New National AIDS Policy Will Take Community Involvement

When friend of mine started getting sick in the 1980's we got worried.  Once the cause of their illnesses and deaths was found we got busy.  We started educating our friends to practice safe-sex and to get tested for HIV.
We also felt pretty sure that once the scientific community got fully engaged in fighting HIV/AIDS the epidemic would be wiped out in a few years.  We mourned those who had fallen and held out hope for those who were living with AIDS.

It's been 30 years and still no cure and that's a shame.  30 years and people are still getting infected and that is preventable!  HIV is not being transmitted through transfusions any more, the blood supply is safe and tested, it's being transmitted by unprotected sex and sharing needles, both are pretty basic and very fixable.  Finally a White House realizes this and is willing to propose this concrete goal.

The United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare, and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic circumstance will have unfettered access to high-quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination. 

Now to implement that plan it's going to take work and our community is a great place to start.  We are where the rubber meets the road (pardon the intentional pun).  We cannot wait for the government to do something, because it is us, every LGBT person who can and must do something.  First we have to insist on safer-sex and that means always having and using condoms.  Barebacking needs to be de-eroticized and made unacceptable.  That means boycotting bareback videos and websites and consciously eroticizing condom use for penetrative sex.

Next we need to sponsor needle exchanges.  Making sterile needles available for intravenous drug users will lessen the possibility that they will cross contaminate their friends and partners.  To those who think this will enable drug use, I say bullshit.  Drug use will happen with clean or dirty needles whether we want it to or not.  We need to take an adult view of the problem and address the transmission of HIV through dirty needles.

Finally the government needs to do a couple of things to help.  Make health care accessible to everyone and make funds available for HIV prevention education and programs. 

With or without the government we can make a difference in our community, but first we have to get off our collective asses and work for it.