AIDS

It’s the first of December and we need to talk about HIV. As I mentioned last year when I did a similar post, I don’t know much about it compared to other people. I don’t live with it and I thank whatever Greater Power there is out there in the universe that I haven’t lost anyone to it.

What I know though is the need to get frequently tested. Before getting into a monogamous relationship, I used to go twice per year. I now go less frequent often than that but we still always use a condom because you can never know.

According to BBC news the numbers of new HIV positive cases have diminished the last four years. However, they estimate that twenty thousand people do not even know that they have the virus. So, this kind of statistics can be far from the truth. There is an interesting article here.

I know a guy in my circle of friends. His gay brother has been positively diagnosed a couple of years ago, so you can’t really say that he is unfamiliar with this plague. However, that doesn’t stop him from having unprotected sex in saunas, cruising grounds and bars. I really can’t understand what is going through his mind. He is supposed to be a mature 40 something guy with a successful career and a respectable sum of money in his bank account (not that this changes much). It’s like a time bomb waiting to be detonated. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ it will be detonated, it’s ‘when’.

His special case of dangerous living made me think about the immature and auto destructive tendencies that some gay people have. This is another huge issue to discuss but unfortunately drugs, alcohol and unprotected sex are connected and can be linked to very low self esteem and insecurities.

Another thing that is worrying is the fact that younger generations are not well informed. They do believe that AIDS is something of the past, not directly affecting them. They also think that a cure will be found soon and that the new drug cocktails will keep them almost ‘healthy’ till then. This ignorance can be very dangerous.

I don’t know how the already infected people feel this day and I wish to them all the best. We should always remember though that they are not the enemy, the virus is.

AIDS

It’s national awareness against AIDS day.
I am probably too ‘little’ and the least proficient person to talk about it. However, I feel that it’s my responsibility to mention it. I was way too young and living in an isolated small town when the plague called AIDS began in early 80's. I cannot even start to feel how the people in other places of the world felt when they started losing friends and loved ones from a virus not yet identified and treated. And the fact that some people reacted happily saying that AIDS is God’s respond to homosexuals is so infuriating I can’t even begin to think about!

In Greece things are so backwards and conservative that HIV+ people are marginalised and ignored. I cannot believe that the number of positive people is so small and I never met one. Can I be 28 years old and I never came across a positive Greek person yet? I really do not know how these people can find the strength and support to fight it.

Funnily enough though, major British newspaper, do not mention AIDS today in their front page in big bold letters. Most of them present a slideshow of pictures, old posters and relevant photographs, mentioned in a corner of their webpage. You really have to look for them to find them. Why? Is AIDS not as threatening as in the past? WHO and Unicef are talking about 20.8 million people and 2 million children affected at the end of 2007.

There is a new trend in gay porn regarding barebacking. There was a series of articles regarding porn actors being affected because of this trend. I know that the ‘forbidden’ or ‘dangerous’ does have an appeal, but now, more than ever, people should be aware of the dangers involve and try to be safe…

I was chatting to a young, cute German some time ago in a dating site. The same day I had received my negative test HIV results. I was happy for that, so I mentioned it to him. He stopped talking to me after that. I made him admit that he didn’t like me mentioning the sex clinic and I was kind of amazed. He said that he does go to be checked but me mentioning it was a major turn off for him. I am still puzzled why. OK, it probably isn’t a small talk topic, but I wanted to tell him that I like being safe and I didn’t think it would be him off so much, not to talk to me again…

Anyway, I still do believe that I am too small to talk about ‘AIDS’ and I haven't even touch such a huge subject today. Please, if you are not already doing it, take action against it and also try helping in any way that you can…