June 5th marks 25 years since the first published report of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among five previously healthy young men in Los Angeles. Much has changed since then, some good, and some not so good.
Ten years ago the advent of HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) was followed by a steep and dramatic decline in AIDS deaths here in the U.S. Upcoming new advances in research and treatment, including integrase inhibitors (see The Buzz, page 44) hold hope and promise in the near future for those with limited treatment options.
Ideally we should be focusing all of our efforts fighting this virus, but instead we often find ourselves expending our dwindling energy and limited resources battling intolerance, ignorance, and politics as usual.
Case in point—a 15-page article by Celia Farber in the March issue of Harper’s magazine entitled, “Out of Control: AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science.” The story, which is laced with inaccuracies, half-truths, twisted logic and glaring omissions, is biased and self-contradictory, while promoting the misguided theories of AIDS “denialist” Peter Duesberg, not the least of which is that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. For a comprehensive and clearly spelled out 37-page point-by-point rebuttal of the article, written by leading AIDS researchers, visit the Treatment Action Campaign’s website at www.tac.org.za.
Here in Chicago, the upcoming Gay Games, July 15–22 (of which Positively Aware and TPAN are proud sponsors) has been dealing with ignorance on a local level. Some residents of Crystal Lake, a Chicago suburb, voiced opposition when it was learned that a rowing event was to be held there in conjunction with the Games. “I do not want these queers coming to my hometown,” one resident stated emphatically to the press. Ironically opposition to the event, which typically only draws around 50–100 people, created such a media stir that it is now sure to draw more attention and attendees than it ever would have before (kudos to the city’s park district board, which voted 3–2 in favor of keeping the planned rowing event).
Meanwhile, our friends at the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), whose motto is “Fostering an environment where families can flourish,” have called on President Bush to reinstate the federal ban on HIV-positive travelers to the U.S. during the Gay Games, which Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (see interview on page 28) worked to get temporarily lifted. The Institute’s reasoning that visiting “homosexuals” will flock to area bathhouses and spread their diseases just doesn’t hold bathwater. Apparently the folks at IFI are not aware of the commitment, discipline and training that is required of those who compete in the Games (see Gay Games profiles on page 33). I guess they must think that it’s standard practice for athletes to take the edge off and unwind with a little unprotected sex at the bathhouse before or after a competition. Note to the IFI: Gays have families, too—HELLO—and have just as much right to flourish as anyone.
So where do we go from here? Beginning with this issue, Positively Aware asks that question of people working on the front lines, like author/activist Mary Fisher, a mom living with HIV, and Howard Grossman, MD, a clinician who’s been involved with a number of activist groups including ACT UP, TAG, the Coalition for Salvage Therapy (CST) and the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC). Speaker/youth activist Todd Murray, who has more recently joined the ranks, and who will be featured in an upcoming issue of Positively Aware, stated that he and others in his generation have never lived in a world without HIV. His comment gave me pause, and made me realize that in many ways, I guess, I’ve been lucky. Lucky to have lived and loved in a time that seemed much more innocent. Lucky to have made it to (almost) middle age, now approaching 20 years of living with HIV and being on treatment. But unlucky in the sense that I’ve seen, like many of you, so many of my friends suffer and die needlessly.
But while a generation of youth has grown up with AIDS lurking in the shadows, the epidemic itself is still relatively young, as we were reminded in February at the 13th Retrovirus Conference in Denver (see page 17 for conference coverage). And even though the discontinuation of the SMART study doesn’t bode well for the future of treatment interruptions as we know it (see the Treatment Series on page 37), immune-based therapies, vaccine research, and new drugs in the pipeline offer a glimmer of hope to the 40 million people living worldwide with HIV.
We’ve come a long way, baby. But we’ve got a long way to go. As I wrote this, I received an e-mail from another AIDS “denialist.” They seem to mutate and multiply faster than the disease which they claim doesn’t exist.
Take care of yourself, and each other.
Jeff Berry
Editor
publications@tpan.com
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