SEROSORTING.
This is one major word that could be our next term of endearment. Whether we like it or not, serosorting, at the very least, could help us to think deeper about (and look deeper at) HIV/AIDS epidemic as life goes on. I know one thing is still missing -- a chat room/party room just for safer version of serosorting for gay HIV-negative men like us. I know my bedroom is a place for me to practice safer version of serosorting but that is not the point. Is yours?
Unfortunately serosorting exercise is based on the foundation of trust. So, who should we trust? No one. That should make serosorting an even more effective way to reduce the HIV infection in this country. Because we couldn't trust anyone we practice safer sex. If our trust is broken at least our condoms stay while it lasts.
Queers may be in for some trouble, or we may be heading for an age of glory. Thanks to people like Robert Brandon Sandor who is a friend of HIV-negative men and a representative of HIV-positive men. His mission: saving HIV-negative men from being infected by HIV-positive men. And what is wrong with that? We should thank him. We should open our hearts to his idea -- HIV-UB2.Net -- and copy the idea. Create rooms/avenues for safer version of serosorting.
His tactics and approaches may be different and hard to accept but his message is very clear: one out of every four people in this country do not know their HIV status and 40,000 new infections are occuring in this country each year. The facts provided by the GMHC recently are indisputable. With such powerful facts in front of us, how can the issue of Serosorting not be regularly discussed or debated when infact half of the new infection have occured among adolescents and young adults? That's like 20,000 of our young people living with HIV! The LGBT leaders who are devoting their lives to fight against HIV/AIDS should stop taking things personal. They have to be more open-minded and be more approachable even when they are approached the wrong way time and again. They have to stretch their arms and accept all kind of ideas from all walks of life or else we are going to lose out to HIV/AIDS and the drug companies that makes millions in selling HIV drugs that don't cure HIV/AIDS. Of course their mission (and their scientists' mission) is to find a cure. They'll keep on finding. One fine day (soon we hope) they will find a cure. Until then, they will make more money selling drugs that don't cure HIV and until then safer sex is the way to go.
We have to project ourselves (and protect ourselves) more forcefully now or risk being overshadowed by HIV drugs and drug companies. We are very happy for having HIV drugs and drug companies for making and selling HIV drugs to help prolong lives. But it is also based on the foundation of trust. Do we trust drug companies? Do we trust the HIV drugs? We also have to remember that not all HIV drugs are working well. Some HIV drugs are not working while others are giving HIV-positive men more years to swallow the pills.
Here's the thing the LGBT leaders should remember: the face of HIV, as portrayed by drug companies and their aggressive ads in gossy billboards, magazines, newspapers and even on TV, is very handsome and healthy-looking. It shows no sign, whatsoever, of the virus that lurked within, ready to strike the immune system in the human body. The true faces of HIV/AIDS are lying in beds in hospitals or at homes somewhere, lonely and afraid, some are unloved, waiting to die. People say HIV/AIDS is now no longer a death sentence and many of us believe it...we need some serious education. We need to consider serosorting seriously.
This is one major word that could be our next term of endearment. Whether we like it or not, serosorting, at the very least, could help us to think deeper about (and look deeper at) HIV/AIDS epidemic as life goes on. I know one thing is still missing -- a chat room/party room just for safer version of serosorting for gay HIV-negative men like us. I know my bedroom is a place for me to practice safer version of serosorting but that is not the point. Is yours?
Unfortunately serosorting exercise is based on the foundation of trust. So, who should we trust? No one. That should make serosorting an even more effective way to reduce the HIV infection in this country. Because we couldn't trust anyone we practice safer sex. If our trust is broken at least our condoms stay while it lasts.
Queers may be in for some trouble, or we may be heading for an age of glory. Thanks to people like Robert Brandon Sandor who is a friend of HIV-negative men and a representative of HIV-positive men. His mission: saving HIV-negative men from being infected by HIV-positive men. And what is wrong with that? We should thank him. We should open our hearts to his idea -- HIV-UB2.Net -- and copy the idea. Create rooms/avenues for safer version of serosorting.
His tactics and approaches may be different and hard to accept but his message is very clear: one out of every four people in this country do not know their HIV status and 40,000 new infections are occuring in this country each year. The facts provided by the GMHC recently are indisputable. With such powerful facts in front of us, how can the issue of Serosorting not be regularly discussed or debated when infact half of the new infection have occured among adolescents and young adults? That's like 20,000 of our young people living with HIV! The LGBT leaders who are devoting their lives to fight against HIV/AIDS should stop taking things personal. They have to be more open-minded and be more approachable even when they are approached the wrong way time and again. They have to stretch their arms and accept all kind of ideas from all walks of life or else we are going to lose out to HIV/AIDS and the drug companies that makes millions in selling HIV drugs that don't cure HIV/AIDS. Of course their mission (and their scientists' mission) is to find a cure. They'll keep on finding. One fine day (soon we hope) they will find a cure. Until then, they will make more money selling drugs that don't cure HIV and until then safer sex is the way to go.
We have to project ourselves (and protect ourselves) more forcefully now or risk being overshadowed by HIV drugs and drug companies. We are very happy for having HIV drugs and drug companies for making and selling HIV drugs to help prolong lives. But it is also based on the foundation of trust. Do we trust drug companies? Do we trust the HIV drugs? We also have to remember that not all HIV drugs are working well. Some HIV drugs are not working while others are giving HIV-positive men more years to swallow the pills.
Here's the thing the LGBT leaders should remember: the face of HIV, as portrayed by drug companies and their aggressive ads in gossy billboards, magazines, newspapers and even on TV, is very handsome and healthy-looking. It shows no sign, whatsoever, of the virus that lurked within, ready to strike the immune system in the human body. The true faces of HIV/AIDS are lying in beds in hospitals or at homes somewhere, lonely and afraid, some are unloved, waiting to die. People say HIV/AIDS is now no longer a death sentence and many of us believe it...we need some serious education. We need to consider serosorting seriously.
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