December 2002

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Write to me

Over the weekend, I read several pieces having to do with December 1 being World AIDS Day. I really hadn't planned to write on the subject, for a variety of reasons, not the least which is that others are much better versed on the subject than I. But in the midst of my reading I read an opinion piece that was was borderline bigoted, and included a lot of revisionist history. It made me cringe. I've been brooding all day about how best to respond to that; this is the outcome.

I'm still not going to write an essay on the importance of finding a cure, or the necessity for safe sex, or not sharing needles, etc. While those are important, others do the topics better. Nor am I going to take the writer of the above-mentioned piece to task, since the writer certainly does have a right to opinions.

What I am going to do is suggest that you get the facts. To help you get started getting facts, I've gone to Google and gathered a few links. This one is to the main page of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). And from that, I got to this link, to facts sheets provided by UNAIDS. And this is the site map page for AIDS Education Global Information System.

You're getting this because several people I know well enough to have hugged have spent considerable time doing work in AIDS research here in North Carolina. And several other people I know that well spend a considerable amount of time doing volunteer work with AIDS prevention projects and with AIDS patients.

Consider this to be my homage to them, fueled by my fervent conviction that bigotry can be overcome by truth.