When this energy visibly attacked the body and blindly targeted gay men, it seems to also visibly attacked and blindly targeted our compassion as well. But because the body cannot hide it forever, it became the vessel for a kind of physical truth. Those who live with AIDS mentally wear the effects of the disease like animals at the zoo. Showcasing how we are as a community that continues to face impending death with an insistence on demonstrating separation.
Although death hovers over us, what can we offer as a soothing antidote? I dare say that it doesn’t have to be pretty. Anger, desperation, and the despair are the foundations we stand on. Aren’t you tired of stigmatizing persons because of this disease? Aren't you tired of this energy being the social and moral statement of our community? In recent years, I feel more optimistic about community, but the stigma of HIV still lingers. The act sex, which has long been a refuge for the gay community, as well as a constant reminder of our communal trauma, forces us to see how we sold each other out. This theater production continues to sell out, with the audience populated by ghost of stigma’s past. Isn't it time to close the curtain on stigma, HIV and the gay community?
Until there is a cure, people living with HIV will wear it like a shroud, a scarlet letter, or a little red ribbon. It paints one as 'other' in a community of 'other'. Yes, one would think there would be more compassion. But empathy flies out the window the moment people start dying. Well, people aren't dying of this anymore. And a little pill can keep this bogeyman at bay for life. So why are people still so freaked out? Why are they so mean? Because it scared them. And once someone is scared of something? Good luck changing their attitude.
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