On World AIDS Day, Let's Confront The Challenging Problem Of HIV/AIDS In The Black Gay Community With Renewed Honesty And Action

In the spring of 1986, I found myself in the intensive care unit at Boston's Tufts New England Medical Center. I was the only person visiting a friend who just five days prior had been diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia. At the time, this type of pneumonia was known as a difficult to treat, opportunistic infection. It was also an indicator that my friend had AIDS. I listened to the respirator that helped him breath, and watched helplessly as his life ebbed away. I had no idea that this was not to be just one heartbreaking loss, but rather the beginning of a period of intense grief that would last for years, as countless of my friends died of the disease. In those very early days, there was little outreach being done about AIDS in the Black community. In fact, it was hard to find any information at all. But then I met Larry Kessler, who had founded the Boston AIDS Action Committee . I first became involved as a volunteer, specifically to get the word out into communities of color. There I met other Black gay men and we formed support groups specifically for Black gay men. It was so desperately needed. Due to the stigma of AIDS, many of my friends' families were unwilling to admit what was happening to their loved ones when they got sick. After they died, family members often refused to acknowledge the cause. My friends and I quickly learned to speak in code about "cancer funerals" when we were with our extended families, in our churches, or out in the community. When we...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news