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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
December 18, 2009 www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
letterstotheeditors
The silent killer in Cleveland
To the Editors:
All trends seem to take longer to migrate to the Midwest and Ohio. Maybe it's the cold, I dunno. Now it's tapas, 'tinis and towering plates of haute cuisine. In the '60s, bell-bottom, hip-hugger jeans and fringe suede jackets were all the rage in New York and San Fran; it took until the '70s for those styles to become hip in Cleveland. In realtime, '70s disco fever swept the nation and into Ohio. The '80s are a haze of bad hair, ripped clothing and the Goth look, all a portent of things to migrate to Ohio from the
coasts.
I wasn't at ground zero in New York or San Francisco during that decade to experience the manic panic and devastation that HIV then labeled GRID for Gay-Related Immune Deficiency-wrought. I was here in Cleveland as co-editor of High Gear newspaper, put out by the LGBT Center's predecessor Gay Educational Awareness Resources Foundation. The editorial and
GayPeoplesChronicle.com
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Attorney at Law
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composition "offices" were my upstairs apartment off Denison Avenue on Cleveland's west side. As co-editor and a gay man, I actually thought GRID was a Republican plot aimed at the queers-and that thought was pre-Hillary!
A few years later, I became a buddy volunteer. Like many others, I gave respite to caregivers for those with loved ones in the hospital or as a buddy to someone infected with HIV.
Back then, nurses left food trays at patients' doors. People suited up with caps, latex gloves, gowns and facial masks before entering one of "those" doors, emblazoned with biohazard stickers. Such was the fear then of becoming infected. Like other buddy volunteers, I helped to feed those dying of HIV infection, brushed their hair, or simply sat bedside and held their hand. I'd sit with their loved ones while the family member care-giver had dinner or went home for a
rest.
I tested HIV negative twice in the 1980s: I was in-the-clear! In September of 1988 I experienced an extreme sero-conversion à la The Excorcist with projectile vomiting. When I tested "officially" positive the next month, I asked the nurse to do a doublecheck. Then slowly, as if sleep-walking I followed the wooded, gravel path by the river home in a light drizzle and daze.
Like many other long-term survivors, I've walked the halls of Congress lobbying for increased HIV funding. Volunteered on
Correction
A Page 1 photo caption with a December 4 story on the Cleveland transgender equality ordinance misidentified one of the councilors shown.
Pictured were Council President Martin Sweeney, with Joe Cimperman on the left and Kevin Kelley on the right.
our Ryan White Planning Council to allocate and prioritze federal HIV funding for our six-county region. We write the newspapers for increased AIDS visibility, we have been awarded and presented-yet A.I.D.S. is still here growing like kudzu in my back yard.
I say all this as a cautionary tale: HIV is still here, in America, in Cleveland. Over 28 years later, it is still disproportionately impacting and infecting populations of color, women and gay men here and around the nation.
The majority of 'tweens, high school and college students think HIV can be transmitted via saliva. They don't consider oral or anal sex to be "real sex." Our young people are still becoming pregnant-which means unprotected sex. Gay men use the deadly combination of Medicare-covered Viagra or Cialis with methamphetamines in PNP, unprotected "party 'n' play."
Over 45 million Americans are infected with HIV annually. Many more are infected with other STDs along with HIV and don't know their sero-status. This shows the very real need for a new National AIDS Prevention and Education Initiative. A recent study has shown the rate of HIV infection in Washington, D.C. is that of a third world country. Almost a third of the population in the president's back yard is infected with HIV.
HIV stigma is here, leaving many to live in the shadows. Many are supporting us in fighting the good fight. It's time for new voices. New, loud voices.
Write, call, e-mail your representative senator and our president today.
I voted for "change." We need a new National AIDS Prevention and Education Initiative. The bodies are still silently piling up. There is no time to lose. The life you save may be yours, or that of a loved one.
keeping score
Friday bowling standings
Cleveland-These are the standings of
the North Coast Bowling Association's Friday night bowling league at the end of the games on December 11.
The Friday night league is a fun social league with plenty of openings. Both fulltime bowlers as well as alternates are needed. No experience is necessary. Bowling begins at 7 pm Fridays at Ambassador Superior Lanes, 1500 Superior Ave. in downtown Cleveland, and finishes by 9:30 pm. For more information, contact the league at 216-228-6966 or 216-481-4417, or see www.ncbafriday.org.
Team
Won Lost
Robert W. Toth Cleveland
Cocktails and Hush win Sunday bowling's first half
Cleveland-Teams from Cocktails and Hush have won their divisions in the first half of the North Coast Bowling Association's Sunday league. The half ended on December 13, and the second half will begin this Sunday, December 20.
The Sunday league is northeast Ohio's original gay bowling league, now in its 30th season. They bowl at Freeway Lanes of Parma, 12859 Brookpark Rd. near West 130th St., at 1 pm. Practice starts at 12:45 pm. See the website at www.ncbasunday.com or contact Greg McPherson at 216-536-6999 for more information.
1. Alley Katz
58
26
2. Tied Up & Twisted 3. Strike it Up
53
31
53
31
4. Hang'en on the Edge
50
34
5. 3 Black Men & a Bitch
50
34
6. Stallions
50
34
Division 1
7. B.F.T.S. II
47
37
8. Triple XXX Turkeys
47
37
Team
Won
Lost
9. Beyond a Mess
43
41
Cocktails
57
48
10. Golden Boyz
43
41
Flame Throwers
51
54
11. Lightning Strikes
43
41
Deadwood
46
59
12. Dead Wood
43
41
13. Queens of Nines
42
42
LGBT Center Buns O' Fun 42
63
14. B.I.L.F.
42
42
15. Ball Busters
39
45
Division 2
16. Gutter Girls
39
45
17. Rimmers
39
45
Hush
67
38
18. Cheap 'n' Easy
37
47
Riding the Edge
56
49.
19. Mines in the Gutter 36
48
20. Superstars
35
49
Dianna's Deli
55
50
21. Wicked Twistas
33
51
Kitsch City
44
61
22. Bye
2
82
3939
GAY PEOPLE'S
Chronicle
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