LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Student CAMP |
by Kristen Minor |
Reflections on Gay Pride Month
Despite the fact that our illustrious president has not proclaimed it, the month we all know and love as June is gay pride month. All across the country cities are dressing up and going rainbow because, as we all know, it's good to be gay. I will admit that I have not been to many prides in my 18 years. However, the ones that I have been to have all had several important things in commonthey promoted visibility, created a sense of solidarity, and provided a great party. The problem is that they did little else. I have heard attendees speak of some of the legendary marches for gay rights. Some that I know can wax romantic about the '93 march on Washington for hours at a time, remembering the community uniting in force to fight for a cause. I can only contrast this with my memory of the Millennium March Street fair, where legions of men and women sported stickers that indicated if they could be asked out on a date. This is not to say that I don't appreciate a good party. I do attend Dartmouth, after all. Getting together to have a good time is a grand human tradition, and one of my fondest memories of this past year was attending Boston Youth Pride with a group of friends, wherein thousands of teenagers marched chanting about the need for safe schools. After which there was a lovely dance where our gay hormones proceeded to grind the night away. Upon exiting we received safe sex kits with admonishments to have a careful night. It is worth reflection to note that a recent CDC survey indicates that HIV infection rates among young gay men in cities have skyrocketed, particularly among young gay black men, who have a 32% rate of infection. This is comparable to some sub-Saharan African countries where the disease has decimated the populace. Hispanic and white men have rates of 14% and 7%, respectively, and the CDC does not expect these rates to lower anytime soon. At this point it is hardly alarmist to state that the second wave of AIDS is upon the gay community in full force. The numbers are chillingly simple, according to CDC epidemiologist Robert Janssentake, for instance, a population of 22 year olds wherein 20 percent are infected with HIV. At a 14 percent annual infection ratethe current rate among young black men70 percent of the group will be infected by the time they are 29. Conservative estimates place gay men who are currently 25 and under to have a total 25% infection rate by the time they hit their 30s. I find it horrifically ironic that Andrew Sullivan, a long standing conservative pundit of monogamy, has been revealed as an HIV positive barebacker. The only thing that is remotely to his credit is that he sought out other infected men, although this ignores the very real danger of reinfection with different strains. The 20th anniversary of AIDS was recently acknowledged. (Celebrated, in this context, isn't even remotely appropriate.) The web site commemorating the march discussed US investment in global AIDS funds, drug companies, and demanded debt cancellation by the IMF. They do not talk of personal accountability or the need for awareness within the community. I can't help but feel that the gay community has turned into one whose motto is "party at all costs." It's horribly nice that we can get civil unions in Vermont and watch Will and Grace. There are places where I can hold hands with my girlfriend without fear, and the list of companies with domestic partnership benefits is increasing daily. Be that as it may, we simply cannot ignore that a generation of gay people is not afraid of AIDS. It's easy enough to understand why. We were toddlers in the early days of the 80s, and by the time we hit our early teens everyone who had good sense knew that HIV wasn't something caught from a toilet seat. It was something we read about, saw a few movies on, and studied in biology class. It is familiar. It's something we see akin to cancera bad thing, to be sure, but treatable and manageable. Yet after countless discussions of HIV, condoms, and prevention information, I fail to understand just why countless people maintain their immortality complex. Then again, immortality is an easy illusion when you've never buried anyone to AIDS, as many young gay people have not. One older gay man I know summed it up best when he told me, "I wish I could talk to your gay friends about what it was like to be out when AIDS started happening, when healthy, built guys got sick and died within months and you never knew who would be next, to see a 30-year-old guy with a face blotched from KS, coughing his lungs out with pneumocystis, or going blind from CMV or toxoplamosis." There needs to be a balance found. Unsafe sex is bad, people who are practicing unsafe sex are being irresponsible. We get it already. However, sex is a wonderful and joyous thing, and it is not reasonable to target simple love in the pleasures of life. AIDS is a virus, not a punishment handed down to those who screw around. It is painfully obvious that one of the consequences of extensive education is that the risk factors are extremely abstract and removed from reality. This year I had the opportunity to meet Greg Louganis, the Olympic gold medalist diver infected with AIDS. His comment on the rising infection rates? "I wouldn't wish my drug regime on anyone." Cocktails get a lot of inkthe glowing reviews seem to gloss over their backbreaking schedule. Education does continue to remain our first (and in many respects only) line of defense. I fear that the practical side of safe sex will not be realized until a few years in the future, when young gay men are dying in droves. At least they went to some good parties. Kristen Minor is a member of the class of 2004 at Dartmouth College. She worries about her friends excessively and can be reached at kristen@youth-guard.org |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 7, June 15, 2001. |