BRIAN DEWITT

www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

Enough already. Let's end it

by Earl Pike

A few years back the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced an ambitious plan to cut the annual rate of new HIV infections in the United States by half. For some time that rate had been holding steady at about 40,000 cases; by the time the new initiative was fully carried out after five

Earl Pike

years, the CDC

claimed,

would

slashed

20,000. The

plan

had more to do with PR than science, and was doomed to failure. The notion that you could dramatically cut new infections by an empha-

sis on abstinence until marriage, by cutting funding for general AIDS awareness, and by systematically eroding public faith in the effectiveness of condoms-well, it just didn't make sense.

By the time the report card on the plan's performance came in last year-one the CDC was hesitant, at the very least, to release the annual rate of new HIV infections had actually increased, to somewhere between 58,000 and 62,000 cases a year. Three times the forecasted number.

None of this, by the way, got much press. Ten thousand here, another 10,000 there they're all just numbers. Because somehow we've gotten used to it all. At some point in the last ten years or so, a steadily mounting and widening epidemic became ambient

epidemiologic noise, and we stopped paying attention.

Whatever anger, frustration, or grief we once felt began to dissipate, replaced by numbed memories and the tenuously hopeful knowledge that the meds did seem to be helping, the awareness that we didn't seem to be attending quite so many funerals, and

'We now know virtually everything we must do to halt the epidemic. We can stop it if we

want to.'

the vague understanding that we had somehow entered a new phase of the epidemic.

In other words, we learned to accommodate our psyches and politics to the notion that the epidemic, at least as measured against our own individual lifetimes, was permanent.

And now, the latest news, in time for this year's LGBT Pride celebrations.

At the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in February— a gathering marked by scientific rigor-Dr. Ron Stall from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health presented some startling projections: If current trends remain unchanged, he said, 40% of American men who have sex with men, and 60% of African American ones, will be HIV positive by age 40.

Stall is no scientific slouch. His numbers are solid. And terrifying.

· Pride Guide 2008

How did this happen? How did we get to the point of accommodating the worst epidemic in human history, and accepting as inevitable the staggering potential impact on gay, bisexual, and transgender men in the United States?

I don't know. There's plenty of blame to go around. Governments haven't done enough, organizations haven't done enough, you and I haven't done enough. Racism, homophobia, sexism, inequality continue to fuel the epidemic. Now, over a generation after the first cases were reported, we still find it difficult to talk about sex, desire, love, drugs, identity, and a dozen other critical concerns, and within the public and private silences, another person gets infected, and another, and another. There's plenty of blame to go around.

And here's the paradox: We now know virtually everything we need to know, and do, to stop the epidemic. We can end it if we

want to.

It'll be a while yet before we have a vaccine, and we may never have a cure. Tens of millions of people will still face the daily reality of living with HIV and AIDS. But we have the knowledge, and ability, to bring the growth of the epidemic to a grinding halt.

The answers are simple. Use a condom, every time. If you're shooting up, use a clean needle every time.

Even beyond us as individuals, the answers are still simple. Keep fighting for full civil rights for LGBT people in the United States. Stop the crazy emphasis on teaching kids that they should be abstinent from all sexual activity until marriage, and tell them the facts. Fully fund reproductive health services for all women. Fight structures and systems that enforce inequality based on race or class. Insist on the availability of

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE A-13

condoms. Demand more research dollars for microbicides. Make sure that every person has access to antiretroviral treatment as needed.

None of that costs a lot of money, by the way, and it can all be accomplished..

More than anything else, take responsibility for protecting yourself, and the community. We've all heard, and probably quickly ignored, the mandatory safety presentation at the beginning of every airline flight:

If the cabin loses pressure, or the plane is in trouble, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead compartment. Put yours on first, and then help your neighbor.

In other words, use a condom every time, and don't share needles. Then, help your friends, the LGBT community, the wider HIV/AIDS community.

Enough already. We can end the epidemic. We can dig down deep, once again, into those wellsprings of pride and courage and resolve that have nurtured, at every step in the journey, the long fight for LGBT human rights, a journey that brings us now, today, to the 20th annual celebration of LGBT Pride in Cleveland.

We can use that strength to accomplish one thing: Just for 24 hours, just for now, and in the name of Pride, we'll stop the epidemic. No more new infections in northeast Ohio. No transmission, no acquisition. If you have sex, use a condom. If you don't know your HIV status, get tested. If you're shooting up, don't share a needle-or better yet, reach out and get into treatment, because we need everyone strong and healthy for the challenges ahead.

Enough already. For one day, at least for one day, let's end it. And live.

Earl Pike is the executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

Jennifer Holiday

Mistress of Ceremonies

Marga Gomez

Jade Esteban Estrada,

Lori Michaels: Me & the Girls

MICHARLS

Gay Men's Chorus, Flaggots, Capital Pride Band Woman's Chorus, Habeebas Belly Dancers, Lisa O., & more...

Sat, June 28

Pride Parade 2008 Lineup by 12 PM @ Goodale Park Step off @ 1 PM

Pride Festival 2008 Bicentennial Park 11 AM 7 PM

ColumbusPride.org

PRIDE

HOLIDAY

Stonewall Columbus

PRIDE

HOLIDAY

OUR POWER

Pride Events for June 2008

Sun, June 1

2nd Annual

TransOhio Unity Picnic

Tue, June 3 & Wed, June 11 History Panels

Thurs, June 5

An Exhibit of Pride Art Show

Fri, June 6 & Sat June 7 OUR POWER

Pride Kick-Off Weekend

Sun, June 15

Leslie Jordan 'Pink Party' Pride Fundraiser

Mon, June 16 Leslie Jordan My Trip Down the Pink Carpet: One-Man Show

Fri, June 20

CATF 'Skate 4 Life'

Fri, June 20 & Sat, June 21 Rocket Man Columbus Gay Men's Chorus

Sat, June 14 Pride Poker Run Fore! Pride Golf Outing Inaugural Event

Sat, June 26

Run for Pride

5K Run/Walk

Thur, June 26 After Stonewall DVD Showing

Fri, June 27 & Sat, June 28 8th Annual

Rockin' in The Streets

Fri, June 27 & Sat, June 28 QASIS Pride 2008

Sat, June 28

DRAGSTOCK

Sun, June 29 Pride Brunch Bat-N-Rouge

For More Information visit www.columbuspride.org

or call 614-299-7764

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