José F. Colón
and Anselmo Fonseca
Pacientes de
SIDA pro Política Sana, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the eighties a
transformation has occurred in different parts of the World and the
different cultures where it has affected.
At the start of the epidemic the virus was related to mainly
hemophiliacs, Haitians and homosexuals. The gay community had to get
fiercely attract the attention of the citizens of the US of A and the
World so the Reagan and Bush administrations would start mentioning the
word AIDS. Not until the death of star Rock Hudson did the Reagan
administration start making references to the illness. Many had already
died.
Activism was based in courage, love but most of all in anger. These
elements made the people all over the World to start addressing the impact
of HIV/AIDS. Politicians had to face the problem and destine funds to
investigations regarding the search for medicines, treatments and ways of
controlling the epidemic.
Ryan White, a small, ten year old child who was turned down and
rejected in his school because he had contracted HIV through a blood
transfusion had an important role in activism. He gave a good fight for
his rights and the Supreme Court of the US of A decided that he could go
back to school. Approximately four years later Ryan died and Congress made
a law called the Ryan White Care Act, which every five years stipulates
the amount of money destined for the treatment and care of PLWHIV/AIDS.
Nevertheless, stigma, discrimination, prejudice and criminalization
continue.
The gay community was and still is pointed out as the cause of the
illness supposedly due to our sins and lifestyles. Fundamentalist groups
and churches deny that condom use, distribution of clean syringes to IDU’s
and safe sex measures are, together with abstinence, the most cost
efficient tools for the eradication of HIV.
During the opening of XIV International AIDS, Conference, Barcelona
2002, Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, asked the community of
HIV/AIDS advocates and activists to take our struggle to the political
arena, one of the most responsible standpoints taken by any high standing
official since the start of the epidemic. Only Nelson Mandela and Bill
Clinton have taken such empowering positions.
Our presentation will focus in the history of the epidemic, important
moments such as 1993, the year when the mortality rate due to AIDS was
highest in the USA, 1996 when AIDS Related Treatments appeared, (commonly
called AIDS cocktails), which lead parts of the population to acquire a
false sense of complacency, international situations regarding the
epidemic, laws and HIV/AIDS, corruption, embezzlements, AIDS, Inc. and the
backlash that some unsafe practices such as barebacking, bug chasers, bug
givers and crystal meth have Recental caused.
It will present a clear picture of the changes that activism has
encountered and evolved into, the causes for these changes, and the
position where it stands now in 2005, twenty five years since the start of
HIV/AIDS...
