The views expressed here are my own.
Today is World AIDS Day. Every year, since 2018, I write an essay in recognition of World AIDS Day. It’s my tradition.
It’s been reported that we as a country have lost three-quarters of a million people who were U.S. citizens* to AIDS since 1981. Last year’s essay (link) discussed the absence of Baby Boomers in the LGBT2S+ community, and how we are worse off as a society because of their absence. There is no way we can measure the magnitude of what could have been.
It’s hard to believe that between 1992 and 1995, HIV was the leading cause of death for men aged 24-44 at the time.
It’s also been 30 years since Rae Lewis Thornton graced the cover of Essence Magazine in 1994, courageously sharing her story with the world at a time when stigma was still very high.
Stigma is still around. But now, complacency is still the name of the game it seems.
There has been good news this year.
- A rule went into effect four days ago that allows HIV-positive transplants for livers and kidneys for HIV patients.
- A pharmacy devoted exclusively to HIV care opens in Minneapolis.
However, challenges remain:
- Black women account for 54 percent of infections in the U.S.
- Seven out of 10 new infections in adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa are girls.
- And then there is this terrible headline from 2018, “Teen possibly contracted HIV after being sexually assaulted at high school, family says.”
- Zero portrayals of characters enduring HIV diagnoses out 256 films released in the past year.
As red states with their abortion bans are doing nothing to address the inequities of maternal mortality between black and white women, I highly doubt anything will be done to address newly diagnosed black women. Georgia dismissed members of their maternal mortality board, and Texas refused to investigate its 56% increase in maternal deaths from 2019 through 2022.
As for the depressing third bullet point, with the dangerous rhetoric from a certain alt-right white supremacist who has been doxxed recently paired with male entitlement over female bodies, I fear for the safety of Gen Alpha children.
I posed this hypothetical alternate history on my social media within the past year: “What if…the conservative states in the 80s, 90s, and y2k legislated against administration of HIV therapies because of [bigoted] religious beliefs? This would mean people who were newly diagnosed would not receive life-saving care and pass away because of bigotry? Imagine how deplorable and horrifying what would have been. This is what is happening now in the area of women’s health and LGBTQ2S+ health.”
Dogma-based medicine is the opposite of evidence-based medicine. Access to birth control, such as condoms, likewise is threatened.
A certain think tank wants sex to be more dangerous, with the goal to end recreational sex, per a July 5, 2024, tweet on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. They also believe that sex education is pornography. I wish this were fiction.
It’s “as if” the HIV / AIDS epidemic never happened. This is one reason why I created a community spreadsheet to document references to the epidemic in 1900s media. Access it and update it here: https://bit.ly/90sPSAs
I also created a Spotify playlist documenting references to safe sex and the epidemic. Find it here: https://spoti.fi/4cDKByg
We don’t know what the future brings. While catastrophizing isn’t helpful, neither is sugarcoating the future or offering platitudes of reassurance.
The only thing I can offer right now is to end on a note of humor.
I’d like to take a moment to recognize when the Florida Department of Health used to have credibility by posting headlines from previous years. RIP Florida’s blue era.
Florida Department of Health’s ‘Faces of HIV’ puts faces to the disease | 2012 | Link
Faces of HIV Campaign Wins Advertising Top Honors | 2013 | Link
Ending on a bright note: the late Keith Haring is my favo(u)rite artist. Check out some of his work here. He paired art with advocacy:
*in 2018, it was reported that 700,000 Americans lost their lives to AIDS since 1981 and that 13,000 people die of AIDS a year.
Sources:
Project 2025
“New rule allows HIV-positive organ transplants.” AP News. November 26, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/kidney-liver-transplant-hiv-5392b80df9c54b3799605483ce00d2dd
“First-of-its-kind HIV treatment center opens in Minneapolis.” CBS News. December 1, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/video/first-of-its-kind-hiv-treatment-center-opens-in-minneapolis/
“Are HIV Infections Exploding Among Black Women?” BlackDoctor.org. November 29, 2024. https://blackdoctor.org/are-hiv-infections-exploding-among-black-women/
“Alarm over high rate of HIV infections among young women, girls.” Voice of America. November 29, 2024. https://www.voanews.com/a/alarm-over-high-rate-of-hiv-infections-among-young-women-girls/7882283.html
Teen possibly contracted HIV after being sexually assaulted at high school, family says. Local10.com. February 11, 2018. https://www.local10.com/news/2018/02/12/teen-possibly-contracted-hiv-after-being-sexually-assaulted-at-high-school-family-says/
“Hollywood must do better on HIV representation.” Out.com. December 1, 2024. https://www.out.com/hiv/world-aids-day-hollywood