by Shale Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:18 am
Because of my involvement with AIDS since the mid '80s, I was drafted by my company to take the training and be the in-house AIDS instructor. In my biz, state law mandates such training for employees; 4-hr initial course and a 2-hr follow up every 2 years.
So the curriculum covers the history when it was first called GRID - Gay Related ImmunoDeficiency since it showed up initially in gay men. Trouble with the latency period of the disease was that before it became known most gay men were affected by it. So gay men are the highest number of infected and take the blame for the disease, despite the fact that it is just a bloodborne pathogen that doesn't care about morality but just method of transmission. (Lesbians are homosexuals too, yet they are less at risk than heterosexual women).
As for treatment, that was 1996, with the introduction of protease inhibitor medications which finally kept the majority of ppl from dying of AIDS. Ppl were literally getting up out of their deathbeds with that breakthru. Not a good course of treatment but better than the alternative. And, I point out some ppl still die of the disease, like my friend Mark who died in 2001.
But before '96 every gay man was inundated with either his own infection or that of his friends and lovers who were dying. That was the face of AIDS in the '80s and the overreacting prejudice of ignorant ppl who refused to believe that it was actually a hard disease to catch, requiring body fluid exchange. I had some trepidation when first volunteering with an AIDS group here in Miami that my boss would react badly. Luckily she was cool and eventually even took in a guy who was dying of the disease.
So, now it seems to be a race among the demographics as to who can make the most new infections, gay men, black/hispanic men, then down to the affected women. But, ppl take stupid chances with sex (I have gone thru the 3-month testing phase myself because of mishaps that could have exposed me. Luckily the exposure was with HIV negative men). A lot of young gay men who did not see everyone in their community dying daily think it is just an inconvenience that you can live with. Again, my friend Mark who died after the protease inhibitor meds were being used.
Home
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So yeah, I got my favorite then. 
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