Chris Crain wrote "On Dec. 1, we mark World AIDS Day for the 21st time" (editorial, Nov. 29). Actually, World AIDS Day stated 14 years ago.
Crain asked: "Let's compare responsibiliies here. Does the gay community really owe further support and lobbying for the worthy goal of increased U.S. funding for the fight against the spread of AIDS among heterosexuals abroad?"
In 1988, some who worked at the United Nations, including my former lover, Michael Shower, employed by UNICEF, started World AIDS Day. They did so against all odds in a world community stagnant with indifference and riddled with religious intolerance.
I remember sitting in the front row of that ceremony at the United Nations on the first World's AIDS Day in a room predominately filled with gay men who worked there when he turned to me and said, "Won't this room look different in 10 years." I cried then as he held my hand.
Michael, who died in 1994, understood what Chris Crain does not. We achieved greatness in the gay community when we did what others would not: care unconditionally for the neglected, abandoned sick without regard to sexual orientation. |
