrace.
This poster should be banned, period.
and for heaven sake SUCCESSCOACH or whatever, get a grip...Or go to church!!!
WE TRY TO CONVINCE CHILDREN THEY'RE GAY?
Where did you get this idea, in your personnal fantasies or what???!!
Stop talking crap...
What a fucking load of horseshit.
With the majority of HIV+ individuals being homosexual, the ad campaign is I guess an attempt at eye opening. But I just can't help but feel that saying that HIV is a gay disease, is really not going to help homo/hetero relationships... I consider it a setback. There are better ways of getting us to "Own it, End it." That's almost like saying that because we're gay, we by our very nature are HIV+.
This a discrace to me and all other gay men . we have regressed backwards 20 years how thoughtless and cruel to my fellow brothers. Straight and homophobs alike will take this message and run with it i am still afread to admit to being hiv pozz because of this shame on you all shame on you.
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