Hitskin.com

Subject: World AIDS Day Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:04 pm

Today, December 1st is World AIDS Day

This day is fading in significance from what it was when so many of our friends were dying of this disease in the '80s and '90s.

We had the Names Project Quilt and the damn thing grew to cover the National Mall in DC. I fotografed many of the panels that were displayed in Miami in 1988 and made this collage.

World AIDS Day 8234766477_8cfea669ee_o

Unfortunately, so many young men are taking risks because they no longer see this constant death that there is a whole new problem. MOST ppl can now live with AIDS since the advances in medicine in 1996 but some still die and it is not a walk in the park for those in treatment.

My Friend Mark died in 2001
World AIDS Day 8235733470_3fecb40137_o

and my friend Jose in 2006
World AIDS Day 8234669099_462f0aaf63_o

Before the mid '90s almost everyone who contracted HIV eventually died of AIDS. It was a trying time for many gay men to see so many of their friends die. I lost a few, mainly because I dared to work for AIDS organizations when a lot of ppl were still prejudiced and doing stupid shit like not even touching ppl who were infected.

I believe my friend Terry in Miami Beach died in 1992 when I left for Gainesville.
World AIDS Day 8234669275_5782548546_o

My friend Julio, an artist on Miami Beach died in 1993 at 32 years of age. I got to see him on a trip to South Florida a few months before he died.
World AIDS Day 8235744128_8e31c65252_b

And my friend Randy, an AIDS activist in Gainesville died after I returned to South Florida in 1996 - the very year that protease inhibitors became a successful treatment.

World AIDS Day 8234669607_5fbb031669_o

So, to all those young men who have not watched so many friends die, Safer Sex does work. Since 1990 I have made love to 6 men that I knew had AIDS (4 of them in this memorial). I am still HIV negative. Be Careful, use rubbers or do 'outercourse' low risk sex and you can be safely intimate with infected ppl. Get tested frequently especially if you fuck up - it happens.

How To Use a Condom
http://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-use-a-condom-1

Subject: Re: World AIDS Day Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:14 am

That is sad. Its true that we do not think about it being a death sentence anymore. I remember i was probably in 4th or 5th grade when the height of the fear was occuring... i remember news reports of first responders not wanting to treat gays.

We had a family friend who no one knew was gay. My grandmother constantly fixed him up with my female cousins, and to save face, he would go out with them. He was our local mailman, and I remember the last time I saw him... he was really thin, still walking his route, and waved to me on the school bus. His name was Dave... he died of AIDS, never having told our family of his situation. I doubt he told anyone at work. The rumors in the neighborhood was that he had cancer. I hope the end for him was quick... and that he is at peace. I think of him from time to time, wishing that society was more open... but fear is something that makes rational ppl completely unrational. Because of a flood during hurricane Floyd in 99, I have no photos of him. sad

Subject: Re: World AIDS Day Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:53 am

Thank you Shale for sharing.

» World AIDS Day
» Curing AIDS (?)
» 30 years of AIDS
» Have you ever taken an AIDS test?
» If HIV/AIDS Were Cured.....