None of us are safe from lies

by Gil Kudrin

I do not know how many "World AIDS Days" have passed since the world started to observe this on December 1, but I do know how many of my friends have died since the beginning of AIDS. They number in the hundreds. I also know how long I have been infected: more than 25 years.

I didn't bother to get tested for HIV until AZT had become generally available. Too many infections and hospitalizations left me with little denial. My first T-cell count of 230 left me with little hope. Those that could tell me the truth left me with little time maybe 18 months if I was lucky.

Most of us don't know enough about AIDS. I know too much. I know that most of the horrors that we have witnessed over the last quarter-century didn't have to happen. I know that we have been lied to by almost everybody who matters.

Here is my short list:

Ronald Reagan: Never said the word AIDS for seven years, implying that it wasn't a problem.

George Bush Sr.: Flew out of Washington D.C. as we unfurled the Names Project Quilt in 1992.

Bill Clinton: Promised us an AIDS czar and a Manhattan Project-style effort to find the cure.

George (the lesser) Bush: Gave us a war instead of health care.

Michael White: Cleveland's most cowardly mayor ... 'nuff said.

Every Republican governor that we have had since the pandemic started.

Almost every religious leader. Almost every surgeon general. Every CEO of every pharmaceutical company that has had anything to do with AIDS treatment.

Robert Gallo: He doesn't deserve the title "doctor."

The blood industry: As a whole, they traded the safety of our blood supply for 30 pieces of silver. Now they preserve the hatred of gay men by refusing our blood, as though gay were a disease! No one should ever give the Red Cross one fucking penny. Every doctor who has told us that AIDS is a chronic, manageable disease like diabetes. Do they mean the diabetes where they chop off your legs, you go blind and your kidneys fail? Is this the "manageable" they mean? This is a myth to make them feel better.

Here is my even shorter list of those who didn't lie to us:

Larry Kramer: A prophet and the godfather of AIDS activism.

Bill Clinton: He has turned himself into our AIDS czar. He spends much of his time and energy fighting for money and access to better care for people living with HIV/AIDS around the world.

C. Everett Koop: Ronald Reagan's surgeon general.

Ryan White, and his mother Jeannie. Senator Ted Kennedy.

Dr. Mathilde Krim.

Bill Gates: Has given more of his money to end AIDS than anyone else on the face of the planet.

ANTHONY GLASSMAN

"A TIME COMES WHEN SILENCE IS BETRAYALI"

Gil Kudrin

Ninety-nine percent of ACT UP members and ground troops who fought the war against HIV on the front lines of this disease and changed the face of medicine in this country.

Elizabeth Taylor, Bernadette Peters, Whoopie, Elton John, Bono, Sharon Stone, Kenneth Cole and countless other celebrities who have worked tirelessly to raise money and awareness to save those living with HIV.

Paul Monette, Randy Shilts, Tony Kushner and countless authors who put the truth down on millions of pages so that coming generations could read the truth.

Buck Harris, Donnie Laufersweiler, Howard Fradkin, Paula Britton, Karen Cimini, Catherine O'Brian, Earl Pike, Gail Anderson, Bob Paloma, Jeannette Carlton and hundreds of Ohioans who led the way by forming groups, coalitions and organizations that helped teach us to fight for ourselves.

If you don't know the people on these lists, it's time to do some reading. If you think that you and your friends are safe, because AIDS has passed you by, or it is an older gay man's disease, you need to start your own list.

Put yourself at the top of the list of those who have lied to you.

We are, none of us, safe from the ravages of this disease. This is the worst pandemic in the history of mankind. More people have died of AIDS than died in all the wars across the entire planet during the 20th century— and it was a particularly brutal century!

Gil Kudrin, co-founder and co-owner of Nightsweats and T-Cells, is a long-term survivor of HIV and an AIDS activist whose career has spanned two decades and four presidents... so far.

November 30, 2007 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

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