NYT: AIDS Fighters Face a Resistant Form of Apathy

[DeepModem Mom]

AIDS Fighters Face a Resistant Form of Apathy
By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: April 3, 2005


....As part of his graduate course work at New York University, Michael Marino set out last winter to compare the AIDS prevention efforts of New York and London. He was troubled by what he found. At most New York bars, and even at some bedrock gay and AIDS service institutions, educational pamphlets and free condoms were hard to find, if not impossible. In London, Mr. Marino found them easily....

***

Condoms, which still can be found in vending machines at a handful of places, were once given away by the bucketful. While no one believes free condoms will completely halt the spread of H.I.V., their disappearance from bars, the equivalent of a town hall for some gay men, is a telling indicator of how much steam has been lost in the fight against AIDS.

Although the city health department's recent warning about a rare, possibly more virulent strain of H.I.V. has caused a stir among gay men, many AIDS activists hold out little hope the news will prompt substantial or lasting changes in behavior. They point to the continued popularity of methamphetamine, which has contributed to a rise in condomless intercourse, known as barebacking, and the widespread apathy in which H.I.V. is seen as a nuisance, not a potential killer.

Compounding this laissez-faire attitude, they complain, are drug company advertisements that gloss over the disease's effects by portraying patients as the picture of perfect health.

Locally, at least, the statistics paint a mixed picture. The number of new H.I.V. infections among men who have sex with men declined slightly from 2001 to 2003, according to the most recent figures available, although in much of the country that number has been rising. But AIDS service providers, pointing to a recent spike in syphilis cases and the rise of methamphetamine abuse among gay men, fear it is only a matter of time before New York faces a new surge in infections....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/health/03aids.html?pagewanted=all&position=

[Liberal Veteran]

1. I agree with the article, but I have a petty observation.

What the hell is up with it being written as "H.I.V." in the article?

I have never seen any medical or other literature write it as anything other than "HIV".

[MnFats]

2. Unfortunately the Rapture Right will use this information...

...to bash gays, shove them in the closet, shut down health programs & prevention problems...("they won't help themselve, so why should we?"
mark my words. it will happen.

Fuggin' idiots still see it as "God's Slap" (Jimmy Swaggart, addicted to prostitutes, said that. I'm not making that up.)

[Jamastiene]

3. It's all about the attitude.

Here's in America, the attitude toward AIDS is that it is a disease for gays. The attitude toward gay people and gay men especially is an abomination to me. If I was an omnipotent deity, oh, the things I would do to curtail this downward spiral into piety and "morals" America seems to be partaking in. Oh the bandwagon is in full swing. I predicted this.

If the puritans here would just let the AIDS organizations do their jobs, we could get rid of HIV and AIDS forever, but no, they've got to intimidate gay people ALL the time. Of course, that breaks a person's spirit and they get apathetic about whether they live or die. I am not in a super high risk group (lesbian), but I must say, I would take risks simply because there are so few gay bars in my area and NONE in my hometown. It's a shame people have to feel that way, but it's true for me at least. I am apathetic at this point about protecting myself. Just to get the human interaction that doesn't involve rape or fingers shaking in my face shaming me, I'd take the risks.

[lenidog]

4. I was reading an article a while back and it was talking about AIDS

today. Many of the AIDs activists and gay men who have been around since the beginning are utterly shocked and appalled at the level of apathy towards the disease especially in the gay community. They say that many young gay men don't see AIDs as a big deal since they have never really seen anyone die from it.