The least we can do
AIDS Service Center hits at home to help combat HIV/AIDS
By Ellen Snortland 05/04/2006
In the early 1980s, many of us, especially in the arts’ community, were devastated by the scourge of a mysterious new disease: HIV/AIDS. I especially think of Daniel, Don, Andy and Michael. There’s no way that any of us knew that they were playing with death when they were “recreating” with other men in the newly liberated days of same-sex partners. Michael — a virgin — contracted the virus the first and last time he had sex. I still weep when I think of his loss.
Fast forward to the new millennium and HIV/AIDS is such a major and pervasive health threat that the United Nations has included it in its Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), specifically its sixth goal: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases.
In the spirit of “Think Globally, Act Locally,” we can and should fight global HIV/AIDS through organizations like Huntington Hospital’s Phil Simon Clinic, but we also need to combat it locally.
This is why I am hosting an AIDS Service Center ninth annual Big Night Out dinner at my house. I do this in memory of my dear friends this coming Saturday night. While the private home dinner parties are sold out, there’s still time to attend the general reception and fund-raising auction. (See below)
Pasadena’s AIDS Service Center literally started out as an outgoing message on an answering machine at All Saints Church. Given that All Saints is the liberal bulwark of social activism in town, it made sense that it would start there. Now, almost 20 years later, the AIDS Service Center is the largest organization of its kind in the San Gabriel Valley, reaching out to almost 1,700 individuals and families affected by and at risk for HIV/AIDS.
While the first wave of HIV/AIDS made it seem like a gay white male plague, the demographics have expanded to include everyone as an equal opportunity recipient. Who are the people living with HIV/AIDS? As the center’s Web site states: “They are black, and brown and white. They are gay and they are straight. They live in almost every corner of Los Angeles County. They are women. They are men. And they are children. HIV/AIDS is still around and as challenging as ever. The phone is still ringing. The AIDS Service Center is here to answer the call.” We are so fortunate to have them.
Tragically, the stigma of HIV/AIDS is part of the problem of the disease. The numbers of new cases remain steady. Shame and secrecy help spread it to unsuspecting partners. While the general acceptance of people who are homosexual has grown since the 1980s, there’s often denial in men identified as straight whose sexual behavior can result in contracting HIV/AIDS. African-American and Latino men often have a so-called “manly” or “macho” image that includes risky sexual encounters with prostitutes, both male and female. They hide their sexual activities and then take the virus home to wives or lovers who would never suspect these hidden lives. Thus, 80 percent of the women who contract HIV in a Columbian study have never had sex outside their marriages.
I can recommend two books that explore how straight and sexually faithful women end up getting infected. J.L. King's “On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of ‘Straight’ Black Men Who Sleep with Men,” lays it out straight, excuse the expression. A still pertinent read for Latino communities is “In the Land of God and Man: Confronting Our Sexual Culture” by Silvana Paternostro. Although Paternostro is from Columbia, her book applies to the US Latino communities.
It’s good to know that if you, a family member or a friend ever – God forbid – gets sick with HIV/AIDS that individualized health care programs, housing assistance, transportation, food, child care, counseling, legal help and education are all available.
At 4:30 p.m. Saturday, if you’d like to attend the reception for the Big Night Out and possibly explore whether you’d like to attend or host a dinner next year, please contact Jennifer at the AIDS Service Center at (626) 441-8495, ext. 243. She’ll give you the location of the reception — a lovely private estate. A ticket to the reception is $50.
I so want to have my friends’ deaths mean something to someone other than me. Throwing a party is the least we can do to commemorate their lives.
PS…
A Web site would be such a great gift. Web designer Charlotte Collins is creative, user-friendly and patient, especially to a techno doofus like me. To contact her, write to Charlotte@charlottesweb.la, or call (626) 355-3900.
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