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AIDS FOCUS
Living With AIDS
Since 1 don’t have AIDS, ARC or a positive HIV test, what qualified me to write an article entitled
Living With AIDS! Several things, I think Having friends who are living with AIDS and those who have
died from the disease. Even if I had not been personally affected, being part of a community that is saturated
with the HIV makes one live with AIDS each day.
I also live with AIDS at work since part of my job in public health is to talk to groups about AIDS and
HIV infection. I frequently ask audience members to raise their hands if they know someone with AIDS,
ARC, or who has tested positive. Often, no hands are raised. The first time I asked an audience of
approximately 100 people that question and no hands were raised, 1 was astonished. How could they not
know anyone with HIV infection? Then I borrowed a saying from another AIDS educator, "There are two
kinds of people in this room: those of us who have been personally touched by this epidenic and those who
will be."
But it suddenly became clear to me why such an element of denial exists among the "mainstream" (for
lack of a better word) population. The epidemic, to the majority of people, is still "us" and "them". While
most AIDS educators have tried to stop talking about "high risk groups", that concept was planted firmly in
people's minds early on in the epidemic. It was very easy to categorize people in groups and if one did not
fall into a risk group, the epidemic did not have much significance. Even the numbers aren't all that effective
if they remain numbers only. Yes, there have been 1322 cases of AIDS in Georgia with 755 deaths (as of
April 11,1988), but if none of these people were friends, neighbors, lovers, fathers, mothers, sittings, or
other family members, then the numbers don't have much impact
Updates
Mandatory AIDS Testing:
An Expensive Flop
The two states requiring AIDS testing for marriage
licenses are quickly finding the measure to be an
expensive waste of time.
Illinois and Louisiana have had laws mandating the
test for marriage appli ctnts for only four monihs, but
efforts to repeal the legislation are already mounting in
both states.
The Illinois State Medical Society, which held its
annual meeting during the third week in April, passed a
resolution calling for the abolition of mandatory testing.
The president of the ISMA, Dr. Harry Springer, said the
law is ineffective, and it discriminates against poor
couples.
Only two days after the ISMA vote, the State House
Human Services Committee voted 12-5 for a repeal of
the law. However, chances for a vote on the repeal by
the full legislature at this point still seem small, with
many lawmakers saying more time should pass before a
final decision is made.
Illinois' law went into effect the first of this year.
Since then, the state's counties have complained of a loss
of revenues, with marriage applicants going to
neighboring states to avoid paying the cost of the test.
(The migration was such that a bordering Wisconsin
county considered raising fees for out-of-state
applicants.)
The initial test can cost ip to $100 per person, and that
cost can increase rapidly when the results are positive,
calling for further tests to determine the validity of the
first one. In the end, millions of dollars are spent on
testing people who want to get married, tying up facilities
For me, living with AIDS has become an ingrained part of my life. When friends confide in me their
HIV test was positive or when I find out someone is newly diagnosed, the shock element is no longer
present HIV and related illnesses have become too commonplace in the community.
The climate at work however, is very different and I am often faced with talking to people who are still
viewing AIDS as "someone else's problem". People still want to cling to the hopelessly outdated idea of
being able to tell who’s infected by looking at him or her. I try to dispel this myth in many different ways
and people will often nod as if they are comprehending what I'm saying. But then come the "what if
questions. My favorite "what if is "What if I'm in a restaurant and the waiter, who looks gay, brings me a
salad with Wood on it?" As one can imagine, it is very difficult to answer these questions.
It is extremely frustrating for me to have one foot firmly entrenched in the gay community and see, for
the most part, people heeding safer sex messages and acting responsibly to slow down this horrendous
epidemic. The other foot is in the public health domain, attempting to educate large numbers of people
who don't give a damn about AIDS and who want someone else to take care of the problem. There are, of
course, many people at "low risk" who are concerned and caring and volunteering their time and money to
help in the fight But what about the rest of the population? How can they be motivated to care and help?
Anyone who has read And the Band Played On knows the denial that existed in the beginning, and the
time and effort involved to make people believe the truth about AIDS and how it is spread. The only way
to slow the transmission is for people to take individual responsibility for changing their sexual practices.
Now that the gay community has gotten the message, we are in the beginning of And the Band Hayed
On-2 with women, minorities, and heterosexuals.
- Name Withheld by Request
and other limited resources on many who are at low risk
for infection.
So far, the number of people fomd to be HIV
positive, that is, having the antibodies to HIV, has been
less than one in 4,000 in Illinois' premarital testing
program.
In Louisiana, repeal seems to be imminent. The
House Health and Welfare Committee voted April 27th
to repeal the testing law. The vote was unanimous with
legislators saying mandatory testing turned out to be "an
expensive flop." Since the 1987 law became effective on
January 1st of this year, Louisiana couples have resorted
to the same money-saving action as their Illinois
counterparts, flocking to Arkansas, Mississippi and
Texas to get married, running from test fees by local labs
now diarging as much as $200 for the mandated test
Legislators have recognized what opponents of
mandatory testing have said all along. The program
spends money that could be used in education and in care
for the iff while targeuing low risk groups aid subjecting
thousands to the anguish of tests whose results are
sometimes false-positives.
The repeal, which is expected to be backed by the
entire Louisiana legislature, has the support of the
original author of the testing biff as well as that of
physicians and hospitals around the state.
A spokesperson for the Louisiana House told
Southern Voice there are at least five bills dealing with
repeal of mandatory testing now under consideration by
the state legislature. Two of those are being heard in the
Senate Judiciary Committee. The other three are in the
House Health and Welfare Committee. It was one of the
latter that passed unanimously and without amendment.
That means the repeal is likely to come up for a vote by
the full House before the current term expires on July
11th.
,-F.G.
Major Foundations Join
AIDS War
A major effort to involve the nation's wealthiest
charitable ftxmdations in the fight against AIDS has been
launched by the Ford Foundation.
Ford Foundation's Office of Reports Director,
William Rust, spoke to Southern Voice about the project
which was officially unveiled at the meeting of the
Council of Foundations in Los Angeles.
The plan calls for major philanthropic groups to pool
their resources and create the National-Community
AIDS Partnerdiip. The money will be used to prwide
matching funds to local and community groups working
in the fight against AIDS.
Officials of the Ford Foundation admitted a plan like
this should have come perhaps five years ago, bra Rust
declined to speculate on the reasons for the slow
response by the nation’s pre-eminent donors of
humanitarian funds.
Late as it may be, the Ford Foundation is
spearheading the effort with an initial contribution of $2
million, as they attract other groins which in the past
have ban reluctant to offer their support in the war
against AIDS.
Already, another $ 1,000,000 has been committed by
several foundations. Among the donors are the
Rockefeller Foundation and Gannett Foundation,
The money wiff be administered by the National
AIDS Network, a Washington-based group that works
with local AIDS groups around the country. It will be
targeted to stimulate planning and provide matching
funds for community-based groups. Rust said this effort
will provide needed funding for housing, day care,
counseling and education for PWAs and their families.
According to Rust, disbursement to community
summer.