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AIDS FOCUS
The following is an excerpt from Ward 5B: Voices of AIDS by Rebecca Ranson to be
published by Viking Penguin Press in 1989. The interviews for the book were completed in
1984.
Jesse had received his AIDS diagnosis a few hours before. He had Kaposi's but none of his lesions were
evident to me. He had known when he left New York that he had ADS. He left home to die in San
Francisco. Jesse had led a double life - family man and gay man. He could not bear for his family to
know the truth. He said that he had made their lives hard enough already by being an alcoholic and he
would not put them through ADS. So he boarded a plane under an assumed name and disappeared, giving
his family and friends no warning and no way to trace him.
I asked him if he felt that was fair to them and he told me that it was more fair than having his mother,
his wife, his children know that he had slept with other men and was dying from AIDS.
I asked about his lover. Jesse said there had been no lover, just multiple sexual partners in public places
with no exchange of names. I asked if he didn't want someone with him for the duration of the disease. He
said that he had always done everything alone and he could do AIDS alone. He talked about how
supportive the people on the ward were, said that he had been given this robe, a toothbrush and soap from
the supplies that had been donated by the community. That seemed to please him.
Jesse had read about 5B in New York so he knew where he was coming when he left the city. He said
that pacing the hall wasn't restlessness but the need for a drink. He laughed, told me they were putting him
in a detoxification program the next day. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know how the drunks are going
to react to a gay man with ADS. It could be pretty rough." He paced the room. "I mean the hell of it is
that I'm going to be sober for the first time in twenty years just so I can die with ADS."
He got tears in his eyes, talked about the drinking, said he always worked and he always kept a bottle
with him, that the drink on the plane might have been his last. "Hell of a time to give up drinking." He
said that he might just drink himself to death when things got rough, then he said he didn't want to die
drunk.
I asked Jesse what he would do if he got well enough to get out of the hospital for a while. He didn't
know. He didn't know one person in San Francisco. He thought the Shanti people might be able to help.
"I don't know about this dying stuff," he said. "I've thought alxtut suicide." Jesse asked me what 1 would
do if I was dying. I had spent some time thinking about it I found it impossible not to think about dying
while watching people around me die.
I had talked to another man whose lover had AIDS and the lover had decided to commit suicide if he
got to the place where the pain was terrible. They had a pact that they would make the decision together
and if that time came, they would do it as a ritual, plan it, make it beautiful. The lover's death would be
something they would share. I told Jesse that story.
We talked religion a few minutes; whether God would be angry if Jesse took his own life, whether he
would have the nerve to do it, what it would feel like to know you were going to die in the next few
minutes.
Jesse looked tired. He had stopped pacing around and was very still, very thoughtful. "I can't believe
this is all there is," he said. I gave him my address and phone number. "If you want to talk or something,
call me collect," I said. He never called. I have no idea what happened to Jesse.
- Rebecca Ranson
Updates
24 Hour AIDS Rally Scheduled
for May 6-7:
YOUR HELP IS CRUCIAL
The Atlanta March Committee is organizing Atlanta’s participation in the nationwide Spring
AIDS Action '88. The Spring AIDS Action is coordinated nationally by the ACT NOW network,
as nine consecutive days of AIDS awareness activities focusing on particular related topics.
Atlanta's activities will include a Women and AIDS forum at Charis Books and Mere on May 5th
and a 24-hour rally at the State Capitol beginning at noon on May 6th and culminating with a
speaker's rally at noon on May 7th. Featured speakers include Michael Lomax, Dazan Dixon
(Feminist Women's Health Center, Doris Burke (Outreach, Inc.), representatives from the Atlanta
Chapter of the NAtional Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA), the Georgia Nurses
Association, Red Cross, Department of Human Resources, AID Atlanta, Living AIDS Memorial
Project (LAMP), and many others.
WE NEED YOUR HELP! Our goal is to have 200 people at the State Capitol at all times
during the 24-hour time period in order to demonstrate our concern about the lack of response by
our state government on this critical public health issue. We need people to make a committment
to be present and bring their friends, lovers, family and organizations. We need people to work, to
help us publicize the event and to help with events taking place at the Capitol. You name it, we need
it. Our next meeting is at the Highland Branch Library on the comer of St. Charles Ave.and North
Highland Ave. on Tuesday April 12th at 7:30 PM. If you can't be present, call Cathy Woolard at
377-8312 for more information on how you can be involved. In the meantime, let your friends
know that you plan to be there and that they should be too!
Florida Gov. Calls for
AIDS Quarintine
Tallahassee, Fla. - Gov. Bob Martinez issued a
histrionic call for quarantine of people with ADS
(PWA's) during his annual State of the State address
before the joint Florida General Assembly April 5,
1988. In his budget request for fiscal year 1988, the
governor has asked for $20 million dollars to fight
AIDS.
Over 4,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in
Florida since 1981, with 28,000 more cases of the
deadly disease expected by 1991.
"The time has come to quarantine those whose
character and conduct are a clear threat to scoiety,"
said Martinez. He continued, "AIDS carriers who
refuse to stop spreading this fatal disease should no
more be allowed to roam free than criminals armed
with a deadly weapon."
The Florida Department of Health and
Rehabilitative Services (HRS) and Martinez are
apparently enamored of quarantining PWA's which
they first tried legally in June of 1987. Since that
first attempt, which was shouted down by a chorus
of gay/lesbian, AIDS, and human rights advocates,
HRS and Martinez have come up with the current
proposal which would place the responsibility for
arresting "AIDS carriers" in the hands of the police,
and require the court system to identify persons as
public health risks.
Athough no report was available on the criteria
HRS espouses for determining public health risks, a
first-time offender would be subject to a form of
house arrest - limited activities and restricted
associations. Upon arrest for a second offense, a
person "would be placed in a round-the-clock
supervised living arrangement similar to a half-way
house.”
Soviet Doctors Urge
Construction of ADS
Hospital
Moscow - Doctors in the Soviet Union want to
build a special center for the treatment of AIDS
patients, but construction could take four years to
start
Moscow Radio interviewed a leading Soviet
AIDS expert who spoke of the plans, saying the
building would be used to periodically treat PWA's
for one or two weeks at a time. Valentin Pokrovsky,
director of the Epidemiological Research Institute,
complained that plans are moving too slowly, and
Boston-]n an unprecedented cooperative effort, the publishing industry has joined together to
make a free AIDS book available to consumers this June.
The bode, titled You Can Do Something About AIDS, contains forty-five short chapters, each
outlining specific ways that individuals can help in the fight against AIDS.
Every chapter has been contributed by a different person; the writers range from local AIDS
activists to nationally known figures. Among them are Elizabeth Taylor, Harvey Fierstein, John
Preston, Whoopi Goldberg, Jody Powell, and Greg Louganis.
Sasha Alyson, head of Alyson Publications, has donated most of his time for the past nine
months to coordinate the project. ''The book industry has never before contributed money and
services to provide a free book to the public," said Alyson.
predicted the disease would start spreading more
rapidly in the Soviet Union. He stated that in
December of 1987 there were 230 people in the
USSR carrying the virus, and reported in the
interview that one Soviet citizen was undergoing
treatment for AIDS, while fifty other Soviets are
registered as infected.
Another doctor quoted during the interview
reportedly said that plans for the requested building
have been sent to the Moscow City Council where
the project is moving extremely slowly.
Ad Atlanta Benefit Sale
On Sunday, April 17th, AID Atlanta will hold a
benefit sale. AID Atlanta provides education to the
community and social services to people with
AIDS.
The hours of the sale are from 10:00AM to 6:00
PM, at American Legion Hall, 1071 Piedmont Ave.
Rain date is set for Sunday, May 1. All donations
are tax deductible. For more information call 524
4875 or 493-9321.
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